Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions...(Week 4)

     As an African-American woman, I’ve always had to prove myself as an educated person. When I first moved for New Jersey to South Carolina I learn that people still judge you on their own biases and stereotypes. First I was judged for being from the North; southerner would say comments jokingly, but it wasn’t funny to me. A most recent example of microaggression is in my current profession. I’m Program Specialist for an early childhood program where I’m surrounded with colleagues of the dominant culture. Our program serves a variety of families, but the majority is American-American families. I was developing a newsletter on summer safety for children where I was addressing the need for sunscreen outsides. As the program director (Caucasian woman) reviewed the newsletter she comments, “Black people do not use sunscreen.” As African American woman, I was appalled! I immediately corrected her in an intelligent and proper matter. She felt assume and embarrassed, and I felt disrespected and offended. I looked at her differently for that point. This experience taught me that many people are judged on their own biases and stereotypes.   I’ve vowed to treat everyone the same regardless of whom they were.