A microaggression I witnessed this week occurred at the preschool I work at. It was an incident between an Asian girl and a Caucasian girl during lunch time, during which the caucasian girl asked the other girl what she was eating. However when this question was asked, it was asked with disgust. When I witnessed this, I knew I had to say something in order to make sure nobody's feelings were hurt. With this being said, I told the entire class that each of us eats different types of food in our families. And it is important to know about different cultures, although something might not look appetizing it might be very delicious. One will never know until you try it.
I would not necessarily say this observation was prejudice, stereotypical, or discrimination, I think it was a remark simply made of ignorance. Because the food that was being eaten had seaweed in it, and was "different" to the Caucasian girl in the class; she simply asked what it was. I do not believe this question was made to make the other girl feel bad, but was asked out of curiosity.
Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteI have been in that predicament before, I love Chinese food but my mom hates it, she would always ask me, what's that you eating? I would tell her sushi or whatever and she would say I wouldn't eat that raw stuff, I say mom but its good for you, why don't you try it, she would say oh no you can eat it all by yourself. I told her try it and you might like it, she tried it and she like it. Now we both stay in Chinese restaurants.
Good Post Elizabeth! I think that you did the right thing as a professional to intervene when Causian girl asked the Asian girl what she was eating with a disgusted tone. Children are curious and tend to ask a lot of questions in order to gain a better understanding of things that are going on around them. In this case, the Causian girl was obviously unaware of the foods that Asians eat, therefore, she had questions. The problem became about when she asked the question with disgust. You did right to stop her and explain to all of the children ways in which people differ.
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI agree that it was a smart move to intervene and educate all the students. It is our duty as a professional to correct and educate our students. This may or may not have been a microaggressions. There are microaggressions that take place concerning food. The most popular microaggression that I have heard is when people make the comment that "chinese food is cooked dog." I believe that is an intentional microaggression.