i came across this article, ’21 Racial Microaggressions You Hear On A Daily Basis’, posted by Heben Nigatu on Buzzfeed, made me unbelievably sad, and in the context of the conversations we are having at Irresistibly Fish, felt like something worth adding in here so that some more people will hopefully have that ‘Oh’ moment of getting this a little bit more.
‘The term “microaggression” was used by Columbia professor Derald Sue to refer to “brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults toward people of color.’
Click on the link to see all 21 pictures that were displayed, but here is just a sample to get a taste of how painfully some people get it wrong sometimes:
nortonism.tumblr.com
nortonism.tumblr.com
nortonism.tumblr.com
nortonism.tumblr.com
nortonism.tumblr.com
nortonism.tumblr.com
nortonism.tumblr.com
What is the solution or at least the next step forward from here? What is the way forward in any of this race stuff?
i would suggest that a good next step [and maybe my friends from other culture and race groups can back me up here?] would be to have a conversation… to ask a question… to listen to a story…
# listening to someone’s story always seems like an excellent place to start
# asking people you are friends with whether there is anything you say or do that causes them offence from a racial/cultural perspective, and then being willing to listen to what they say if there is something [this could be such an important one]
What else is there? If anyone has comments or suggestions or thoughts on any aspect of this Race conversation, i have created a little place over here for you to come and have your say if you would like.
p.s. Moving it a little closer to home, take a look at this selection of similiar pictures [some heart-breaking] done at the University of Cape Town, as shared by my friend, Tsholo…
[To return to the Intro and a whole growing bunch of other conversation pieces on Race, click here]
[…] The Power of Words – Sometimes the words or the questions we speak can have such a powerful effect. […]
Also check out the #itooamharvard stuff (think other universities did it as well) and closer to home, #itooamUCT http://itooamuct.tumblr.com/
will check it out, thankx