Читать книгу Microaggressions in Everyday Life онлайн | страница 21

Racial microaggressions are similar to aversive racism in that they generally occur below the level of awareness of well‐intentioned people, but microaggressions researchers focus primarily on describing the dynamic interplay between perpetrator and target, classifying everyday manifestations, deconstructing hidden messages, and exploring internal (psychological) and external (disparities in education, employment, and health care) consequences (Dovidio et al., 2019; D. W. Sue & Capodilupo, 2008; D. W. Sue, Capodilupo, & Holder, 2008).

Racial microaggressions also overlap with color‐blind racism. Neville et al. (2013) described color‐blind racial ideology as the distortion, denial, and minimization of race and racism. It comprises a set of beliefs that support the myth of meritocracy (false perception of a level playing field where all people have an equal chance of succeeding) and is the dominant racial ideology in the post–Civil Rights era. Color‐blind racial ideology may involve people saying “I don't see race. I treat all people as individuals.” Or it might deny the existence of racism in contemporary society and blame people of color for their plight. This latter notion was evident especially after Barack Obama was elected as the 44th President of the United States. To some, the election of a Black man as the leader of the free world reflected the idea that racism had ended. Let us return to ssss1 to illustrate the dynamic interplay of racial microaggressions between the professor and the Black students.

The Black students in the class suffered a series of racial microaggressions and macroaggressions delivered unconsciously and unintentionally by Professor Richardson. Rather than thinking he was insulting or invalidating students of color, the professor believed he was teaching the “real” history of psychology, teaching students to think and communicate in an objective fashion, and giving praise to a Black student. That might have been his conscious intent, but students of color perceived invalidating and demeaning hidden messages.