Page 100 - Microaggressions in Everyday Live Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation

74 the microaggression process model

well, was that racist? That ’ s sort of the fine line you have to walk around
letting things go by and then also taking them on, ‘ cause I ’ m telling you, you

could find a thousand offenses in any moment of the day. ” (Sue, Capodilupo, &
Holder, 2008)
Healthy paranoia serves several functions: (1) it warns against simply
accepting offender definitions of whether racial, gender, or sexual - orientation

microaggressions were delivered; (2) it allows targets to use lived experiences
as a counterbalance in determining racial, gender, and sexual-orientation reali-
ties; (3) it reduces energy depletion by terminating constant internal questioning
and rumination; and (4) it may lead to functional and adaptive mechanisms to
deal with the slights, invalidations, and insults that are delivered.

Sanity Check
One of the greatest oppressive elements of microaggressions is in the form of
microinvalidations where the experiential reality and racial, gender, or sexual -
orientation reality of targets are challenged (Sue, Capodilupo, Nadal, & Torino,
2008). As we have stressed, power is in a group ’ s ability to defi ne reality. When
a microaggression occurs, for example, the perpetrator may deny the hidden
message and challenge the experiential reality of the target. People of color,
for example, are often caught in a double bind because of double messages
being sent by perpetrators. Most microaggressions, especially those that arise
from aversive racism, contain an overt message and a metamessage. In many
cases, the targets are often told they have misinterpreted the incident, are
overly sensitive, and should accept the perpetrator ’ s statements : “ Race had
nothing to do with it. ” “ I believe you are misreading the situation. ” “ Why does every-

thing have to do with race? ” “ Just let go of it, I didn ’ t mean to offend you. ”
When a microaggression occurs in the context of other majority group
members, they most likely share the beliefs of the perpetrator. Can you imagine
what it is like to be, for example, the only student of color in a predominantly
White institution where everyone and everything conveys that your reality
is wrong or inaccurate? One Black participant put it succinctly: “ At times, you
begin to question your own sanity. Like, am I going insane? ”
The sanity check is often used by people of color in such situations. In our
study, we found that Black targets reported using one another (other Black/
African American friends, family members, and coworkers) as a way to check
the accuracy of their perceptions. One participant stated that “ As opposed to

being paranoid — I have people in my sphere of influence that I can call up and share

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