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Microaggressions and Social Work Practice, Education, and Research

While blatant forms of racism and discrimination have largely been “condemned” in our society, systematic oppression and racism can be manifested in less obvious forms as microaggressions. The term microaggressions was originally coined by Chester Pierce in the 1970s (Pierce, 1970, 1974) to describe ways that Black people were put down by their White counterparts. Pierce (1974) stated “one must not look for the gross and obvious. The subtle, cumulative mini-assault is the substance of today’s racism” (p. 516). Sue and colleagues (2007) define microaggressions as “brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults toward persons of color” (p. 271). Current definitions have expanded the scope of microaggressions to describe both conscious and unconscious acts that reflect superiority, hostility, discrimination, and racially inflicted insults and demeanors to various marginalized groups of people based on such identities as race/ethnicity, gender and gender identity, sexual orientation, ability, religion, class, and age (Nadal, 2008; Sue, 2010). Although the literature on microaggressions has proliferated over the past decade, the social work literature has been relatively quiet. This special issue provides a platform for social work researchers, educators, and practitioners to exchange their research, ideas, and practices pertaining to ways in which microaggressions and other subtle, but powerful, forms of discrimination impact marginalized populations within social work and human services. This special issue is timely for a number of reasons. We need to look no further than the current political landscape to observe how microaggressions play themselves out in our everyday lives. Certainly, gains have been made and we must thank our ancestors who have always demonstrated various forms of resistance against what Young (2004) notes as the five faces of oppression: violence, exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, and cultural imperialism. In fact, today, we have greater equity and opportunity, more representation in