Impression Our Stories
Statement his series compiles the stories of people I'm grateful to know. Each person is dif‐ ferent from the next and has agreed to share their stories and experiences to the public. I encourage you to take a few moments right now to read each letter. While each person has a unique story, I
Purpose feel a connection to each one. his is an effort to empower not only ourselves, but those like us. he subject of the paper is deeply emotional.
It's up to me to decide how another per‐ son makes me feel. I must rise above and become bigger than any negativity. his is how I was raised, it's what my mother said is the way to react when a person makes a hurtful comment. his included any hurtful comments coming from a
place of prejudice, hate, racism, judge‐ ment, or assumption all because of my appearance. I am biracial. My Irish fa‐ ther and Mexican mother gave me life. It is not up to you to deine me or decide where I belong. Every person is different, but we all come from the same place. I'm tired of turning the other cheek. What you've said has impacted my day and my life. Over the years, I've tried to put myself in the other person's shoes. Maybe there was one thing I could say to make them change the way they think. In my experi‐ ence, this evolves into an argument that will never be settled and ends in frustra‐ tion. Yes, walking away and ignoring this person can work if they don't decide to follow. However, I cannot ind it in my‐ self to pretend these things don't happen. I'm not just talking about what people say to be hateful; I'm also speaking about microaggression. his term perfectly de‐ scribes most of my experiences with strangers and acquaintances. he deini‐ tion as explained by Psychology Today, "Microaggressions are the everyday ver‐ bal, nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs, or insults, whether inten‐ tional or unintentional, which commu‐ nicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target persons based solely upon their marginalized group member‐ ship". I'm standing up. I offer you our stories. -Vanessa Russell
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