Text to Text
Teaching ideas based on New York Times content.
Have you heard the term “microaggressions?”
A Columbia professor who has written a book on the topic defines them as “brief and commonplace verbal, behavioral or environmental indignities — whether intentional or unintentional — which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative slights and insults to people from marginalized groups.”
Public disclosures of microaggressions have recently become a popular way for people to share their personal experiences with racism, homophobia, sexism and other forms of bias, and several of the video and photo collections they have created to document the phenomenon have gone viral.
In this Text to Text, we pair New York Times reporting on microaggressions with a widely-taught piece from the 1961 collection “A Puerto Rican in New York, and Other Sketches” by Jesús Colón. Use these two texts — or choose from any of the other related pieces we link to or embed in this post — to spark discussions about identity, difference, bias and awareness. Or, suggest your own ideas below.
Background
The term “microaggressions” was first proposed in the 1970s by Dr. Chester Pierce, Professor of Education and Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Four decades later, in 2007, Dr. Derald W. Sue of Columbia University brought the term back into the public consciousness with his book and research on microaggressions and their effect on people.
Four years ago, students at Columbia created a blog called The Microaggressions Project. Later, a student at Fordham University did a photo project related to the concept that Buzzfeed brought attention to in a post that went viral.
Since then, the concept has caught on widely. Students from Harvard, Oxford, University of Colorado and other colleges have shared their encounters with micoaggressions, and a John Jay College professor asked his friends to share their L.G.B.T. Microaggressions. MTV has jumped into the dialogue with their “Look Different” campaign, producing public service announcement videos on microaggressions.
What does this all mean and why have people become so interested in it?
To explore these questions, we pair a 2014 Times article, “Students See Many Slights as Racial ‘Microaggressions’ ” and a 1961 essay, “Little Things Are Big,” from a book by Jesús Colón that The Times praised in a 1989 book review:
Nearly 30 years have passed since Jesús Colón’s book, “A Puerto Rican in New York and Other Sketches,” first chronicled the unseen lives, daily dramas and disenchantments of an earlier (1920’s-40’s) generation of immigrants. Not incidentally, he also inaugurated a distinctively inflected, culturally syncretic, English-language mainland branch of Puerto Rican letters. The memoirs, novels, short stories, plays and poems of Piri Thomas, Humberto Cintron, Nicholasa Mohr, Edward Rivera, Julio Marzan, Pedro Pietri, Miguel Pinero and Martin Espada, among many others, are a powerful testimony to its sturdy growth, the abundant variety of its fruit and its enduring vitality.
Key Question: How can “little things” be “big” when issues of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class and religion are addressed? As a society, what might we gain by identifying, analyzing and communicating our experiences with microaggressions?
Activity Sheets: As students read and discuss, they might take notes using one or more of the three graphic organizers (PDFs) we have created for our Text to Text feature:
Text 1: “Little Things Are Big,” by Jesús Colón
A video version of “Little Things Are Big” created by the organization Facing History and Ourselves, which uses the text in its work.
It was late after midnight on the night before Memorial Day. I had to catch the train back to Brooklyn; the West side IRT. This lady got on to the subway at 34th and Penn Station, a nice looking white lady in her early twenties. Somehow she managed to push herself in with a baby on her right arm and a big suitcase in her left hand. Two children, a boy and a girl about three and five years old trailed after her.
Anyway, at Nevins Street I saw her preparing to get off at the next station, Atlantic Avenue. That’s where I was getting off too. It was going to be a problem for her to get off; two small children, a baby in her arm, and a suitcase in her hand. And there I was also preparing to get off at Atlantic Avenue. I couldn’t help but imagine the steep, long concrete stairs going down to the Long Island Railroad and up to the street. Should I offer my help? Should I take care of the girl and the boy, take them by their hands until they reach the end of that steep long concrete stairs?
Courtesy is important to us Puerto Ricans. And here I was, hours past midnight, and the white lady with the baby in her arm, a suitcase and two white children badly needing someone to help her.
I remember thinking; I’m a Negro and a Puerto Rican. Suppose I approach this white lady in this deserted subway station late at night? What would she say? What would be the first reaction of this white American woman? Would she say: ‘Yes, of course you may help me,’ or would she think I was trying to get too familiar or would she think worse? What do I do if she screamed when I went to offer my help? I hesitated. And then I pushed by her like I saw nothing as if I were insensitive to her needs. I was like a rude animal walking on two legs just moving on, half running along the long the subway platform, leaving the children and the suitcase and the woman with the baby in her arms. I ran up the steps of that long concrete stairs in twos and when I reached the street, the cold air slapped my warm face.
Perhaps the lady was not prejudiced after all. If you were not that prejudiced, I failed you, dear lady. If you were not that prejudiced I failed you; I failed you too, children. I failed myself. I buried my courtesy early on Memorial Day morning.
So, here is the promise I made to myself back then: if I am ever faced with an occasion like that again, I am going to offer my help regardless of how the offer is going to be received. Then I will have my courtesy with me again.
Text 2: Excerpt from “Students See Many Slights as Racial ‘Microaggressions’ “ by Tanzina Vega
A tone-deaf inquiry into an Asian-American’s ethnic origin. Cringe-inducing praise for how articulate a black student is. An unwanted conversation about a Latino’s ability to speak English without an accent.
This is not exactly the language of traditional racism, but in an avalanche of blogs, student discourse, campus theater and academic papers, they all reflect the murky terrain of the social justice word du jour — microaggressions — used to describe the subtle ways that racial, ethnic, gender and other stereotypes can play out painfully in an increasingly diverse culture.
On a Facebook page called “Brown University Micro/Aggressions” a “dark-skinned black person” describes feeling alienated from conversations about racism on campus. A digital photo project run by a Fordham University student about “racial microaggressions” features minority students holding up signs with comments like “You’re really pretty … for a dark-skin girl.” The “St. Olaf Microaggressions” blog includes a letter asking David R. Anderson, the college’s president, to address “all of the incidents and microaggressions that go unreported on a daily basis.”
What is less clear is how much is truly aggressive and how much is pretty micro — whether the issues raised are a useful way of bringing to light often elusive slights in a world where overt prejudice is seldom tolerated, or a new form of divisive hypersensitivity, in which casual remarks are blown out of proportion.
For Writing or Discussion
1. What happens in “Little Things Are Big”? Why? What roles do racism, prejudice and stereotyping play?
2. “Little Things Are Big” is set more than 50 years ago. Could the same piece be written today? Why or why not?
3. After you have read the entire Times article, look back at this paragraph:
What is less clear is how much is truly aggressive and how much is pretty micro — whether the issues raised are a useful way of bringing to light often elusive slights in a world where overt prejudice is seldom tolerated, or a new form of divisive hypersensitivity, in which casual remarks are blown out of proportion.
What do you think? Why? What examples from the text or from your own life support your opinion?
4. What theories do The Times article offer to explain why there has been a recent and heightened awareness of microaggressions? Why do you think there is so much attention focused on them right now?
5. Reread what John McWhorter, a linguistics professor at Columbia, has to say about off-key language and the freedom to talk about race. What does he mean? Do you agree or disagree? Why is it so hard to talk about race in general? When have you ever had a productive conversation on the topic?
6. Both the term “microaggression” and the title “Little Things Are Big” play on the idea that, where sensitive subjects like race are concerned, something that may seem small or meaningless to one person can loom large for another. When have you ever had an experience where “little things” seemed “big”? What did you learn from it? Do you think it is better for us as a society to openly discuss sensitive issues like race, class, sexuality and religion with people who are different from us, or do you think some things are better left unaddressed? Why?
Going Further
More on Microaggression
Listen to the NPR interview with Derald Sue and take notes while you are listening to it, jotting down important information and relevant quotes. Why are microaggressions difficult to understand? What is the impact of microaggression on individuals? How are different marginalized groups targeted differently by microaggressions based on their identity group? What does Derald Sue suggest regarding what we can do about microaggressions? After listening to the interview, write up a summary of what you heard, integrating Derald Sue’s thoughts with your own perspective and ideas.
Taking Action of Your Own
Have students talk in small groups about their own experiences with microaggressions, either ones that they faced directly or witnessed. Have them think through what the microaggression was, how they felt, what they experienced as the underlying message, and what was the response, if any. When someone directs a microaggression at you, how should you handle it? What can we do in our schools and communities to prevent these microaggressions from happening and, at the same time, not shut down communication? Are online photo exhibits and videos about microaggressions a form of activism?
Then, have students discuss and create an action plan regarding what can be done about microaggressions, both on an interpersonal level and as a society. They might create their own social media campaign like those of the college students we link to above, or do something else.
Comedy As a Vehicle for Talking About Sensitive Issues
The Times is currently running a video series called “Off Color” that uses humor to make smart social statements about the sometimes subtle, sometimes obvious ways that race plays out in America. Read about the series, then watch some of the videos. Why do you think, as comedian Hari Kondabolu says about his work, some of this might “make white people nervous”? Can comedians say things other artists can’t? Are any subjects off-limits to comedy? How can comedy help air topics that might not otherwise be publicly talked about?
Words or Actions?
How much do words matter? Are actions more important? Or do they both have impact and need to be addressed in their own way? Attorney General Eric Holder delivered Morgan State University’s 2014 commencement address and in it he posited:
Because if we focus solely on these incidents — on outlandish statements that capture national attention and spark outrage on Facebook and Twitter — we are likely to miss the more hidden, and more troubling, reality behind the headlines. These outbursts of bigotry, while deplorable, are not the true markers of the struggle that still must be waged, or the work that still needs to be done — because the greatest threats do not announce themselves in screaming headlines. They are more subtle. They cut deeper. And their terrible impact endures long after the headlines have faded and obvious, ignorant expressions of hatred have been marginalized.
Do the words of Donald Sterling matter or should we pay more attention to his past deeds? Do Clive Bundy’s remarks about “the Negro” have impact on access and discrimination for African-Americans? What do both tell us about “the struggle that still must be waged”?
Reflect on your own thoughts, feelings and experiences and respond to these questions. You might turn your ideas into a speech that you write and deliver to your classmates.
President Obama’s 2013 Speech on Race
After the Trayvon Martin shooting, President Obama made a speech on race in American. Watch the video above, read the related Times article, or peruse some of the 1,056 comments readers posted about it. What is your reaction to Mr. Obama’s speech? How do statements like this one relate to the discussion of microaggressions?
There are very few African-American men in this country who haven’t had the experience of being followed when they were shopping in a department store. That includes me. There are very few African-American men who haven’t had the experience of walking across the street and hearing the locks click on the doors of cars. That happens to me — at least before I was a senator. There are very few African-Americans who haven’t had the experience of getting on an elevator and a woman clutching her purse nervously and holding her breath until she had a chance to get off. That happens often.
And I don’t want to exaggerate this, but those sets of experiences inform how the African-American community interprets what happened one night in Florida.
Unconscious Bias
Engage students in a conversation about unconscious or implicit bias. As a jumping off point, read Op-Ed columnist Nicholas Kristof’s “Is Everyone A Little Bit Racist?” in which he looks at the ways in which unconscious bias leads to discriminatory policies and practices.
Talk about the examples Mr. Kristof uses to make his point: the different treatment by doctors based on race; disproportionate school suspension and police arrest rates, and the frequency of callbacks after submitting resumes for “white sounding” versus “black sounding” names. Ask students to share the ways in which they are both targets and perpetrators of unconscious bias, perhaps culminating in Op-Eds of their own.
Jinnie Spiegler is the director of curriculum at the Anti-Defamation League, which also has a lesson plan about microaggressions. (PDF)
“Little Things Are Big” by Jesús Colón used with permission from International Publishers.