The trouble with ‘microaggressions’

Welcome to the divisive and somewhat sinister world of racial ‘microaggressions’. Loosely defined as ‘a subtle slight or action that leaves people from a minority group feeling upset, offended or uncomfortable,’ the person who has delivered the insult might even be oblivious they have caused offence. The latest manifestation of its chilling effect on workplace relationships came in an employment tribunal case brought by Christabelle Peters, a black British academic.

Peters, a lecturer in American cultural and political history, sued Bristol University over a series of microaggressions. One of her complaints was that the nameplate on her door did not have her ‘Dr” title on it. Her grievances included claims that her office furniture wasn’t delivered on time and that payslips were not delivered to her office pigeonhole. Peters also accused a senior lecturer of telling her ‘nobody gives a shit about Africa’ after she pitched a research idea about the continent.

Did the university partly help bring this case on itself?

The tribunal ruled in Bristol University’s favour: it found that the nameplate issue was an ‘admin error’ and heard that another lecturer experienced the same problem. The tribunal in Bristol was also told that nameplates at the university are often prepared by junior workers who were mostly unaware of who the lecturers were.

Did the university partly help bring this case on itself? After all, it has made a big song and dance of publishing a detailed guide to help staff and students identify, report and counter microaggressions. which it defines as ‘the everyday slights…that members of marginalised groups experience in their day-to-day interactions’. Peters presumably took this advice to heart. Among the microaggressions the guide lists are women ‘being mistaken for being in a role more junior than the role you hold’ or when ‘an assertive female manager (is) labelled as ‘bossy’ while her male counterpart is described as a ‘good leader’.

How has it come to this? The theory — if that is not too strong a word for something based on hunches and feelings rather than concrete evidence — is that microaggressions reinforce ‘white privilege’ and undermine a culture of inclusion.

The savants who promulgate this nonsense are the usual mix of antiracism ‘experts’, organisational psychologists and HR departments looking for quick and easy fixes to workplace culture and practice. They appear deliberately blind to the obvious flaws.

First and foremost, a mindless institutional witch-hunt, rooting out and punishing perceived racial slights through the simplistic catch-all category of microaggressions, is simply not the panacea it is cracked up to be. Training programmes based on such a flimsy premise might well succeed in marginally increasing awareness of ignorant comments, but at what cost? Surely a more likely outcome over time is a divisive and inflammatory workplace.

Daft ideas like this merely encourage a dangerous belief that one group is always the aggressor and the other the victim. Which is surely racist in itself. It is a statement of the blindingly obvious that assumptions, biases and aggression can, and do, often go both ways. Other equally damaging consequences flow. People will be tempted to keep their beliefs and opinions to themselves, especially if they think they are likely to be punished for any minor infringement however unintentional.

Most damning of all is the danger of a form of workplace apartheid taking hold because people will feel safer mixing with those from similar backgrounds. They might choose simply not to engage with anyone from an ethnic minority, just in case an innocent or well-meaning remark is overheard, misunderstood and reported.

This purportedly antiracist orthodoxy is slowly but surely taking a stranglehold in offices everywhere, but universities in particular are leading the charge. The overall impact is to heighten everyone’s sensitivity to any form of workplace slight, turning offices into factories of grievances, resentments and ultimately tribunal claims. That’s exactly where Peters ended up. She lost and rightly so — but no one should be surprised if there are other similar cases in the pipeline.

https://www.spectator.com.au/2023/03/the-trouble-with-microaggressions/ ?

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Video Emerges of Black Students Allegedly Attacking, Forcing White Students to Say 'Black Lives Matter'

A harrowing video has surfaced of a racially charged schoolyard incident that rocked an Ohio community last month.

Kenwood Elementary School in Springfield, Ohio, came under national scrutiny after it was reported that children there were assaulted after refusing to say “black lives matter.”

The incident occurred on Feb. 10 and, according to a police report, involved a number of black students who targeted their white classmates.

The black students demanded that the white students say “black lives matter” and recorded them making the proclamation.

Students who declined? According to police, they were “chased down and escorted, dragged, or carried to the playground” and forced to utter the words.

WKEF-TV has now acquired surveillance footage that shows what exactly went on in the schoolyard.

In the videos, you can see white students being rounded up, thrown to the ground, and forced to kneel in front of their black classmates.

The disturbing footage may change the tune of some parents who gave surprisingly evenhanded responses to WHIO-TV when the incident first came to light.

“I’m angry as a parent, but I understand they are children,” said Ryan Springer, whose 12-year-old son was one of the hazing victims.

“It’s not OK to hate anybody because of their skin color or their gender or sexual orientation, or anything like that. Nobody should be hating anybody. … They should just be worried about being children,” he said.

Springer did wonder how school authorities allowed these racial tensions to boil over on the school playground.

“Where was the school staff when all of this was taking place? And why? Why did it get so far?” he asked.

The school district is currently working with police to investigate the matter.

https://thefederalistpapers.org/us/video-emerges-black-students-allegedly-attacking-forcing-white-students-say-black-lives-matter

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MN parents, teachers blast school board over botched handling of violence in schools: Our children are dying

Parents outraged as violence surges in Minnesota schools
St. Paul community leader Rev. Darryl Spence discusses the growing outrage from Minnesota parents, teachers and students over violence in their schools.

Teachers and parents in St. Paul, Minnesota are torching the city school district for its complacent attitude regarding violence in schools.

In wake of the fatal stabbing of 15-year-old student Devin Scott, St. Paul community leader Rev. Darryl Spence is begging Americans to not accept leaders lack of action as "politics as usual."

"Well, most of it is happening, like you can imagine, because of gang violence. It's just a continued circle. I am in strong support of bringing SRO's [school resource officer's] back into the building. I was there for the immediate aftermath of the stabbing. I saw the chaos caused by the lack of connection between the school and the police department," Spence said during an appearance on "Fox & Friends Weekend."

Parents and teachers in St. Paul, Minnesota gathered at a school board meeting in wake of rising violence in schools.
Parents and teachers in St. Paul, Minnesota gathered at a school board meeting in wake of rising violence in schools. (Fox News)

"The police department had no idea of the lay of the school, what was the best route out, how to best get kids back to their parents. So, yeah, I think it's caused because of the school board decided not to have SROs in the building."

Spence's comments come in response to the school board's controversial decision to remove school resource officers from the building.

No students proficient in math at 19 Minnesota public schoolsVideo
Teachers echoed Spence's concerns, one saying that the school board has been "negligent" in their response.

"It was amazing how many teachers, how many educators still beg for help. They literally were begging for help. I myself raised the question, how are the children?" Spence asked, Saturday.

"We have to quit bickering at the top and start looking out for our children. Our children are dying out. We are losing children at an alarming rate. We have to do something different. We can't keep being politics as usual," he explained to co-host Pete Hegseth.

Rev. Darryl Spence joined "Fox & Friends Weekend." Saturday, to weigh in on St. Paul's schools' unprecedented crime wave.
Rev. Darryl Spence joined "Fox & Friends Weekend." Saturday, to weigh in on St. Paul's schools' unprecedented crime wave. (Fox News)

In response, Hegseth issued a provocative question to Spence, asking "Are teachers able to enforce discipline in these schools?"

"In their words, no they can't," Spence began. "I heard it over and over. It's more, I think we have to be honest. This has to start at home. Kids have to come to school ready to learn. My pastor, Pastor Patterson actually works in the building, at Harding. And he says, all he sees is kids walking the hall. He has the ability to say, please go to class. But if he turns the corner, there they are, the same student. They come to the building, but they don't go to the classroom," he continued.

NYC Mayor Eric Adams says when America 'took prayers out of schools, guns came into schools'Video
While noting that kids are dying at an "alarming" rate, Spence concluded by calling on the city school district to implement honest policy reform.

https://www.foxnews.com/media/mn-parents-teachers-blast-school-board-over-botched-handling-violence-schools-children-dying

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