Practicing Awareness of Microagressions

This week I tried to observe the actions and verbal interactions of my self and others to see if I could detect examples of microagressions.  Over the course of this last week, I traveled by plane, visited two different towns, ate at restaurants, shopped in stores, went to a movie theatre and hiked in a public park.  I am amazed at how many different cultures I encountered over the last 6 days:  Caucasian, Alaska Native, Indian, Vietnamese, Mexican, German, Russian, African American, a child with a severe disability, Russian Orthodox, multiple people from various social economic statuses, plus more that I may not have noticed or recognized. 

I did not notice other people commenting or interacting with others in a microagression manner nor did I experience microagression, but I was surprised by how much I found myself stereotyping people in my thoughts.  I realized this week that I am probably always doing this.  Even though I do this, I do not act in a negative manner on these thoughts.  I know that if I were to encounter these people (rather than be an observer or by-passer in public), I would be open-minded and more that willing to get to know them.  My thoughts are based on my past experiences and the facts that I know about different cultures.  I have concluded that this in itself is not a bad thing; how I act on these thoughts is what really matters. 

The following paragraph from the Teaching Tolerance Website we visited as a resource this week helped me put my thoughts into perspective:

           

The ability to distinguish friend from foe helped early humans survive, and the ability to quickly and automatically categorize people is a fundamental quality of the human mind. Categories give order to life, and every day, we group other people into categories based on social and other characteristics.

Understanding facts about a culture helps me know how to interact with others.  I think I have been successful with respecting people of cultures different than my own.  I know that I have most likely committed microagressions toward others in the past but now I have a greater awareness of how I may offend others unconsciously so will proceed with my thoughts, words and actions toward others, more cautiously.

Reference

Teaching Tolerance. (n.d.). Test yourself for hidden bias. Retrieved May 25, 2011,

from http://www.tolerance.org/activity/test-yourself-hidden-bias