Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions
Microaggressions are defined as brief everyday indignities that are verbal, behavioral, or environmental. They may be intentional or unintentionally communicated to women, to people of color, or to those of differing sexual orientation, and have an insulting message behind them that often causes severe psychological distress and harm ( Laureate Education, Inc., 2011).
One microaggression that I have witnessed, among many in my workplace, was toward my best friend. She is bicultural with a Hispanic father and a German mother. She has a last name that is rather easy to pronounce but teachers in our school seem to have a difficult time pronouncing it. Her last name is Chavez. Many teachers pronounce it with a fake French-sounding accent (Shhhha-vez). She politely corrects them all the time and even provides a word to help them remember how to say it (rhymes with Travis). The other teachers responses range from apologetic to annoyance. One teacher in particular addressed her incorrectly (Hey Shhhha-vez or however you say it, I don't know. Well, all your names end in a 'z' anyway.)
I was furious upon hearing it, not to mention my friend's reaction- she walked away. This just happened in an elementary school by a teacher. When my friend addressed it the next day, the teacher got defensive and apologized saying she just gets confused.
I was aware of the effects of discrimination, prejudice, and stereotypes on people previous to this observation because I have been on the receiving end of them too often.
References:
Laureate Education, Inc. (2011). Microaggressions in Everyday Life. [Multimedia Presentation]. Retrieved from Walden University course notes.
Hi Lemora! I enjoyed reading your post. I'm a Mexican American and I can totally relate to your friends. My maiden last name is Vargas. I never had an issue with that but ever since I got married and changed my last name to Medina, I’ve had many individuals pronounce it "Maaadina." I often find myself correcting these individuals. The individuals do apologize but I’ve notice that sometimes their apologies are meaningful and many times they are not.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!
Erika
Wow! I am a little taken back that a teacher would actually do that. Well not totally, given some of the teachers that we have in place today, but surprised because of how I feel about giving people the proper respect and calling them by their correct names. A little shocked because as an educator, we should all know that our identities are attached to our names. This could be a pretty harsh thing for a child to have to face from their teacher who they may look up to and feel as if that particular teacher does not care for them enough to even learn his/her name correctly.
ReplyDeleteLemora,
ReplyDeleteWe must show respect to all and by doing this demonstrate our commitment to embracing others. I can imaging how she feels as I just don't appreciate people messing up my name. There will be issues with pronunciations but a teacher should get it right after few attempts.
Vanessa
I have heard teachers show frustration when a student corrects them. I have experienced that myself, instead of them saying it the right way and being polite they get frustrated or embarrassed so joke and say "HOWEVER YOU SAY IT" but its rude, and yes we are only human but educators have to realize when what they are teaching is ignorance. The students will react towards a child, the same way they see their teacher acting.
ReplyDelete