Page 56 - Microaggressions in Everyday Live Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation

30 taxonomy of microaggressions

microassaults (scrawling anti - Semitic graffiti in public restrooms or hanging a

noose surreptitiously on the door of a Black colleague).
Second, perpetrators may engage in a microassault when they feel relatively
safe, such as being in the presence of people who share their beliefs and atti-
tudes or knowing that they can get away with their offensive words and deeds.
Safety often relies on the inaction of others in the face of biased actions. In fact,
studies reveal that people often overpredict whether they would take action
against a biased action (hearing a racist comment). While they may condemn and
say they would take appropriate action, when faced with the real situation they
remain silent or inactive (Kawakami, Dunn, Karmali, & Dovidio, 2009). The
following example is representative of this condition.
At a fraternity sports party, a group of White males were sitting around their
living room during a late Sunday afternoon, chugging down beer after beer
tapped from a keg. They had just finished watching the first half of a football

game and were obviously quite inebriated. Excitedly talking about the last play
from scrimmage that resulted in an incomplete pass, one of the boys exclaimed,
“ them niggers can ’ t play quarterback! ” This brought out a howl of laughter, and
another member said, “ That ’ s because they ’ re just jungle bunnies! ” More laughter
erupted in the room and others produced a flurry of racial slurs: “ monkey, ”

“ coon, ” “ burr head, ” “ oreo, ” and “ Uncle Tom ” ! Each slur brought on laughter
and renewed attempts to outdo one another in finding the most degrading

reference to Blacks. As they exhausted their list, the game became a form of free
association with blackness. “ Black pussy, black sheep, criminal, rapist, castration,
welfare family, cattle prod, ” and so on, they shouted. It was clear that some of
those in the group were quite uncomfortable with the game, but said nothing
and chuckled at the responses anyway. (Sue, 2003, p. 88)
Third, many people who privately hold notions of minority inferiority will
only display their biased attitudes when they lose control. Our opening exam-
ples of actors Michael Richards and Mel Gibson represent this condition. Neither
had publicly displayed any attitudes/behaviors of racism, anti - Semitism, or
sexism until they were caught in situations where conscious concealment and
judgment broke down. In the case of Richards, the heckling by Black patrons
so infuriated him that he simply “ lost it ” and exploded with anger expressed
through racial epithets. In the case of Gibson, alcoholic intoxication so low-
ered his inhibitions and defenses that he made statements that have haunted
him since.
Microassaults are most similar to “ old - fashioned ” racism: they are the type
the public generally associates with “ true racism ” : direct, deliberate, obvious,

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