writingwithcolor:

Common Micro-aggressions: African Americans and/or
Black People

Anonymous said: What are some common micro-aggressions that a black american will regularly have to deal with?

Behold this masterpost of common micro-aggressions towards African Americans and/or people in the African Diaspora, several of which may be applicable to other PoC. Micro-aggressions can be perpetuated by White people as well as fellow Black people and People of Color.

This is just to give a thorough understanding of some of the things a Black person (often in America) deals with. Don’t run forward and jam-pack your Black character with every one of these experiences, though I can say I’ve personally experienced every one of these or know someone who has.

General Micro-aggressions

• People excusing blackface.
• Having our grammar and annunciation corrected.
• “I don’t see you as a Black person/ I don’t see colour.”
• Calling Black people ghetto, thugs, rachet, sassy, urban…
• People debating why they should be allowed to say the n-word.
• Then saying the n-word anyway.
• Whispering, spitting, or stumbling over the word “Black” as if it’s a curse.
• Refusing to pronounce your name right, or just calling you by a different name that’s easier.
• Alternatively, “jokingly” calling you a "ghetto” name.
• Constantly mixing up unrelated and not even resembling Black people, because you know.. ‘Black people all look the same’.
• Dismissing our experiences as “just overreacting,” defending the wronging party, or using our plight to talk about one’s own experience (e.g. “well as a gay man i’ve got it rough…”).
• Telling racist jokes and calling you sensitive when you don’t find it funny.
• ”______  is the new civil rights movement!” Black folks are still fighting for their rights so…

Media

• Fox news (xD)
• Caricatured depictions of Black people on TV.
• Casting calls for Black people only tailored for “race roles.”
• Media treating white criminals and killers better than Black victims (see these headlines).

Stereotypes

• Assuming you only listen to rap/hip-hop/r&b.
• Assuming you love chicken, Kool-aid, and/or smoke weed.
• Assuming you’re good at sports.
• Assuming there’s no father in the picture in Black families.
• Assuming all Black people (see: young girls) have children.
• Calling Black people who don’t conform to one’s image of Blackness, “less black,” acting white or “oreo.”

AAVE

• Non-Black People mimicking/imitating AAVE.
• People falling into AAVE when talking to Black People.
• “Why don’t Black people speak real English instead of ‘ebonics’?”

Insults/doubting intelligence:

• You’re so articulate!”
• “You take advanced classes?!”
• “How did she get into that [prestigious school and/or program]?”
• "They only got x because they’re Black/Affirmative action.”
• Assuming a Black person (usually male) attends college because of a sports scholarship.
• Counselors discouraging Black students to take prestigious coursework, assuming it’s too difficult for them.

 Respectability politics:

• "You’re a credit to your race.”
• “I’m glad you’re not like those other Black people. You’re not ghetto or listen to that rap stuff..”
• Tone policing: dismissing someone’s reaction/argument/etc. because they are too “emotional.” Thinking that we need to be calm in order to be taken seriously. 
• Pitting African immigrants against African Americans, especially those coming to America for education, aka “Good Blacks.”

Beauty Standards and Dating

• “You’re pretty for a Black girl.”
• “You’re pretty! Are you mixed?”
• “I don’t usually date/aren’t attracted to Black people.”
• Calling attraction to Black people “jungle fever.”

Fetishization/Othering

• People asking you what you are or where you’re really from.
• Referring to Black people or our features as “exotic.”
• Referring to Black people’s skin as chocolate or other foods.

Black Women/Misogynoir

• Saying Black women are “strong, independent and don’t need no man.”
• Calling Black women “sassy” or angry if she shows passion/emotion.
• Referring to white and non-black women as “girls” and “women” while calling Black women “Females.”
• [White] males who apply courtesy to white women (holding doors, giving up seat) but don’t apply the same to Black women.
• Referring to Black women on government assistance as “welfare queens” (While ignoring that white people get more government assistance than Black people in the USA).
• “Black women All woman are beautiful.” (Stop. That. Please.)

Hair.

• People touching/petting your hair without consent.
• “So is that your real hair? Are those extensions?”
• Calling natural black hair unprofessional.
• White people appropriating Black hair styles (dreads, twists, etc) and being praised as edgy, while it’s “ghetto, unprofessional, and unclean” on our own heads.

Poverty Assumptions:

• “Do you live in the ghetto?”
• “Can you afford that?”
• “Here are the value prices of this product…”

Racial Profiling + Criminalization:

• Crossing the street to avoid passing Black men/people.
• Following in stores, assuming Black people are stealing.
• Moving aside when we pass, clutching purse, locking doors.
• Asking Black people for I.D. when paying with card (while white people are not asked).
• Being pulled over + arrested at astonishingly higher rates than white people.

For a fuller understanding of micro aggressions and the effects it has on individuals overtime, please see this: “These incidents may appear small…”

~Mods: Colette and Alice