A black manis President of the United States, an increasing number of women are running large companies, and same-sex marriage is legal in a number of states. Still, hate crimes and societal and institutional discrimination continue across the country. We tend to hear about the most egregious examples. We’re going to focus in this segment on the more subtle exercise of bigotry that academics call “microaggressions”. These are the fleeting statements and interactions that reinforce stereotypes about race, gender, sexual preference, and other prejudices. Dr. Kevin Nadal is author of Filipino-American Psychology, and a leading researcher on how microaggressions affect marginalized groups.
Vivian Lu is a grad student in cultural anthropology at Stanford and the editor of the Microaggressions, a website where members of the public can post short accounts of microaggressions they experience.