CAMPUS SERIES OUTLINES MICROAGGRESSIONS

The Multicultural & Diversity Resource Center held its first meeting of the “Let’s Talk About:” dialogue series on Wednesday, Oct. 23.

“Let’s Talk About: Implicit Bias and Microaggressions” was set to inform the community on the implicit biases that can affect us as individuals, and microaggressions that affect our society today.

This dialogue series was created in order to educate the MHCC community and spread awareness on topics such as inclusion, equity and diversity. All are welcome to join in, and the first event attracted Mt. Hood students, staff, faculty and community members.

The audience heard that everyone has biases, which stem from many different areas in our lives, but some are rooted in our own lived experiences, culture, language and the environment we grew up in, the participants were told.

The Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at Ohio State University defines implicit bias as the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious matter. These biases can include both favorable and unfavorable assessments, that are activated involuntarily and without an individual’s awareness or intentional control. 

Due to these biases, people may often assign certain qualities or characteristics to all members of a specific group, whether positive or negative. It is important to recognize our own, personal bias because it can affect the way we interact with people in our own community, the audience was told. Creating awareness of our inner most biases and comprehending where they come from can allow us to communicate and better understand the people around us who may come from a very different background.

Discussion then turned to microaggressions, which are daily comments or actions that can be intentional or unintentional that subtly express a prejudiced attitude toward a member of a marginalized group.

Some suggestions made during the meeting were that MHCC should have more culturally specific courses, such as learning about history or literature from different counties and cultures, from their perspective, and having additional texts and or literature from those perspectives.

In the end, the event created a safe space for people to talk about how these attitudes and actions have affected them personally. They also discussed what to do when they, or those they know, are affected. Being able to learn and address these topics can help create a more inclusive campus at MHCC, it was emphasized.

The next Let’s Talk About: meeting will be held in the Student Union lounge on Dec. 3.