Racial Checking: Responding to Racial Microaggressions in Online Spaces

Background and Purpose: Racial microaggressions are defined as intentional or unintentional negative racial slights (Sue et al., 2009). While microaggressions may be interpreted as being related to race by the victim, they are often ignored or seen as being aracial by the perpetrator or bystanders. Research has found that racial microaggressions have a negative impact on the outcomes and wellbeing of persons of color (Sue et al., 2007). This paper examines how the Internet shapes the ways students of color engage with microaggressions. The Internet is a distinctive ecological context with social rules, norms, and conventions that separate online and in-person interactions. What coping strategies do adolescents use when exposed to racial microaggressions, and how do they differ in Internet-based versus face-to-face communications?

Methods: This study draws from in-depth interviews with 31 undergraduate students of color at a private Midwestern University. These in-depth interviews lasted between 45-60 minutes and were guided by an open-ended survey instrument. Using Small’s modified extended case study logic and sequential interviewing strategy (2009), what was learned with each case or participant influenced subsequent interviews, as questions were modified or added to reflect what had already been learned. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed in the NVivo qualitative data analysis program. Of the 31 participating students, 17 were female, 6 identified as Latino, 3 identified as Afro Latino or Black and Latino, 15 identified as Black or African American, 3 identified as multiracial, 3 identified as Asian, and 1 identified as Indian.

Findings: There are profound differences in the way students of color respond to racial microaggressions online, versus in-person. Most students reported that they ignored most incidences of racial microaggressions on campus because they sought to avoid social sanctions for being labeled militant. In contrast, students were much more likely to engage in racial checking, or critiquing white students for microaggressions, in online spaces. Racial checking refers to both online responses to online microaggressions, as well as online responses to in-person microaggressions.

Conclusion and Implications: Findings suggest that the Internet enables a unique style of engagement with racial microaggressions. For students of color navigating ‘post-racial’ colleges and Universities, online social spaces can facilitate racial discourse.  Students in this sample strategically utilized online communication platforms, including social media, as a means of resisting and countering dominant racial meanings. This work advances theory about how the Internet and new media impact the development of racial consciousness and political engagement among youth of color. Furthermore, social workers serving diverse populations may benefit from understanding the ways their clients engage with peers online, and using technology to bolster intervention strategies around positive racial identity development, conflict management, and coping with negative racialized events.