CHAPTER ONE
Taking Responsibility to Address Bias and Discrimination

We 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.

– Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.

– Helen Keller

These two quotes are reflective of attempts to answer several questions echoed in this chapter and throughout the rest of the book: (a) what makes it so difficult for people, whether targets of discrimination or those in the majority group to engage in antibias actions when prejudice, racism or xenophobia rear their ugly heads; (b) can the actions of a single person actually do any good in overcoming the immensity of racism; (c) what changes must occur in well-intentioned individuals to make them valuable social advocate allies; and (d) what are the tools and strategies that have proven effective in combatting racist expressions on individual and institutional levels? To answer these key questions, we must first understand the internal struggle and complex array of embedded or nested emotions that keep each of us from confronting the meaning of racism.

For White Americans, this confrontation and the fears it generates are eloquently expressed by Tatum (2002):

Fear is a powerful emotion, one that immobilizes, traps words in our throats, and stills our tongues. Like a deer on the highway, frozen in the panic induced by the lights of an oncoming car, when we are afraid it seems that we cannot think, we cannot speak, we cannot move…What do we fear? Isolation from friends and family, ostracism for speaking of things that generate discomfort, rejection by those who may be offended by what we have to say, the loss of privilege or status for speaking in support of those who have been marginalized by society, physical harm caused by the irrational wrath of those who disagree with your stance?

(pp. 115–116)

For people of color, the barriers to confronting biases are summed up in these narratives by a Latina and African American about the racism they experience.

“It seems to never end. ‘You’re different, you’re stupid. You don’t belong!’ You get angry but have to hold it in. How does it make me feel? It hurts a lot, especially if it comes from your friends and even your teachers. Explaining, doesn’t help. They will just say, ‘It wasn’t my intention.’ ‘Why are you always so sensitive?’ ‘Can’t you take a joke?’ And, I can’t say anything because I am so emotional. I don’t want them to see me cry or they’ll think I’m weak.” (Latina participant)

“I have to stop and think sometimes. ‘Are they being racist? Or, is that just how they act? Or, are they just not being friendly because they had a bad day?’ I feel like there’s nothing I can do. Show my anger or say something, I’ll get in trouble. I try to walk away sometimes, but it just eats away at you. Then you take it out on yourself, ‘Why didn’t you stand up for your rights?’ You begin to feel like a weak coward.” (African American participant)

Increasingly, scholars and practitioners in the fields of psychology and education have stressed the responsibility of all concerned citizens to address issues of interpersonal bias/discrimination and systemic oppression (APA, 2019c; Brown & Ostrove, 2013; Obear, 2017; Olle, 2018; Ratts, Singh, Nassar-McMillan, Butler, & McCullough, 2016; Sue, 2017b). The call to action was especially urgent when on May 25, 2020, a video of a Minneapolis police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd for nearly nine minutes surfaced. Floyd died from asphyxiation and four officers were arrested for participating in his murder. The event sent shock waves throughout the nation, sparked weeks of widespread protests, resulted in calls for police reform, energized the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, and ignited public debate about individual and systemic racism. Unlike other unarmed killings of Black men, the George Floyd murder seemed different as it somehow pricked the conscience of the nation and the rest of the world. Ironically, despite the protests and renewed concern with police brutality, Jacob Blake, a Black man was shot seven times in the back that left him paralyzed by a White police officer on August 23, 2020.

For years, social justice advocates have underscored the social responsibility of everyone to (a) take action against prejudice and discrimination (Tatum, 1997); (b) develop the awareness, knowledge and skills necessary to confront individual and institutional manifestations of oppression (Spanierman & Smith, 2017a); and (c) actively promote conditions that allow for equal access and opportunities for marginalized groups in our society (Goodman, Wilson, Helms, Greenstein, & Medzhitova, 2018). Despite these pressing calls to combat bias and bigotry, many have noted the appalling silence and inaction that often accompanies an incident or expression of prejudice and discrimination in our everyday lives (Byrd, 2018; Potok, 2017; Sue & Spanierman, 2020). Because of their often-unintentional nature and invisibility, this seems particularly true for expressions that take the form of micro and macroaggressions (Nadal, Griffin, Wong, Hamit, & Rasmus, 2014; Torino, Rivera, Capodilupo, Nadal, & Sue, 2018).

Sue, Alsaidi, Awad, Glaeser, Calle, and Mendez (2019) have introduced the concept of “microinterventions” or interpersonal antibias strategies used by targets, allies and bystanders to disrupt, diminish, and terminate prejudice and discrimination arising from the actions of individual perpetrators. In their original formulation, they focused on interpersonal microinterventions directed toward offenders who deliver everyday affronts that communicate race-based “put-downs,” insults, and invalidations. These antiracism strategies were organized under four conceptual categories: (1) making the “invisible” visible, (2) disarming the microaggression, (3) educating the offender, and (4) seeking external support and intervention. The authors also called for the development of individual actions and tactics that would change, nullify or minimize the expression of macroaggressions (biased institutional policies, practices, structures, and social norms) as distinct from microaggressions (interpersonal slights).

In this book, we extend and expand the concept of microinterventions to include their role in nullifying the harmful impact of not only microaggressions but also macroaggressions directed toward marginalized groups in our society. Although we primarily use racial bias as an example, it is important to note that women, LGBTQ individuals, people with disabilities, and other socially devalued groups in our society can also experience micro- and macroaggressions in the form of unfair and biased institutional policies and practices. Many of these antibias strategies seem equally applicable to combat sexism, heterosexism, ableism, and classism as well.

In this chapter, we make a major conceptual distinction between micro- and macroaggressions, and explicate the manifestation, dynamics and impact of both forms on the lived experience of marginalized groups in our society. We reveal how microaggressions are often hidden in the implicit biases of individuals and describe how macroaggressions can be disguised in the customs and practices of institutions, the public policies of our society, and the racialized ideological beliefs of the general public.

In Chapter 2, we provide a new conceptual framework and working definition of microinterventions and organize them into three types: microaffirmations, microprotections and microchallenges. We explore how each uniquely immunizes targets against and/or nullifies and minimizes the negative impact of micro- and macroaggressions.

In Chapter 3, we review literature that discuss the positive benefits that often accrue to targets, significant others, allies, well-intentioned bystanders, and interestingly to our broader social norms when concerned individuals engage in microinterventions. In addition, we cite scholarly work that explicates the personal costs of inaction (to the target or onlooker) in the face of racially biased and unfair actions.

In Chapter 4, we identify major barriers to acting against prejudice and discrimination, and how they often force silence and complicity on targets, White allies, and bystanders into accepting the manifestation of bias. Among one of the major forces to overcome is the fear of personal and professional retribution.

In Chapter 5, we spend considerable time suggesting solutions for overcoming these challenges. Receiving and providing social support from like-minded individuals or groups may represent a major strategy in combatting racism. The old adage that there is strength and safety in numbers not only applies to individual, but to group action as well.

In Chapters 6–9, we add to the original conceptual framework of microinterventions, formulate new strategies associated with social advocacy principles, and provide examples of effective and functional antibias actions and tactics that can potentially be used by targets, parents, teachers, significant others, allies and bystanders. These chapters are organized around four strategic goals:

• Chapter 6 –...