In his famous , the Reverend Martin Luther King wrote: 鈥淲e will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.鈥�
For Teachers College鈥檚 Derald Wing Sue, King鈥檚 words eloquently convey the philosophy underlying 鈥渕icrointerventions,鈥� the term Sue has coined to describe 鈥渢he everyday anti-bias actions that can be taken by targets, parents, significant others, allies and well-intentioned bystanders to counteract, challenge, diminish or neutralize individual and systemic expressions of prejudice, bigotry and discrimination.鈥�
AN ANTIDOTE FOR 鈥淒EATH BY A THOUSAND CUTS鈥� Derald Wing Sue and four of his students recently published a book on microinterventions.
[Read a story about a book that Sue and his students have recently published on microinterventions. Watch the Panhandle PBS series, , the first segment of which features Sue, and which employs a framework that Sue lays out in his book (Wiley 2015).)]
Microaggressions often convey to targets the message that they are foreigners, criminals, dangerous, a threat or subhuman. As a society, each of us has a moral responsibility to take action against bias and bigotry.
鈥擠erald Wing Sue, Professor of Psychology & Education
In published in Scientific American, Sue, Professor of Psychology & Education, briefly recaps his previous work on microaggressions, which he defines as 鈥渢he everyday slights, insults, putdowns, invalidations and offensive behaviors that people of marginalized groups experience in daily interactions with generally well-intentioned people who may be unaware of their impact鈥� 鈥� and debunks the saying that 鈥渟ticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me,鈥� asserting that 鈥渕icroaggressions often convey to targets the message that they are foreigners, criminals, dangerous, a threat or subhuman.鈥�
鈥淎s Dr. King says, silence and inaction in the face of moral transgressions are complicity and collusion,鈥� he concludes. 鈥淎s a society, each of us has a moral responsibility to take action against bias and bigotry.
[Read a profile of Sue published in 麻豆原创 Today magazine.]