The Anti-Discrimination Blog

Are Microinsults Examples of Color-Aroused Antagonism?

2009-10-02T05:06:00.000-07:00

Ten years ago, when I was working for a non-profit as managing attorney, I led a group of stakeholders to speak with a state representative from our city. I introduced myself as an attorney, passed him my business card with said "Project Attorney" (or something to that effect) and which included the name of the national agency for which I worked.

The white Portuguese-descendent state representative said to me, "You're an attorney?"

I confirmed that I was and explained in greater detail the purpose of our discussion with him. Once again, and several more times, he said, "You're an attorney?"

I honestly don't know whether it was my Black wing-tipped shoes, my blue woolen business suit, my overcoat or my red tie or my skin color that made him so doubtful of my bona fides. But I do know that it would be extremely unusual and insulting for a state representative to ask a white man repeatedly if he is actually a lawyer, effectively announcing his suspicion that the lawyer had perhaps lied on the several previous occasions over the last fifteen minutes when the question was asked before.

Since I cannot think of a single other reason why this state representative would repeatedly ask me what he did, in spite of the nine other community activists who were with me, effectively attesting to the nature of my employment, and the reason I had been chosen to lead the group, I have to conclude that this was a skin color-aroused antagonistic behavior that Carl C. Bell, M.D. would refer to as a microinsult.

"Are You a Pansy?", My Gym Teacher Asked Me While Taking Attendance.

2009-10-02T02:23:00.001-07:00

When I was twelve years old, in my first year of junior high school, I dragged myself to my first gym class, which I was prepared to hate even before I got there. I hated most team sports (except bike riding and canoeing) and I hated being told what to do.

When I was dressed, like all of the other pre-adolescents, in my idiotic red shorts and white t-shirt, I got in a line of some 60 to ninety other children and our names were called out, to which we responded, "here". When the gym teacher got to my name, he had an additional question he wanted to ask. He told me that my twin brother had been in the gym class before me and had told him that I was a faggot. "Is that true?"

I was caught speechless and I effectively conceded that I was by failing to respond that I wasn't. (It's a common law and Federal Rules of Evidence principle that, under circumstances where one would be expected to deny a charge, a failure to deny a charge can be interpreted as a confession.)

And yet, I couldn't really care less whether others think I'm gay. What offends me is that they believe it is any of their business to ask me about the issue in such an emotionally abusive way. But, in retrospect, the daily and hourly insults, physical and moral, that I suffered from my brother were far worse than any embarrassment resulting from by brother's metaphoric stab and twist identity assassination of that day, and were worse than of any moment that I spent during two years at that junior high school. I fought more with my brother during those two years than with the other hundreds of students combined.

It was not my job to discuss my sexuality with a gym teacher, in private or in front of ninety other children on that particular morning, or on any other morning. And although I could waste my time thinking of things I could have said, yet the moment has passed and the insult suffered.

I was filled with hatred for my twin brother (a strong word, says the African American Political Pundit), but I use this strong word precisely because it states specifically what I mean. I don't know that I can ever forgive my brother for his daily attempts to drive me insane when we were younger, or for his determination to degrade and humiliate me in every way that came to his mind. The best I can do is to forget him and hope he dies before I do so that I can finally celebrate. (I celebrated my father's death by moving to Brazil.)

I don't know that I can ever forgive the gym instructor, whose behavior was unprofessional, discriminatory, and cruel. I wish that I had requested permission to leave the gym class so that I could report his behavior to the principal's office. But, I was more consumed with disbelief that my brother had managed to deputize this asshole teacher, during the first week of school, to collaborate in verbally assaulting humiliating me in front of everyone else. I still feel hatred for the gym teacher and would be pleased to learn that he has died of cancer or been run over by a milk truck that left tire tracks on his face.

I hated gym more than I would have otherwise, and I eventually obtained a letter from my pediatrician to the effect that I suffered chronic medical condition that prevented me from submitting to gym class for the foreseeable future. That was my solution. But it didn't solve the problem of the daily assaults and insults that were visited upon me by my twin brother.

Here's a clue for those who believe that twins are biologically bound to be best friends. My experience tells me that even if the biological myth were true, still environmental factors are at least as powerful as biology.

I was certainly the victim of imputed homosexuality-based discrimination, meaning that one can be discriminated against on the basis that someone else thinks or believes that the victim is homosexual, even if he isn't. Discrimination based on imputed invidious categorization is just as bad as discrimination based on actual participation in a group that is subject to discrimination and protected by anti-discrimination laws.

I was also potentially the victim of slander, since my twin brother's statements were calculated to defile the perception of me in my community, and the gym teacher's republication of the slanderous statement made him (an adult) more culpable than my brother was. Although the gym teacher asked me if I was gay (asking a question is not a statement that would be slanderous), however he repeated the slanderous statement of my brother.

The fact that he made this statement (that my brother said I was a "faggot") in front of sixty to ninety other students provides "direct evidence" of discrimination, which is available only in the minority of discrimination cases. And it is a perfect example of publishing slanderous information to a community (one's peers at school) that is important to the victim.

If the same thing happened today to one of my children, you can bet that I would be pursuing various administrative and legal avenues to vindicate the principle that slander, and discrimination against others on the basis of a belief that they are or might be gay are very serious errors with potentially serious legal and professional consequences.

Note: At this point, I cannot remember whether the word the professor used was "pansy", "faggot", "gay", or "gayboy", all of which my brother called me with great regularity.

A little-recognized fact is that many gay people, people with darker skin than their relatives and people with curlier hair than their siblings are regularly discriminated against by their own gender-identity, skin-color and color-associated-characteristic-aroused siblings, parents and other relatives. Many people believe that they will never be treated better than they are by their own relatives, which may be true in many even the majority of cases. But, in the minority where it is patently false, our own relatives can be our worst enemies, committing crimes and atrocities against us under color of family.

"Is Your Sister a Prostitute?", Asked My Supervisor at Work

2009-10-02T02:23:00.000-07:00

In 1986, I was in my first full-time permanent employment, working at a Massachusettes lumber yard called Grossman's that has since gone out of business. One of my supervisors, a tall white assistant manager, often spoke to me in a feigned Nazi accent, asked me if my sister (a medical doctor) was a prostitute, and made constant color-aroused and antagonistic statements to me.

I was twenty-two years old. At the time, I had not yet been to law school and had not yet been trained at the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination to recognize illegal workplace discrimination or to know how to file a complaint about it. The store manager was Black (Cape Verdean) and never would have tolerated these comments, had I told her about them.

However, I was young, unassertive, had low self-esteem, and I couldn't distinguish between the verbal onslaughts that were mostly lawful (such as those to which I had become accustomed from my twin brother) and those that were unlawful, such as when a supervisor at work makes negative references to my skin color group. I didn't complain to my Cape Verdean female boss, and I didn't file a complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination. Instead, I told this supervisor that if he couldn't speak to me without those color-aroused antagonistic references than I would prefer that he not speak with me at all. That worked and the comments stopped.

In retrospect, this supervisor needed to be taught a stiffer lesson in the statutes and regulations that covered his behavior, but I failed to offer him that lesson and I regret it.

Discrimination Cases Increased in 2007 and 2008

2009-10-02T02:02:00.000-07:00

Workplace and other discrimination on the basis of skin color and other invidious motivations are a very serious problem in the United States. Just within the Federal Government regarding 2008,

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) today released the Annual Report on the Federal Work Force for Fiscal Year (FY) 2008, which shows small increases in discrimination complaint filings against federal agencies and in average complaint processing time government-wide.

The annual report informs and advises the President and the Congress on the state of equal employment opportunity (EEO) throughout the federal government. Data in the report, available online at www.eeoc.gov, are presented both in individual agency profiles and in government-wide aggregate form.

According to the comprehensive report, 16,752 complaints alleging employment discrimination were filed against the federal government in FY 2008 – up 2.4 percent from the prior year. EEO complaints were filed against agencies on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability and reprisal. Pre-complaint counseling and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) programs addressed many employee concerns before they resulted in formal EEO complaints. Of the 38,898 instances of counseling in FY 2008, more than half did not result in a formal complaint being filed.

Agencies completed a total of 11,157 EEO complaint investigations in FY 2008 with an average processing time of 180 days, an increase of four days from FY 2007. Of the 7,538 cases closed on the merits, 2.5% resulted in findings of unlawful discrimination. In addition, the parties entered into settlements in 3,249 complaints, or 19.5% of the total complaint closures. Agencies paid out a total of over $50 million in monetary benefits to complainants (including appellate decisions).
“Federal agencies must step up their efforts to improve complaint processing time, while also focusing on quality results,” said EEOC Acting Chairman Stuart J. Ishimaru.

And those are just the 2008 discrimination complaints against the Federal Government!

According to Ethisphere.com,

2007 was a Record Year for EEOC Complaints in General

March 06, 2008

In 2007, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) received the highest amount of discrimination complaints in five years, the agency reported yesterday. The EEOC noted it received approximately 7,000 more complaints in 2007 than 2006, about a nine percent increase. According to a report by Business Insurance, that’s the highest percentage increase in complaints since 1993.

The most common filed complaints deal with the most obvious: race, retaliation and gender. Those complaints came in at about 35,000 (up 12% from 2006), 26,600 (up 18%) and 24,800 (up 7%) respectively. The next most common complaints were age, disability, national origin and religion, according to Business Insurance. A full breakdown of the charges can be found here.

“Corporate America needs to do a better job of proactively preventing discrimination and addressing complaints promptly and effectively,” said Commission Chair Naomi C. Earp in a statement on the EEOC’s website. To ensure that equality of opportunity becomes a reality in the 21st century workplace, employers need to place a premium on fostering inclusive and discrimination-free work environments for all individuals.”