The
example of microaggression I observed did not happen this week. It happened
during the last two months of my senior year in high school. I had just started
at the high school in Germany. The bell had rang to change class and I had a
few minutes to spare, so I decided to sit down on one of the benches. I was
sitting there a few minutes when a black girl came up to me and said “Girl, you
know you’re not supposed to sit on this side, this is not our side, it’s theirs.
“Well, I did not know the benches had separate sides. She also told me that “we
did not go in the restroom when the white girls were in there “Needless to say,
I was very shocked. When I got home, I immediately told my mom, who got right
on the phone with the principal. The principal was not aware of what the
students were doing and reassure my mom that the problem will be dealt with the
following morning. When this happened, I
was very surprised. I have never
experienced anything like this, as a matter of fact, I was so naïve to think
that that kind of behavior only existed when my grandmother was growing up. I
did not like being
associated with this type of behavior, because I was not raised to associate
people by the color of their skin, but by how they treated me as a human being.
This whole experience just let me know that discrimination,
prejudice and stereotypes on people was very much alive and well and I did not
blame the students, because they were just practicing a behavior they learned
or observed their parents practicing.
You give us a clear reminder that we are not far removed from a time when blatant prejudice was unchallenged. The importance of becoming aware of our prejudices is demonstrated by your powerful example.
ReplyDeleteSadly, however, when our prejudices are driven underground, they become even more difficult to address. These covert discriminations still occur ever minute of every day in our society.
Wow, this story shock me. I agree that I won't have expected to hear a story like this happen in the current day. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteEdilma,
ReplyDeleteI had no idea microagressions as far as separating students by skin color was happening now, so many years later. I know when I went to school in Germany (when I was 5 years old) I didn’t experience students separating each other like this, probably because I was too busy trying to discover who I was, how I fit into my own family plus behavior and listening issues. It seems you handled the situation well. Thank you for sharing.