Racism comes in many forms, but there are two key categories – overt and covert.
Overt racism is the obvious, undeniable stuff. The ‘n-word’, the ‘p-word’, the aggressive, openly hostile stuff.
Covert is sneakier, harder to pinpoint, harder to call out. This is the category microaggressions fall in to, and many people of colour in this country experience them on a daily basis.
On their own, microaggressions may not seem like much, and they can be easy to brush off in isolation – but the accumulative effect of brushing off multiple microaggressions, every day, can be draining, demoralising and utterly disheartening.
What is a microaggression?
A microaggression is an instance of subtle, indirect discrimination against a marginalised group. It doesn’t always have to be about race – they can be based on gender, sexuality and physical ability too – but they are commonly experienced by racial minorities.
The dictionary says that microaggressions can be ‘unintentional’ – but the intention doesn’t change the effects that these actions and statements have on people of colour.
Examples of microaggressions
‘I was called the wrong name by the receptionist in my office every day for sixth months. She just wouldn’t learn my name. This didn’t happen with any of my white colleagues.
‘The first few times I told her what my name was, but after about a month I just had to stop trying because it was too awkward.’
‘I was at a Christmas party and one of my colleagues (drunkenly) came over to me and just put their hands in my hair. I have short Afro hair, and this person rubbed my head and said I felt like a sheep.
‘I jerked my head away, but just kind of smiled awkwardly and snuck off to the bar. I didn’t fancy making a scene because I didn’t think anyone would back me up.’
‘This was at a work event – I was giving a talk and afterwards, one of the people who had been in the crowd came up to me. He was an older white man.
‘He said to me; “you were so eloquent and well-spoken. Is English your first language?”
‘I just stared at him. What a question to ask! I wanted to ask if he had ever assumed that of his white colleagues. But I didn’t, of course.’
‘I’m mixed-race and I am constantly asked – “no, where are you really from?” It may seem innocuous, or like it’s not a big deal, but being asked that all the time makes it feel like you don’t belong anywhere.
‘You wouldn’t ask a white person that. What you’re really asking me is – “why do you look different?”‘
The tricky thing about microaggressions is that individually, they are perceived as small. They are daily, commonplace interactions that can’t always be readily identified as racism by people who have little experience of it.
This puts minorities who experience microaggressions in a tough position, as to speak out about a seemingly ‘small’ incident can be viewed as disproportionate. Many people worry about being perceived as aggressive, angry or as ‘playing the race card’.
The impact of these microaggressions is that the people who experience them are often left feeling powerless and afraid to speak out – particularly in the workplace, or out of fear of making friendships or professional relationships awkward.
It’s actually not a new term. It was coined by Harvard University professor Chester M. Pierce in the 1970s.
‘These assaults to black dignity and black hope are incessant and cumulative,’ he wrote.
‘Any single one may be gross. In fact, the major vehicle for racism in this country is offences done to blacks by whites in this sort of gratuitous neverending way. These offences are microaggressions.’
He added that almost all racial interactions between black people and white people are characterised by these automatic and unconscious put-downs from white people.
‘These mini disasters accumulate,’ he says. ‘It is the sum total of multiple microaggressions by whites to blacks that has pervasive effect to the stability and peace of this world.’
What are the effects of microaggressions?
Research has consistently shown just how damaging microaggressions can be for people who experience them regularly.
A 2018 study in the Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development found that of counsellors who had clients reporting race-based trauma, 89% identified ‘covert acts of racism’ as a contributing factor.
The commonplace, subtle nature of microaggressions can also have a significant detrimental impact on the health of people of colour who experience them.
Research has provided strong evidence that microaggressions lead to higher levels of depression and trauma. In one US study of 405 students at an undergraduate university, depressive symptoms were the link in the relationship between racial microaggressions and thoughts of suicide.
In another recent study of Native Americans with diabetes, a correlation was found between microaggressions and self-reported histories of heart attack, depressive symptoms, and prior-year hospitalisation.
Despite the name, these instances of racism are not small enough to be harmless. The impact and accumulative trauma is real and can be anything but ‘micro’.
It’s easy to dismiss microaggressions as less damaging than more overt forms of racism, but the regularity that minorities are confronted with these subtle forms of prejudice means the impact can be worse than more obvious, but less frequent, forms of racial hostility.
Everyone needs to do better in identifying and calling out microaggressions wherever they see them. And support minorities when they report this kind of racism because it’s isolating to have to fight these tiny battles, alone, every single day.