Microaggressions are described as exchanges where a member or members of a dominant race says or does something that belittles or mocks a member or members of a marginalized race.
I had an encounter at the Grove about three weeks ago and certain events have been turning in my head ever since. My roommate’s parents brought a friend to their tent. She was an older, white woman, who for the sake of this article, I’ll call Linda.
I told Linda that my girlfriend and I held the tent space even after my roommate came because he’s timid and would’ve let someone take it. Linda told me she could tell that I wouldn’t have let anyone take our spot, and then she started to imitate me.
She changed her dialect to that of “a typical black person’s voice from someone who hadn’t been around black people.” She started using these hand motions, and then she said things like, “Oh, baby you ain’t getting this spot.”
She said more offensive things I can’t put in here because of the obscenity. I decided to give her another chance – maybe she was tipsy, maybe she was just tactless.
Later on into the festivities, Linda asked us how best online casino she should accessorize her Grove attire. She couldn’t choose between a scarf and a necklace. I loved her outfit, and I suggested that she wear both.
It’s the Grove, so why not?
My girlfriend, who studies Arabic and has been to the Middle East, jokingly suggested that she only wear the necklace and wear the scarf like a hijab to keep warm. This is where things went awry.
She said, “Speaking of Muslims, I’ve only seen one in my whole life.” She began to tell the tale of her first encounter with a Muslim. She told us that she went to the grocery store in Meridian, and she saw a Muslim man there. She told us how quiet it was in the store in the area around him. She told us that he was buying bananas. And then she told us how she really felt.
She said she saw him and thought, “I gotta get out of here, because he’s gonna kill me.” And then she laughed. And I told her the only thing that was on his agenda was buying bananas.
I wish I had said more.
Even though Oxford is small, there is a sizable Muslim population. I’ve met many people who are members of the Oxford masjid, and every one I have ever met has always been kind. I’ve befriended the sweetest women ever.
Hearing her words hurt so much. She may as well have been talking about my friends. She was perpetuating such a negative stereotype.
How can Muslims be turned into such a monolith?
If we look at perpetrators of mass shootings recently, they’ve been white males. It’s not fair to call one group terrorists and not the other. It’s not fair to label every black person as being “ghetto.”
These small encounters, these tiny exchanges. They matter and they’re hurtful.
I only ask that we, at the very least, take the advice that we receive as young children – “If you don’t have anything nice to say then don’t say anything at all.”
Or we can choose to alter our way of thinking, alter our perceptions of people.
Justina Greer is a junior international studies major from Terry.
