Page 74 - Microaggressions in Everyday Live Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation

48 the psychological dilemmas and dynamics of microaggressions

people of color? In general, if you want to understand oppression, do you ask
the oppressor or the oppressed? The answers seem obvious.

INVISIBILITY OF UNINTENTIONAL BIASES

There were few doubts in the minds of the passengers of color that the fl ight
attendant did not act from conscious bias, and that she was sincere in her
belief that she acted in good faith. Her actions and their meaning were invisible
to her, and she was truly stunned and dismayed that anyone could suggest
that she carried out racist actions. From her racial reality, race had nothing to
do with her actions; it was her role to ensure that weight was distributed in a
balanced way for the safety of all occupants. She probably felt betrayed that
anyone could attribute such horrendous motives to her actions, which were
motivated by good intentions.
Yet, the body of research on aversive racism (Dovidio et al., 2002; Gaertner &
Dovidio, 2005; Ridley, 2005), subtle sexism (Swim et al., 2001), and heterosexism
(Herek, 1998; Morrison & Morrison, 2002) strongly suggest that socialization
and cultural conditioning imbues within people unconscious and biased atti-
tudes and beliefs that are directed toward specific groups; they make their

appearance in unintentional biased behaviors. Interestingly, some evidence
suggests that racial microaggressions — for example, through cultural condi-
tioning — can become connected neurologically to the processing of emotions
that surround prejudice (Abelson, Dasgupta, Park, & Banaji, 1998).
Let us return to the example of Amadou Diallo to illustrate the powerful
conditioning that may have affected police reactions. As you recall, police

officers who killed Diallo claimed that they believed he was pulling out a
weapon. They believed their lives were in danger and that they had only a split
second to respond (Fritsch, 2000). Many African Americans asked, however,
Would police have been so quick in their actions were the suspect White? Of

course, all the officers denied that they harbored racial animosity and the
defense portrayed the officers as decent human beings. Yet, it is undeniable

that Black men in this society have been stereotyped as hostile and angry, prone
to violence, out of control, more likely to be criminals, and extremely dangerous
(Jones, 1997; Plant & Peruche, 2005). The fear of Black men is likely to reside
deep in the psyche of White Americans and will make its appearance unin-

tentionally when certain specific situations trigger it (Ridley, 2005; Sue, 2003).
Two important studies seem to support this conclusion.

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