If I had a dollar for EVERY TIME someone said that to me…hell I could retire and live quite comfortably! And each time it’s been said I’ve been caught off guard and either laughed it off or walked away.  I seriously need to work on a comeback.

The term “microaggression” was used by Columbia professor Derald Sue to refer to “brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults toward people of color.” Sue borrowed the term from psychiatrist Dr. Chester Pierce who coined the term in the ’70s.

My good friend Michellle (who is also Black) of Divas with a Purpose and I were discussing this and she brought up such a good point.  Whenever the term of saying that you act white was used it was “the ultimate dis by the black kids and a badge of honor by the white ones.”  Can you imagine being in 4th grade and another student telling you “I don’t know why you try to act so white when you’re so black!” That was over 30 years ago and I can still remember that. [Read more…]