1. March Dialogue Session:
“Colorblind or Color brave?”: Understanding and Eliminating the Use of Microaggressions
Thursday, March 28, 2019
12:00 – 1:00pm
Mudd Hall, Room 203

2. “Working to change an [organization’s] diversity culture is not something that is achieved by a single individual or by proclaiming certain goals on a mission statement; it is a collective, moral responsibility for which we are all, ultimately, accountable.”
-- (C. Stanley, 2016)

3. Agenda Welcome and Overview – Kimberly, Terese, and Toni
Ground Rules – “Color blind or Color brave” TED Talk (14:11)
Define Microaggressions
PollEverywhere
Impacts of Microaggressions
How to be “color brave”
Adjourn (1:00 pm)
SECTION TITLE | 2

4. Ground Rules Participatory Use “I” Statements Respect
One voice, all ears
Suspend judgment
Seek to Understand
Confidentiality
Introduce ground rules Ask for feedback Refer back to ground rules as needed
This is a participatory workshop that is intended to help guide all participants to better understanding and to address difficult issues.
Use of “I” Statements When a member of the community speaks of personal experience or feelings, it is of utmost importance that he/she uses the “I” statement. Facilitators should encourage the participant to take responsibility for his/her own experience
Respect. Though this term is used widely, “respect” means different things to different people. Facilitators should ask their team what respect means to them.
One voice, all ears. When one person speaks, everyone else listens.
Suspend judgment
Seek to understand
Confidentiality. Each participant within the community needs to feel that he/she can trust that what is shared with peers will not be shared outside of the group. Though participants are encouraged to discuss what they have learned and share reflections on conversations, it is important to keep names and individual experiences private.

5. Mellody Hobson is president of Ariel Investments, a value-driven money management firm — and an advocate for financial literacy and investor education.
Color blind or color brave?

6. (Dovidio and Gaertner 2002; Sue 2003).
What are Microaggressions?
“Microaggressions are the everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target persons based solely upon their marginalized group membership.”
Psychology Today
“Like the implicit biases from which they flow, microaggressions are particularly
insidious because they are generally committed by agents who consciously regard themselves as committed to egalitarian and progressive values”
(Dovidio and Gaertner 2002; Sue 2003).
Racial Microaggressions: • A White man or woman clutches their purse or checks their wallet as a Black or Latino man approaches or passes them. (Hidden message: You and your group are criminals.). • An Asian American, born and raised in the United States, is complimented for speaking "good English." (Hidden message: You are not a true American. You are a perpetual foreigner in your own country.) • A Black couple is seated at a table in the restaurant next to the kitchen despite there being other empty and more desirable tables located at the front. (Hidden message: You are a second-class citizen and undeserving of first-class treatment.)
Gender Microaggressions: • An assertive female manager is labeled as a "bitch," while her male counterpart is described as "a forceful leader." (Hidden message: Women should be passive and allow men to be the decision makers.) • A female physician wearing a stethoscope is mistaken as a nurse. (Hidden message: Women should occupy nurturing and not decision-making roles. Women are less capable than men). • Whistles or catcalls are heard from men as a woman walks down the street. (Hidden message: Your body/appearance is for the enjoyment of men. You are a sex object.)
Sexual Orientation Microaggressions: • A Young person uses the term "gay" to describe a movie that she didn't like. (Hidden message: Being gay is associated with negative and undesirable characteristics.) • A lesbian client in therapy reluctantly discloses her sexual orientation to a straight therapist by stating she is "into women." The therapist indicates he is not shocked by the disclosure because he once had a client who was "into dogs." (Hidden message: Same-sex attraction is abnormal and deviant.) • Two gay men hold hands in public and are told not to flaunt their sexuality. (Hidden message: Same-sex displays of affection are abnormal and offensive. Keep it private and to yourselves.)
Microaggressions can be based upon any group that is marginalized in this society. Religion, disability, and social class may also reflect the manifestation of microaggressions. Some of these examples include the following.
• When bargaining over the price of an item, a store owner says to a customer, "Don't try to Jew me down." (Hidden message: Jews are stingy and money-grubbing.)  • A blind man reports that people often raise their voices when speaking to him. He responds by saying, "Please don't raise your voice; I can hear you perfectly well." (Hidden message: A person with a disability is defined as lesser in all aspects of physical and mental functioning).  • The outfit worn by a TV reality-show mom is described as "classless and trashy." (Hidden message: Lower-class people are tasteless and unsophisticated.)

7. Tell us about a time you were on the receiving end of a microaggression. If you believe you have never experienced a microaggression, share an assumption someone could make about you based on one or more of your identities.

8. Impacts of Microaggressions
Negative associations with well-being
Increase in perceived stress
Can contribute to depressive symptoms and/or anxiety
Two proposed mechanisms that may link microaggressions to depressive symptoms are perceptions of lack of control over one’s outcomes and internalization of others’ negative opinion (Lambert et al., 2009).
“Microaggressions point out cultural difference in ways that put the
recipient’s non-conformity into sharp relief, often causing anxiety and crises of
belonging on the part of minorities. When your peers at a prestigious university express dismay at the ability of a person of color to master English, it calls your presence in that institution into question and magnifies your difference in ways that can be alienating. It can even induce imposter syndrome or stereotype threat, both of which I have felt while studying at Oberlin.”
- “The Impact of Microaggressions and Why They Matter” by Simba Runyowa in the Atlantic

9. Color blind vs. Color brave
You cannot ignore race when there are vast racial disparities in the realm of socioeconomic status, career opportunities, etc.
Colorblindness = learned behavior where we “pretend” that we don’t see race. This allows us to ignore the issue of the lack of diversity in majority spaces
It is uncomfortable to address race. We should work to become comfortable being uncomfortable.
That takes bravery, willingness, and proactivity!
Remember: Being color brave does not require that you exploit or tokenize people of different cultural/ethnic backgrounds.

10. Closing Remarks For more on this topic Next sessions:
Next sessions:
Thursday, Apr. 25th 12:00PM – 1:00PM
Thursday, May 23rd 12:00PM – 1:00PM

11. Thank You!