• acts of prejudices, stereotypes, biases exist on a continuum of conscious awareness
• some are very conscious, others on a margin, & others completely unaware of their actions or biases
• the actors:
•  #1 were aware of their biases but generally successful in concealing them or
•  #2 were only minimally aware of their actions or
•  #3 completely unaware until their outbursts

• people who are aware of their racial, gender, so biases, believe in the inferiority of these groups, & will discriminate when the opportunity arises have been labeled conscious-deliberate bigots
• the overt racist are held in check by legal, moral, social constraints; they are a small # fewer than 15% of whites can be classified as overt racists
• but multicultural scholars insist that the more damaging of the 2 is the unconscious, unintentional biases that create the overwhelming problems for marginalized groups in our society

• all forms of racism, sexism, heterosexism have become more subtle, ambiguous,nebulous in nature making it difficult to identify, acknowledge, quantify, & rectify
• the perpetrators are decent, fair-minded individuals who normally would never engage in discriminatory behavior; they hold egalitarian beliefs & values - these are labeled unconscious-unintentional oppressors or bigots
• all citizens are exposed to social conditioning process that imbues within them unconscious prejudices, stereotypes, beliefs
• consciously they endorse egalitarian values but unconsciously they harbor promajority or antiminority sentiments

• Pierce defined as subtle, stunning, often automatic, nonverbal exchanges or 'putdowns'
• in business the term microinequities is used to describe the pattern of being overlooked, underrespected, devalued b/c of 1's race or gender-they are snubs, or dismissive looks, gestures, tones
• they automatic in daily conversations & interactions that they are often dismissed, glossed over as being innocent, innocuous

• the numerous, demeaning, threatening social, economic, political, educational climate that communicate invalidating messages to marginalized groups individually, institutionally, or societal that are insulting & subtle
• they could be visible or colorblind, genderblind. ex. when folks refer to campus climate as hostile or invalidating or threatening work environmt
• noted upper mgt in a firm is white & male oriented only - send hidden msg to women & minorities
• they are often symbols - mascots, inaccurate media portrayals of minorities in film/Tv - media; the exclusion of minority arts, ethnic-cultural aesthetics, literature, etc assail marginalized groups
• researcher found 'diversity cues' (#of minority workers at a site, diversity philosophy communicated thru company brochures) in corporate America may directly affect blacks job applicants
• also 'institutional cues' signal the safety or threat to blacks - environmental conditions directly impact how minority groups perceive whether they will be valued or demeaned in mainstream settings

• refers to how individuals from stigmatized groups anticipate whether their group membership will be threatened, devalued, or perceived negatively or the opposite valued in corporate America
• when the cues signal a threat, they feel a lack of trust, safety is diminished & vulnerability is increased -this has a detrimental impact on the individual or minority employees & may potentially lower productivity

• explicit biased behaviors, environmental cues, or verbals. they attack group identity of person to hurt/harm the target victim thru name-calling, avoidant behavior, or purposeful discriminatory actions
• ex. display kkk hood, burning crosses, hanging playboy bunny photos in the workplace - all are environmental microassaults
• verbal microassaults would be racial epithets calling black niggers, gays fags - the intent is to assail the racial, gender, so identity & communicate the the recipient are lesser human beings or not valued
• microassaults most likely to be expressed under 3 conditions that gives protection to the perpetrator:
• #1 when the enforcer feel some anonymity (state of anonymous) & are sure their role or actions is hidden or concealed they may feel freer to engage in microassaults. ex writing antisemitic graffiti on synagogue walls
• #2 enforcer may engage in microassault when he/she feels safe such as being in the presence of others who share the same views, beliefs, attitudes knowing that he/she can get away with their behavior
• #3 those people who hold prejudicial beliefs will display their biased attitudes when they lose control

• are interpersonal or environmental communications that convey stereotypes, rudeness, insensitivity & that demean a person's racial, gender, or so, heritage, or identity

• this microinsult is usually related to aspects of intellect, competence, capabilities-intelligence.
• assigning intelligence to a POC or female based on their race/gender 
• You are a credit to your race. hmc -blacks are typically not intelligent; they are believed to be intellectually inferior
• when AA students are asked to assist with others with math/science - hmc - AA are good at math

SCC:

• this microinsult contains unconscious msg that certain groups are less worthy,important, deserving, are inferior beings that deserve discriminatory tmt
• when target minority group member receives differential tmt from the power group. ex. POC is mistaken for a service employee. hmc - POC live to serve whites

• this microinsults have 2 components: #1 a belief that the cultural values/communication styles of white male & straight groups are normative and
• #2 that POC, females, lgbts are abnormal
• ex. telling Latinos to leave their cultural baggage outside the classroom - hmc -they are asked to assimilate & acculturate, being told their cultural values are dysfunctional & should be given up

ACS:

• this microinsult relates to beliefs that a POC is presumed dangerous, potential criminal, antisocial
• applies to AA & Latinos who are asked for more identification at cash register/sales counter

• is the process which women are transformed into objects or property for the benefit of men
• women are stripped of their humanity, human essence, personal attributes, intelligence, emotions, etc
• one study shows AA women experience exoticization microinsult-they are treated as domestic servants,display exotic images of geishas, subjugated as sex objects
• they felt their identities are equated to being passive, & submissive

AA:

• this microinsult suggest that something about the person's race, gender, so is abnormal, deviant, pathological
• lgbts sexual behavior is perceived as abnormal, they are suspected of having HIV/AIDS, they are labeled as gay
• people who are weird & different are gay; lgbt people are promiscuous & engage in deviant sexual behavior

• characterized by communications or environmental cues that exclude, negate, or nullify the psychological thoughts, feelings, or experiential reality of certain groups such as POC, women, lgbts
• most dangerous as they directly & insidiously deny the racial, gender, or so realities of these minority groups

• related to microinvalidation of CGSO blindness. this involves individual denial of personal racism, sexism, heterosexism.
• statements - I am not homophobic, I have gay friends, I have nothing against interracial marriages.
• when such statements are made to POC they are denied their racial reality of the person

• this microinvalidation  theme involves being perceived as a foreigner in your own country
• this MI is directed at AA & Latinos whilst blacks are perceived as more American
• Latinos are told to go back to Mexico, AA are complimented for speaking good English

CGSOB:

• this microinvalidation theme - is an unwillingness to acknowledge or admit to seeing race, gender or so.
• colorblindness most frequent microinvalidation directed toward POC. statemts - when i look, I don't see color,there is only 1 race, we are all Americans
• hidden messages: asking persons not to bring up the race topic in interactions, that POC should assimilate/acculturate, they are defensive maneuvers not to appear racist, they deny our racial experiences, differences, of power & privilege - denial of personal benefits - denial of racism which is denial of the necessity to take action against racism.

• this microinvalidation theme asserts that race, gender, so do not play a role in life successes. it assumes that all groups have an equal opportunity to succeed & that we operate on an level playing field
• thus success & failure are attributed to individual attributes like intelligence, hard work, motivation, family values
• when people do well its due in part to individual effort. however those who do not succeed possess deficiencies, lazy, low intellect, etc
• MOM blames the victims or their lack of achievemts. The cream of the crop rises to the top. Everyone has a chance to succeed if they work hard enough. Affirmative action is reverse racism