Page 34 - Microaggressions in Everyday Live Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation

8 racial, gender, and sexual-orientation microaggressions

these include racial profiling, segregated churches and neighborhoods,

discriminatory hiring and promotion practices, and educational curricula
that ignore and distort the history of minorities. Institutional bias is often
masked in the policies of standard operating procedures (SOPs) that are
applied equally to everyone, but which have outcomes that disadvantage cer-
tain groups while advantaging others.
Cultural racism is perhaps the most insidious and damaging form of racism
because it serves as an overarching umbrella under which individual and
institutional racism thrives. It is defined as the individual and institutional

expression of the superiority of one group ’ s cultural heritage (arts/crafts,
history, traditions, language, and values) over another group ’ s, and the power
to impose those standards upon other groups (Sue, 2004). For example, Native
Americans have at times been forbidden to practice their religions ( “ We are a
Christian people ” ) or to speak in their native tongues ( “ English is superior ” ),
and in contemporary textbooks the histories or contributions of people of
color have been neglected or distorted ( “ Western history and civilization are
superior ” ). These are all examples of cultural racism.
As awareness of overt racism has increased, however, people have become
more sophisticated in recognizing the overt expressions of individual, institu-
tional, and cultural bigotry and discrimination. Because of our belief in equality
and democracy, and because of the Civil Rights movement, we as a nation
now strongly condemn racist, sexist, and heterosexist acts because they are
antithetical to our stated values of fairness, justice, and nondiscrimination
(Dovidio, Gaertner, Kawakami, & Hodson, 2002; Sears, 1988). Unfortunately,
this statement may apply only at the conscious level.

The Changing Face of Racism
Although overt expressions of racism (hate crimes, physical assaults, use of
racial epithets, and blatant discriminatory acts) may have declined, some argue
that its expression has morphed into a more contemporary and insidious
form that hides in our cultural assumptions/beliefs/values, in our institutional
policies and practices, and in the deeper psychological recesses of our individ-
ual psyches (DeVos & Banaji, 2005; Dovidio, Gaertner, Kawakami, & Hodson
2002; Nelson, 2006; Sue, Capodilupo, Nadal, & Torino, 2008). In other words,
race experts believe that racism has become invisible, subtle, and more indirect,
operating below the level of conscious awareness, and continuing to oppress in
unseen ways. This contemporary manifestation has various names: symbolic

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