I Don't Work Here
A couple of days ago I was staying at a hotel for a conference in a midwest city that I'd categorize as being pretty diverse and cosmopolitan. However, as I stood at a computer in a guest lounge while wearing my workout clothes and having a sheen a sweat on my face due to my recent treadmill run, one, no, two White older people one after the other (they seemed to be a couple) asked me there were cold drinks in the lounge. You know where this is going...
Without giving her much of a glance, I said to her, "I don't work here. I'm a guest." Although she apologized quickly, I was annoyed. Then a moment later, a White older man (I think he was with the woman who just spoke to me) asked me the very same question. WTF. I mean it, I was seething and I said (again with more force), "I DON'T WORK HERE. I'M A GUEST."
Most, I imagine, would say what's the big deal? Yet, the day in and day out of experiencing microagressions or more specifically microinvalidations (Ong et al., 2007) is aggravating in the least although can and does affect mental and physical health at the worst. Honestly, all I can think that if I was White, sweating and in workout clothes, I would not have been asked a question slated for employees or let's call it for what they thought I was, a servant.
I'm currently reading articles for a paper about multicultural competences in college counseling centers and came across one titled "Racial Microaggressions and Daily Well-Being Among Asian Americans" that really described my life experience as an Asian American.
Dr. Anthony Ong and Dr. Derald Wing Sue along with other co-atuhors discussed in their conclusion (2013), "On the surface, for example, microinvalidations appear to be a compliment or a positive expression (“You speak excellent English”) that masks an underlying meta-communication (“You are not a true American”). The combination of having one’s racial reality or identity assailed and having to decipher mixed messages is likely to take a greater psychological toll on recipients than either of the two other forms of micro aggressions." (p. 196)
Without giving her much of a glance, I said to her, "I don't work here. I'm a guest." Although she apologized quickly, I was annoyed. Then a moment later, a White older man (I think he was with the woman who just spoke to me) asked me the very same question. WTF. I mean it, I was seething and I said (again with more force), "I DON'T WORK HERE. I'M A GUEST."
Most, I imagine, would say what's the big deal? Yet, the day in and day out of experiencing microagressions or more specifically microinvalidations (Ong et al., 2007) is aggravating in the least although can and does affect mental and physical health at the worst. Honestly, all I can think that if I was White, sweating and in workout clothes, I would not have been asked a question slated for employees or let's call it for what they thought I was, a servant.
I'm currently reading articles for a paper about multicultural competences in college counseling centers and came across one titled "Racial Microaggressions and Daily Well-Being Among Asian Americans" that really described my life experience as an Asian American.
Dr. Anthony Ong and Dr. Derald Wing Sue along with other co-atuhors discussed in their conclusion (2013), "On the surface, for example, microinvalidations appear to be a compliment or a positive expression (“You speak excellent English”) that masks an underlying meta-communication (“You are not a true American”). The combination of having one’s racial reality or identity assailed and having to decipher mixed messages is likely to take a greater psychological toll on recipients than either of the two other forms of micro aggressions." (p. 196)
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