Microaggressions: What Are They and Why Should You Care?

I am currently exploring the idea of microaggressions. Did you know there are various ways in which we can display microaggressions? There are microinsults, microassaults, and microinvalidations. I always thought that because I did not engage in microassaults (conscious and direct attacks and overtly aggressive or prejudiced actions)  that I was not perpetrating these microaggressions.

The more I dive into this, the more I see I have been guilty of microinsults (passive-aggressive or subtle snubs to someone's experience and identity) and microinvalidations (negating of someone's feelings or experience) in numerous ways including asking a person of color where they are from, negating the experience of overt racism, homophobia, ableism, etc by saying nothing, watching what has happened and not making space to call out and validate the experience or assuming I understand or can empathize with a friend because I am a woman or have another identity in which I have experienced discrimination.

I am continuing to look back at my actions and consider how I show up in the world now to identify the changes that need to occur to my thinking and actions in order to protect against rather than perpetuate these microaggressions.

If you are being honest with yourself, where have you been an active (or passive) participant in any of these acts? And more importantly, what can you learn from them?

I know it is uncomfortable but the reality is, we have all done this, no matter who we are or the identities we hold and the only hope we have of making meaningful, sustainable change is by shifting the inside selves so we can work collectively to create a community in which everyone is treated with equal respect, rights, opportunity, grace and love.