- Date posted
- 5y
- Date posted
- 5y
I was a resident advisor in college (just graduated in May!) and I’m black, I did a series on Microagressions. Microagressions are “defined as brief and common daily verbal, behavioral, and environmental communications, whether intentional or unintentional, that transmit hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to a target person because they belong to a stigmatized group.” Sometimes you can’t see or recognize a bias. Our media is inherently racist. I had a asian friend ask me, “why do all black people sing with soul?” And she blinked at me not knowing what she said was racist. She believed this based on what she saw in the media. How is that supported? Black RnB singers, Black Gospel Choirs, and Beyoncé. This belief was subtly pushed. Our media they’ve vilified and made certain jobs and actions belong to a certain group. It’s not your fault because that’s what we’ve all consumed. Your subconscious may have learned this but your conscious mind knows that’s not a correct thing to think. What you can praise is that you recognized this as a stereotype and harmful. You didn’t play into it. It’s scary but we’re all bias and our goal is to unlearn it. The fact you can see this as wrong and working to change, you can feel good about it.
- Date posted
- 5y
i read something once that stated “what you think first is what you’ve been conditioned to think, your thoughts after define who you are”
- Date posted
- 5y
We're conditioned into those thoughts and stereotypes. Your immediate thought about something says very little about you, noticing it and not doing any harmful behaviour based on it says lots- that you care enough to notice, and you prioritise doing the right thing over the discomfort of the topic. As anonymous said, you didn't do any microaggressions and even if you had, if you noticed it and apologised and made a note to be more mindful, then you're doing as much as anyone can expect of you. Systemic change can stop this from being so pervasive for future generations. As for the OCD suggesting that you haven't applied for those jobs in the past due to the association with Hispanics- you can only give it a maybe. It could be that you hadn't considered cleaning jobs as a prospect, or didn't think they'd hire you, or that it felt low status, all sorts. It's probably some combination. We probably all behave based on unconscious conditioning all of the time, it's not our fault and also isn't something we can change until it comes into our awareness for some reason. So let what it's telling you be just another thought. It might make you a little uncomfortable but you don't need to investigate it.
- Date posted
- 5y
Thank you guys. I'm trying to be better and educate myself everyday. Especially with the Black Lives Matter movement being so important.
Related posts
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 23w
I have a job doing social media for a company that prides itself on making diverse titles, but I messed up. I made a post about Arab American Heritage Month for a book about Ramadan, but I looked at it today, 22 hours after I posted it, and saw that 3 people commented that the creators aren’t Arabic and that we were wrong to assume all Arabic people are Muslim. I feel like a huge idiot and so awful that I made such an egregious error and hurt people. I don’t know what to do. One of the authors reached out to me and I responded with apologies but what if I get fired and what if this makes me a terrible person and a racist. I changed the post and decided to ask my boss tomorrow (Monday) how to respond to the comments but what if I’m making the wrong choice and everything is worse now. I’m trying to spend Easter with my family (a trip that’s already insanely difficult for my ocd) but I can’t stop checking my phone and ruminating. Please help
- Date posted
- 17w
I woke up disassociating really bad ,I was super tired and if you read my prev post I've been having problems w depersonalization after a bad thc trip the other night. Im so so so scared I just said a slur or whispered it to myself because I cant properly remember things rn. I remember getting the thought and im scared i whispered it to myself and I cant tell if it happened or not bc waking up things feel rly blurry . It feels really real. I would never want to say such a word and im scared i did bc I was so out of it. I dont remember if i just had the thought or acted on it
- Date posted
- 10w
I got obsessed again in researching crime and its relation to race and socioeconomic conditions. While looking up a bunch of opinions and statistics I came across one opinion in a subreddit for black men saying that crime is a good thing and seemed to encourage it because there’s no other way to get by. Not every black person would resort to crime obviously but the comment seemed to be supported by a lot of other people. I got a thought saying “this is why black people get a bad rep” and I immediately questioned my thinking. I really started thinking about the ethics of crime in general and how it may be acceptable in certain situations. Still I feel like crime should be avoided when it can, not encouraged. I feel terrible for having this thought and even more terrible that I agree with it if that makes sense. I feel like I’m being racist by having this perspective. I feel like I shouldn’t be allowed an opinion on this because I’ve never faced these conditions before, but I’m trying really hard to understand.
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