Saturday, January 28, 2012

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

Microaggressions occur on my job everyday. I work at a college as an online recruiter. I talk to people for a living helping to change lives. I would say that 90% of the people who I talk to are not very nice. I have been called the “N” word so many times I cannot count and I have been called a “B” un-countless times. Most of the people who we talk to are of color and or from low income households we also serve a lot of people just getting out of jail.  What I find said is some of my fellow recruiters who talk about some of our student. I find it very offensive when the cultures of different ethnic groups are made fun of including my own. When my fellow recruiters change their voices to sound like the accents of the student they just talked to on the phone. I have heard my fellow recruiters say things like “that taco needs to go to school so he can learn to speak English or “Jaquittannta did not get enough chicken to eat” because that student was not very nice on the phone with them. We also have pitch-ins on the time and things have been said from some of my white fellow recruiters like we got to have fry chicken and watermelon. I have gone face to face with them and it stops for a while but it still seeps out now and then. I think prejudice is a sign of fear and stereotyping is a sign of unintelligent people.  

                                        




4 comments:

  1. Alice,

    I'm so sorry that people speak to you so rudely! What horrible words to use with a faceless stranger that is trying to provide them with a service. I'm disgusted. You are right...stereotypes lie in ignorance. Keep your head up!

    Raina

    ReplyDelete
  2. Alice – You job situation sounds terrible! Is there an employee manual? I am sure you have rights not to work in such a hostile, racist environment. I think you are very brave to stand up for yourself. I hope by finishing these courses that you can find a better work environment soon.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Alice,
    I could't imagine working with co-workers like yours. I like your comment about "prejudice is a sign of fear and stereotyping is a sign of unintelligent people." I agree with you 100%. Good luck at work. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I am sorry you have to work with people like that. Some people try to make themselves feel better by making fun of other people. This type of behavior really upsets me, I have also been in that situation where I have been face to face trying to make them understand that it is not polite neither is moraly correct to make fun of others. Great Post!!!!

    ReplyDelete