Practicing Awareness of Microagressions

This week my daughter, 3, wanted to ask a black man why his teeth were gold, (I am white, she is white and Navajo).  I didn’t have an issue with this because I don’t want to shush her from learning about each other’s differences and similarities.  She asked him, and he replied that he wanted them that way because he thought they looked cool.  She said, “Oh, they are pretty and cool.”  Then we talked for a while about how his teeth were different looking from hers but that didn’t mean his teeth or her teeth were not the right way.  We talked about being different and how that made the world beautiful.  Even I have turquoise strands in my hair and that is really different and cool.  Then she told everyone something that her and I always say, “If everyone were the same, then the world would be boring.”  I really appreciated the man not getting upset with her for asking and he did seem relieved after we discussed how great his teeth were.  But this experience allowed me to feel that he may have been feeling microagressions from my daughter and me.  He may have felt as if we were ganging up on him to make him feel inferior by asking and also I am sure that asking might have made him feel uncertain about his smile.  Although I knew that this might occur with him, I wanted to show him and my daughter that differences were special and we should admire them.  I hope that our talking together and pointing out how awesome his teeth were helped with any microagressions I may have caused.