Page 64 - Microaggressions in Everyday Live Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation

38 taxonomy of microaggressions

bound up in American history that such an association is partially
reflected in the consciousness of White America.

• Color, Gender, and Sexual - Orientation Blindness — Being color, gender, or
sexual - orientation blind, simply stated, is the unwillingness to acknow-
ledge or admit to seeing race, gender, or sexual orientation. Color blindness
is one of the most frequently delivered microinvalidations toward people
of color. Statements such as “ When I look at you I don ’ t see color, ” “ There is

only one race, the human race, ” “ We are all Americans, ” or “ We are a melting

pot , ” contain multiple and complex hidden messages. At one level they

are messages asking the receiver not to bring the topic of race into the
discussion or interaction. They are also messages that indicate people of
color should assimilate and acculturate. But they are also on one hand
intended as defensive maneuvers not to appear racist (Apfelbaum,
Sommers, & Norton, 2008), and on the other hand as a denial of the racial
experiences of people of color (Bonilla - Silva, 2005). Sue (2005) posits that
denial of color is really a denial of differences. The denial of differences is
really a denial of power and privilege. The denial of power and privilege

is really a denial of personal benefits that accrue to certain privileged

groups by virtue of inequities. The denial that we profit from racism is
really a denial of responsibility for our racism. Lastly, the denial of our
racism is really a denial of the necessity to take action against racism.
• Denial of Individual Racism/Sexism/Heterosexism — Related to the
theme above is another form of denial. This involves an individual
denial of personal racism, personal sexism, or personal heterosexism.
Statements such as “ I ’ m not homophobic, I have a gay friend, ” “ I have noth-
ing against interracial marriages, but I worry about the children, ” and “ As

an employer I treat all men and women equally ” may possess the following
hidden messages: “ I am immune to heterosexism, ” “ The only reason I have
hesitations about interracial relationships is concern about the offspring and
it has nothing to do with personal bias, ” and “ I never discriminate against

women. ” When such statements are made to a person of color, for example,

they deny the racial reality of the individual (an experience that personal
racial bias resides in everyone).
• Myth of Meritocracy — The myth of meritocracy is a theme that asserts

that race, gender, and sexual orientation do not play a role in life suc-
cesses. It assumes that all groups have an equal opportunity to succeed, and
that we operate on a level playing field. Thus, success and failure are

attributed to individual attributes like intelligence, hard work, motivation,

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