Microaggressions in School

A microaggression is defined as “brief and commonplace daily verbal behavioral and environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory or negative racial slights and insults that potentially have harmful or unpleasant psychological impact on the target person or group.” (Solorzano, Ceja, & Yosso, 2000)

The University of Denver Center for Multicultural Excellence created a document “Microaggressions in the Classroom” with useful examples of microaggressions people can avoid like: (1) Setting low expectations for students from particular groups (2) Hosting debates in class that place students from groups who may represent the minority opinion in class in a difficult position and (3) Ignoring student to student microaggressions, even when the interaction isn’t course related. Watch the following video to hear from students how these microaggressions impact their daily life and mentality.