Like most of my articles, this is about Black people. These types of things aren’t talked about enough. No one teaches these things. There’s no awareness, no posters, nothing put up on the school’s walls. Someone has to break the ice, and as a young Black woman, I’ll proudly do it.  In this article I want to tap into Racial Microaggressions, and how they happen in the everyday lives of a Black individual.

Microaggressions are defined as commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental slights, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative attitudes toward stigmatized or culturally marginalized groups.  Microaggressions are one of several different forms of racism.  It’s the ignorant comments white people, and people of color make toward Black people. And of course, I have examples from both my friends and myself.

“I was told my hair is long for a Black person’s hair” 

“I was told that I don’t act ‘ghetto,’ like other Black girls” 

“A white woman stared at me in a restaurant and moved her purse into her lap after looking at me. Then whispered with the fellow white people at her table”

It’s tiring, annoying, and straight-up disrespectful. The moments when I’m asked, “Is that your real hair.” White people are shocked by my intelligence. The fact that I wear long nails and big hooped earrings, which stem from Black culture, and makes me “interesting” and “noticeable”… whatever that means.  Non-Blacks have the audacity to speak on my natural hair, being told my hair is so big and ‘scary-looking.’  And when we, as Black people, react to these things, we’re put right back into the angry and violent stereotype. All because of other people’s ignorance. Before you fix your stuck mouth being open to comment on a black person’s identity, on their mannerisms, or others, then please stop, pick up a book, do some research online, and stop with the watered-down racism that are known as microaggressions.