STAPLER 8/9 Social Justice Training (Returners Only)

STAPLER8/9 Social Justice

Training (Returners Only)

Hannah Lozon Coordinator of Social Justice Education, Residence Life

Microaggressions 101& Navigating Triggering Events

Returning RA Social Justice TrainingAugust 8, 2011

• Be fully present and participate at your own comfort level – challenge by choice.

• Speak from personal experience: use “I” statements to share thoughts and feelings. You cannot speak for your group.

• Speak your truth with care.

• Listen respectfully, share air time, and encourage others to participate.

• Respect and maintain privacy.

• Take risks – lean into discomfort. If you notice discomfort, “sit in it” – resist the urge to fix things.

• Trust that dialogue will take us to deeper levels of understanding and acceptance. Seek first to understand, then to be understood.

• We will all make mistakes, facilitators included. Offer compassion for yourself and others…be lovingly critical.

• Others?

Learning Community Guidelines

Microaggression: Subtle, verbal and nonverbal slights, insults, indignities, and denigrating messages directed toward an individual due to their group membership, often automatically and unconsciously.

Usually committed by well-intentioned folks who are unaware of the hidden messages being communicated.

“Microaggression” Defined

Microaggressions in everyday life

Dr. Derald Wing Sue – Microaggressions are similar to carbon monoxide - “invisible, but potentially

lethal” - continuous exposure to these type of interactions “can be a sort of

death by a thousand cuts to the victim”

Microaggressions Defined

Sue, (2010) Microaggressions in Everyday Life: Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation.

Microinsult: Often unconscious verbal, nonverbal, and environmental communications that subtly convey rudeness and insensitivity that demean a person's heritage or identity

Examples: asking a student of color which scholarship they received for admittance to college, joking that you cannot give female colleague constructive feedback or she’ll cry

Microassault: Conscious and intentional discriminatory actions on one’s identity

Examples: flying a confederate flag, denying child from dating someone of the same sex, using derogatory names

Microinvalidation: Communications that subtly exclude negate or nullify the thoughts, feelings or experiential reality of a person’s identity

Examples: color blindness, myth of meritocracy, denial of individual homophobic experience

Types of Microaggressions

Taken from: Sue, Capodilupo, Torino, Bucceri, Holder, Nadal & Equilin, 2007

www.Microaggressions.com

Real Life Microaggressions

Potential feelings of guilt and shame Defensiveness especially for those who

think of self as “liberal” and “fair” engaged in social justice work

Distancing/Withdrawal Denial/Projection Even anger Justification Sadness Others?

Common Reactions from those who “Commit” Microaggressions

NAVIGATING TRIGGERING EVENTS

Critical Skills for Engaging in Difficult Dialogue

“No matter what other people do or say, they can't make us act against our will. We'd love to blame them for our outbursts or sadness. We're certain that if they would behave differently, we'd be different too. While it might be true that how someone behaves affects us, it doesn't have the power to take over our lives. How we react is still wholly up to us.

 A key element is learning the breadth of our personal power. We are in

charge of who we will be and what we will do every minute of our lives. The statement ‘He made me do it’ is simply never true. Taking full responsibility for our reactions requires honesty and willingness. Initially, it may seem easier to blame others than to take full charge of ourselves.

But we'll grow to love the empowerment that accompanies being responsible for all our actions, and we'll never want to trade that for our old lives.”

 - Author unknown

“TRIGGER” DEFINED

Any stimulus, that makes us, as members of social groups, feel diminished, offended, threatened, stereotyped, discounted, or attacked. Often results in an emotional reaction that may have some or all of the following characteristics:

unexpectedness, the person is surprised by the arousal of their feelings

strong intensity of feelings, the person experiences their emotions as overwhelming and disproportionate to the original stimulus

disorienting, the person is disoriented and distracted from the planned agenda: “stopped in their tracks”

feeling out of control and overwhelmed by the situation feeling “de-skilled” and reacting less effectively requiring extra effort to manage the situation effectively

Triggering events cycle

© Kathy Obear (www.allianceforchange.com)

Intrapersonal Roots of Triggers Our own biases, prejudices, and assumptions

Current life issues and dynamics fatigue illness crises stressors

Cumulative impact of past experiences: “Pile-on Principle”

Unresolved or unhealed past issues, traumas, and “wounds:” Does this person remind you of anyone? Does this situation remind you of past traumas?

E.A.R.S. Before you react and respond

when triggered, lend your E.A.R.S.

Explore, inquire and ask questions

“help me understand more about…” “tell me more about…”

Acknowledge their feelings

Restate what they said to check for accuracy “Did I understand you correctly when you said…”

explore Solutions together

B.A.R. When triggered, raise the B.A.R.

Take a few seconds and Breathe Oxygen will help calm you, and

it gives you a chance to think The silence can be a powerful

indicator of how you feel

Acknowledge what they said/did “I just want to make sure I am

understanding your point of view…”

Calmly, carefully Respond Understand that the other

person has a different point of view

Feel empowered to share the impact of the trigger

Multiple truths

Responding When Triggered

Dr. Kathy Obear (www.allianceforchange.com)

Dr. Maura Cullen (www.thediversityspeaker.com)

1) What is your initial reaction to this situation? In what ways is your scenario a microaggression, if at all?

2) Brainstorm as a group how each person in the scenario could effectively respond using the E.A.R.S and/or B.A.R. model.

3) How might you take this incident and provide a “teachable moment” for all involved?

4) What are some resources that could provide support in this scenario? How might you solicit this support?

Case Studies

STAPLER8/9 Social Justice

Training (Returners Only)