Page 43 - Microaggressions in Everyday Live Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation

Microaggressions, Marginality, and Harmful Impact 17

hired, retained, or promoted in the company (Hinton, 2004; Pierce, 1988).
While the brokerage firm interviewer might on a conscious level believe that

the company would offer the job to the most qualified applicant, his micro-

aggressive behaviors refl ect strong unconscious gender biases. Thus, he can
in good conscience offer the position to a man and at the same time main-
tain his innocence or the belief that he chose a candidate without bias. Few
employers realize that the high unemployment rates, and the “ glass ceiling ”

encountered by women and employees of color, are reflected in the many
microaggressions delivered by well - intentioned coworkers and upper
managers (Sue, Lin, & Rivera, 2009). The inequities in employment and
education are not so much the result of overt racism, sexism, or bigotry, but
the unintentional, subtle, and invisible microaggressions that place marginalized
groups at a disadvantage. Ironically, hate crimes are illegal, but microaggres-
sions are not (Sue, 2008)!

The Way Forward

Making the “ Invisible ” Visible

On July 16, 2009, a renowned African American scholar and professor at
Harvard University, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., was arrested for disorderly con-

duct by a White Boston police officer, Sergeant James M. Crowley, because
Gates “ exhibited loud and tumultuous behavior. ” What was said between
the two is in dispute, but what we do know are the following facts. Gates

had just returned from China where he was filming a PBS documentary,
Faces of America, and was being driven back to his Cambridge home. For
some reason the door to his home was jammed, and he asked the driver,
a dark - skinned Moroccan, to help force it open. A 911 caller reported two
men suspiciously forcing open the door to a house. Sergeant Crowley was
the first to arrive and saw Gates in the foyer of his home. He asked Gates

for identification; that is when the encounter seems to have escalated. Both

give different versions of the event. Gates reports that he asked Crowley
several times for his name and badge number and Crowley reports that it
took some time before Gates complied with his request to show identifi -
cation. Within a short period of time, the street was clogged by six other

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