Page 258 - Microaggressions in Everyday Live Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation

232 microaggressive impact on education and teaching

I could sense the energy in the classroom rise and felt eager to discuss these
important issues when one of the few Black female students angrily confronted
the White female with these words: “ You have no idea what it ’ s like to be Black!
I don ’ t care if you are poor or not, but you have White skin. Do you know what
that means? Don ’ t tell me that being Black isn ’ t different from being White. ” A
Latina student also added to the rejoinder by stating “ You will never understand.
Whites don ’ t have to understand. Why are White people so scared to talk about
race? Why do you always have to push it aside? ” The two White female students

seemed baffled and became obviously defensive. After an attempt to clarify their

points, both White female students seemed to only inflame the dialogue. One
of the female students began to cry, and the second student indignantly got up,
stated she was not going to be insulted, and left the classroom.

As a White male professor, I felt paralyzed. This was truly “ the classroom from
hell. ” What had just happened? I was concerned about losing control of the
classroom dynamics and immediately tried to calm the students down. I told
them to respect one another, and to address these issues in a rational, calm, and
objective manner. We could not let our emotions get the better of us. Because of
the volatility of the situation, I suggested that we table the discussion and go on
to another topic.
While I continued to lecture as if nothing had happened, I experienced a deep
sense of failure and was concerned with the impact of this situation in our class.
It was later substantiated when the student who broke out in tears dropped the
course, and the one who left the room bitterly complained to the Dean, blaming
me for handling the situation poorly. I was haunted by this classroom experi-
ence, did not understand what had happened, and felt at a loss of what to do.
Nothing in my education had prepared me for handling this explosive diffi cult
dialogue on race.

The above example is one that is reenacted frequently in classrooms through-
out the United States, especially when topics revolve around those of race and
racism. Studies reveal that many difficult dialogues on race are triggered by

racial microaggressions not only in classroom settings, but in many public
and private forums (Sue, Lin, Torino, Capodilupo, & Rivera, 2009; Sue, Rivera,
Capodilupo, Lin , & Torino, 2009; Sue, Torino, Capodilupo, Rivera, & Lin, 2009;

Young, 2004). Difficult racial dialogues are perceived quite differently between
people of color and Whites. For students of color, race is an intimate part of their
identities and avoiding topics related to it, dismissing it, negating it, or having
it assailed create emotional reactions that may be brewed over in silence, or
result in lashing out toward offenders (Young, 2004). For many White students,

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