Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

I was watching the Dave Chappelle's show on DVD and one of the cast started a conversation about Asian people. He said something to the effect of when he may ask an Asian where he/she is from, and his/her reply is "the united states", then his response would be "you know what I mean". Although he was joking, he expressed a racial micoaggression because he was implying that all Asian people are born in Asia somewhere and those who are in the United States came over after they were born. We all know that is not true. However, that reminded me of Dr. Sue (who is Asian) when he told the story about the woman asking him where he was from and where he was born. At first he said that he was from Portland, Oregon then later told her that he was born in the United States. My observations from this week has increased my awareness of how there are so many stereotypes for different ethnic groups. I believe comedians such as Dave Chappelle bring stereotypes to the light but in a joking way in order to keep us from getting upset about them. It makes me sit back and ask myself "who came of with all of these anyway?" Words are powerful and so is unity. You get enough people involved, you can create a mighty force, whether it be good or bad. But I am a firm believer that good things last forever and bad things pass away eventually. I am praying that these stereotypes will disappear one day soon, or at least be identifiable to the point where people will know what they are and not give in to them. 

"Microaggressions in Everyday Life" (approximate length: 27 minutes)

In this program, Dr. Derald Wing Sue presents a lecture about the concept of microaggression in everyday life.