UVA student: ‘American’ identity ‘the most blatant microaggression’

UVA student: ‘American’ identity ‘the most blatant microaggression’

During a “Managing Microaggressions” event at the University of Virginia, students spoke out against microaggressions like identifying as “American” and criticizing someone’s taste in food.

Attendees argued that there is a limit to the type of speech that is acceptable, but could not agree on how that limit should be determined or enforced.

“I’m not gonna lie; when I see somebody who looks like a stereotypical frat brother, I get scared to share certain things.”   Tweet This

A Hispanic student from the School of Education began by declaring that “I refuse to take up [the] identity” of “American” because “this country has decided to take it upon itself to identify as an entire hemisphere,” which he called “the most blatant microaggression in the context of this country.”

Instead of American, the student said he identifies as Latinx, queer, socioeconomically disadvantaged, and from Southern California. Later, recounting the time he told his mother he was queer, he noted her response of “I love you. Do you need to speak to a counselor?” “as if though my sexuality’s…some mental health problem that I had to deal with.”...

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