Page 29 - Microaggressions in Everyday Live Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation

CHAPTER ONE

The Manifestation of

Racial, Gender, and

Sexual-Orientation

Microaggressions

Standing before his classroom, Charles Richardson, a White professor, asked for questions
from the class. He had just finished a lecture on Greco - Roman contributions to the

history of psychology. An African American male student raised his hand.
When called upon, the student spoke in a frustrated manner, noting that the history of
psychology was “ ethnocentric and Eurocentric ” and that it left out the contributions
of other societies and cultures. The student seemed to challenge the professor by noting
that the contributions of African, Latin American, and Asian psychologies were never
covered.
The professor responded, “ Robert, I want you to calm down. We are studying
American psychology in this course and we will eventually address how it has infl u-
enced and been adapted to Asian and other societies. I plan to also talk about how
systems and theories of psychology contain universal applications. ”
Rather than defusing the situation, however, Professor Richardson sensed that his
response had raised the level of tension among several students of color. Another Black
male student then stated, “ Perhaps we are looking at this issue from different per-

spectives or worldviews. Just as language affects how we define problems, maybe we
all need to evaluate our assumptions and beliefs. Maybe we are ethnocentric. Maybe
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