Srijana Bhandari_Discussion 5

I was born a girl child in a middle-class family. So lost the privileged what boys actually get in my family, extra care, love, and freedom. But I had the privilege of being born in the Brahmin Family (Brahmins are taken the highest ranking in the social classes in Nepal) though I was a girl child, people used to give more attention and respect. Being good in Math and being helpful to my colleague I had the privilege of making more friends. I grew up with my brother, so I didn’t have the privilege like my other sisters to be around my parents and get everything done . So basically, I started doing my chores when I was in grade four. I went to the Boarding school (English Medium school), so I had the privilege to learn English and understand which most of the student in my country does not who goes to the government school where English subject is not their priority. Being an immigrant(student ) I definitely do not have the privilege of what every American has, right to vote, financial aid in the school, or eligible for any kind of government facilities (especially can be felt during this pandemic) but regardless of that, I got chance to be here in the state as I come from developing countries, the privilege of going schools in the states, living an independent life, and able to represent myself in this super-competitive world which majority of people in my country are looking for.

Microaggressions are defined as common daily verbal, behavioral, and environmental communications, whether intentional or unintentional, that transmit hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to a target person because they belong to a stigmatized group (“Microaggression.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 25 Apr. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microaggression). Born as human beings, we know that microaggression has played a major role in our society. In my point of view, knowingly or unknowingly who are kind of racist or sexist or judgmental. And I am not talking here about highly privileged people of one who have less privilege but every single individual. The best example I can give here is myself. I work in the law firms as a legal assistance/consultant, I have been working for the last 3 years, and my best friend she recently joined and works under me and there is a group of 5 people who reports to me. So, I kind of get bossy (Either while taking in the meeting or assigning the task), and my best friends outside the office have spoken to me about this behavior that I kind of don’t make people feel good. As I have to get the work done, knowingly I have to be tough among my collogues. This could be just a very minor example.

But microaggression has affected the majority of people when it comes to the social practices in our society, differences in the culture, race, religion, or caste. We can even see the large group of people who actually become the victim, just because they are not whites, or they are not from a higher group, or not very smart, or have a poor family background(financially). So, I believe its almost impossible to get rid of microaggression in the human world. It was in the past, is in the present, and will continue in the future.