An educational curriculum policy in the suburban Anoka-Hennepin School District north of Minneapolis has spurred controversy and discussion about how sexual orientation issues should be discussed in schools.
Over the past few months, environmental microaggressions have been communicated via the guise of the debates surrounding the federal budget. Of particular concern are the negative covert messages concerning women and the poor that were conveyed via the debate around Planned Parenthood's funding.
“All the white people I know deplore racism. We feel helpless about racial injustice in society, and we don’t know what to do about the racism we sense in our own groups and lives..."
The photograph of Elton John and his partner, David Furnish, with their newborn baby boy quickly made its way around the major media outlets over the past couple weeks. But almost as quickly as a popular magazine bearing the image hit the newsstands, controversy erupted.
The issue of bullying is multifaceted and more nuanced than it is often portrayed in the media. The classic bully is often depicted as someone who is a loner, gruff, low achieving, has poor social skills, and comes from a highly dysfunctional family. While this may be true of many bullies, it is certainly not true of all bullies.
Many readers have asked me whether microaggressions can be directed at women, lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgendered (LGBT) persons, or those with disabilities. The resounding answer is "yes."
When I speak about my personal experiences with subtle and covert forms of discrimination, also known as microaggressions, I am often challenged about my interpretations. Is it possible, they may ask, that the behavior exhibited by the person you described had nothing to do with discrimination? Aren't there many other logical reasons why that behavior may have occurred?
Not too long ago, I (Asian American) boarded a small plane with an African American colleague in the early hours of the morning. At the last minute, three White men entered the plane and took seats in front of us. Just before takeoff, the flight attendant, who is White, asked if we would mind moving to the back of the aircraft to better balance the plane's weight. We grudgingly complied but felt singled out as passengers of color in being told to "move to the back of the bus."
