Shaquille Blackstock
         Staff Writer

The University’s Multicultural Resource Center, or the Office of Intercultural Engagement, held a discussion on Wednesday, Feb. 24, which explored what it means to be a minority in a society that is not always as politically correct as it intends to be.

The discussion was called, “From Micro to 100 Real Quick,” which is a play on words from one of Drake’s songs titled, “0 to a 100.”

Hosted by the Office of Intercultural Engagement employees, Niesha and James, the forum was lively. Participants answered truthfully about things that irritated them that they sometimes didn’t want to address head-on because it may have been perceived as an aggressive behavior.

Microaggressions are subject to many perceptions, definitions or views of what constitutes a microaggression. They can depend on what the person’s background is, and to an extent, how sensitive they are.

James told the audience that microaggressions generally can be defined with examples like, “Oh, you speak very well for a black person,” “Oh, you’re so articulate,” or something along the lines of, “Oh my goodness, can I touch your hair? I wish I had the courage to get out of bed like that every morning.”

Often times, a person might want to react to every single microaggression that comes their way, but it is important to pick one’s battles, and also to discern whether or not people meant it offensively, or whether they genuinely want to know something about someone’s culture.

Another issue that came up in the conversation was colorism, which is something that exists within the black community. Lighter skin is favored over darker skin in cultures all over the world, but it is especially destructive when this favoritism comes from friends and family.

Sometimes, black children who are lighter skinned are favored and treated more kindly than a child with darker skin, because of perceived behavioral issues or the internalized self-hatred of the parent. One participant, Elise, gave an example: “Someone told me that since I was wearing shorts and it’s was a bit cold, they said: ‘That’s what white people do’ but I honestly just felt like wearing shorts; how is that white behavior?”

Code-switching came up in the conversation as well. Code-switching in this discussion could be defined as when minorities speak one way at home or around friends and family, and speak what is seen as popular American English when they are in a space like a university, or another “white space”.

It’s not as simple as just classifying the dilemma as Ebonics versus American English, because some black people do not speak Ebonics at all. It’s more like using American English in public, and then urban vernacular everywhere else. Of course, not all black people do this but, it is an issue, because often urban vernacular is seen as indicative of being of a lower class or less intelligent.

Niesha posed the question, “How Black is Black enough? What does it mean to speak well?” She continued that, on an individual level, black people deal with harmful black stereotypes because society accepts these ideas as normal.

The speakers gave more examples of words that shouldn’t be used as much as they are because they have racist or, at the very least, microaggressive connotations. The words “sketchy,” “urban,” “out of control,” “sassy” and “thug” are all microaggressions, depending on how they are used and who they refer to.

To be frank, most people have probably committed microaggressions. If a person respectfully mentions that someone has said something micro-aggressive, they should apologize, and try to learn what not to say to certain minorities, be them racial or sexual.

The main goal should be for people to be more tolerant, regardless of one’s different experiences. It’s good to try and place oneself in someone else’s shoes every once in awhile.

James continued that, “Sometimes, people just want to know something about another person. Word things genuinely and convey your interest in a way that’s not patronizing,” he said. James suggested asking, “Where are you from?” instead of things like, “What are you?”

The worst thing to do is to presume something about someone, or demand their racial identity. Express curiosity without turning the person into a spectacle or fetishizing their exoticism.

The forum then delineated into a conversation about gender norms and the perception of what “Women dressing like women,” means.

The group also discussed the increasing polarization of the media, and the ways in which it functions as a business without an obligation to give the masses unbiased information, and how this information can perpetrate microaggressions in the most blatant ways.

There are micro-aggressions everywhere, but a person will only notice them if the microaggressions have a direct effect on them or their culture.