Common Micro aggressions: African Americans and/or Black People

Anonymous asked: 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.

A Few Facts:

• Micro-aggressions are the “little” incidents of racism that may not be so obviously racist, but come from a place of ignorance or stereotyped views
• Micro-aggressions can be perpetuated by White people as well as fellow Black people and People of Color.
  
• Several of these may be applicable to other People of Color.
  
• We (Black mods writing this) live in different Westernized countries & have personally experienced every one of these or know someone who has.
  
• For a fuller understanding of micro aggressions and the affects it has on individuals overtime, please see this: “These incidents may appear small…”
  

Use of microaggressions in writing

• This is just to give a thorough understanding of some of the things a Black person (often in America or other western countries) deals with.
  
• Unless writing about racism, we would not recommend overpacking your Black character with every one of these experiences, or at least not within the narrative.  
• Sprinkling in a few here and there is acceptable and adds realism.
• Do not forget to include reactions to these micro-aggressions and when they occur, show they’re not okay somehow in the text.
• The micro aggressions tag has plenty of applicable advice.

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 preconceived images of Blackness “less black,” acting white or an “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.
• Assuming dark skin doesn’t need sunscreen. Like other humans, we do!

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.
• Overreactions/exaggerating our actions. This often involves assigning aggression where there is none. (Black person speaking firmly is yelling. A Black woman disagrees with someone: “why are you attacking me?”)  
  
• Referring to white and non-black women as “girls” and “women” while calling Black women “Females.”
• Men 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, white women especially, 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.

~Mods Colette and Alice

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