Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

Without realizing it, I know that I witness examples of aggression everyday. Sometimes it may be someone rolling their eyes behind someones back or someone becoming irritated in the checkout line. When I think of microaggression, I think of acts of aggression which is directly targeted towards someones race, ethnicity, skin color or sexuality. One example I can think of happened just the other day. My son and I were having lunch at a local Chinese restaurant. The menu has pictures of the food with writing in Chinese. Many of the customers are Chinese and I can see at least one group of White customers. The waiter speaks broken English, and the white female customer becomes frustrated when he does not seem to understand her request. She says loudly, “Can someone find me a waiter that actually speaks English.” People look up from their tables and glare at the woman and then go back to eating. I can see that the waiter seems upset. I witness these racial microaggressions quite often, although after this class I know I will be paying closer attention these incidents

Blog: My Family Culture Imagine the following: A major catastrophe has almost completely devastated the infrastructure of your country. The emergency government has decided that the surviving citizens will be best served if they are evacuated to other countries willing to take refugees. You and your immediate family are among the survivors of this catastrophic event. However, you have absolutely no input into the final destination or in any other evacuation details. You are told that your host country’s culture is completely different from your own, and that you might have to stay there permanently. You are further told that, in addition to one change of clothes, you can only take 3 small items with you. You decide to take three items that you hold dear and that represent your family culture. Blog about all of the following:

My daughter's stuffed animal: Doggie She has had him since she was born and won't go to sleep or anywhere new without "Doggie."

My Family Photo Albums which include pictures of my grandparents, my parent's wedding, my childhood and my children, as well as pictures of friends.

MY Passport In order to prove my identity and birthdate, I would need my passport. I can't imagine how hard it would be to leave everything you know and start from scratch in a new place. At the end of the day, I just need my family and I believe that we could rebuild and with a positive attitude be able to make a bright new future much like the immigrants that move here to start new lives.