Page 183 - Microaggressions in Everyday Live Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation

Racial Microaggressions and Native Americans 157

Yup ’ ik people. They were born into shock. They woke to a world in shambles,
many of their people and their beliefs were strewn about them, dead. In their
minds, they had been overcome by evil. Their medicines and the medicine men
and women had proven useless. Everything they had believed in failed. They
woke up in shock, listless, confused, bewildered, heartbroken, and afraid. (p. 65)

The Way Forward

Similarities and Differences between Racial Groups

Racial/ethnic microaggressions toward groups of color are a reality in their
life experience. Research into thematic similarities, their manifestations,
meaning, and impact is important. Thus far, studies and theorizing suggest
that racial microaggressions against African Americans, Asian Americans,
Latinas/os, and Native Americans share many similarities.

• First, microaggressions reflect a biased worldview of superiority–inferiority,
and inclusion–exclusion in favor of Whites, and unfavorable attitudes and
beliefs toward people of color.
• Second, every racial/ethnic minority group has been shown to be sub-
jected to all three forms of microaggressions: microassaults, microinsults,
and microinvalidations.
• Third, racial microaggressions are often outside the level of awareness of
the well-intentioned White person, but they are nevertheless detrimental
to the psychological and physical health of persons of color.
• Fourth, microaggressions seem to follow racial/ethnic stereotypes or
images about the various groups of color.

However, research to discover unique stressors for different racial groups
would do much to clarify similarities and differences among them. Such
understanding might aid in developing more effective and specifi c racial/
ethnic interventions that would benefit the four groups discussed in this

chapter. Some areas to explore involve several avenues of research that
may prove helpful in education, employment, and health care.

• Preliminary research already suggests that African Americans, Asian
Americans, Latinas/os, and Native Americans may share both similar and
dissimilar microaggressions. Being treated as a second-class citizen is
common for all four groups. It also appears that microaggressive themes
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