Dysconscious Racism and Racial Microaggressions in the Public School System

Dysconscious racism and racial microaggressions are two forms of racism that exist in public schools today. Dysconscious racism is a form of racism that “tacitly accepts the dominant White norms and privileges” in a given environment while racial microaggressions are brief and commonplace indignations to the target person or group whether it was intentional or unintentional (Sue et al., 2009). Teachers of color face these subtllte forms of racism within their own workplaces. The researcher conducted a qualitative study by interviewing six public school K-6 teachers of color of different ethnicities who teach in various school districts across the South Bay Area, in California to explore and analyze their own experiences with dysconscious racism and racial microaggressions. As an educator of color himself, the researcher was interested in comparing the testimonies of these six teachers to the experiences he has witnessed, living and working in the same communities to those interviewed. As a result, five out of the six participants in the study affirmed and recounted the presence of dysconscious racism and racial microaggressions within their workplaces, among their colleagues and school district officials. In order for progress to be made, the researcher found there needs to be racial consciousness among educators, more CRTs (culturally relevant teachers), a refinement in teacher hiring practices, an introspection of cultural values of school populations, and training and professional development