Title: The effects of patronizing and marginalizing minority groups
Headings: Marginalization: The pendulum swings both ways
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Marginalization: The pendulum swings both ways
By Dr. Nathaniel Granger
Recommended read: “ Embodied racism”
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Content: The internal struggle is exacerbated when it seems obvious that the perpetrator had no ill intent in conveying the denigrating message, particularly when patronizing. Society is replete with these microaggressions that more often than not go unnoticed but have a lasting impact on the recipient. In “ Perceptions of Racial Microaggressions Among African American Males in Higher Education: A Heuristic Inquiry ,” Solórzano, Ceja, and Yosso define microaggressions as brief, everyday exchanges that send denigrating messages to certain individuals because of their group membership (people of color, women, the LGBT community). The term was first coined by Chester M. Pierce in 1970 in his work with African-Americans where he defined it as “subtle, stunning, often automatic, and nonverbal exchanges which are ‘put-downs’.” They have also been described as “subtle insults (verbal, nonverbal, and/or visual) directed toward people of color, often automatically or unconsciously.” Derald Wing Sue’s research related to the psychology of microaggressions indicates that white individuals are often unaware of the cumulative harm that people of color experience from being routinely subjected to various racial microaggressions. According to Sue, these are microinvalidations characterized by communications or environmental cues that exclude, negate, or nullify the psychological thoughts, feelings, or experiential reality of certain groups, such as people of color, women, and the LGBT community. In many ways, microinvalidations may potentially represent the most damaging form of microaggressions because they directly and insidiously deny the racial, gender, or sexual-orientation reality of these groups. According to Sue, the power to impose reality on marginalized groups represents the ultimate form of oppression.