{Opinion} Nonplussed AAPI Microaggressions: Grades

A memory, a reminder, an act of microaggression. It is surprising that microaggressions sneak themselves in place. Those moments, quite an apathetic feeling initially. But, as time goes on and those moments turn into memories, the moments come back to dawn on an individual. What really happened. What you should have thought. What you should have done. But no way to change it.

Time doesn't roll back, right?

It's not a secret or a trick; the answer is no. Those moments that one remembers vividly does not perish from one's memory. A microaggression, for example, to make a vivid memory. Hard hitting to many, but unreasonably strong to the AAPI population. Earning a good spot on lists of academic achievements, those spots sadly establish the social standard - to those who do not conform, comes devastating exclusion from society.

The impact, the animosity towards the AAPI population now, showed in small amounts. As an Indochinese person in America, a CITIZEN OF THE USA, microaggressions teared through myself repeatedly with no end. Again, unknown at the time to the elementary student's brain. Shrug it off and call it a joke! But it's not. Not a joke. Not something to shrug off. Not funny. It's an insult. Microaggressions are indirect insults. An insult to someone about something that someone is forced to live with.

Think of it as a thorn in the back - a derogatory phrase you frustratingly can't forget. One that I notably remember as "get good grades." Throughout my life, plagued every month of my 8+ year old life. Itself, not a microaggression but simply a phrase. But, paired with the academic rankings of the AAPI population, the phrase "get good grades" is unfortunately turned into negativity.

"Why don't you get good grades? You're [AAPI ethnicity]."

"You have good grades! Well, you're [AAPI ethnicity] so that's accurate."

"Are you going to get good grades this semester? You should because you're [AAPI ethnicity]."

Why, because one is AAPI? If one is AAPI, does that mean that they must have good grades? To those who may not be able to get what is considered "good grades", that's essentially an insult! To those who may be able to get "good grades", also an insult! This phrase normalizes good grades in a population, but ends up insulting both those who can make it and those who can't. It brings down a person's level of what they really achieved, as if what they did is normal. Or, it brings someone down to under what is expected even though that someone of the AAPI population meets a good academic standard to themselves.

As harmless as it may seem, it is incredibly degrading to a person that they worked so hard to achieve something...just to be normal. A discredit to them and what they have done. So where does this occur?

A place that this can come from is obviously, well, school. That's not wrong. But, that's not all. It can appear at a soccer practice. It can appear at a tutoring class. It can appear at the dining table. And, it can appear at school. An 8-year-old overlooks this little mishap. But, to a mature brain, confusion mounts when someone tries to respond, realizing what they have heard.

"Thanks?"

"Because I'm what?"

"I'm supposed to get good grades?"

"Uhh...yeah, sure...all because I'm [AAPI ethnicity]."

This isn't nice. It isn't nice. To those who may ask this phrase or similar, IT IS NOT NICE NOR A JOKE to say that one is not special because they are of an AAPI ethnicity. Since 3rd grade, overlooked the phrase. But now 9th grade as an AAPI student, one will come to realize how many times they have realistically been insulted indirectly.

So, in these phrases, is it a good idea to leave out the last part about AAPI ethnicity? Yes. Yes, it is. It's less derogatory and importantly, less of a microaggression otherwise. One out of many microaggressions to bring awareness to.