It was his first day at the office. He could feel his contagious apprehension welling in his throat with every moistening swallow. Within every ounce of his 6ft plus frame, visions of success or failure seemed to rest upon the needlepoint of the personalities and relationships yet to be established. A confident former student-athlete he was, but this was different. The fast-moving environment of corporate America sets its own rules and boundaries. He understands that long careers are rare in this brave new world. He determined that he would take a trek away from the confines of his sterile cubical to survey this new officescape. 

Arriving at the coffee machine on the other side of the floor, he encountered a young, redheaded, freckled woman with a noticeable rasp in her voice. He navigated into the charm that elevated him to valedictorian of his graduating class and confidently asked general questions about the company. The woman asked him if he had always wanted to get into this field. Unprompted, she then begins to celebrate the accolades of affirmative action programs but, in the next breath, admonishes these programs that knocked some of her childhood girlfriends from the ranks of whom she referred to as “people like us standing here in this excellent company.”  

Then she added, “Oh, but I know you worked hard too.” Seeing through this word salad of ideology, it was clear that she had assumed that he was the product of affirmative action simply by the color of his skin and that he was somehow less deserving than her childhood friends. 

As he quickly scanned the floor with his eyes, it was plain to see that his ebony veneer stood out as the only person of color. The encounter was not the only one of this nature. It was only the beginning, as he was the recipient of stares and questions that ranged from whether he had a father in his house, whether he or any of his friends had been shot, and whether he had any knowledge of the whereabouts of the missing laptop from the floor above. 

On his way home from such a challenging day, all of the meanderings of his thoughts quickened into the migraine of migraine headaches. He had fallen victim to being Psyched Out by the psychological warfare of microaggressions. Microaggression, a term named by Harvard psychiatrist, Dr. Chester Pierce in 1969. 

“Microaggressions have been referred to as “death by a thousand little cuts” because the constant slights can be devastating to our mental health. They’ve also been compared to mosquito bites.”

Online source:  https://health.clevelandclinic.org

Who is “he” in the story? He could easily be any he or she as a member of communities of color and their experience daily in the workplace or any other segments of a society under the weight of the influence of systemic racism.

These seemingly random hostilities are assigned to attack vulnerable persons clinging to the peripheries of a society not aligned for their successful outcome as marginalized communities of color. The microaggression finds the exposures and spaces of the most sensitive intersection of questions, lies, and caricatured projections. To that end, ethnic minorities are the opaque from which they are viewed. So firmly interwoven into cultural rhythms, the act’s sophisticated nuance disguises their lethalness and, therefore, escapes the scrutiny of more obvious racist remarks and actions.

The perpetrator’s motives can be twofold, one by the skillful art of knowing how to come to the edge of the acceptable boundary without crossing over into overt racism. In essence, they know exactly what they are saying without actually saying it, i.e., dog whistle. On the other hand, some are caught in the throes of a communication system or vernacular of aversive racism that cultivates biases and delivers them with precision by unwitting agents of systemic racism in action.

then you are guilty of creating distinctions among yourselves and of making judgments based on evil motives.

James 2:4 Good News Translation.

The Cleveland Clinic describes microaggressions in the following way. “The standard definition for microaggression is a verbal or nonverbal slight that impacts an individual who might identify as being from a marginalized or nonmainstream community,”

These cultural insurgencies can have long-term health consequences over time.

Microaggressions can affect your health.

“Microaggressions have been referred to as “death by a thousand little cuts” because the constant slights can be devastating to our mental health. They’ve also been compared to mosquito bites.”

“There’s a really interesting video which discusses how the impact of microaggressions is similar to how mosquito bites can affect us. Mosquito bites are small. But if you start to experience a lot of them at once, they become annoying or even disabling,” says Gueits. Experts have even said that microaggressions can lead to high blood pressure, depression, sleeping problems, substance use disorders, eating disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder.”

Online source:  https://health.clevelandclinic.org/what-are-microaggressions-and-examples

Chantal Monique Duson Biblical Unity Advocate, Shares the established modes of them in her 2020 article entitled 4 Ways Microaggressions Undermine Christian Unity.

There are 3 primary forms of microaggressions: 

1. Microassault: an explicit racial derogation; verbal/nonverbal; e.g. name-calling, avoidant behavior, purposeful discriminatory actions.
2. Microinsult: communications that convey rudeness and insensitivity and demean a person’s racial heritage or identity; subtle snubs; unknown to the perpetrator; hidden insulting message to the recipient.
3. Microinvalidation: communications that exclude, negate, or nullify the psychological thoughts, feelings, or experiential reality of a person belonging to a particular group.

The reason why we have selected this late summer edition of Three-Fifths Magazine to focus on the thousand cuts and Mosquito bites is that we are getting ready to come inside from the vacations and open spaces of our family getaways and gatherings. Though microaggressions exist at all times of the year, as August fades into September, people begin to gather more densely in the indoor spaces of Corporate and Main Street America. Students from primary and secondary school to higher education head back into the close confines of the classroom, lecture hall, and dormitory, along with the teachers to their lounges, staff, and faculty meeting spaces. And let’s not forget those School Board meetings as this season sees the end of the literal outdoor Mosquitos; the indoor Mosquito Psychological warfare of Systemic racism presents perfect conditions for the menacing effect of perpetuating trauma.  

Education is invaluable in this environment to ending the accumulative effects of the thousand cuts of microaggressions. Therefore, both victims and unwitting perpetrators of these incidences can be aware of how to develop communication skills for calling them out, defusing, and respectfully talking to others in a diverse environment.