Page 257 - Microaggressions in Everyday Live Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Microaggressive Impact

on Education and Teaching:

Facilitating Diffi cult

Dialogues on Race

in the Classroom

I was teaching a sophomore class in urban education and lecturing on the
“ achievement gap ” between Black and White students. Our topic for discus-
sion dealt with analyzing a collection of brief biographical sketches of Black
Americans who described how race impacted their lives and the special hard-
ships they encountered in education. Usually students in my class are very
talkative, but today the responses were tepid and brief. It felt like pulling
teeth to get any type of response. I kept asking questions and making com-

ments in an attempt to generate interest and to fill the long silences. Finally,
one of the White female students stated that “ I ’ m not sure this is a race issue,
because as a woman, I ’ ve experienced low expectations from my teachers as

well. ” Another White male student chimed in by asking “ Isn ’ t it a social class
issue? ” Another White female student immediately agreed, and went into a

long monologue concerning how class issues are always neglected in discus-
sions of social justice. She concluded by asking “ Why is everything always
about race? ”

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