tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/microaggression-16546/articlesMicroaggression – The Conversation2023-12-15T13:22:43Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2140532023-12-15T13:22:43Z2023-12-15T13:22:43ZRacism produces subtle brain changes that lead to increased disease risk in Black populations<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565115/original/file-20231212-21-79wl3z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=50%2C30%2C6659%2C4436&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Coping with everyday affronts comes at a cost and requires a certain level of emotional suppression. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/composite-of-portraits-with-varying-shades-of-skin-royalty-free-image/1249641728?phrase=discrimination&searchscope=image%2Cfilm&adppopup=true">RyanJLane/E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The U.S. is in the midst of a racial reckoning. The COVID-19 pandemic, which took a particularly <a href="https://covidtracking.com/race">heavy toll on Black communities</a>, turned a harsh spotlight on long-standing health disparities that the public could no longer overlook.</p>
<p>Although the health disparities for Black communities have been well known to researchers for decades, the pandemic put real names and faces to these numbers. Compared with white people, Black people are at much greater risk for developing a range of health problems, including <a href="https://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/heart-disease-and-african-americans">heart disease</a>, <a href="https://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/diabetes-and-african-americans">diabetes</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jalz.2018.09.009">dementia</a>. For example, Black people are twice as likely as white people to <a href="https://www.alz.org/media/Documents/alzheimers-facts-and-figures.pdf">develop Alzheimer’s disease</a>.</p>
<p>A vast and growing body of research shows that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-040218-043750">racism contributes to systems that promote health inequities</a>. Most recently, our team has also learned that racism directly contributes to these inequities on a neurobiological level.</p>
<p>We are <a href="https://www.negarfani.com/">clinical</a> <a href="https://www.mcleanhospital.org/profile/nathaniel-harnett">neuroscientists</a> who study the multifaceted ways in which racism affects how our brains develop and function. We use brain imaging to study how trauma such as sexual assault or racial discrimination can cause stress that leads to mental health disorders like depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. </p>
<p>We have studied trauma in the context of a study known as the <a href="https://www.gradytraumaproject.com/">Grady Trauma Project</a>, which has been running for nearly 20 years. This study is largely focused on the trauma and stress of Black people in the metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia, community.</p>
<h2>How discrimination alters the brain</h2>
<p>Racial discrimination is commonly experienced through subtle indignities: a woman clutching her purse as a Black man walks by on the sidewalk, a shopkeeper keeping close watch on a Black woman shopping in a clothing store, a comment about a Black employee being a “diversity hire.” These slights are often referred to as <a href="https://www.med.unc.edu/inclusion/justice-equity-diversity-and-inclusion-j-e-d-i-toolkit/microaggressions-microaffirmations/#">microaggressions</a>.</p>
<p>Decades of research has shown that the everyday burden of these race-related threats, slights and exclusions in day-to-day life translates into a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-040218-043750">real increase in disease risk</a>. But researchers are only beginning to understand how these forms of discrimination affect a person’s biology and overall health.</p>
<p>Our team’s research shows that the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpsc.2022.05.004">everyday burden of racism</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2021.1480">affects the function</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2021.08.011">structure</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-022-01445-8">of the brain</a>. In turn, these changes play a major role in risk for health problems.</p>
<p>For instance, our studies show that racial discrimination <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2021.1480">increases the activity of brain regions</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-023-01737-7">such as the prefrontal cortex</a>, that are involved in regulating emotions. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565418/original/file-20231213-25-bah2a6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Scientist and technologist view brain images." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565418/original/file-20231213-25-bah2a6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565418/original/file-20231213-25-bah2a6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565418/original/file-20231213-25-bah2a6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565418/original/file-20231213-25-bah2a6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565418/original/file-20231213-25-bah2a6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565418/original/file-20231213-25-bah2a6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565418/original/file-20231213-25-bah2a6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Negar Fani and a team member view brain images.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Patrick Heagney</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This increased activity in prefrontal brain regions occurs because responding to these types of affronts requires high-effort coping strategies, such as suppressing emotions. People who have experienced more racial discrimination also show more activation in brain regions that enable them to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2021.100967">inhibit and suppress anger, shock or sadness</a> so that they can curate a socially acceptable response. </p>
<h2>A cost for overcompensating</h2>
<p>Despite the fact that high-energy coping allows people to manage a constant barrage of threats, this comes at a cost.</p>
<p>The more brain energy you use to suppress, control or manage your feelings, the more energy you take away from the rest of the body. Over time, and without prolonged periods of rest, relief and restoration, this can contribute to other problems, a process that public health researcher <a href="https://psc.isr.umich.edu/news/a-monumental-new-book-weathering-arline-geronimuss-lifes-work/">Arline Geronimus termed “weathering</a>.” Having these brain regions in continual overdrive is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113169">linked with</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs12110-010-9078-0">accelerated biological aging</a>, which can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.ssmph.2018.11.003">create vulnerability for health problems</a> and early death. </p>
<p>In our research, we have found that this <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-022-01445-8">weathering process is evident</a> in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2021.08.011">gradual degradation</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpsc.2022.05.004">of brain structure</a>, particularly in the heavily myelinated axons of the brain, known as “<a href="https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/002344.htm#">white matter</a>,” which serve as the brain’s information highways. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565504/original/file-20231213-21-yeiyph.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Computer-generated image of white matter tracts in the brain." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565504/original/file-20231213-21-yeiyph.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565504/original/file-20231213-21-yeiyph.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565504/original/file-20231213-21-yeiyph.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565504/original/file-20231213-21-yeiyph.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565504/original/file-20231213-21-yeiyph.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565504/original/file-20231213-21-yeiyph.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565504/original/file-20231213-21-yeiyph.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rendering of white matter fibers − shown in color − throughout the brain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Negar Fani</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/002261.htm">Myelin</a> is a protective sheath around nerve fibers that allows for improved communication between brain cells. Similar to highways for vehicles, without sufficient maintenance of the myelin, degradation will occur. </p>
<p>Erosion in these brain pathways can affect self-regulation, making a person more vulnerable to developing unhealthy coping strategies for stress, such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2015.15060710">emotional eating or substance use</a>. These behaviors, in turn, can increase one’s risk for a wide variety of health problems. </p>
<p>These racism-related changes in the brain, and their direct effects on coping, may help to explain why Black people are twice as likely to develop brain health problems such as <a href="https://www.alz.org/media/Documents/alzheimers-facts-and-figures.pdf">Alzheimer’s disease</a> compared with white people.</p>
<h2>Recognizing racial gaslighting</h2>
<p>In our view, what makes racism particularly insidious and pernicious to the health of Black people is the societal invalidation that accompanies it. This makes racial trauma effectively invisible. Racism, whether it <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691616659391">originates from people</a> or from institutional systems, is often rationalized, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beth.2020.09.001">excused or dismissed</a>. </p>
<p>Such invalidation leads those who experience racism to second-guess themselves: “Am I just being too sensitive?” People who have the temerity to report racist events are often ridiculed or met with skepticism. This <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41578-021-00361-5">extends to</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2372732220984183">academic spheres</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2020.06.009">as well</a>.</p>
<p>This continual questioning and doubting of the circumstances around racist experiences, or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/21565503.2017.1403934">racial gaslighting</a>, may be part of what depletes the brain of its resources, causing the weathering that ultimately increases vulnerability to brain health problems.</p>
<p>Interrupting this cycle requires that people learn to identify their biases toward people of color and people in marginalized groups more generally, and to understand how those biases may lead to discriminatory words and behavior. We believe that by finding their blind spots, people can see ways in which their actions and behaviors could be viewed as hurtful, exclusionary or offensive. Through recognition of these experiences as racist, people can become allies rather than skeptics. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.institutionalcourage.org/">Institutions can help</a> to create a culture of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.focus.20220045">healing, validation and support</a> for people of color. A validating, supportive institutional culture may help people of color normalize their reactions to these stressors, in addition to the connection – and restoration – they may find within their communities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214053/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Negar Fani receives funding from the National Institutes of Health and Emory University School of Medicine. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nathaniel Harnett receives funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, and the Presidents and Fellows of Harvard College. </span></em></p>Racial threats and slights take a toll on health, but the continual invalidation and questioning of whether those so-called microaggressions exist has an even more insidious effect, research shows.Negar Fani, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Emory UniversityNathaniel Harnett, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1933092023-04-04T01:35:31Z2023-04-04T01:35:31ZWhat are microaggressions? And how can they affect our health?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511582/original/file-20230222-16-acmbcz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=242%2C134%2C5748%2C3233&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/0VFPFbhuyeY">Hermes Rivera/Unsplash</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Microaggressions are seemingly innocuous verbal, behavioural or environmental slights against members of minority communities. </p>
<p>The term microaggressions was coined by American psychiatrist <a href="https://www.mghglobalpsychiatry.org/chesterpierce.php">Chester Pierce</a> in his 1970 essay <a href="https://dokumen.tips/documents/offensive-mechanisms-chester-pierce.html?page=1">Offensive Mechanisms</a>. He explained:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Most offensive actions are not gross and crippling. They are subtle and stunning. The enormity of the complications they cause can be appreciated only when one considers that these subtle blows are delivered incessantly. Even though any single negotiation of offence can in justice be considered of itself to be relatively innocuous, the cumulative effect to the victim and to the victimiser is of an unimaginable magnitude. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>While originally conceived in the context of race relations, microaggressions may also relate to gender, sexual orientation, religion, disability status, weight, or a <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1745691621991855">combination</a> of these. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/discrimination-against-fat-people-is-so-endemic-most-of-us-dont-even-realise-its-happening-94862">Discrimination against fat people is so endemic, most of us don’t even realise it’s happening</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What do microaggressions look like?</h2>
<p>Consider these situations. All are real-life stories from people of colour I know (used with their consent): </p>
<ul>
<li><p>a woman walks into a hairdresser’s shop. The shop is empty and the hairdresser is cleaning hair from the floor. The woman asks if she could get a haircut – if not right now, perhaps another day. The hairdresser says she can’t help as she is not taking on any new customers.</p></li>
<li><p>a man is waiting to pick up his partner in his car, parked on a side street near his partner’s apartment, which is located in a predominantly white suburb. He is minding his own business sitting in his own car. Each time a person walks by, they stare at the man, and keep staring as they walk past.</p></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/microaggressions-arent-just-innocent-blunders-research-links-them-with-racial-bias-145894">Microaggressions aren't just innocent blunders – research links them with racial bias</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<ul>
<li>a couple is waiting to order coffee in a busy city cafe. The server is chatty with the white couple ahead of them. When they progress to the front of the line, the server is curt, avoids eye contact, and is eager to move on to the next customer. After placing their order, the couple stands where other patrons had previously waited for their orders. A staff member comes over and asks the couple to wait outside instead.</li>
</ul>
<p>Examples of microaggressions towards other identity minorities may include <a href="https://www.ed.ac.uk/equality-diversity/students/microaggressions/lgbtq-microaggressions/trans-and-or-non-binary-microaggressions/commontrans-and-non-binary-based-microaggression">moving away</a> from a trans person on public transport, or not considering wheelchair accessibility needs when booking venues for meetings or events.</p>
<p>Each of these incidents in isolation may not seem particularly harmful, and some may even chalk them up to coincidences or “reading too much into a situation”. </p>
<p>However, when experienced repeatedly, daily, or even multiple times a day, they can harm people’s psychological and physical health.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hDd3bzA7450?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Microaggressions are like death by a thousand mosquito bites/Fusion Comedy.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Microaggressions are subtle</h2>
<p>Microaggressions are often so subtle that even the victim may not realise that they have just experienced one until later – likely because microaggressions are often <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00107530.2020.1780816">accompanied with dissociation</a> (i.e. disconnection from thoughts, feelings or personal sense of identity). </p>
<p>As psychologist Ron Taffel <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00107530.2020.1780816">explains</a>, dissociation is a “psychically handy” tool that helps ease the pain,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>making sure that the moment does not fully register or does its damage until a less vulnerable time later – perhaps during a quiet time alone… </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Microaggressions affect our physical and mental health</h2>
<p>Microaggressions can occur in all environments, from the workplace, to shops, medical clinics, schools, universities, even while walking or parked on the street. So victims often become increasingly self-conscious and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09518398.2020.1735556">hypervigilant</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Queer person sits at dinner table" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511886/original/file-20230223-16-rqlcac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511886/original/file-20230223-16-rqlcac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511886/original/file-20230223-16-rqlcac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511886/original/file-20230223-16-rqlcac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511886/original/file-20230223-16-rqlcac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511886/original/file-20230223-16-rqlcac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511886/original/file-20230223-16-rqlcac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Having to be constantly vigilant is a significant burden.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/m7D2Oz3DqPA">Unsplash/Aiden Frazier</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The impacts of microaggressions may extend beyond psychological burden and also impact the body’s <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/17456916211019944?journalCode=ppsa">physiological state</a>. </p>
<p>When humans perceive a sense of imminent danger, the body’s “<a href="https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/meeting-minds/2018/oral-pres-full/21/">fight, flight, freeze response</a>” is activated. While this is a useful evolutionary mechanism to protect us from physical danger, when triggered frequently – as may be the case with microaggressions – it can take a <a href="https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/understanding-the-stress-response">toll on the body</a> and contribute to issues such as high blood pressure, anxiety, depression and addiction. </p>
<p>Racial microaggressions have also been associated with suicide risk. <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/sltb.12150">One study</a> found experiencing race-related microaggressions leads to more symptoms of depression, which in turn increases thoughts of suicide. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-words-matter-the-negative-impacts-of-racial-microaggressions-on-indigenous-and-other-racialized-people-157637">Why words matter: The negative impacts of racial microaggressions on Indigenous and other racialized people</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Microaggressions may deter people from seeking help</h2>
<p>Health issues among victims may be further compounded when microaggressions are experienced in the health-care sector. A <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fa0022251">study from 2011</a> found that sexual orientation-related microaggressions (for example, <a href="https://www.ed.ac.uk/equality-diversity/students/microaggressions/lgbtq-microaggressions/sexuality-based-microaggressions/common-sexuality-based-microaggressions">derogatory comments</a> or assumptions about a person’s sexual orientation) reduced the likelihood of LGBTIQ+ people seeking psychotherapy and impacted their attitudes towards therapy and therapists.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.jabfm.org/content/jabfp/28/2/231.full.pdf">Research</a> involving Indigenous people also suggests microaggressions impact help-seeking behaviours in this group (such as not scheduling or attending regular health-care appointments), which subsequently increases the risk of hospitalisation.</p>
<h2>Indirect effects of microaggressions</h2>
<p>Microaggressions may also impact people’s health status indirectly. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0732118X21000441">Research</a> suggests repeated microaggressions can cause marginalised groups to internalise feelings of inadequacy. </p>
<p>Over time, this internalised oppression may impact their academic and professional success, and consequently socioeconomic status. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511884/original/file-20230223-26-y7af47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511884/original/file-20230223-26-y7af47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511884/original/file-20230223-26-y7af47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511884/original/file-20230223-26-y7af47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511884/original/file-20230223-26-y7af47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511884/original/file-20230223-26-y7af47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511884/original/file-20230223-26-y7af47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Feelings of inadequacy can hold people back.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/concentrated-diverse-colleagues-working-on-laptop-and-brainstorming-4353594/">Pexels/Ketut Subiyanto</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Sceptics and victim-blaming</h2>
<p>Sceptics often attribute microaggressions to victims’ “negative emotionality” – a tendency to show negative affect and always feel like a victim. </p>
<p>However, proponents argue that this is a form of <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/17456916211011963">victim-blaming</a> that further compounds the harm caused by microaggressions. </p>
<p>Clinical psychologist Monnica Williams <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1745691619827499">suggests</a> that the years of unchecked microaggressions themselves could be the very thing to cause negativity in marginalised people.</p>
<h2>Victims’ responses to microaggressors</h2>
<p>Victims’ responses to microaggressions can vary among people, and among events experienced by the same person. Victims have to regularly <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00107530.2020.1780816">decide</a> whether to let it slide or confront the aggressor. </p>
<p>The discourse on microaggressions in social media seems to be on the rise. <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2056305120975716">One study</a> found that there was a drastic increase in the usage of the term “microaggression” on Twitter between 2010 and 2018. Social media discussions and other online spaces may help victims (particularly younger people) to <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/2332649220933307">respond more critically</a> to microaggressors. </p>
<p>Other technological innovations, such as the virtual reality-based intervention <a href="https://partner.equalreality.com/training/unpacking-bias">Equal Reality</a>, are also helping people walk in another’s shoes, recognise unconscious bias, mitigate risk of microaggressions, and promote more inclusive workplaces.</p>
<p><em>If this article has raised issues for you, or if you’re concerned about someone you know, call Lifeline on 13 11 14.</em></p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-a-name-microaggression-and-could-you-be-doing-it-without-knowing-196272">What is a name microaggression and could you be doing it without knowing?</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193309/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mahima Kalla does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>While each microaggression may not seem particularly harmful, they add up and can erode the psychological and physical health of people in minority groups.Mahima Kalla, Digital Health Transformation Research Fellow, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1962722022-12-16T00:47:45Z2022-12-16T00:47:45ZWhat is a name microaggression and could you be doing it without knowing?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500264/original/file-20221212-95892-3bblu5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5134%2C3420&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Research has found people with ethnic-sounding names have felt they need to use more "English-friendly" names to be considered for job interviews.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/nervous-young-asian-job-applicant-wait-1191901768">shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>All names of participants mentioned are pseudonyms to protect their identity.</em></p>
<p>In our <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/abs/translingual-discrimination/A06C7583094053B76CFC2850A2020162">recent study</a> of 150 non-English speaking background migrants and refugees living in Australia, nearly 80% revealed using their birth names in their CVs led to fewer call-backs or no response at all.</p>
<p>This highlights language-based discrimination, and is an example of “name microaggressions” – negative assumptions based on ethnic-sounding names.</p>
<p>Our participants said experiencing microaggressions against their birth names has taken a heavy psychological toll on them. </p>
<h2>What is name microaggression?</h2>
<p>Name microaggression refers to a stigma based on negative assumptions associated with migrants and refugees, purely based on their ethnic-sounding birth names. <a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-in-a-name-how-recruitment-discriminates-against-foreign-applicants-160695">Research has found</a> more ethnic-sounding birth names can cause unfounded negative beliefs about the person, such as being less skilled or less capable than someone with a more Anglo-sounding name.</p>
<p>Name microaggressions can present as names being mispronounced, misspelled, misunderstood, misgendered, or mocked. A common occurrence is for some people choosing to use a more “English-friendly” variation of a migrant’s name <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/tesq.3179">instead</a> of the person’s birth name if it’s not easy to say, spell or remember. This microaggression is an act of symbolic violence that is not always intentional, but is still hurtful and disrespectful.</p>
<p>Our participants talked about why name microaggressions are so hurtful, describing how their birth name carries crucial cultural, ethnic, linguistic, and family significance. Many participants suffered and continue to suffer from <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13670050.2020.1759504">psychological distress</a> and negative emotions such as embarrassment, self-shaming, fear, anxiety, and nervousness when they hear their names mispronounced.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1208112927779282945"}"></div></p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/as-the-2022-aflm-season-comes-to-a-close-the-game-must-ask-itself-some-difficult-questions-especially-on-racism-190847">As the 2022 AFLM season comes to a close, the game must ask itself some difficult questions – especially on racism</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<h2>Name microaggressions are often barriers to employment</h2>
<p>Our interview data found newly arrived migrants and refugees who use their birth names seem to be the most vulnerable. Because their birth name sounds different, looks odd or is hard to pronounce, their skills and qualifications are discounted or rejected in institutional contexts such as <a href="https://academic.oup.com/applij/article/43/2/365/6353559">recruitment and employment</a>.</p>
<p>Name microaggression is primarily found in the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0001839216639577?casa_token=X03QzABQA-MAAAAA:j-kepa2s6F-SInAO0MeiBH0t_-7BYDyXKpiCMjSe4CtTsgeTuQWQH_gPT3xUPvOSud1pG6i51Dju2w">initial hiring process</a> of recruitment when a candidate’s CV is examined before they decide whether to go ahead with an interview. </p>
<p>As a result, most migrants in the study claimed to have adopted a “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/17/jobs-search-hiring-racial-discrimination-resume-whitening-callbacks">CV whitening</a>” strategy by using an <a href="https://academic.oup.com/applij/article/43/2/365/6353559">alternative English name</a>. </p>
<p>For example, one research participant, Oksana (pseudonym) from Ukraine, has altered her birth name by removing her heavily “post-Soviet sounding/looking” last name “Пугачева” (Pugacheva) to give a more Western feel. Instead she uses “Pugachev” in order to sound more Western.</p>
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<p>Name microaggressions are not limited to job recruitment. We found most of our participants adopted “renaming practices” in every day life. This involves choosing new Anglo-sounding names instead of correcting their teachers, peers, friends, and colleagues when their names are mispronounced. </p>
<p>Some Chinese participants replaced their names with English names during their adolescent years while taking English classes in China. </p>
<p>As a result, many Chinese students offer <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14681366.2021.1900345">alternative Australian-sounding names</a> – Andy instead of Wang, Grace instead of Qian.</p>
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<h2>The wider (whiter) community needs to do better</h2>
<p>The first step in maintaining an inclusive multicultural society is to start respecting migrants’ birth names. Names are identities and histories. Names not only specify and individualise their bearers but also serve as means of empowerment and belonging. This sense of belonging connects them to their respective cultures, and the correct usage of birth names can bring a feeling of belonging in society.</p>
<p>When educators, policymakers, or employers practise name microaggressions, they convey a message that people’s racial, ethnic, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds don’t matter.</p>
<p>Most employers in Australia explicitly declare their commitment to diversity. But our research shows they still engage in these microaggressions against migrants. Someone’s birth name may not seem like a big deal, but it shows a significant expression of ignorance. </p>
<p>Workplaces, schools, colleges and universities need to improve their efforts to build an inclusive environment that accepts diverse names originating from many different languages. </p>
<p>Social justice, diversity and inclusion all start here.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196272/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sender Dovchin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Name microaggression refers to negative assumptions about people with ethnic-sounding birth names. This can lead to bigger acts of discrimination, which causes harm to people with these names.Sender Dovchin, Associate Professor and the Director of Research, Curtin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1789882022-03-16T01:44:35Z2022-03-16T01:44:35ZWith COVID restrictions easing, should Black professionals have to return to hostile workplaces?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451172/original/file-20220310-22-2szmpe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/serious-international-diverse-business-team-people-1536454802">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As COVID restrictions ease, many employers are encouraging staff to return to the office. While some may be looking forward to this, others are dreading going back to places where they previously experienced daily racism and <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17516773/">microaggressions</a>.</p>
<p>There is increasing pressure on Black professionals to return to workplaces where racist environments pose serious risks to their well-being and health.</p>
<p>In this article, we use the word <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/702745/pdf">Black</a> to refer to political identities connected to ancestry, as well as a cultural and social experience of race. Here, we use it to communicate <a href="https://journal.acs.org.au/index.php/ajis/article/view/1570">shared recognition</a> of trauma and fear caused by racism among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and Black African peoples. </p>
<p>The shared use of the term also indicates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ ongoing solidarity and connections with other Black peoples around the world.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/tokenised-silenced-new-research-reveals-indigenous-public-servants-experiences-of-racism-141372">'Tokenised, silenced': new research reveals Indigenous public servants' experiences of racism</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<h2>Workplace racism and microaggressions</h2>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="A person sits in an armchair with a laptop." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451502/original/file-20220311-13-1z0whct.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451502/original/file-20220311-13-1z0whct.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451502/original/file-20220311-13-1z0whct.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451502/original/file-20220311-13-1z0whct.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451502/original/file-20220311-13-1z0whct.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451502/original/file-20220311-13-1z0whct.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451502/original/file-20220311-13-1z0whct.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Working from home arrangements can offer some workers a much needed respite from white corporate culture and racist environments.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com.au/detail/photo/laptop-computer-aboriginal-woman-royalty-free-image/498422891?adppopup=true">GettyImages</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Examples of racial microaggressions include racialised comments on people’s appearance, speech and identity, as well as unfair scrutiny of their professional expertise and performance.</p>
<p>The 2020 <a href="https://www.dca.org.au/research/project/gari-yala-speak-truth-centreing-experiences-aboriginal-andor-torres-strait-islander">Gari Yala (Speak the Truth)</a> survey of more than 1,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees found substantial experiences of racism in workplaces. Of those surveyed, 44% reported hearing racial slurs sometimes, often or always in their workplace, while 59% reported receiving comments about the way they look or “should” look as an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://academic.oup.com/bjsw/article-abstract/51/2/655/6048178?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false">2021 study</a>, social work scholar Kathomi Gatwiri described Australian workplaces as “battlegrounds” for Black African professionals where both overt and covert racial microaggressions are commonplace.</p>
<p>Gatwiri <a href="https://theconversation.com/battlegrounds-highly-skilled-black-african-professionals-on-racial-microaggressions-at-work-149169">defines</a> racial microaggressions as “everyday” or “passive” racism. These serve to invalidate the expertise of Black people while positioning white expertise as “best practice”. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/if-bullying-can-happen-to-christine-holgate-at-the-highest-level-then-what-happens-to-other-women-at-work-158956">If bullying can happen to Christine Holgate at the highest level, then what happens to other women at work?</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The myth of “merit”</h2>
<p>The racism may not be overt at times, but it is still incredibly damaging and harmful. As race scholar Deb Bargallie demonstrates in her 2020 <a href="https://shop.aiatsis.gov.au/products/unmasking-the-racial-contract">book</a> on racism in the public service, employers can discriminate under the guise of “merit” and “performance”. This places blame on employees experiencing racism rather than holding the organisation accountable. </p>
<p>Bargallie tells the story of <a href="https://www.sydney.edu.au/charles-perkins-centre/about/who-is-charles-perkins.html">Charles Perkins</a> who, even as a widely respected activist and a high-ranking public servant in Aboriginal Affairs, experienced systematic racism from white executives, managers and colleagues throughout his career. Describing his first six months at the Office of Aboriginal Affairs, Perkins <a href="https://aiatsis.gov.au/sites/default/files/e_access/book/m0063258/m0063258_a.htm">said</a> </p>
<blockquote>
<p>People set out deliberately to show me where I belonged (or should belong), and to make me feel completely an inferior person and nonentity.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1497824318755164161"}"></div></p>
<h2>The US experience</h2>
<p>In the US, others have <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/23/us/return-to-office-anxiety.html">observed</a> a similar reluctance to return to the office among racial minorities. </p>
<p>In a 2021 survey by Slack’s <a href="https://futureforum.com/press/slack-survey-finds-97-of-black-knowledge-workers-want-the-future-of-the-office-to-be-remote-or-hybrid/">Future Forum</a>, 97% of Black participants in the US reported a preference for remote working conditions. In another <a href="https://futureforum.com/2021/03/11/dismantling-the-office-moving-from-retrofit-to-redesign/">Future Forum survey</a>, 64% of Black respondents said they found it easier to manage stress when working from home.</p>
<p>Even before the pandemic, researchers <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17547075.2016.1189308">argued</a> close quarters and open plan office designs in many workplaces further exacerbate existing racial tensions and inequalities.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-let-it-rip-covid-strategy-has-meant-for-indigenous-and-other-immune-compromised-communities-176664">What the 'let it rip' COVID strategy has meant for Indigenous and other immune-compromised communities</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>This is about health and safety</h2>
<p>Australian employers have <a href="https://www.safework.nsw.gov.au/safety-starts-here/safety-support/your-rights-and-responsibilities-for-health-and-safety/worker-health-and-safety-rights-and-responsibilities">legal obligations</a> to provide their employees with safe work conditions and environments.</p>
<p>Given racism is endemic in many workplaces, some employers will now be asking Black professionals to return to environments that pose <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12889-021-11363-x">serious risks</a> to our mental and physical health.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/racism-is-a-public-health-crisis-but-black-death-tolls-arent-the-answer-176453">Racism is a public health crisis – but Black death tolls aren't the answer</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In Australia, as with other predominantly white colonial nations, racism against Black peoples is a <a href="https://theconversation.com/racism-is-a-public-health-crisis-but-black-death-tolls-arent-the-answer-176453">public health crisis</a>. Race-related stress contributes to significant health and life-expectancy disparities between white and Black peoples.</p>
<p>This is on top of the already serious public health risk of COVID, which has <a href="https://www.ussc.edu.au/analysis/covid-19-the-big-questions-why-are-racial-minorities-and-first-nations-communities-more-impacted-by-covid-19">most severely impacted</a> Black and Indigenous communities around the world. </p>
<p>In Australia, state governments have been <a href="https://www.croakey.org/what-living-with-covid-really-means-for-so-many-people/">criticised</a> for rolling back health restrictions without proper consultation with vulnerable communities, even as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people face an increased <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanwpc/article/PIIS2666-6065(20)30007-9/fulltext">mortality risk</a>.</p>
<p>If Black professionals can work from home, and feel safer when they do so, this is one measure employers can take to protect staff from the harms of racial discrimination – and an ongoing pandemic. </p>
<p>While working from home does not negate racism, it may offer respite from constant scrutiny and racialised commentary in the workplace, in addition to the more general <a href="https://theconversation.com/work-life-balance-in-a-pandemic-a-public-health-issue-we-cannot-ignore-155492">work-life balance</a> benefits, such as being able to both work and care for loved ones at home.</p>
<p>Workplaces now have a rare opportunity to create viable anti-racist change for Black employees.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/178988/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Many employers are encouraging staff to return to workplaces after two years of working from home. For some, this means returning to racist work environments.Madi Day, Lecturer, Department of Indigenous Studies, Macquarie UniversitySarah Demekech Graham, PhD Candidate, the Department of Gender and Cultural Studies, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1683632021-11-04T12:27:38Z2021-11-04T12:27:38ZRacial discrimination is linked to suicidal thoughts in Black adults and children<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426017/original/file-20211012-17-1b7su46.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=58%2C29%2C6437%2C4874&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Researchers are exploring the impacts that racial discrimination is having on Black Americans' emotional and psychological health.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/let-me-help-you-royalty-free-image/939030782?adppopup=true">PeopleImages via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Frederick Douglass is regarded as one of the most prominent abolitionists the world has ever seen. Alongside his extraordinary contributions as an influential <a href="https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/coretexts/_files/resources/texts/c/1852%20Douglass%20July%204.pdf">speaker</a>, <a href="https://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/douglass55/douglass55.html">writer</a>
and human rights advocate, Douglass – who was born into slavery and gained freedom in <a href="https://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/douglass/douglass.html">September 1838</a> – also wrote openly about his struggles with suicidal thoughts. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.loc.gov/collections/frederick-douglass-papers/about-this-collection/">Douglass’ writings</a> are both revolutionary and transformative, particularly when considering that he lived during a time when several anti-literacy laws prevented enslaved Black persons from learning to read and write. </p>
<p>Douglass published his <a href="https://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/douglass/douglass.html">first autobiography</a> – “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” – in 1845. In it, he boldly shared, “I often found myself regretting my own existence, and wishing myself dead; and but for the hope of being free, I have no doubt that I should have killed myself, or done something for which I should have been killed.” </p>
<p>It’s not hard to imagine why formerly enslaved persons like Douglass would consider ending their own lives. It may, however, be harder for some to understand the links between racism, discrimination and thoughts of suicide among Black Americans today. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Portrait photograph of Frederick Douglass." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427295/original/file-20211019-27-1awg672.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427295/original/file-20211019-27-1awg672.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=844&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427295/original/file-20211019-27-1awg672.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=844&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427295/original/file-20211019-27-1awg672.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=844&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427295/original/file-20211019-27-1awg672.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1060&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427295/original/file-20211019-27-1awg672.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1060&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427295/original/file-20211019-27-1awg672.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1060&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Frederick Douglass described how his feelings of despair were countered by his hope of becoming free.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nps.gov/media/photo/gallery-item.htm?pg=2813693&id=3020EE0B-1DD8-B71C-075CB26DC2D69D44&gid=3020ED03-1DD8-B71C-07C2C1EA7AD31EF7">Frederick Douglass National Historic Site/NPS</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The United States abolished chattel slavery through the <a href="https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/CivilWarAmendments.htm">13th Amendment</a> in 1865. However, Black Americans are still grappling with the effects of both <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abj7779">structural</a> and <a href="https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=1XA5DQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=philomena+everyday+racism&ots=afTXYfxkGI&sig=McgPlpVf3dOf5BPJcEUdk9RoaEQ#v=onepage&q=philomena%20everyday%20racism&f=false">everyday </a> forms of racism that permeate U.S. customs, culture and laws. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://neubauerassistantprofessors.uchicago.edu/faculty/janelle-goodwill/">researcher and assistant professor</a> at the University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy and Practice, I <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Z5Ihr7IAAAAJ&hl=en">explore how factors</a> like discrimination, stigma and depression contribute to suicide risk in Black Americans. I also assess how positive psychological forces – like having a sense of life purpose or receiving social support from others – may improve an individual’s mental health outcomes. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-032814-112728">Several studies</a> have reported that exposure to discrimination is related to negative mental and physical health outcomes in Black Americans. These can include increased rates of depression, hypertension and sleep disturbance. Fewer studies have explored how racial discrimination is related to suicidal risk.</p>
<p>Therefore, in 2019 I <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13811118.2019.1660287">led a study</a> that examined whether racial discrimination was linked to depression and suicidal thoughts in adult Black men. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/pain-of-police-killings-ripples-outward-to-traumatize-black-people-and-communities-across-us-159624">events that have unfolded</a> since this study was published underscore the need for this line of research.</p>
<p>My work, along with research done by a host of other scholars, affirms that any attempt to systematically address inequitable treatment of Black Americans – such as the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/10/19/executive-order-on-white-house-initiative-on-advancing-educational-equity-excellence-and-economic-opportunity-for-black-americans/">recent White House executive order</a> on advancing educational equity and economic opportunity – should also account for the ways in which racial discrimination has impacted mental health outcomes among this particular population. </p>
<h2>Racial discrimination and mental health</h2>
<p>My co-authors and I analyzed survey responses from more than 1,200 African American men ages 18 to 93 who resided in different states across the U.S. Data was originally collected from 2001 to 2003 through the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/mpr.177">National Survey of American Life</a>. This project was led by the late social psychologist James S. Jackson, <a href="https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/james-jackson-tribute">whose groundbreaking career</a> shifted the way that Black Americans were represented and studied in research. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR20240.v8">This survey</a> is one of the few nationally representative data sources that uses probability – or random – sampling to explicitly address the mental health experiences of Black adolescents and adults. </p>
<p>We decided to focus our study on Black men because historically, Black males have been four to six times <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1049731517702745">more likely to die by suicide</a> compared to Black females. </p>
<p>Participants in this national survey were asked to indicate how frequently they encountered discrimination in their everyday lives. The experiences surveyed ranged from being treated with less courtesy or respect to being harassed and followed in stores, along with being perceived as dishonest, not smart or not as good as others. </p>
<p>We analyzed men’s responses with a series of statistical tests that measured whether different forms of discrimination were related to negative mental health outcomes. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13811118.2019.1660287">We found that</a> Black men who reported more frequent encounters with racial discrimination were more likely to experience depression symptoms and thoughts of suicide at some point during their lifetime. </p>
<p>These <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13811118.2019.1660287">findings suggest</a> that experiences of discrimination do not have to be overt or extreme in order to be harmful. Rather, regularly occurring acts of racial discrimination that may initially seem minor can become increasingly stressful over time.</p>
<p>When interpreting these results, it is important to note that we analyzed findings from a cross-sectional study. This means that surveys were administered to participants at only one point in time. Therefore, we were able to establish associations among the variables, but cannot use this data to confirm that racial discrimination caused subsequent thoughts of suicide. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, our findings still offer an important step forward by establishing that links between racial discrimination, depression symptoms and lifetime suicidal thoughts do exist. </p>
<h2>Mental health of Black children and youth</h2>
<p>Our study builds on other research that has also identified links between racial discrimination and suicidal thoughts in Black Americans. </p>
<p>For example, University of Houston clinical psychologist Rheeda Walker and her colleagues <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/sltb.12251">found that among 722 Black children</a>, experiences of racial discrimination were linked to more depression and greater odds of suicidal thoughts two years later. Members of the research team contacted participants two times and asked the same survey questions - once at age 10 and again at age 12. </p>
<p>Findings generated from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/sltb.12251">their 2017 study</a> are particularly meaningful because the authors analyzed data over time, which allowed them to confirm that racial discrimination significantly predicts an increase in suicidal thoughts, and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/sltb.12251">not the other way around</a>. </p>
<p>Since then, clinicians, researchers and organizational leaders have partnered with members of the <a href="https://cbc.house.gov/">Congressional Black Caucus</a> to call attention to the urgent mental health needs of Black youth. In 2019, this group created an emergency task force and released a <a href="https://watsoncoleman.house.gov/uploadedfiles/full_taskforce_report.pdf">powerful report</a> that carefully describes the current state of suicide among Black youth. </p>
<p>As detailed in various studies, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2018.0399">Black children ages 5 to 12 </a>
were two times more likely to die by suicide relative to white children, with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2015.0465">young Black boys</a> being particularly vulnerable to suicide risk. Notably, rates of suicide have also significantly increased among Black teenage girls in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2021.08.021">recent years</a>. </p>
<p>In response to these concerns, leaders at the National Institutes of Health have <a href="https://www.nimh.nih.gov/about/director/messages/2020/addressing-the-crisis-of-black-youth-suicide">allocated research funds and invited applications</a> for projects promoting suicide prevention among Black youth. </p>
<p>Researchers have also begun to explore the links between structural forms of racism and suicide risk. For instance, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2019.11.128">a study published in 2020</a> found that being unfairly fired from a job and experiencing abuse from the police were linked to suicidal thoughts, plans and attempts among Black adults.</p>
<p>Despite these advances in research, it remains unclear whether any existing suicide prevention interventions account for the specific ways that racial discrimination impacts Black Americans’ psychological and emotional well-being. </p>
<p>Therefore, it will be essential for researchers, clinicians and community members to work together in promoting the mental health needs of Black children and adults, while simultaneously encouraging Black Americans to hold on to the hope that Frederick Douglass professed more than 175 years ago.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/168363/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Janelle R. Goodwill does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The evidence is growing that experiencing both systemic and everyday race-based discrimination may lead some Black Americans to become depressed and think about suicide.Janelle R. Goodwill, Assistant Professor of Social Work, Policy, and Practice, University of ChicagoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1491692021-01-11T01:04:14Z2021-01-11T01:04:14ZBattlegrounds: highly skilled Black African professionals on racial microaggressions at work<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367859/original/file-20201105-17-1034e6j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=37%2C0%2C8339%2C4661&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Highly skilled Black African professionals report experiences of racial microaggressions at work are common and are expressed in a variety of ways. My <a href="https://academic.oup.com/bjsw/advance-article/doi/10.1093/bjsw/bcaa145/6048178">recent study</a> published in the British Journal of Social Work has found workplaces can be “battlegrounds for racism”. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.cpedv.org/sites/main/files/file-attachments/how_to_be_an_effective_ally-lessons_learned_microaggressions.pdf">Microaggressions</a> are defined as:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>…brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioural and environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights […] put-downs, or a pattern of disrespect.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Racial microaggressions in the workplace generally take covert or subtle forms, and may be conceptualised as “everyday” or “passive” racism that serve to invalidate or inferiorise the expertise of Black people while positioning white expertise as the standard of “best practice”.</p>
<p>I interviewed 27 Black African professionals, most of whom held senior roles working in medicine, academia, nursing, teaching, banking and finance, IT, engineering and social work. </p>
<p>The participants reported feeling the workplace was a site of constant surveillance and scrutiny, where they were often assumed to be “out of place”.</p>
<h2>Ongoing professional scrutiny and questioning</h2>
<p>When participants were asked to describe their professional experiences in the workplace, including how their expertise was perceived (or responded to), many reported feeling like they were always viewed through a deficit lens. This contributed to their professional expertise being constantly scrutinised and questioned.</p>
<p>Wanjiru*, a senior nurse, reflected: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>When (I) report to work […] I will introduce myself… [and say] I am so-and-so and I am working in this ward this afternoon or this morning or this night. They (would) already know… that there is a registered nurse coming. But you still find them questioning, which I don’t see happening – with Caucasian nurses; but they will question me two or three times. And even to make sure that I am [a] registered nurse, they will check my badge to see if my initials read ‘registered nurse’, so I still feel like they do not believe me. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Mukisa, a medical doctor, said when he moved to a regional town, patients would ask not to be treated by him. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The issue was at work [was] patients were refusing to see me because I am Black […]. It was a long time just adjusting, so I had to prove myself to be that kind of a doctor I am […] it took about 12-18 months to really prove that I had the skill that was equivalent with my colleagues or better than my (white) colleagues, so it takes that long. I always say if you are an African, you need to do things ten times better than the locals.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368159/original/file-20201108-17-1tn2gvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A nurse takes a break in a hospital." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368159/original/file-20201108-17-1tn2gvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368159/original/file-20201108-17-1tn2gvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368159/original/file-20201108-17-1tn2gvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368159/original/file-20201108-17-1tn2gvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368159/original/file-20201108-17-1tn2gvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368159/original/file-20201108-17-1tn2gvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368159/original/file-20201108-17-1tn2gvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many of our interviewees described having their professional competence scrutinised and questioned at work.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Nkandu, a senior accountant, reflected:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>When you are Black and you are a professional, you have to prove yourself. Any person has to prove themselves, even white people have to prove themselves at work, but I think the biggest difference is with Africans or a Black person like myself, you <em>always</em> have to keep proving yourself, and sometimes that is [not enough].</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>The patterns of racial microaggressions at work</h2>
<p>John, a senior finance expert described how the subtleness of racial microaggressions contributes to the difficulty of “naming the problem.”</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There are some subtle discriminatory behaviours (in the workplace). They are so subtle that sometimes you question your mind whether, ‘Am I really seeing these or not?’</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Unlike explicit racism, which is obvious and can be easily named, racial microaggressions are benign, hidden and implicit, and therefore harder to “call out” or decipher.</p>
<p>Sally, a microbiologist, said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Sometimes somebody says something (at work), you think, ‘Oh! Is this
because I am African?’ and it just brings that extra pressure [to constantly prove yourself] even when people do not [mean it] negatively.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Vera, a senior social worker, spoke of being left out of workplace group activities, such as an instance when a card being signed for a colleague’s baby shower was passed to everybody except to her.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368163/original/file-20201108-15-12hi9n6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman and man talk at work while looking at an iPad." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368163/original/file-20201108-15-12hi9n6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368163/original/file-20201108-15-12hi9n6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368163/original/file-20201108-15-12hi9n6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368163/original/file-20201108-15-12hi9n6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368163/original/file-20201108-15-12hi9n6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368163/original/file-20201108-15-12hi9n6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368163/original/file-20201108-15-12hi9n6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some participants in the study reported having to contend with the assumption Black people in senior positions are hired to fill a ‘diversity quota’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Microaggressions are also expressed when experienced and highly qualified people of colour are passed over for promotions or to backfill senior positions when an opportunity was present. Julie said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>[…] those opportunities are not very easily given to people of colour unfortunately. I can tell you this, many a time you find [white] people coming from other places to come, fill that position for a month, and go back while you were there, and you are thinking I could do this role. </p>
<p>So, it tends to make you feel not valued and you kind of resolve back to doing the bare minimum because you feel like you may not want to do more because there is no reason for you to do that. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Some reported having to contend with the assumption that Black people in senior positions are hired to fill a “diversity quota”, not due to their qualifications
and expertise. Awinja recalled an instance where she and a colleague of colour were told by a Caucasian colleague:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>You are very lucky to be be managers … in this organisation’ […] I said, ‘Are we lucky or are we skilled?’ Right now, it is much better than it was before. In the beginning, I think, they saw me as an African or a CALD (culturally and linguistically diverse) person who had just been <em>given</em> a job.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The assumption is that their employment is an undeserved favour and not one that has been earned through merit.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367654/original/file-20201105-23-1pv3nql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man speaks while on a Zoom call." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367654/original/file-20201105-23-1pv3nql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367654/original/file-20201105-23-1pv3nql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367654/original/file-20201105-23-1pv3nql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367654/original/file-20201105-23-1pv3nql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367654/original/file-20201105-23-1pv3nql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367654/original/file-20201105-23-1pv3nql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367654/original/file-20201105-23-1pv3nql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some interviewees told us they suspected others didn’t take what they said seriously.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘As soon as they hear you speak’</h2>
<p>Microaggressions are also enacted on accents, whereby African accents are considered undesirable in the workplace. The inability to speak colloquial Australian English often disadvantages them because racial stereotypes can summoned through speech.</p>
<p>Banji, a senior academic, reported instances in which:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… you may be speaking in a meeting, and because your accent is African, you can tell that as soon as they hear you speak, … they are quizzical. Looking at some people’s faces, sometimes you just get a sense that they are not taking what you are saying as seriously.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://www.academia.edu/6833643/Black_nurse_in_white_space_Rethinking_the_in_visibility_of_race_within_the_Australian_nursing_workplace">Accent discrimination</a> is a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/682046?seq=1">well-documented phenomenon</a> that closes economic doors – especially for immigrants of colour, where English is not their first language. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368160/original/file-20201108-13-1daub1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A doctor and a patient have a chat." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368160/original/file-20201108-13-1daub1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368160/original/file-20201108-13-1daub1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368160/original/file-20201108-13-1daub1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368160/original/file-20201108-13-1daub1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368160/original/file-20201108-13-1daub1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368160/original/file-20201108-13-1daub1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368160/original/file-20201108-13-1daub1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many Black African professionals report experiencing patterns of racial microaggressions at work in Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The race-free workplace?</h2>
<p>Findings from this study reveal the often-accepted narrative of “race-free” workplaces is not supported by many Black African immigrants who report constant, subtle, and covert patterns of racial microaggressions in the workplace.</p>
<p>In their paper <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2158244017720483">Blackness as Burden? The Lived Experience of Black Africans in Australia</a>, researchers Virginia Mapedzahama and Kwamena Kwansah-Aidoo wrote that, for Black people in Australia: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Their [Black] skin, which follows them everywhere, causes them to be seen and treated in negative ways that often causes them discomfort.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This study, which revealed many Black African professionals experience the workplace as a battleground for covert and overt racism, builds on a growing body of research suggesting race complicates the professional identities of Black professionals in Australia – in ways not experienced by their white colleagues.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>*Names and identifying features in this article have been changed to protect anonymity.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/149169/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kathomi Gatwiri PhD does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Participants in our study — all highly skilled Black African professionals — reported feeling work was a site of constant surveillance and scrutiny, where their competence was often questioned.Kathomi Gatwiri PhD, Senior lecturer, Southern Cross UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1458942020-09-24T12:20:44Z2020-09-24T12:20:44ZMicroaggressions aren’t just innocent blunders – research links them with racial bias<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359571/original/file-20200923-18-17p6oh1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=630%2C0%2C4682%2C3741&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">They're not just honest or ignorant mistakes, and they can poison an otherwise pleasant interaction.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/friends-eating-at-table-during-bbq-with-family-royalty-free-image/1014547242">Hinterhaus Productions/DigitalVision via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A white man shares publicly that a group of Black Harvard graduates “<a href="https://medium.com/@pooja.salhotra27/no-racist-comment-deserves-tolerance-e8a416c681eb">look like gang members to me</a>” and claims he would have said the same of white people dressed similarly. A white physician <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/11/health/microaggression-medicine-doctors.html">mistakes a Black physician for a janitor</a> and says it was an honest mistake. A white woman asks to touch a Black classmate’s hair, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLQzz75yE5A">is scolded for doing so</a> and sulks, “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OItfXaBoCb4">I was just curious</a>.”</p>
<p>It’s a pattern that recurs countless times, in myriad interactions and contexts, across American society. A white person says something that is experienced as racially biased, is called on it and reacts defensively.</p>
<p>These comments and other such subtle <a href="https://theconversation.com/many-small-microaggressions-add-up-to-something-big-50694">snubs, insults and offenses</a> are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.62.4.271">known as microaggressions</a>. The concept, <a href="https://www.scribd.com/doc/170642574/Offensive-Mechanisms-Chester-Pierce">introduced in the 1970s</a> by Black psychiatrist Chester Pierce, is now the focus of a fierce debate.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359574/original/file-20200923-14-12rnumx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="young Black woman with her hand up" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359574/original/file-20200923-14-12rnumx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359574/original/file-20200923-14-12rnumx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359574/original/file-20200923-14-12rnumx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359574/original/file-20200923-14-12rnumx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359574/original/file-20200923-14-12rnumx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359574/original/file-20200923-14-12rnumx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359574/original/file-20200923-14-12rnumx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Most research has focused on the harms done to those on the receiving end of microaggressions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/mom-and-daughter-arguing-royalty-free-image/1032210076">SDI Productions/E+ via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On one side, Black people and a host of others representing multiple diverse communities stand with a wealth of testimonials, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.62.4.271">lists of different types of microaggressions</a> and compelling scientific evidence documenting <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000172">how these experiences harm</a> recipients.</p>
<p>Some white people are on board, working to understand, change and join as allies. Still, a cacophony of white voices exists in the public discourse, dismissive, defensive and influential. Their main argument: Microaggressions are innocuous and innocent, not associated with racism at all. Many contend that those who complain about microaggressions are <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/09/the-rise-of-victimhood-culture/404794/">manipulating victimhood and being too sensitive</a>.</p>
<h2>Linking bias to microaggressions</h2>
<p>Until recently, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s12552-013-9107-9">majority of research on microaggressions</a> has focused on asking people targeted by microaggressions about their experiences and perspectives, rather than researching the offenders. This previous research is crucial. But with respect to understanding white defensiveness and underlying racial bias, it’s akin to researching why baseball pitchers keep hitting batters with pitches by only interviewing batters about how it feels to get hit.</p>
<p>My colleagues <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=2AwIThUAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">and I</a> – a team of Black, white (myself included) and other psychological scientists and students – went directly to the “pitchers” to untangle the relationship between these expressions and racial bias. </p>
<p>We asked white college students in 2020 – <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s12552-020-09298-w">one group at a university in the Northwest</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s12552-017-9214-0">another at a campus in the southern Midwest</a> – how likely they are to commit 94 commonly described microaggressions that we identified from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.62.4.271">research publications</a> and Black students we interviewed. For example, you are meeting a Black woman with braids; how likely are you to ask, “Can I touch your hair?” </p>
<p>We also asked our participants to describe their own racial bias using well-known measures. Then, we asked some participants to come to our laboratory to talk about current events with others. Lab observers rated how many explicitly racially biased statements they made in their interactions.</p>
<p>We found direct support for what recipients of microaggressions have been saying all along: Students who are more likely to say they commit microaggressions are more likely to score higher on measures of racial bias. One’s likelihood of microaggressing also predicts how racist one is judged to be by lab observers, as they watch real interactions unfold. We’re currently analyzing the same kind of data from a national sample of adults, and the results look similar.</p>
<p>With some microaggressions, like “Can I touch your hair?,” the influence of racial bias is real but small. When the white woman who asked to touch the Black woman’s hair responds, “I was just curious,” she’s not necessarily lying about her conscious intentions. She likely is unaware of the subtle racial bias that also influences her behavior. One can demonstrate racial bias and curiosity at the same time.</p>
<p>Even small doses of prejudice, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430212468170">especially when they are confusing or ambiguous</a>, are documented to be psychologically harmful for recipients. Our research suggests that some microaggressions, such as asking “Where are you from?” or staying silent during a debate about racism, may be understood as small doses of racial bias, contaminating otherwise good intentions.</p>
<p>In our studies, other kinds of microaggressions, including those that explicitly deny racism, are strongly and explicitly related to white participants’ self-reported levels of racial bias. For instance, the more racial bias a participant says they have, the more likely they are to say, “All lives matter, not just Black lives.” These expressions are more than small doses of toxin. Still, even in these cases, racial bias does not explain all of it, leaving ample room for defensiveness and claims that the recipient is being too sensitive.</p>
<p>In our research, participants who agreed with the statement “A lot of minorities are too sensitive these days” showed some of the highest levels of racial bias.</p>
<h2>Addressing microaggressions in context</h2>
<p>Amidst chronic and widespread racial injustices, including <a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/the-color-of-law-a-forgotten-history-of-how-our-government-segregated-america/">segregated neighborhoods</a>, <a href="https://www.kff.org/racial-equity-and-health-policy/issue-brief/disparities-in-health-and-health-care-five-key-questions-and-answers/#:%7E:text=A%20%E2%80%9Chealth%20disparity%E2%80%9D%20refers%20to,care%2C%20and%20quality%20of%20care">disparities in health care outcomes</a>, <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-statistics-dont-capture-the-full-extent-of-the-systemic-bias-in-policing/">systemic police bias</a> and <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2020/06/25/white-supremacist-terrorism-on-the-rise-and-spreading/#e9040d55a0fb">rising white supremacist violence</a>, a chorus of Black and other voices also have been expressing pain and anger about the stream of subtle microaggressions they endure as part of daily life in the United States.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359577/original/file-20200923-20-19k8mdx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Black woman smiles in conversation with women of other races" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359577/original/file-20200923-20-19k8mdx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359577/original/file-20200923-20-19k8mdx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359577/original/file-20200923-20-19k8mdx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359577/original/file-20200923-20-19k8mdx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359577/original/file-20200923-20-19k8mdx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359577/original/file-20200923-20-19k8mdx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359577/original/file-20200923-20-19k8mdx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Those on the receiving end of microaggresions want perpetrators to acknowledge the problem.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/smiling-friends-in-discussion-before-holiday-dinner-royalty-free-image/640951000">Thomas Barwick/DigitalVision via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Consistent with our research, they generally are not insisting that offenders admit to being card-carrying racists. They are asking offenders, despite their conscious intentions, to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBMWkHHAkN8">understand and acknowledge the impacts</a> of their behavior. They are asking for understanding that those offended are <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/we-were-so-happy-microaggressions-and-where-they-happen/e/52110912">not imagining things or just being too sensitive</a>. Mostly, they are asking offenders to improve their awareness, stop engaging in behaviors that create and perpetuate race-based harm themselves and join in fighting against the rest of it.</p>
<p>As a clinical psychologist, I know that, even in the best of circumstances, true self-awareness and behavior change are hard work.</p>
<p>U.S. society provides far from the best of circumstances. At the nation’s birth, people found a way to celebrate democracy, freedom and equality while owning slaves and destroying Indigenous populations, and then found ways to <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674008199">erase many of these horrors from the nation’s collective memory</a>. Yet, as <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1747259-the-price-of-the-ticket-collected-nonfiction-1948-1985">James Baldwin said of this history</a>, “We carry it within us, are unconsciously controlled by it in many ways, and history is literally present in all that we do.”</p>
<p>Science provides validation of the problem of microaggressions: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000172">They are real, harmful</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s12552-020-09298-w">associated with racial bias</a>, whether the perpetrator is aware of it or not. Improving awareness of this bias is hard but important work. If Americans want to advance toward a more racially just society, identifying effective ways to reduce microaggressions will be necessary, and this research is just beginning.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145894/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan Kanter does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>White people are often defensive when they’re called out for these subtle snubs and insults. But researchers have found that microaggressions correlate with racial bias.Jonathan Kanter, Director of the Center for the Science of Social Connection, University of WashingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1180972019-06-27T07:42:39Z2019-06-27T07:42:39ZExtent of institutional racism in British universities revealed through hidden stories<p>“So how’s it going at work?” It’s a common question. The kind of question which normally opens a nice warm catch up between friends. But if you are a non-white academic, the question carries a different connotation.</p>
<p>You might respond to it with an eye-roll and a sigh, which tells your friend what they already know – work isn’t going well at all. For years I have been having this same conversation. It begins with that question. And just like that, we share.</p>
<p>We share the all too recognisable stories of racism. The frustrations and the relief that we are not alone, paranoid, or being unreasonable. These conversations equipped me mentally, they prepared me practically, and in doing so they have helped me to survive my workplace for the past 12 years.</p>
<p>But as I continued in my academic career, I soon got to thinking about all those people who were unable to share, who haven’t had the luxury of having others to speak to, who have felt alone, excluded and isolated. And so the foundations of my research began, as I sought to speak to those silent voices who as yet have not had the opportunity to fully communicate the depth and complexity of their answer to the question: “So how is work?”</p>
<h2>Endemic racism</h2>
<p>The fact is everyday racism is hiding behind a string of superficial tag lines that have come to brand universities across the UK. Myths about the “liberal” university can often be seen touted in marketing brochures, job announcements, and website pages, promoting the values and responsibilities of the institution.</p>
<p><strong>Myth 1: Universities encourage inclusivity and diversity</strong></p>
<p><strong>Myth 2: Universities invest in non-white academics</strong></p>
<p><strong>Myth 3: Universities are “post-racial”</strong></p>
<p><strong>Myth 4: Universities desire curriculum reform</strong></p>
<p><strong>Myth 5: Universities are committed to race equality</strong></p>
<p>Beyond these false advertising scams, the real message is clear and simple: racism in British universities is endemic. Academic research has pointed to this fact for <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Institutional-Racism-Higher-Education-Ian/dp/1858563135">well over a decade</a>. Alongside the studies, there is also a catalogue of data that explicitly shows the bleak prospects for non-white academics. For example, statistics around Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) representation in universities continue to demonstrate that non-white academics are marginalised from British universities.</p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>This article is part of Conversation Insights</strong></em></p>
<p><em>The Conversation’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/introducing-conversation-insights-a-new-team-that-seeks-scoops-from-interdisciplinary-research-107119">Insights team</a> generates long-form journalism derived from interdisciplinary research. The team is working with academics from different backgrounds who have been engaged in projects aimed at tackling societal and scientific challenges. In generating these narratives we hope to bring areas of interdisciplinary research to a wider audience.</em></p>
<p><em>You can read more Insights stories <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218">here</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Data generated from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) in 2012-2013 revealed that out of 17,880 professors, <a href="https://www.runnymedetrust.org/blog/the-experiences-of-black-and-minority-ethnic-academics">only 85 were black</a>, 950 were Asian, 365 were “other” (including mixed race). The majority of 15,200 were white.</p>
<p>In terms of black female professors, there are <a href="https://www.runnymedetrust.org/news/594/272/Black-Students-Must-do-Better-than-White-Students-to-get-into-University.html">just 17 in the entire British university system</a>. And in January 2017, for the third year in a row, HESA figures recorded <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/jan/19/british-universities-employ-no-black-academics-in-top-roles-figures-show">no black academics in the elite staff category</a> of managers, directors and senior officials in 2015-2016.</p>
<p>As a result of this skewed landscape, non-white academics are on the whole less likely to be shortlisted, appointed, or promoted in comparison to their white counterparts. In addition to this, it has been reported that BME academics at top universities across Britain earn on average <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-46473269">26% less than their white colleagues</a>.</p>
<p>The data is therefore showing us that very little has been done to encourage progress and racial equality in British universities. The failure of senior managers to accept or even acknowledge the existence of systematic racism operating in their universities, departments and boardrooms is where the heart of the problem lies. My research exposes the <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783030142834">entrenched practices</a> of structural and everyday forms of racism in the white academy. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/race-and-academia-diversity-among-uk-university-students-and-leaders-24988">Race and academia: diversity among UK university students and leaders</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Personal stories of racism</h2>
<p>I conducted 20 in-depth interviews ranging from early career, mid-career, and advanced career academics, working either as lecturers or researchers, on permanent, part-time or fixed-term contracts. I spoke with a fairly equal mix of male and female respondents, and they came from a range of racial, ethno-national, and religious groups based at Russell Group and post-1992 universities across Britain.</p>
<p>The research is a collection of different voices. These people shared with me their pain, their strength, their challenges, their courage, and their resistance to racism in the academy. Whether in their office, or in a coffee shop, the conversations flowed. For some, it was like they needed the space to finally get things off their chest – a kind of therapy session, where they could speak about their experiences in the academy.</p>
<p>There were tears, sometimes from them, and at other times from me. There was also a sense of defiance, perseverance, and hope. Some conversations were particularly emotional and harder than others. On some occasions, hours and even days after they had taken place, I found myself replaying their experiences in my head, overcome with a deep feeling of sadness that our bodies had all been injured in some way or another by systemic, structural, and symbolic manifestations of racism in our universities. </p>
<h2>‘Liberal’ racism</h2>
<p>Subtle practices of racism in the form of <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/microaggressions-in-everyday-life/201010/racial-microaggressions-in-everyday-life">micro-aggressions</a> are often more challenging because they operate against the common sense understanding of racism as easily identifiable. My interviews reveal the way in which <a href="http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20180406-the-tiny-ways-youre-offensive---and-you-dont-even-know-it">micro-aggressions</a> – the everyday slights and indignities non-white people encounter all the time – are intensely bound up with forms of structural “liberal” racism.</p>
<p>In the British university setting, liberal racism is perhaps the most dominant form of racism practised by white faculty staff members. For Eduardo Bonilla Silva, <a href="https://sociology.duke.edu/people/eduardo-bonilla-silva">professor of Sociology at Duke University</a>, liberal racism – or what he characterises as “<a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Racism-without-Racists-Color-blind-Persistence/dp/1442202181">colourblind racism</a>” – takes the form “racism lite” or “smiling face discrimination”.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1140564431325278209"}"></div></p>
<p>What is essentially being described here is the idea of the “post-racial” which signals an apparent “end” of racism. This post-racial logic has steadily cemented itself into the very culture of our universities. The idea that we are “over race” is precisely how racism is sustained. This manifests itself in the dismissal or trivialisation of racism and operates to both facilitate and embolden it. The liberal, post-racial culture of denial, which my interviewees say is operating in British universities, has meant the daily realities of racism experienced by non-white academics are obscured, as white faculty members are unable to conceive themselves as perpetrators of racism.</p>
<p>As one said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Racism is much more insidious in HE (Higher Education). It’s this idea that they don’t want to look bad that gets to me the most. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The notion that white colleagues are more nuanced in their exercise of racism – as they are keen to present themselves as “nice”, “respectable” and “tolerant” people –- was also echoed by another respondent: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>People in academia are a bit smarter, they’re more subtle and they understand what they can’t say. Everything is just a bit more institutionalised. But you get the sense that it’s also the place where things are unchecked. I think in general people try to be nice and they want to be nice but they have all these ingrained biases. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>‘Sometimes it’s just so damn subtle’</h2>
<p>My participants frequently felt that such enactments of liberal racism produced hidden forms of differential treatment, which in most cases could not be placed as direct discrimination due to their very subtleties. Another academic told me:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The problem with the day-to-day encounters of racism is that it’s difficult to pinpoint them down. I’ve felt that I’ve not been included a number of times, or I am the last person to be consulted on something. Sometimes it’s just so damn subtle. It’s in the gestures, it’s in what’s not said. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Feelings of otherness, marginality, and white discomfort around difference, were all common, everyday experiences. Those I spoke to shared examples of their names being mispronounced by white staff members, being mistaken for the only other academic of colour in the department and being made to feel both visible and invisible at the same time.</p>
<p>These daily realities are indicative of the racism lurking beneath the “liberal” university, in which white colleagues like to claim that they are tolerant, and certainly not racist. But the examples given by my interviewees show that when confronted with these situations they can only revert back to their ingrained biases.</p>
<p>My participants went on to point out that the lack of other minorities within the institution produced feelings of alienation and discomfort as they were positioned as “outsiders”: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I always feel like an outsider in the academy … like I am the only one … my experience of the academy is that I’m a black man in a white world. All it takes is for you to go to a meeting and you immediately realise that the one thing that is missing here is colour – there is no colour … it’s a colourless environment.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280957/original/file-20190624-97766-zjael4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280957/original/file-20190624-97766-zjael4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280957/original/file-20190624-97766-zjael4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280957/original/file-20190624-97766-zjael4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280957/original/file-20190624-97766-zjael4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280957/original/file-20190624-97766-zjael4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280957/original/file-20190624-97766-zjael4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Are universities truly ‘post-racial’?.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/faculty-lecture-workshop-audience-hall-academic-240564688?src=rfLqlt-wRjbidbNSdpPTiQ-1-45&studio=1">Matej Kastelic/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Teaching and decolonising the curriculum</h2>
<p>The classroom is often thought to represent a “safe space” that encourages critical learning and the exchange of ideas. But it would be naive to simply suggest the classroom is free from antagonism because it sits within the broader university environment which is structured by institutional racism. </p>
<p>In fact, my research demonstrates how the classroom can often become a key site in which white students may express feelings of resentment and guilt, as well as a place to confront their privilege. One respondent recalled: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>A white male undergraduate student challenged me on a series of issues when I explained the topic of political violence. He started to ask questions and make points that were Islamophobic. He was talking about child molestation by the Prophet Muhammad, how Islam had been a religion spread by the sword, how Muslims believed in female genital mutilation, and so on. I was constantly having to explain and defend a religion of over a billion people, because somehow in the eyes of the student, I was Islam. So I found that to be a really uncomfortable experience.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>All my participants said they were made to feel as though they lacked authority and credibility by many of their students. The notion of having to “prove” themselves was an experience that came up time and again. These incidents demonstrate the insidious workings of racism at play, whereby non-white academics have to almost always go the extra mile to prove their competence.</p>
<p>For example, another participant recalled how students “snigger”, “roll their eyes” and walk out of their classes and how uncomfortable this makes them:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I start sweating, I start rushing my material and I just want to get it over with because it’s such a horrible experience. They make out over and over again that I don’t know what I’m talking about, or that I’m biased and it makes me extremely uncomfortable.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>From direct insults, to accusations of being biased, my interviews reveal that for some non-white academics, teaching can be a challenging experience. By being made to feel as though they lack authority or having to prove themselves, non-white academics encounter disruptive behaviour that is fundamentally racialised in nature.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/whiteness-characterises-higher-education-institutions-so-why-are-we-surprised-by-racism-93147">Whiteness characterises higher education institutions – so why are we surprised by racism?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The inability of the <a href="https://thetab.com/uk/2017/08/31/russell-group-unis-have-a-serious-diversity-problem-these-are-the-ones-with-the-fewest-bme-students-46742">largely white student body</a> to critically reflect upon their own histories, practices, and structures of oppression is symptomatic of white privilege, white entitlement and a lack of awareness of other cultures in general.</p>
<p>This suggests the need for universities to take seriously calls to decolonise the curriculum as a way to dismantle discourses and practices that reaffirm white superiority. Currently, intellectual agendas in British universities operate to maintain a narrow, inward looking perspective that reinforces the logics of <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/574/57454/orientalism/9780141187426.html">Orientalism</a> (the Western attitude that views Eastern societies as exotic, primitive, and inferior).</p>
<p>The call to decolonise seeks to equip students with more complex and critical understandings of global debates and issues as a way to generate more productive and insightful accounts, beyond eurocentric narratives. Decolonising the curriculum is vital to both the transformation of higher education and the development of inclusive, non-hostile spaces where difference is respected, not denigrated. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1141718949664567304"}"></div></p>
<h2>Career progression</h2>
<p>On the surface, universities have strutted out various strategies that seem to <a href="https://www.ecu.ac.uk/equality-charters/">promote positive action around equality</a>.</p>
<p>But beneath these jamborees the reality is dire. My respondents shared their experiences of being unsupported in applications for promotion, a lack of mentoring, job insecurity, and an overwhelming sense of being undervalued. The obstacles and challenges that they have encountered in relation to hiring practices and career progression are immense and for the most part <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/90-of-black-staff-at-uk-s-colleges-at-universities-facing-barriers-to-promotion-a6860661.html">appear impossible to overcome</a>. One of my interviewees said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I don’t get the support networks, I don’t get the mentoring, but I get overburdened with teaching. I don’t see a future where I will progress. I see my white colleagues being encouraged, but that never seems to happen to me. There really is no support. It’s dismal. </p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-a-post-racial-british-society-remains-a-myth-even-in-universities-93607">Why a post-racial British society remains a myth – even in universities</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Both my research and my own personal experience have shown that non-white academics are at a real loss without proper mentoring. It is so often the case that we go to other non-white academics (externally and informally), who take on mentoring in an unofficial capacity. This support has often been crucial for us, however, at the same time – as my respondents pointed out – it is utterly disgraceful that they have had to actively seek support in other places as a result of their own institutions failing to provide them with sufficient or appropriate mentoring.</p>
<p>Feelings of being “expendable” or “disposable” were common across my interviewees who frequently said employment opportunities tended to be “rigged” in favour of white candidates.</p>
<p>The inability to access (white) hidden rules or (white) hidden networks was a common experience across my interviews. The academics felt their future prospects, particularly in terms of promotion, were negatively impacted as a consequence. One said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’ve always struggled to know what the rules are. I’ve gone to sessions on what you need to do to get promoted, but I think there’s a whole set of hidden rules that I don’t know or that I can’t find out and that’s frustrating.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It comes as no surprise then that many of my respondents, despite having all the skills and knowledge, often found themselves continuously blocked from promotion and career advancement opportunities that were frequently afforded to their less established, white peers. </p>
<p>Another respondent commented:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I know people are less experienced than me, who might have a similar role, but are on higher pay and at a higher grade. I look at the rate at which white colleagues are promoted and I often think how have they got that? I thought promotion was to be based on your value and what you put in, and it seems that isn’t the case. This is definitely about race.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Meanwhile another academic said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We have to be exceptional just to be ordinary. And I’m so sad this has manifested in higher education the way that it has. There’s no reprieve for us, there’s no meritocracy.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Discriminatory practices are entrenched within the university environment. My respondents felt that no amount of achievements could surpass whiteness, in other words, meritocracy in the academy is a myth. If non-white academics are to feel truly valued and supported then a series of structural, intellectual, and ethical obligations, must be implemented in higher education to ensure advancement and inclusion for all.</p>
<p>There must be a commitment across the university sector that recognises racism as a fundamentally structural issue. This means engaging with strategies that actively promote the inclusion of non-white academics <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jun/15/chelsea-kwakye-and-ore-ogunbiyi-taking-up-space-merky-books-interview">and students</a> (including those who are classified as international) to ensure that their needs are being addressed appropriately. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280984/original/file-20190624-97745-1cu0wfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280984/original/file-20190624-97745-1cu0wfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280984/original/file-20190624-97745-1cu0wfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280984/original/file-20190624-97745-1cu0wfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280984/original/file-20190624-97745-1cu0wfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280984/original/file-20190624-97745-1cu0wfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280984/original/file-20190624-97745-1cu0wfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Universities need to take steps to live up to their liberal reputations.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/aerial-view-glasgow-scotland-uk-644108704?src=tPCsPpkTfAYOkFS-poFIww-1-0&studio=1">CappaPhoto/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Those of us from non-white backgrounds working and studying within British universities are quite simply fed up of the racism that we continue to endure on a daily basis. If universities are serious about tackling racism, discrimination and under-representation they must take the following steps. </p>
<p>1) Senior management must set annual targets to increase BME representation. To ensure this process is formalised, they must implement a systematic monitoring unit to measure hiring rates of BME staff and student admissions against targets. Regular audits of the data must be made available to all staff and failure to meet quotas should result in penalties.</p>
<p>2) Race equality needs to be on the agenda in every department across every university in the UK. Management committee meetings must report on these issues as a standing item to demonstrate the work that they are doing to tackle institutional racism.</p>
<p>3) Mentoring schemes for new and current BME staff members need be formalised, and they should be partnered with a colleague who is sensitive and fully committed to supporting their needs around career progression and personal development.</p>
<p>4) Promotions committees must take equality issues into special consideration for BME applicants.</p>
<p>5) An independent ombudsman must be established who can properly investigate racist and other discriminatory practices.</p>
<p>6) A commitment to decolonising the curriculum must be led by university management. </p>
<p>7) University and departmental policies on race equality must be fully implemented and formally reviewed and updated on an annual basis.</p>
<p>For too long, non-white academics have been absent from the conversation. We need to feel like we are included within the debate and that our voices matter. The day-to-day and structural racist operations of the university need to be systematically reviewed and these failures need to be addressed seriously. Race equality must be practised in the academy, not just preached. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>Katy Sian’s new book <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783030142834">Navigating Institutional Racism in British Universities</a> is published by Palgrave Macmillan.</em></p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>For you: more from our <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">Insights series</a>:</em></p>
<ul>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-neuroscience-of-terrorism-how-we-convinced-a-group-of-radicals-to-let-us-scan-their-brains-114855?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">The neuroscience of terrorism: how we convinced a group of radicals to let us scan their brains</a></em></p></li>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/they-put-a-few-coins-in-your-hands-to-drop-a-baby-in-you-265-stories-of-haitian-children-abandoned-by-un-fathers-114854?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">‘They put a few coins in your hands to drop a baby in you’ – 265 stories of Haitian children abandoned by UN fathers</a></em></p></li>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-new-right-how-a-frenchman-born-150-years-ago-inspired-the-extreme-nationalism-behind-brexit-and-donald-trump-117277?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">The New Right: how a Frenchman born 150 years ago inspired the extreme nationalism behind Brexit and Donald Trump</a></em></p></li>
</ul>
<p><em>To hear about new Insights articles, join the hundreds of thousands of people who value The Conversation’s evidence-based news. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/the-daily-newsletter-2?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK"><strong>Subscribe to our newsletter</strong></a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118097/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This article is based on my recently published book: Navigating Institutional Racism in British Universities, Palgrave Macmillan. </span></em></p>It’s time race equality was practised in the academy, not just preached.Katy Sian, Lecturer in Sociology, University of YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1081522018-12-11T11:41:45Z2018-12-11T11:41:45ZDenying transgender identity has serious impact on mental health<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249823/original/file-20181210-76959-11zwzi5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A demonstrator holds a sign against the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Transgender-Rights-Bathrooms/a592c7152e2146c39d3b1b79e94238e0/23/0">AP Photo/Pat Sullivan</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>“Sticks and stones may break my bones – but words will never hurt me,” goes the playground rhyme.</p>
<p>But the adage is only half right, according to my research on <a href="https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/65580">transgender mental health</a>. </p>
<p>Words can hurt.</p>
<p>In October, The New York Times published a story headlined, “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/21/us/politics/transgender-trump-administration-sex-definition.html">‘Transgender’ Could Be Defined Out of Existence Under Trump Administration</a>.” The story was about the Department of Health and Human Services’ efforts to create a new legal definition of sex under Title IX, the 1972 federal civil rights law which forbids gender discrimination in education programs that get money from the government.</p>
<p>That move would define sex as determined solely by the genitals that a person has at birth, strictly male or female, and unchangeable.</p>
<p>I study how media affects transgender identity across the U.S. The travel for my work is in part funded by the Caitlyn Jenner Foundation. I maintain complete autonomy over what I research and how.</p>
<p>From my prior research, I knew The New York Times story would produce negative emotions among transgender people. So, I conducted an online survey of more than 100 transgender people in the 72 hours following the story, to ask how negatively the story affected them on a 7-point scale. This was followed by a question about how painful those emotions were.</p>
<p>The proposed new definition of gender eliminates the very idea of a transgender person. Therefore, what I found was not surprising. It’s one thing for people to have to defend their rights as equals in society. But when people have to defend their very existence, both the frequency and degree to which transgender people experience negative emotions significantly increases.</p>
<h2>When words do damage</h2>
<p>In my survey, more than three-quarters of respondents said they felt their identity was under increased threat. </p>
<p>Many people noted that they had already felt that way, even before the story ran. But the story had made the feelings worse. </p>
<p>In other words, those transgender people who were already under stress became even more so. </p>
<p>An open-response section of the survey made clear what type of emotional impact transgender people felt after reading this story. </p>
<p>“Shock,” “horror,” “a sense of uncontrollable doom,” were just some of the responses my interviewees had. </p>
<p>“I feel like they’re trying to erase me as a person,” was a frequent response.</p>
<p>For some it was more than just emotional – it took a physical toll. One transgender person told me that even though their transition had been largely free of problems, this news left her curled up in a ball, crying on the bottom of the shower.</p>
<p>Three people I interviewed told me of a teenager they knew for whom the emotions brought on by the story were the last straw. Less than two weeks after the story was published, she tried to take her own life.</p>
<p>Ten days after the story ran, <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/after-trump-admin-memo-moves-define-gender-trans-lifeline-receives-4x-amount-1195253">Trans Lifeline</a>, a national grassroots organization, reported that calls to their suicide hotline had increased 400 percent.</p>
<h2>When identity is denied</h2>
<p>Now, can one story in a newspaper result in someone committing suicide? This would be impossible to claim.</p>
<p>What’s clear is that the impact of statements or actions that are subtly and even unintentionally discriminatory, what researchers call “microaggressions,” is <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2F0003-066X.62.4.271">measurable</a> and <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Cynthia_Frisby/publication/318468495_A_Content_Analysis_of_Micro_Aggressions_in_News_Stories_about_F_emale_Athletes_Participating_in_the_2012_and_2016_Summer_Olympics/links/596e16d5aca272d552fe2f1f/A-Content-Analysis-of-Micro-Aggressions-in-News-Stories-about-F-emale-Athletes-Participating-in-the-2012-and-2016-Summer-Olympics.pdf">real</a>.</p>
<p>“Micro” is not meant to describe how the aggression is perceived, but rather how effortlessly it is delivered. Research shows that microaggressions, such as being the object of a joke, the subject of a put-down – or the topic in a demeaning headline – take <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10911359.2016.1237920">only take a few seconds to make their impact</a>.</p>
<p>The New York Times headline is an example of the specific types of microaggressions that my research focuses on: those that deny transgender identity exists. The emotions these produce are more intensely negative, and depending on the person, can lead to a decreased willingness to engage with others. I call this “transgender identity defense-related emotions,” or TIDE.</p>
<p>My previous research has specifically looked at the link between these intensely negative emotions and suicide. One in 5 transgender people report having <a href="https://europepmc.org/abstract/med/29091375">attempted suicide</a>, a rate six times higher than the U.S. population at large. </p>
<p>Certainly, where causation ends and correlation begins remains unknown. But there’s clearly a negative impact on the mental health of transgender people when their identity is denied in this way.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/108152/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bethany Grace Howe receives funding from The Caitlyn Jenner Foundation.</span></em></p>A survey done of transgender people right after they read a story on the government’s move to deny transgender identity shows the emotional impact that denying that identity can have.Bethany Grace Howe, PhD Candidate, Media Studies, University of OregonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/948622018-05-09T09:12:08Z2018-05-09T09:12:08ZDiscrimination against fat people is so endemic, most of us don’t even realise it’s happening<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217771/original/file-20180504-166881-eibnut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When we think of prejudice and discrimination, most of us tend to think of overt attacks, harassment, or discriminatory behaviour. Blatant examples of prejudice do still occur with depressing frequency, but for most members of stigmatised groups, it is not these experiences that shape their daily lives. Rather, belonging to a socially stigmatised group means travelling through a world that is rife with multiple small, sometimes subtle or apparently inconsequential reminders of your devalued status, known as <a href="http://world-trust.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/7-Racial-Microagressions-in-Everyday-Life.pdf">microaggressions</a>. </p>
<p>As a weight stigma researcher, I focus on the experiences of fat people (many fat rights activists prefer the word “fat” and use it as a descriptive terms and not as an insult) but microaggressions define the lived experience of all groups devalued by society. Microaggressions can come from anywhere at any time. For a fat person, this might be:</p>
<ul>
<li>When they get on a bus and the person sitting next to an empty seat scowls at them or pointedly places their bag on the seat;</li>
<li>People watching them while they’re eating in a restaurant or checking out the contents of their trolley in the supermarket;</li>
<li>A fat joke on TV or in a film;</li>
<li>A slimmer friend asking if she “looks fat in this”;</li>
<li>Hearing a group of children making fun of them;</li>
<li>Or even wondering whether they will be taken seriously when they go to the doctor with a sprained ankle, or just told to go away and lose some weight.</li>
</ul>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215819/original/file-20180422-75126-v4zxhu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215819/original/file-20180422-75126-v4zxhu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215819/original/file-20180422-75126-v4zxhu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215819/original/file-20180422-75126-v4zxhu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215819/original/file-20180422-75126-v4zxhu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=587&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215819/original/file-20180422-75126-v4zxhu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=587&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215819/original/file-20180422-75126-v4zxhu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=587&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://bogswallop.tumblr.com/post/43415879830/letsallgotothelobby-things-that-need-to-stop">@Bogswallop. Used with permission.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>If you’re not a member of a stigmatised group, you might think that most of these examples sound relatively minor and could be easily ignored. But while any individual incident may be minor, it is the <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1073110517750584?journalCode=lmec">totality of stigma</a> that defines our existence. </p>
<h2>The cost of hostile environments</h2>
<p>The pervasive hostile environment that marginalised people find themselves in serves as a source of constant physical and psychological stress. The body’s acute stress response involves the production of stress hormones and changes in cardiovascular, immune and neurological systems to deal with the threat. </p>
<p>This is an adaptive response in the short term – that is, it aids with survival. But <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/article-abstract/617820">chronic exposure</a> to stress is associated with increased rates of diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and even some cancers. This is not limited to <a href="https://academic.oup.com/abm/article-abstract/51/1/94/4562724">fat people</a>. These findings are consistent when looking at people belonging to racial minorities, LGBTQ individuals and many others. </p>
<p>Critically, the <a href="https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/AJPH.2012.301069">harms associated with a hostile environment</a> occur even in the absence of <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1353/dem.2006.0008">actual</a> <a href="https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/AJPH.2009.168815">stigmatising</a> <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15298868.2015.1091378">incidents</a> – stigmatised individuals go through their daily life anticipating, fearing, expecting and preparing for these events. This consumes an enormous amount of mental and emotional energy and is itself a form of chronic stress. Hostile environments also contribute indirectly to long-term health and life outcomes via impacts on educational and economic achievement. </p>
<h2>Recognising stigma</h2>
<p>Microaggressions against fat people are so pervasive and normalised in modern society that people, even fat people, may not recognise them as stigmatising at all. The <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953611005284">sometimes ambiguous nature</a> of microaggressions means that the target may be unsure of the intent or underlying meaning, wondering if that person was actually stigmatising them or not, making it difficult to respond. What is more, fat stigma is so entrenched that many <a href="https://journals.lww.com/advancesinnursingscience/Abstract/2004/10000/Obesity,_Stigma,_and_Civilized_Oppression.6.aspx">fat people are complicit</a> in their own stigmatisation, believing that they deserve it, or that the perpetrator was just stating a fact (“fat people are ugly and disgusting”). </p>
<p>On the other hand, if they do challenge the stigma, at best, they may be told to ignore it; at worst, their experiences are invalidated. Victims of microaggressions are told they are just imagining the slight, that they are <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1363459304038799">overly sensitive</a> or even <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/2095676">paranoid</a>, or that they simply need to <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1747-4469.2000.tb00319.x">develop a sense of humour</a>. Fat people may even be told to lose weight if they don’t like it. Most people would never tell a member of another stigmatised group that they should change themselves if they don’t want to be discriminated against.</p>
<p>Most of us like to think of ourselves as unprejudiced. We would never <a href="https://danceswithfat.wordpress.com/2013/08/23/to-the-guys-who-threw-eggs-at-me-tonight/">harrass</a> a fat person in the street, <a href="http://metro.co.uk/2009/10/19/passenger-marsha-coupe-beaten-up-on-train-for-being-fat-3421149/">beat them up</a>, or give them <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16737356">inferior service</a> in a shop. </p>
<p>But children as young as <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0193397399800495">three</a> exhibit anti-fat attitudes. They are not born with these beliefs – they are picking them up from the cues in their environment, for example from the attitudes and behaviours of <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28215287">parents</a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18978757">caregivers</a>, or from ubiquitous anti-fat messaging and stereotyping in <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20215794">kids’ cartoons</a>. If we genuinely want to be part of a kind and decent society, if we want our children to grow up in that world, it is up to us not to let hostility go unchallenged. Oppression comes in many forms, and we all have a role to play in addressing it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/94862/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Angela Meadows does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The hostile environment that marginalised people find themselves in serves as a source of constant stress.Angela Meadows, Researcher in Psychology, University of BirminghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/814642017-07-25T15:25:14Z2017-07-25T15:25:14ZDo you expect service with a smile? There’s a dark side to putting on a happy face<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179451/original/file-20170724-11666-o2mu87.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">I hope they can't tell I just smashed a plate in rage.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/service-smile-35172220?src=DSaHO103vsi8qmWLbcZCbw-1-40">By Golden Pixels LLC/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As I was walking through the <a href="https://www.vam.ac.uk/">V&A museum</a> in London a few days ago, two statues immediately grabbed my attention. It was Heraclitus and Democritus, a couple of Greek thinkers known as the “weeping and laughing philosophers”. Heraclitus got his name from being melancholic and sad, whereas Democritus always wore a mask of cheerfulness.</p>
<p>Humans are, and always have been, highly sensitive to the emotional expressions of others. Unsurprisingly, studies have shown that <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/1129231?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">we much prefer people who appear happy</a> to those who seem sad or neutral. But what is the emotional cost of being like Democritus, always putting on a smile? Is it fair to ask people to do it on the job? We have just reviewed the evidence on the topic – and the findings are concerning. </p>
<p>The reason we like a happy face so much is because positive emotions in others immediately boost our own mental state. For example, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25750481">a recent study</a> showed that in speed dating, people who appeared positive elicited more uplifting emotions in others and were more desirable for a second date.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179457/original/file-20170724-21564-tm5ukr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179457/original/file-20170724-21564-tm5ukr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179457/original/file-20170724-21564-tm5ukr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179457/original/file-20170724-21564-tm5ukr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179457/original/file-20170724-21564-tm5ukr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179457/original/file-20170724-21564-tm5ukr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179457/original/file-20170724-21564-tm5ukr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fresco of Heraclitus and Democritus from 1477.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Donato Bramante</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But what are the emotional consequences of trying to seem happy in order to please others? Pioneering work by Arlie Hochschild divided such “emotional labour” <a href="http://atgstg01.pineforge.com/upm-data/13293_Chapter4_Web_Byte_Arlie_Russell_Hochschild.pdf">into two varieties</a>: deep acting and surface acting. We use surface acting when we adjust facial expressions and body gestures without actually changing our emotional state – for example putting on a smile without being happy. </p>
<p>Deep acting, on the other hand, is when we try to change how we feel by thinking of something that stirs up desirable feelings or reduces the significance of a negative experience. You may, for example, think about an upcoming holiday when dealing with a difficult client or identify something about them that you like. </p>
<p>Both techniques can help us develop better relationships at home and at work to some extent, but, overall, deep acting helps to exert a more genuine feeling. Indeed, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25384203">a recent study</a> found that waiters engaged in deep acting tended to get more tips than others. </p>
<h2>Heavy price for workers</h2>
<p>Service sector employees clearly experience pressure to perform emotional work – suppressing or amplifying particular emotions to make clients happy and encourage them to come back. Most empirical studies on emotional labour have discovered negative effects. People performing surface acting “put on a mask”, which creates an unhealthy inner conflict between expressed and felt emotions. A review of 95 studies in 2011 demonstrated that using surface acting <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21728441">is linked to</a> emotional exhaustion, strain, reduced job satisfaction and poorer attachment to the employer organisation. It also creates psychosomatic problems such as trouble sleeping, headaches and chest pain.</p>
<p>Deep acting, on the other hand, was linked to some positive outcomes – such as greater personal accomplishment, customer satisfaction and attachment to the employer. This is probably because it helps to exert more authentic emotions, which is appreciated by costumers and coworkers. It can also help to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21728441">enable more rewarding social interactions</a>. However, it’s not all good. Deep acting was also linked to greater emotional exhaustion and more psychosomatic complaints. Despite conflicting arguments among researchers, it seems that both surface and deep acting can be harmful for an employee. </p>
<p>Consider the bigger picture. If emotional labour exhausts us and leads to a pile up of stress and strain, it could have a negative impact on our relationships. Some theories propose that willpower and self-regulation depend on a limited pool of mental resources that can be depleted. And it could be argued that repeated emotional labour uses up these resources. As a consequence, instead of acting nice with others, the slightest trigger can explode into aggressive reactions. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179595/original/file-20170725-26586-18fn6m2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179595/original/file-20170725-26586-18fn6m2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179595/original/file-20170725-26586-18fn6m2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179595/original/file-20170725-26586-18fn6m2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179595/original/file-20170725-26586-18fn6m2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179595/original/file-20170725-26586-18fn6m2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179595/original/file-20170725-26586-18fn6m2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">We all know the feeling.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Peshkova/Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For the last decade I have done research in the field of workplace bullying. I am aware that workplace aggression <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270571082_An_Individual_Psychology_Approach_to_Underlying_Factors_of_Workplace_Bullying">may be triggered by stress</a>. In stressful circumstances we become more defensive, sensitive and, hence, more likely to act hostile. And given that emotional labour creates stress and strain, it would make sense that it could also trigger aggression. </p>
<p>My colleague <a href="http://www.bbk.ac.uk/orgpsych/research/phd/asta-medisauskaite">Asta Medisauskaite</a> and I decided to find out. As a starting point, we performed a systematic review of existing research papers linking emotional labour and aggression towards others at work. We reviewed 12 recent studies (most were published in 2015 and 2016) which looked specifically at emotional labour and dysfunctional workplace relationships. </p>
<p>Our review, not yet published but <a href="https://sites.grenadine.co/sites/mcidublin/en/eawop-2017/schedule/1068/Sa-OR-S111-4+-+Emotional+Labour+And+Negative+Workplace+Relationships%3A+A+Systematic+Literature+Review">presented at the recent congress</a> of the European Association of Work and Organisational Psychology, demonstrates that in most cases surface acting was linked to aggressive behaviour towards customers and colleagues at work. Deep acting was linked to aggression toward coworkers in one study. The acts of aggression were reported by the participants themselves in some cases and by colleagues or supervisors in others.</p>
<p>In the future we wish to see whether gender, cultural background, training and socialisation in organisations affect emotional labour and relationships at work. As a second step we are planning to implement a qualitative study, interviewing service sector employees. In addition, we are looking for ways to develop a joint intervention project with theatre actors and directors, transferring stage-acting techniques to service sector organisations. </p>
<p>For the time being, while we are aware that emotional labour can give a leg up for an organisation, in reality it may actually impede performance. If we accept that we all have an inner Heraclitus that needs to shine through on occasion, we may be able to reduce stress and aggression in the workplace – ultimately making it a happier and more productive place.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/81464/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Milda Perminiene does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A review of the research suggests
that pressure to put on a happy face could make us more aggressive.Milda Perminiene, Senior lecturer in occupational psychology, University of East LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/770652017-06-22T00:55:09Z2017-06-22T00:55:09ZAre LGBT Americans actually reaping the benefits of marriage?<p>For decades, researchers have studied the benefits of marriage, finding that married people are likely to be <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/sop.2010.53.2.221">healthier</a>, <a href="https://sapienza.pure.elsevier.com/en/publications/marital-status-and-mortality-in-the-elderly-a-systematic-review-a">wealthier</a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3304891/#bib1">wiser</a> than their unmarried peers. </p>
<p>But these studies reflected those who were allowed to marry. </p>
<p>Only recently – when states started passing laws guaranteeing same-sex couples the right to marry – could researchers begin to examine how marriage impacted the health of LGBT Americans. </p>
<p>At the University of Washington School of Social Work, our team has conducted the first national study that explores the relationship between <a href="http://age-pride.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Who-says-I-do-the-changing-context-of-marriage-and-health-and-quality-of-life-for-LGBT-older-adults.pdf">marriage, health and quality of life</a> for LGBT adults 50 and older. </p>
<p>The findings reaffirm some of the health benefits associated with marriage in the general population. But they also highlight many of the unique barriers LGBT Americans continue to face.</p>
<h2>The benefits of marriage persist</h2>
<p>Survey data from the study – titled “<a href="http://age-pride.org/">Aging with Pride: National Health, Aging, and Sexuality/Gender Study (NHAS)</a>” – analyzed responses from 1,821 LGBT older adults who lived in states with legalized same-sex marriage and access to federal benefits (32 states plus the District of Columbia) as of Nov. 1, 2014, the date we distributed the survey. In the sample, 24 percent were legally married, 26 percent were in a committed relationship and 50 percent were single.</p>
<p>Of course, long before same-sex marriage was legalized, LGBT Americans maintained long-term relationships. So most of the married couples in the study had already been in a relationship for a number of years. The average length of a relationship for legally married couples was 23 years, while unmarried partners were together an average of 16 years. </p>
<p>In our study, the LGBT women and men who were legally married had better general health and a higher quality of life. And those who weren’t married but were in a relationship were generally doing better than single LGBT Americans.</p>
<p>Those who were legally married were more likely to be out of the closet. They also had more social resources – like having children or a close network of friends – and tended to possess more socioeconomic advantages: higher levels of education, higher earnings, home ownership and private health insurance. </p>
<p>There have been a number of theories put forth to explain the general health benefits associated with marriage (at least, in the general population). Some have found that having a spouse can be a <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11150-012-9143-z">motivation</a> to stay healthy. A spouse can also <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2061670.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3Ae79ccda64a3942c2e2f2f2b370cde54f">monitor the health and well-being</a> of his or her partner, which can also lead to better health outcomes. </p>
<h2>A unique set of challenges</h2>
<p>Regardless of benefits associated with marriage, it’s important to note that only half of the couples in long-term committed relationships in this study chose to marry. </p>
<p>Older LGBT adults came of age during turbulent times: Prior to 1962, sodomy was a <a href="https://oup.silverchair-cdn.com/oup/backfile/Content_public/Journal/socpro/54/2/10.1525/sp.2007.54.2.211/2/socpro54-0211.pdf?Expires=1498090352&Signature=YRSXXiOa64b21HqF3SYw%7EJrMV8OSKfACXZ7sHThpNkxNTx8eeV8MKGjIHH-Jx79AUKVpJw6CucgRqgQ6Y8-Mjl0Wo1UKRkLynvOX01QaN2Kcd5jbdAAER28gJ7xbs8W6IanqIyvykJALOneXPa4mfeL-h17JHPTNZoFxaG8r3xVWpGyYIluOvkc79cy8yV8MxkdFMstw2lbD6jXX7bXPEwdEHJUbleEYAZthmf5sAYcSWa2G6XjmzmEaLYURVN8XEKhMtD7oNNRcwp3MTcVOypDOQmFSemCL%7EseVPeg6OG9a2l%7E3YL%7E6L6OiV%7E7ihbvOVnrGCrlVgf6zAY-Ud0lQeQ__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAIUCZBIA4LVPAVW3Q">felony</a>
in every state (only in 2003 did the <a href="https://oup.silverchair-cdn.com/oup/backfile/Content_public/Journal/socpro/54/2/10.1525/sp.2007.54.2.211/2/socpro54-0211.pdf?Expires=1498090352&Signature=YRSXXiOa64b21HqF3SYw%7EJrMV8OSKfACXZ7sHThpNkxNTx8eeV8MKGjIHH-Jx79AUKVpJw6CucgRqgQ6Y8-Mjl0Wo1UKRkLynvOX01QaN2Kcd5jbdAAER28gJ7xbs8W6IanqIyvykJALOneXPa4mfeL-h17JHPTNZoFxaG8r3xVWpGyYIluOvkc79cy8yV8MxkdFMstw2lbD6jXX7bXPEwdEHJUbleEYAZthmf5sAYcSWa2G6XjmzmEaLYURVN8XEKhMtD7oNNRcwp3MTcVOypDOQmFSemCL%7EseVPeg6OG9a2l%7E3YL%7E6L6OiV%7E7ihbvOVnrGCrlVgf6zAY-Ud0lQeQ__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAIUCZBIA4LVPAVW3Q">U.S. Supreme Court overturn sodomy laws</a> in the remaining 14 states). Meanwhile, same-sex behavior was considered a mental disorder <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4695779/">until 1973</a>, when it was removed from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. </p>
<p>Against that backdrop, some LGBT older adults continue to conceal their sexual orientation or gender identity due to social stigma and discrimination. Marriage creates a legal, public, searchable record, putting your sexual orientation out in the open. And some LGBT older adults may not want to enter into an institution that has, for centuries, discriminated against them. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, those who remain single – half of the LGBT older adults in our study – aren’t reaping the benefits of being married.</p>
<p>Compared to those who were legally married or in a long-term relationship, single LGBT older adults were at a disadvantage across nearly every socioeconomic, social and health indicator the study measured. They were also more likely to be <a href="https://oup.silverchair-cdn.com/oup/backfile/Content_public/Journal/psychsocgerontology/72/3/10.1093_geronb_gbw120/5/gbw120.pdf?Expires=1498090118&Signature=PHeTsbMaCelwrSoS0gIiZkfRTFWFjuuDuZTJnV76KgdpqmX6A2ROWI8skXMPlSthZBX4Eu1hwOXR6nz90%7EAIJ9BTOWDXcoJiIPToRRB0rGrNmZNuOJqdTAOuKO9ELDpJw0HCuSJyiSw9nkMm0SX5%7EKUxUSGBF1sU%7EZaA2TUcrJFZsAs2Rt3NoyzRfyh0bCwia8qwe9welCsMwIuzqTZY6RFG8r9CyEHml%7Ehvt%7EVy9dIUO-n8MynOgWcPpJFrLUzpK5EhhNXU9uxlSPfjH0WWGw2Ks7c-DBTMuD22gCfUGArBUiTccO-mb7LpbNQnn8B5sjsDj6W4ZTpQcUvhbiskZw__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAIUCZBIA4LVPAVW3Q">bisexual</a> and a <a href="https://oup.silverchair-cdn.com/oup/backfile/Content_public/Journal/gerontologist/57/suppl_1/10.1093_geront_gnw172/3/gnw172.pdf?Expires=1498090658&Signature=CVegDUBqZD-hgXapIglkkE4FL7fV0s6VmdmXr%7EjqUWdoH5FaGjCGO0621Axkd9nKTvfrRj6qvJ8TK25NRSJ%7EySvLMAbwCYty69YrDibxfX5uF7c0pL92-LCNZp7hvZRNnpXLWWnUXfEzAp1a4w9PGUP2GymivzAY30SoLRKgj%7ER3WHHfw-G8t7tuLKE9W0W7AJLPjwB17JAl1SyIHO3d0PUg3s3EFeQtv6%7EyRpdzn30WPckA-MlZ77Eq5pWncGoS5nzqaC-rpTjHp49aT0mO%7Eyyvtdxwsirv0MSBv1wpTPgplLTxioDvjrXC2p50AclQ0nO33HIpZF3kBLpfc10yWg__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAIUCZBIA4LVPAVW3Q">racial or ethnic minority</a>, two subgroups that already experience heightened disadvantages in health.</p>
<p>When we asked respondents whether they had experienced the death of a spouse or partner, many gay and bisexual older adult men reported that they had – most likely due to <a href="https://www.aids.gov/pdf/aidsgov-timeline.pdf">the HIV/AIDS pandemic</a>. And single men were significantly more likely to have experienced the death of a spouse or partner at some point in their lives than married and partnered men and single women. </p>
<h2>Moving forward</h2>
<p>In 1975, a few years after the Stonewall riots, <a href="https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/93/hr14752">a bill</a> was introduced in Congress to ban discrimination against gay and lesbian individuals in employment, housing and public accommodations. Forty years later, similar <a href="https://nwlc.org/resources/the-equality-act-of-2017-groundbreaking-protections-against-sex-discrimination/">proposed legislation</a> still awaits passage.</p>
<p>So while a lot of attention has been given to the historic constitutional right for same-sex couples to say “I do,” this shouldn’t overshadow the struggles many in the LGBT community continue to face: an elevated risk of <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3770805/">disability and mental distress</a> compared to straight peers, higher rates of <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/2009-00624-012">social isolation</a> due to concealment of one’s sexual orientation and lack of <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/01634372.2014.890690?needAccess=true">culturally relevant care</a>.</p>
<p>Our study also found that bias and victimization due to sexual orientation were the strongest predictors of poor health among LGBT older adults. To this day, discrimination against LGBT individuals remains legal in many <a href="http://www.lgbtmap.org/equality-maps/non_discrimination_ordinances">cities and counties across the nation</a>. As long as this is the case, many LGBT Americans will continue to suffer poor health outcomes relative to the straight population.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/77065/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R01AG026526. The content is solely the responsibility of the author and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.</span></em></p>Marriage has long been tied to better health. The first study of the relationship between marriage, health and quality of life for LGBT Americans affirms the benefits of marriage – with some caveats.Jayn Goldsen, Research Study Supervisor, University of WashingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/713642017-01-17T00:34:52Z2017-01-17T00:34:52ZThe trouble with ‘microaggressions’<p>Few psychological concepts have caught on as successfully as the idea of the “microaggression”. The term gained wide currency only ten years ago, but by 2015 it had been crowned the word of the year by the Global Language Monitor. It is now rife on college campuses in the United States and increasingly beyond their ivied walls.</p>
<p>Microaggressions are defined as everyday indignities, conveyed intentionally or unintentionally by words, acts or environments, that communicate hostile and derogatory messages to people from disadvantaged groups. Microaggressive acts may be fleeting, ambiguous and easily overlooked, but they have detrimental effects on their targets.</p>
<p>Several varieties have been described. “Microinsults” are subtle snubs or displays of insensitivity. “Microassaults” are verbal or nonverbal expressions of derogation or avoidance. “Microinvalidations” negate the experience of disadvantaged groups. </p>
<p>For example, according to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17516773">one source</a>, white people may commit microaggressions when they deny they are racist, claim not to see colour, express a belief in meritocratic hiring, or ask an Asian classmate where she was born.</p>
<p>Microaggressions are usually understood as forms of subtle prejudice. The concept gains traction from the fact that some forms of prejudice seem to have gone underground in recent decades. A taboo against displays of overt bigotry has led to it being suppressed and replaced by more covert forms of bias.</p>
<h2>Expanding concepts of prejudice</h2>
<p>In seeking to understand these historical trends, psychologists have progressively expanded the concept of prejudice. Elsewhere I have referred to this expansion as “<a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1047840X.2016.1082418?journalCode=hpli20">concept creep</a>”. Whereas “prejudice” originally referred only to overt expressions of group-based animosity, since the 1970s it has spread to cover new semantic territory.</p>
<p>The first enlargement of the concept came when social psychologists recognised “modern” and “symbolic” forms of sexism and racism. These are revealed by expressing opposition to affirmative action or denying the continuing existence of prejudice. </p>
<p>More recently psychologists have counted as prejudice aversions based on fear or unease rather than antipathy. They have also extended the concept to include unconscious negative attitudes, and attitudes that are superficially <a href="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/psysociety/benevolent-sexism/">positive but patronising</a>.</p>
<p>The idea of microaggression is arguably the farthest extension of the prejudice concept. It recognises as prejudice behaviour that may be unintentional. It takes the subjective perception of the supposed target as sufficient evidence that a prejudiced act has occurred, even if that is sincerely denied by the supposed perpetrator. </p>
<p>It even counts some acts of omission as microaggressive. For example, a white doctor whose waiting room fails to display decorations relevant to ethnic minority clients may have committed a microinvalidation. Failure to maintain eye contact with a minority client may constitute microassault.</p>
<h2>Lilienfeld’s critique</h2>
<p>A <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1745691616659391">recent academic article</a> offers the most serious and sustained critique of the microaggression concept to date. Its author, Emory University psychologist <a href="http://psychology.emory.edu/home/people/faculty/lilienfeld-scott.html">Scott Lilienfeld</a>, casts a critical eye over the concept and the evidence on which it rests. His evaluation is constructive but bracing. He recommends abandoning the term “microaggression” and placing a moratorium on training programs that aim to eradicate it.</p>
<p>Lilienfeld’s criticisms question how microaggressions are defined and assessed. He observes that the concept’s meaning is nebulous, to the point that there is no agreed understanding of what it includes and excludes. Any manner of experiences could in principle find shelter under its broad umbrella. </p>
<p>Lilienfeld pointedly remarks that two American universities have decided that use of the term “politically correct” and describing the USA as a “land of opportunity” both qualify as microaggressions.</p>
<p>Aside from these definitional problems, the existing program of research on microaggressions lacks a reliable method of assessing when they have taken place. It also provides no evidence they typically reflect the perpetrator’s underlying prejudice or hostility. In addition, proponents of the idea of microaggressions place too much confidence in the subjective perception of the supposed target. </p>
<p>This subjectivity is to some degree inevitable when dealing with the slippery realities of social interaction. However it is also deeply problematic. Inferring that an ambiguous experience with another person conveys a prejudiced message and that it springs from a hostile intention is a complex and fallible judgement. </p>
<p>It is also the sort of judgement that is subject to known biases. People with particular identities, ideological commitments and personality traits are more likely than others to identify an ambiguous event as an instance of prejudice. <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/2013-05724-001/">Studies</a> indicate probable targets of prejudice differ markedly in the extent to which they believe they have been exposed to microaggressions.</p>
<p>Knowing what we know about the limitations of self-report evidence in psychology, there is no reason to believe perceptions of microaggression are invariably accurate. Instead there is every reason to take seriously the possibility some supposed microaggressions warrant a more innocuous interpretation. When one person commends someone of another race on how articulate they are, this may reveal a belief in racial inferiority and express animosity, but it could also be an innocent compliment.</p>
<h2>What to do?</h2>
<p>The challenge in responding to criticisms of the microaggression concept is not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Subtle prejudice and unconscious bias are real and consequential. It is also beyond question that the general decline in overt expressions of bigotry in recent decades does not signal the end of prejudice. People who claim to be free of it may harbour troubling attitudes and behave in discriminating ways.</p>
<p>However, “microaggression” is not the best way to think about subtle prejudice. Its definition is amorphous and elastic. It fails to appreciate the ambiguity of social interaction, relies too exclusively on subjective perceptions, and too readily ascribes hostile intent. By doing so, the idea of microaggression contributes to a punitive and accusatory environment that is more likely to create backlash than social progress.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71364/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
What are the drawbacks of expansive definitions of prejudice?Nick Haslam, Professor of Psychology, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/635762016-10-02T23:06:50Z2016-10-02T23:06:50ZWhat it means to be black in the American educational system<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139951/original/image-20160930-6248-1p8gjs6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What do black Americans experience in the school system?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/masshighered/26681994970/in/photolist-GDNcw3-GDNchA-G9yU64-H4YTuk-G9tuSb-H4YT4R-H4YSfX-H4YRZX-G9yQai-H4YRLR-H4YRBn-H4YRxz-G9yNB8-G9tsgQ-GVDCaf-GDNaCo-GVDBqu-GVDAJu-GVDAj1-GDN8Su-GDN8FY-GDN8jf-GDN89f-GDN81u-GDN7i7-GDN6Xs-GDN6Ko-GDN6BC-GXUXbi-H4YRhp-GXUXuz-p9A9tY-diw1rt-divZYd-9W79Te-nqTT24-pUtPu7-nHcmr7-diwDmJ-divVWE-divWEr-nH6x8D-divYhW-nqTMq3-pUBowr-diwMKs-pUAzXx-pffwup-qbVxQv-pSHhyz">masshighered</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many people still think that racism is no longer a problem in America. After the election of President Obama, academic <a href="http://english.columbia.edu/people/profile/442">John McWhorter</a> argued that
racism in America is, for all intents and purposes, <a href="http://www.forbes.com/2008/12/30/end-of-racism-oped-cx_jm_1230mcwhorter.html">dead</a>. The prominent conservative scholar and African-American economist <a href="http://www.tsowell.com/">Thomas Sowell</a> has argued that “<a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/article/427160/racism-america-history">racism isn’t dead, but it is on life support</a>.” Harvard professors <a href="http://sociology.fas.harvard.edu/people/william-julius-wilson">William Julius Wilson</a> and <a href="http://scholar.harvard.edu/fryer/home">Roland Fryer</a> too <a href="http://www.nber.org/papers/w16256#fromrss">have argued</a> about the <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18489466">declining significance</a> of race and discrimination.</p>
<p>However, as we wind down the final months of Obama’s presidency, the declining significance of race and discrimination narratives seem to be at odds with the lived realities for African-Americans. President Obama himself has faced <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/30/politics/why-black-america-may-be-relieved-to-see-obama-go/">racist treatment,</a> such as the <a href="http://politic365.com/2012/01/27/the-10-worst-moments-of-disrespect-towards-president-obama/#">birther controversy and a member of Congress saying “you lie.”</a> And then, one incident after another <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/dec/31/the-counted-police-killings-2015-young-black-men">has highlighted</a> the painful reality that black men are disproportionately likely to die at the hands of the police in comparison to any other demographic group.</p>
<p>Sadly, racism and discrimination are facts of life for many black Americans. As an African-American scholar who studies the experiences of black college students, I am especially interested in this issue. My research has found that black college students <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.2161-1912.2013.00029.x/abstract">report higher levels of stress</a> related to racial discrimination than other racial or ethnic groups. The unfortunate reality is that black Americans experience subtle and overt discrimination from preschool all the way to college.</p>
<h2>Here’s what studies show</h2>
<p>The results of a <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/07/27/blacks-with-college-experience-more-likely-to-say-they-faced-discrimination/?utm_source=Pew+Research+Center&utm_campaign=9dca022fe6-_Weekly_July_28_20167_28_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3e953b9b70-9dca022fe6-400094317">recent survey</a> by the Pew Research Center underscore this point. The survey found that black Americans with some college experience are more likely to say that they have experienced discrimination compared to blacks who did not report having any college experience. </p>
<p>Additional survey results <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/07/27/blacks-with-college-experience-more-likely-to-say-they-faced-discrimination/?utm_source=Pew+Research+Center&utm_campaign=9dca022fe6-_Weekly_July_28_20167_28_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3e953b9b70-9dca022fe6-400094317">revealed several differences</a> between blacks with college experience versus blacks without college experience. For example, in the past 12 months, 55 percent of people with some college experience reported people had acted suspicious of them, compared to 38 percent of those with no college experience. </p>
<p>Similarly, 52 percent of people with some college experience reported people had acted as if they thought the <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/07/27/blacks-with-college-experience-more-likely-to-say-they-faced-discrimination/?utm_source=Pew+Research+Center&utm_campaign=9dca022fe6-_Weekly_July_28_20167_28_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3e953b9b70-9dca022fe6-400094317">individual wasn’t smart</a>, compared to 37 percent of people with no college experience. </p>
<p>So, what are the race-related struggles experienced by African-American students throughout their schooling?</p>
<h2>Story of Tyrone</h2>
<p>Let’s consider the case of Tyrone. Tyrone is a four-year-old black male raised in a two-parent household. Like most four-year-olds, Tyrone is intellectually curious, and has a vivid imagination. He loves books, loves to color and paint, and also loves physical activities such as running, jumping and playing games with his friends. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139952/original/image-20160930-8472-1gu4fyu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139952/original/image-20160930-8472-1gu4fyu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139952/original/image-20160930-8472-1gu4fyu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139952/original/image-20160930-8472-1gu4fyu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139952/original/image-20160930-8472-1gu4fyu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139952/original/image-20160930-8472-1gu4fyu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139952/original/image-20160930-8472-1gu4fyu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What’s the early school experience of black kids?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-138148640/stock-photo-elementary-pupils-counting-with-teacher-in-classroom.html?src=8DL8Z2jxKjYCqN5kBeJe3g-1-85">Teacher image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Behaviorally, Tyrone is also similar to many four-year-olds in that he often likes to talk more than listen, and he can be temperamental. He can engage in hitting, kicking and spitting behaviors when he is angry. </p>
<p>One day Tyrone was playing a game with a friend and he lost. Tyrone got angry and threw the ball at his friend. A teacher witnessed that and immediately confronted Tyrone about his behavior. </p>
<p>Angry about being confronted, Tyrone started to walk away. The teacher grabbed his arm. Tyrone reacted by pushing the teacher away. The teacher sent Tyrone to the principal’s office. After consultation with the principal, Tyrone was deemed to be a danger to students and staff. </p>
<p>He was consequently suspended.</p>
<h2>Early years of schooling</h2>
<p>On the surface this looks like a simple case of meting out the appropriate punishment for perceived serious student misbehavior. There does not appear to be anything explicitly racial about the interaction.</p>
<p>However, consider the fact that there have been many instances of white students engaging in the same behavior, none of which ever result in suspension. This is the racialized reality black students experience every day in American schools. </p>
<p>Black boys are <a href="https://theconversation.com/with-harsher-disciplinary-measures-school-systems-fail-black-kids-39906">almost three times</a> as likely to be suspended than white boys, and black girls are <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/14/education/14suspend.html">four times as likely</a> to be suspended than white girls. Black students’ (mis)behavior is <a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/latest-columns/20150914-kevin-cokley-lets-end-racial-disparity-in-school-discipline.ece">more often criminalized</a> compared to other students.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139953/original/image-20160930-8472-12hu8is.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139953/original/image-20160930-8472-12hu8is.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139953/original/image-20160930-8472-12hu8is.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139953/original/image-20160930-8472-12hu8is.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139953/original/image-20160930-8472-12hu8is.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139953/original/image-20160930-8472-12hu8is.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139953/original/image-20160930-8472-12hu8is.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Black boys are three times more likely to be suspended than white kids.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-138148646/stock-photo-elementary-pupils-in-classroom-working-with-teacher.html?src=pd-same_model-138148640-8DL8Z2jxKjYCqN5kBeJe3g-3">Children image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>While black kids make up 18 percent of preschool enrollment, they represent <a href="https://theconversation.com/racial-inequality-starts-early-in-preschool-61896">48 percent of students</a> receiving one or more suspensions. Getting suspended matters because it is correlated with being referred to law enforcement and arrested. <a href="https://theconversation.com/with-harsher-disciplinary-measures-school-systems-fail-black-kids-39906">Black students account for</a> 27 percent of students who are referred to law enforcement and 31 percent of students who are arrested, while they only make up 18 percent of enrolled students. As a general rule, black students do not often receive the benefit of the doubt when they engage in bad or questionable behavior. </p>
<h2>School experience</h2>
<p>When Tyrone entered fourth grade, teachers noticed a change in his demeanor. His enthusiasm for school and learning had diminished considerably. He no longer eagerly raised his hand to answer questions. He no longer appeared to love books and listening to stories. He appeared to have little joy participating in class activities. His teachers characterized Tyrone as “unmotivated,” “apathetic,” having “learning difficulties” and “a bad attitude.”</p>
<p>Educators and researchers have referred to this phenomenon as “<a href="http://people.terry.uga.edu/dawndba/4500FailingBlkBoys.html">the fourth grade failure syndrome</a>” for black boys. Early childhood educator <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781442207448/Early-Childhood-Education-History-Theory-and-Practice-Second-edition">Harry Morgan</a> suggested that this phenomenon occurred during this time because the classroom environment changes between the third and fourth grade from a socially interactive style to a <a href="http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ220389">more individualistic, competitive style.</a></p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139954/original/image-20160930-8030-1bx57fc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139954/original/image-20160930-8030-1bx57fc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139954/original/image-20160930-8030-1bx57fc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139954/original/image-20160930-8030-1bx57fc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139954/original/image-20160930-8030-1bx57fc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139954/original/image-20160930-8030-1bx57fc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139954/original/image-20160930-8030-1bx57fc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">By fourth grade, a child’s enthusiasm can diminish.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-128729594/stock-photo-a-sister-are-helping-her-little-brother-with-his-home-work.html?src=8DL8Z2jxKjYCqN5kBeJe3g-1-83">Boy image via www.shutterstock,com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This change in style is counter to the more communal and cooperative cultural learning environment which, according to research, <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=buy.optionToBuy&id=2006-01954-005">black students tend to prefer</a>. The fourth grade failure syndrome refers to a bias in schools (e.g., cultural insensitivity, disproportionately harsh discipline, lowered teacher expectations, tracking black students into special education or remedial classes) that has the cumulative effect of diminishing black students’ (especially boys’) enthusiasm and motivation for school.</p>
<p>By high school Tyrone no longer identified with school. His sense of pride and self-esteem increasingly came from his popularity and his athletic abilities rather than his intelligence. <a href="https://ed.stanford.edu/faculty/steele">Psychologist Claude Steele</a> has referred to this as “academic disidentification,” a phenomenon where a student’s self-esteem is disconnected from how they perform in school. </p>
<p>Tyrone is not alone. According to one study based on national data from almost 25,000 students black males were the only students that showed <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=buy.optionToBuy&id=1997-43826-014">significant disidentification</a> throughout the 12th grade. My <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/41343015?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">research</a> too has confirmed this, although I did not find evidence among black females, white males or white females. </p>
<h2>What’s the college experience?</h2>
<p>While the narrative of more black men being in prison than in college has been thoroughly <a href="http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2013/02/more_black_men_in_jail_than_college_myth_rose_from_questionable_report/">debunked</a> by <a href="http://www.journalnegroed.org/ivorytoldson.html">psychologist Ivory Toldson</a>, it is still the case that black men are <a href="https://www.jbhe.com/2015/11/a-snapshot-of-the-gender-gap-in-african-american-enrollments-in-higher-education/">underrepresented</a> in college. According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, there were 887,000 black women enrolled in college compared to 618,000 black men. </p>
<p>Owing in large part to the emphasis of education by his family, Tyrone is fortunate enough to be accepted to college. Excited and nervous about being away from home, Tyrone looks forward to starting his college experience. </p>
<p>Like <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/04/how-the-kids-do-it-now-partying/360367/">many college students</a>, Tyrone likes to go to parties thrown by Greek organizations, and he frequently attends parties thrown by black fraternities. While attending one party, Tyrone and his friends became upset when campus police broke up the party because of complaints of loud music and threaten to arrest the attendees. </p>
<p>Tyrone has partied with white friends and knows firsthand that their parties often involve <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/03/the-dark-power-of-fraternities/357580/">drugs and reckless behavior</a>, yet, as my students tell me, police almost never break up their parties. As it turns out, white fraternities are frequently the perpetrators of <a href="http://college.usatoday.com/2015/03/15/timeline-list-of-recent-sorority-and-fraternity-racist-incidents/">racist incidents</a>, which cause Tyrone and other black students to engage in campus protests.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/college-fraternity-holds-racist-mlk-day-party-article-1.1586776">For example</a>, in 2014, Tau Kappa Epsilon, a fraternity at Arizona State University, was suspended for having a racist Martin Luther King Jr. party at which they drank from watermelon cups, held their crotches, wore bandannas and formed gang signs with their hands. </p>
<h2>Resilience</h2>
<p>To add insult to injury, Tyrone and other black students read opinion pieces in the student paper complaining how affirmative action discriminates against white students and allows less qualified “minority” students on campus. </p>
<p>Tyrone finds refuge in black studies classes, where he learns about theories such as “critical race theory” and terms such as “institutional racism,” “white privilege” and “hegemony.” Exposure to these classes provides Tyrone with the vocabulary and critical analytical tools to better understand the challenges facing black people.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139955/original/image-20160930-8030-1m7li9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139955/original/image-20160930-8030-1m7li9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139955/original/image-20160930-8030-1m7li9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139955/original/image-20160930-8030-1m7li9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139955/original/image-20160930-8030-1m7li9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139955/original/image-20160930-8030-1m7li9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139955/original/image-20160930-8030-1m7li9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Interest among black students in obtaining a degree remains high.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/chandlerchristian/14065260817/in/photolist-nqTWL8-nH6EeT-nH6Dhc-nqTUqL-nH6rYR-nqU4SJ-nHmCxj-8F9wcY-nKaVQp-nHcgfW-nqU8fn-nqU3US-nHorZx-nqTT24-nHcmr7-nHcqzY-nH6x8D-nqTMq3-nqTHzN-nqUefD-nHcm3m-nqTKEk-nqTR2m-nqTLAh-nKaNwM-nFkTpj-nKaVtH-nqTHeC-nH6sax-nFkLNo-nHmHJ1-nqU91R-nKb1G8-nHckGS-nqU9rd">chandlerchristian</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So it is not surprising that college-educated blacks like Tyrone <a href="https://www.jbhe.com/incidents/">are more likely</a> to report experiencing discrimination in college than blacks with no college experience in college environments where racist incidents and racial microagressions are frequently reported. In spite of the desire among many for America to be colorblind, at every level of education black students experience disproportionate amounts of discrimination. </p>
<p>In many ways my research on African-American students reflects my own experiences as a black male negotiating the challenges of being in predominantly white academic environments. The silver lining to this story is that black students are incredibly resilient and there are positive things to report. </p>
<p>In 2016, for example, enrollment at historically black colleges and universities <a href="https://www.jbhe.com/2016/09/more-good-news-on-enrollments-at-historically-black-universities/">has increased</a>. It is difficult to know if this increase is related to the negative experiences of discrimination black students often experience on predominantly white campuses, but it does suggest that interest among black students in obtaining a college education remains high. According to 2016 data reported in the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, black women now have the highest graduation rate of any demographic group at the University of Georgia. </p>
<p>For every positive outcome for students like Tyrone, there are unfortunately also too many negative outcomes for other similar students. The educational experiences of Tyrone and all black students matters should be of concern to everyone.</p>
<p>While education is not a cure all for experiences with racism and discrimination, education can equip us with the tools to better understand, analyze and ultimately find solutions to the tragic incidents we are seeing too frequently involving police killings of black people.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/63576/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kevin O'Neal Cokley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>What are the race-related struggles that African-American students experience throughout their school years? Here’s the story of Tyrone.Kevin O'Neal Cokley, Professor of Educational Psychology and African and African Diaspora Studies, The University of Texas at AustinLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/506942015-11-17T11:02:50Z2015-11-17T11:02:50ZMany small microaggressions add up to something big<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/102087/original/image-20151117-4964-1fvbp5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1521%2C0%2C5486%2C3671&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What was that supposed to mean?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=6787255">Women image via www.shutterstock.com.</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Upon entering a classroom or office for the first time, I frequently take more than a few seconds to place my book bag on the floor. I do this to give the occupants of the room the opportunity to brush aside all assumptions they may have made before meeting me, their professor or invited guest. Inevitably, though, some soul will make a comment like “I didn’t quite expect you when I talked to you on the phone,” “registered for this course,” or some other seemingly innocent remark.</p>
<p>These innocuous-on-the-surface comments are examples of microaggressions. They allow the expression of biased opinions while freeing the aggressor by means of a thin veil of doubt: was that action, comment or behavior intentional? Often microaggressions take the form of unconsciously delivered instances of failing to acknowledge or making light of the experiences of others from different cultures, traditions, races – and they’re easily justified or ignored. These are subtle messages that leave the recipient doubting whether they occurred at all and how to respond.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/170642574/Offensive-Mechanisms-Chester-Pierce#scribd">term was first used</a> to describe subtle communications of expectations and stereotypes associated with race. It’s in this context that the idea of microaggression is being discussed now amid racial tensions on campuses across the United States. Usage has evolved to also include those who’ve traditionally been marginalized, such as women and people living with disabilities. Whether conscious or unconscious, microaggressions are acts that <a href="http://alk.nazwa.pl/tamarajournal.com/index.php/tamara/article/viewFile/104/89">silence or minimize those with less power</a>. What might seem to be no big deal to the more powerful actor can have long-lasting, damaging effects on a recipient who has to deal with these kinds of marginalizing expressions on a daily basis.</p>
<h2>Three forms of microaggressions</h2>
<p>Think of some male-occupied spaces where misogyny is carried out without anyone batting an eye. There are many similarly homogeneous spaces – heterosexual, Christian, American, able, middle-class. Within them, there’s a norm and those who are different are sometimes referred to in terms that don’t leave these spaces unless the speaker has lost control, is hidden behind the screen of the internet or is truly ignorant.</p>
<p>Though debatable, some would argue that we now live in a post-racial society where explicit racist comments and imagery are rarely tolerated. <a href="http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470491396.html">Microaggressions are instances</a> when these kinds of <a href="http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-047049140X.html">biased thoughts become apparent</a> in the wider culture.</p>
<p><strong>Microassaults</strong> are verbal or nonverbal communications that typically convey insensitivity or rudeness. Examples would be using a derogatory racial slur, displaying a Confederate flag or posting images demeaning to women in a public area to be seen by all.</p>
<p><strong>Microinsults</strong> are subtle messages that convey to the recipient that their presence would not have been possible were it not for preferential treatment. Often these comments are couched in the form of questions that appear to be legitimate. Think about asking a female student to explain her admission to a prestigious math or science program. Though not overtly aggressive in nature, the surprise implicit in the question implies that the student’s record of achievement is unexpected or not comparable with that of her peers. In addition to verbal comments, microinsults are behavioral in nature – clutching a purse or exiting an elevator at the sight of a man of color constitute microinsults.</p>
<p><strong>Microinvalidation</strong> removes the receiver from her experiences. For example, the perpetrator may assert that he is colorblind, that a person’s racial background is not important to him: “I don’t care if you are black, white or purple.” As with microinsults, these comments may not be hostile in intent. However, they reject the receiving individual’s experiences in a decidedly non-colorblind world, while relieving the perpetrator of any responsibility for authentic engagement with the invalidated other. And frankly, I think you should care if I were purple.</p>
<p>While ignorance of how something will be received is not an excuse for what can be less-than-conscious acts, more damning is the dismissal of the recipient’s perception. Often the microaggression’s recipient is told, “You’re too sensitive,” or “Stop being politically correct.” In these moments, a thoughtful interaction concerning intention and perception would further our communal growth. Typically, though, two bruised fighters return to their own corners.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/102088/original/image-20151117-4936-1k35dqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/102088/original/image-20151117-4936-1k35dqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/102088/original/image-20151117-4936-1k35dqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/102088/original/image-20151117-4936-1k35dqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/102088/original/image-20151117-4936-1k35dqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/102088/original/image-20151117-4936-1k35dqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/102088/original/image-20151117-4936-1k35dqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/102088/original/image-20151117-4936-1k35dqd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dealing with microaggression daily can be psychologically draining.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=189334079">Man image via www.shutterstock.com.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Microaggressions, macro impacts</h2>
<p>Each individual instance of microaggression represents a missed opportunity for mutually enriching engagement. But worse, people who are frequently on the receiving end of microaggression <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0735-7028.39.3.329">experience ongoing psychological distress</a> that can have long-term impacts.</p>
<p>For example, one study found almost 40% of 174 <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1521/jscp.2010.29.10.1074">African-American doctoral students and recent PhD graduates</a> – a high-achieving group – reported being treated rudely or disrespectfully within the last year; 30% indicated that their ideas or opinions were minimized, ignored or devalued or that they have been ignored, overlooked or not given service; 26% stated that they had not been taken seriously; another 22% stated they’d experienced being considered fancy or exotic by others. The researchers found high experiences of underestimation of personal ability were related to elevated levels of perceived stress.</p>
<p>When encounters commonly come with subtly denigrating messages, recipients use substantial mental energy dealing with the incidents and figuring out how to respond.</p>
<p>Remember my personal example of the surprise some people voice when I walk to a lecture hall’s podium. Instead of just getting ready to teach, I have to deal with their comments, internally or publicly. I feel responsible for helping the speaker release their notions of what a policy and research professor – or someone with the surname Van Sluytman, for that matter – looks like, or how a black man sounds on the phone.</p>
<p>I feel challenged to validate my experiences, and question both my privilege and my marginalization. And I feel obligated to validate the experience and presence of all others who have ever stood or will stand in my place facing the subtle message that they’re not what or where they’re expected to be. They do not belong. There are limits to their possibilities. But I know that we are not all equally equipped to run this gauntlet; some will not survive.</p>
<p>Beyond the personal effects, the stress associated with repeated exposure to intentional and unintentional microaggression may erode an individual’s willingness to engage with the larger society. Perhaps this is the goal of microaggressors – an erasure of those who represent difference. But that’s not realistic.</p>
<p>Instead, in tandem with other forms of institutional discrimination, the repeated onslaught of microaggression and the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/DAED_a_00067">effort to resolve the resulting emotions</a> can lead to <a href="https://litigation-essentials.lexisnexis.com/webcd/app?action=DocumentDisplay&crawlid=1&doctype=cite&docid=23+Chicano-Latino+L.+Rev.+15&srctype=smi&srcid=3B15&key=7f5340abbb92d9112f19e0ca3b9a43f5">negative results</a> for the recipient groups. In addition to <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0002764207307742">psychological distress</a>, those who retreat face the possibility of reducing the support they need to develop maximum self-confidence, as well as the networks that enhance the group’s economic and social status while reducing the risks for poverty.</p>
<h2>The matter at hand and the way forward</h2>
<p>For the students of University of Missouri, Yale and other learning centers, active engagement is a requirement of success. The tacit restrictions – no longer marked by Jim Crow-era signs – subvert the goals of the institution: educational attainment and the individual’s subsequent capacity to participate in the global community. In university mission statements across the United States, student growth is a pillar of institutions. These pillars support the campus environment and the future of the communities to which students belong. Microaggression against students renders them less likely to participate in the richness that campus life has to offer. It strips them of the ability to build networks that would enhance their communities.</p>
<p>While Americans have elected their first African-American president and Hillary Clinton seems poised to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling, many Americans struggle to accept the plurality of the country’s population with regard to gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation and race. Members of minority communities continue to face <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0022146510383838">disparities</a> in <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/pros.21314">health outcomes</a>, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/DAED_a_00019">incarceration</a> and <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/REST_a_00063">unemployment</a> and earnings, among other negative outcomes. They face microaggressions that challenge confidence and diminish their capacity to engage needed systems and services, and leave us in much more impoverished world. </p>
<p>We must acknowledge that each person’s experience is of value though it may be distinct from our own. Being present and mindful could lead to reducing microaggressions that seek to dismiss, devalue or destroy the vibrant diversity that is American society. Be open to the possibility that your Chinese classmate was born and raised in Santa Monica. Commenting on her unaccented English is not a compliment. It positions her as a constant outsider, never truly American. The way forward depends on our ability to embrace our society’s plurality.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/50694/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laurens Van Sluytman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>These innocuous-on-the-surface comments and actions take a psychological toll on marginalized groups. Here’s why they’re a part of campus debates on race.Laurens Van Sluytman, Assistant Professor of Social Work, Morgan State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/403602015-05-01T10:02:44Z2015-05-01T10:02:44ZWhy do so few black males go into STEM areas? Here’s what made DeAndre give up<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/79995/original/image-20150430-30711-9gc0b0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Negative stereotypes hamper the success of black males in STEM fields.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/s/black+male+science/search.html?page=2&thumb_size=mosaic&inline=149239352">Student image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Dressed in a black hoodie and sagging jeans, DeAndre (name changed) swaggers down the street, singing loudly the gritty lyrics of a gangsta rap.</p>
<p>This routine typifies DeAndre’s journey to and from school. Many of those watching DeAndre’s behavior during his school commute could assume him to be a thug and a gangster.</p>
<p>Such a narrative, a result of the <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11256-013-0265-2">racialized and gendered narratives</a> that black male adolescents live with in urban areas, is part of DeAndre’s schooling as well as out-of-school experiences. </p>
<p>Black males are presumed to lack intelligence when it comes to academics, particularly <a href="http://uex.sagepub.com/content/49/4/363.short">mathematics</a>. </p>
<p>For more than ten years, I have been <a href="http://uex.sagepub.com/content/49/4/363.short">researching</a> the lives and experiences of black STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) high school students all the way up the pipeline to black STEM faculty. I have looked at the achievements of black students in mathematics within their first eight or nine years of schooling. </p>
<h2>Negative messages</h2>
<p>I have found that black males who consistently outperform their peers in mathematics, are also victims of <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11256-014-0317-2#page-1">covert racial stereotypes</a> and <a href="http://aer.sagepub.com/content/48/6/1347.short">racial microaggressions</a>.</p>
<p>The truth is DeAndre is a high school junior and a high-achiever in mathematics and science from an urban area. DeAndre is not hardened, but he is fragile. </p>
<p>His STEM identity is especially tenuous. </p>
<p>DeAndre is not alone. There are <a href="http://journalofafricanamericanmales.com/issues/jaame-issue-archives/vol2no1">thousands of young men</a> like DeAndre in urban cities across the country, who are STEM high-achievers and have the potential to succeed as STEM professionals. </p>
<p>However, too often they receive negative messaging about their continued success in STEM. Such <a href="http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=44fCBDIPrZYC&oi=fnd&pg=PA193&dq=counselor+discouraging+Black+males+in+STEM&ots=4zy3XrEOMN&sig=muzQTkQVe2dvjys-eMetklU_nRk#v=onepage&q=counselor%20discouraging%20Black%20males%20in%20STEM&f=false">messages</a> from teachers or counselors <a href="http://hipatiapress.com/hpjournals/index.php/remie/article/view/remie.2013.15">downplay or minimize</a> their mathematics abilities. The low expectations from these talented boys serve to further <a href="http://ed-osprey.gsu.edu/ojs/index.php/JUME/article/view/178">discourage</a> them from pursuing STEM fields. </p>
<h2>Academic challenges</h2>
<p>As a result, <a href="http://beta.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2013/acs/acs-24.pdf">black participation</a> in STEM fields has been left far behind. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/acs-24.pdf">In 2011</a>, whites held 71% of STEM jobs, Asians held 15% and blacks only 6%. In 2009 white students obtained 65.5% of the STEM undergraduate degrees. However, STEM undergraduate degrees for blacks have <a href="http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind12/c2/c2s2.htm">remained flat for the last 9 years</a>. </p>
<p>Blacks received just 6% of all <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/24/stem-education-and-jobs-d_n_1028998.html">STEM bachelor’s degrees</a> and less than half of those went to black males. Overall blacks received <a href="http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2010/2010015.pdf">4% of master’s degrees, and 2% of PhDs in STEM</a>, despite constituting 12% of the US population. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/79829/original/image-20150429-6250-13d61j3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/79829/original/image-20150429-6250-13d61j3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/79829/original/image-20150429-6250-13d61j3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/79829/original/image-20150429-6250-13d61j3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/79829/original/image-20150429-6250-13d61j3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/79829/original/image-20150429-6250-13d61j3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/79829/original/image-20150429-6250-13d61j3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Black kids face many challenges related to schooling.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&search_tracking_id=OUgCl0HU1Q9CkyFOG1ECzg&searchterm=black%20boys%20school&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=154179290">Boy image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>When it comes to academic success, young black students face many other challenges that are only made worse by the negative messaging. </p>
<p>There are societal messages that equate black maleness with criminality, with teachers often being afraid of their black male students.</p>
<p>Often enough, as my own <a href="http://uex.sagepub.com/content/49/4/363.short">research </a> shows, unequal access to treatment results in <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953613003778%20and%20%20http://isw.sagepub.com/content/52/4/459.short">poorer health</a> outcomes for black kids.</p>
<p>The early academic years for these students are riddled with long-term (two months or longer) illnesses that negatively impact their schooling and result in attending at least one summer school term. </p>
<p>Some of <a href="http://aer.sagepub.com/content/49/3/487.full">these students</a> also <a href="http://uex.sagepub.com/content/49/4/363">change schools</a> <a href="http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=mF_me7HYyHcC&oi=fnd&pg=PA3&dq=Whither+Opportunity%3F:+Rising+Inequality,+Schools,+and+Children%27s+Life+Chances&ots=wsca4NG2s6&sig=ISm6f11uBDoLUy6p8p8eWLjm6y4#v=onepage&q=Whither%20Opportunity%3F%3A%20Rising%20Inequality%2C%20Schools%2C%20and%20Children%27s%20Life%20Chances&f=false">quite often</a>. </p>
<p>DeAndre, for example, has a higher rate of school transfer; his current school is his third high school in three years. This lack of continuity for high achieving black male students can lead to additional pressures to prove their intellectual abilities in mathematics to an unwelcoming or skeptical school culture.</p>
<p>Fighting racial stereotypes can also <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11256-013-0265-2#page-1">wear them down.</a> DeAndre is weary of racial stereotypes in general and stereotypes about black males in particular.</p>
<p>DeAndre’s coarse behavior during his school commute is actually performed to repel or deflect potential violence via <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11256-013-0265-2#page-1">aggressive posturing</a>, as evident in his “swagger.” In reality, he hasn’t been in any “real” fight since second grade and is filled with trepidation every time he walks home from school. </p>
<h2>Such few options</h2>
<p>Young black students also work toward what is called “performing whiteness.” This in their words means: talking ultra proper English while enunciating every syllable, dressing preppy, not talking about their families, pretending to go on vacations, not telling too many jokes and proving to their white female teachers that they are not to be feared but to be loved and nurtured. </p>
<p>The result is that their intrinsic motivation for learning mathematics and steadfast internal drive get constantly eroded by a host of structural and environmental challenges.</p>
<p>In addition to all these above challenges, they are often at schools that do not offer enough academic opportunities to support their interests. DeAndre’s school does not offer AP classes that would position him more favorably for a STEM college major. </p>
<p>Another problem that black kids face is an absence of role models. The successful black role models that students like DeAndre are exposed to are mostly athletes and rappers. DeAndre does not want to be an athlete or a rapper. </p>
<p>Even so, the likelihood of DeAndre going on to pursue STEM remains frail. </p>
<p>Instead DeAndre has chosen to be a social worker. Through this justice-orientated work, DeAndre wants to address the social and racial inequities in his neighborhood. We don’t know if he will use STEM in the future or not.</p>
<p>If DeAndre has managed to come this far, it is thanks to the support he has received from family members. DeAndre has fond memories of playing dominoes with his grandfather and mathematically complicated card games with his aunts. </p>
<p>His first mathematics teacher was his father. Today, DeAndre is like a human calculator, spitting out complicated number algorithms. </p>
<h2>Diversity vital to STEM</h2>
<p>As we work to minimize the fragility factors affecting youth like DeAndre, we often overlook what protects DeAndre’s STEM and academic identity. The socialization in mathematics that does happen in many black households remains unappreciated by schools as it does by the predominantly white social structures. </p>
<p>My experience of investigating lives, such as those of DeAndre has convinced me of the need for rigorous research that contributes to a more accurate and nuanced portrayal of black males in STEM. </p>
<p>The vitality of United States will be derived in large part from fostering the STEM identities of young men like DeAndre who reside within our urban communities. Their participation is important for innovation – and for a more equitable society. </p>
<p>Our DeAndres should not see a conflict between pursuing a STEM college trajectories and an unyielding sense of responsibility for the improvement of their home communities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/40360/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ebony O McGee received funding for the research from the National Academy of Education and the Spencer Foundation.</span></em></p>Black male kids who start out by excelling in STEM gradually lose interest due to low teacher expectations and racial stereotyping. The result? Blacks hold only 6% of all STEM jobs.Ebony O. McGee, Assistant Professor of Education, Diversity and Urban Schooling, Vanderbilt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.