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A guest blog by the Black Students Mental Health Project at London South Bank University (LSBU). This blog explains what microagressions, microassaults, microinsults and microinvalidations are, how they can affect black students' mental health, and how to address them with microaffirmations, microresistance and self-care.
Black people face microaggressions in a number of settings – in their places of learning, their places of employment, when they travel and where they shop. These microaggressions are mostly associated with stereotypes around them having less intelligence, being more likely to demonstrate violence or aggression, being a criminal and/or being lazy and therefore less hardworking than others.
Repeatedly experiencing racial microaggressions reinforces and perpetuates oppression, including marginalisation.
When people encounter racial microaggression or a racially stressful event, it creates a cognitive load which requires them to ask themselves what just occurred. According to Kevin Nadal, a racial microaggressions expert, they engage in a three-part decision-making model in which they ask themselves:
If they choose NOT to confront the situation, this may result in:
Choosing to confront the situation may result in them experiencing:
As racial microaggressions attack the black person’s sense of identity, we need to take steps to address this. There are a number of ways to do this including developing racial pride and exploring the way we have been racially socialised. Other ways we can deal with this is through microaffirmations, microresistance and self-care.
This blog was written as part of the Office for Students' Black Students Mental Health Project at London South Bank University. Check out the full range of wellbeing resources available on the Good Thinking website.
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