ABSTRACT
This chapter utilizes critical race theory (CRT) to explain how everyday forms of racism – racial microaggressions – emerge in the everyday experiences of People of Color. It provides a framework for understanding and analyzing racial microaggressions that demonstrates how everyday racist events are systemically mediated by institutionalized racism (i.e. structures and processes), and guided by ideologies of white supremacy that justify the superiority of a dominant group (whites) over non-dominant groups (People of Color). Theorizing racial microaggressions from a CRT perspective challenges us to more clearly articulate the structural and systemic forms of racism that operate in everyday racist acts. To meet this challenge, the chapter offers a racial microaggressions model that can help researchers analyze how everyday experiences with racism are more than an individual experience, but part of a larger systemic racism that includes institutional and ideological forms.
