{"id":14266,"date":"2020-02-14T06:00:20","date_gmt":"2020-02-14T12:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/?p=14266"},"modified":"2020-03-05T11:38:57","modified_gmt":"2020-03-05T17:38:57","slug":"black-student-association-discusses-microagression-in-chapel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/2020\/02\/14\/black-student-association-discusses-microagression-in-chapel\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Student Association discusses microaggression in chapel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is article is a part of the Dialogue on Diversity series.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Black Student Association (BSA) shed light on the topic of microaggression and the effects it can have on those who experience it in chapel Feb. 7. The BSA is a group of people who come together to share experiences and commonalities, and they also aim to spread awareness and educate people on areas that may be lacking attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBlack History Month is a good time for people of African American origin to spend time celebrating our heritage and celebrating achievements that people like us have made despite obstacles,\u201d public relations officer of BSA Namon Pope said. \u201cBut it\u2019s also a good time to point out struggles that we go through and kind of brainstorm and figure out ways that we can improve those situations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The BSA defined microaggression as a sometimes indirect, unintentional or subtle comment that discriminates against a marginalized group. BSA President Raissa Ames said some examples of this are when people say, \u201cWhen I look at you, I don\u2019t see color,\u201d or \u201cYou speak good English\u201d or \u201cI\u2019m not trying to be racist.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think the biggest thing we want people to understand is that just because you don\u2019t intend to say something to hurt someone,\u00a0 it doesn\u2019t mean that it doesn\u2019t affect them,\u201d junior Jamica Gaither said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In chapel, the BSA challenged the student body to go beyond merely saying or doing what they think is right, but also to check the motivations behind what is said or done and let transformation begin from the inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe best way to heighten your awareness about any issue \u2014 but especially this one \u2014 is to just know people,\u201d Pope said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pope said anyone who wants to grow in this topic should take the time to listen to people who have firsthand experiences and humbly say, \u201cI want to learn from you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think the biggest goal overall is just to get everyone to be together more,\u201d Gaither said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ames said the BSA invites anyone to attend their meetings and wants to answer any questions people may have to help them learn and grow as much as possible.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur biggest goal from this chapel is just to spread awareness, create conversation and empower those who have never felt heard,\u201d Ames said. \u201cWe are not saying we have all of the answers \u2014 which we shouldn\u2019t have to \u2014 but if we accomplish anything, it is making Harding\u2019s campus more informed.\u201d
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is article is a part of the Dialogue on Diversity series. The Black Student Association (BSA) shed light on the topic of microaggression and the effects it can have…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15166,"featured_media":14282,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[658],"class_list":["post-14266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-dialogue-on-diversity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15166"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14266"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14488,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14266\/revisions\/14488"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}