Tiffany Jana doesn’t like the term microaggression. “The very nature of the word puts people on the defensive,” says the diversity and inclusiveness expert. “It definitely is not a place from which people grow very readily.”
Jana and co-author Michael Baran both took umbrage with the term and set out on a mission to rebrand it in their 2020 book, Subtle Acts of Exclusion: How to Understand, Identify, and Stop Microaggressions.
Subtle acts of exclusion is a much more value neutral descriptor of the phenomenon, says Jana, who assures that everyone does it, just as everyone has unconscious bias, the subject of an earlier book by the author.
“Every day, every single solitary day I slip up and commit an SAE in what I call a piece of diversity doo-doo—and I’m considered an expert in the subject matter,” says Jana.
Their most frequent offense when talking to a group? The use of “hey guys,” says Jana. “There are gender nonconforming people, nonbinary people, women in this group. I apologize to the people I might have offended. By modeling the behavior and process, I’m engaging with people in a more intentional way.”
If you think you may have committed a subtle act of exclusion, Jana advises heeding that funny feeling—if you get one—and to “check in with the person you think you offended” or check in with an observer. “When you call each other in, it’s a sacred gift,” Jana says.
Subtle Acts of Exclusion provides strategies for handling the slights, whether one is the initiator, subject, or observer. And Jana firmly believes in the “essential goodness of all people” and that most are well-intentioned.
Jana’s motto: “Kindness. It’s great for yourself and it’s great for others.”
The author also believes a new, more inclusive world order is possible, “because the reality of exclusion and exclusiveness was created with great intention. It was no accident whatsoever in any aspect of society and economically.”
Jana says, “It will take an equal amount of intention by inclusive-minded, good-hearted people who recognize the world is not equitable right now and we have an opportunity to course correct.”
The anti-racist uprisings during the summer of 2020 led to this point, says Jana. “We are now entering a beautiful, transparent, transformative, and empathetic phase of our development as a society, and that gives me great hope.”
“This moment comes to you courtesy of unchecked institutional racism that came to a crescendo and is allowing us to have, for the first time in my lifetime, these honest conversations.”
Tiffany Jana will discuss Subtle Acts of Exclusion: How to Understand, Identify, and Stop Microaggressions with Kaki Dimock on March 15 at noon.
