Tags
All the little things, Meena Ayittey, Micro aggressions, Personhood, Privilege, The questions of personhood, What does it mean to be a person?
Written and directed by Meena Ayittey (represented globally by Great Guns), the film is based on an original idea from the creative team Christopher Medford and Bethany Jones from independent creative company, Mother. In two and half minutes Ayittey effectively communicates how smalls slights, micro-aggressions, and racist preferences add up.
All The Little Things follows Adae a young Black creative in an advertising agency; we begin to see how a series of interactions threaten to bring buried tensions and fresh resentments to a boiling point. For anyone who has lived with privilege, or who are unaccustomed with “all the little things” that work against people of colour, this short film might provide a small window into the daily experiences of people who endure the little indignities of exclusion, misunderstanding, or willful ignorance.
Now multiply this for a province, a people group, a nation, a culture, a planet.
The Questions of Personhood
Do you notice how the conflicts are affecting you?
How has your attitudes about Russians changed, for example (insert any nation you want, and check your biases).
Or how about if you have been pro-Covid health measures, or against these measures – have you noticed what you think about people on the other side of your position – people on the other side of your nation?
What does it mean to be a person? – when you devalue the worth of another’s personhood?
What does it mean to have, to receive, and to decipher the mystery of our worth?
Thanks to Tim Neubauer who shared “All the Little Things” (LinkedIn).
For more see “What does it mean to be a Person?“
More Enigma Than Dogma 
I very much appreciate this post, Rusty, and your trying to make us think about increasing conflicts within us and our changes of emotions.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Thanks for your note Martina; I wonder if all global conflicts are related in some way to personal ones. There has been a lot written now about Putin and his formative years in the hopes of understanding his terror. Is it merely an axiom that wounds beget wounds, and after a while the wise recognize it is fruitless to find where it started? Conversely, I wonder if all peacemaking begins with all the little things we do to create peace? We, each one and all, must do our part to be peacemakers, for as Jesus said, “they will be called the children of God.” Peace to you.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I think, in any case, that individual conflicts or group conflicts may arise, because, for example, one part doesn’t feel respected.
Putin seems to be a narcisist, which means that he is the center of the univers and is not interested in others. Maybe he should have worked on his psychosystem? I very much agree with your last sentence:) Peace to you!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks for sharing the film, Rusty. All the little micro-aggressions we endure in our day-to-day lives do add up and can one day lead to violence and war.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Since I’ve been to Colombia several times, I have wondered if their civil unrest (during the many years of FARC and Right Wing militias) was an expression of the massive sexual abuse experienced by children in that culture. I have speculated this, but have seen no-one research it, or make a connection from micro-aggression to macro-aggression. Nevertheless, to the extent that we have agency, we can make our little positive impacts. I was in a meeting where one person made a racist comment, and all it took was a gentle response: “we need not make this issue about race; let’s problem solve rather than blame race.” I was surprised that since then, meetings have not brought up race in spite of how unresolved the person’s beliefs of racism.
LikeLike
Thank you for this insight. I certainly see this a lot being part of the international community
LikeLiked by 3 people
Thank you Rusty for the video and the words of wisdom. I’m trying to think about what makes people behave racially without any gain out of it. Are they just evil? I feel so empathetic to the people affected. We’re actually all orange, with different tones.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I appreciate your questions. I like to start with the person I know the best: me – and reflect on my own tendency to bias, and how I learned to be prejudice, and the process of unlearning prejudice. On the question of evil, again we must look at the plank in our own eye before commenting on the speck in another’s eye. I am not sure this makes much of a difference, I just know that all the little changes add up positively – as much as all the little slights and micro-aggressions add up negatively. Here’s to deciphering the enigma of our worth: https://moreenigma.com/2021/03/17/capturing-something-of-the-mystery-of-our-worth/
LikeLike
As someone who grew up in a very small, very white town, I had no idea that racism existed – classism most definitely, but not racism. Now, living in a very diverse urban area, I see how beaten down and defensive people of color in my area feel, so I try my best to let them know I see them and consider them, “more important than me,” per Phillipians 2:3. However, that sometimes is taken as racist, too. It’s tough when there has been so much hurt for so long. But we, as was already pointed out earlier, we need to continually work toward peace through Jesus’ love.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I also grew up in a very small, white town, unaware of my own prejudices. The beauty of maturity is not only learning from experiences (if we are wise and teachable), but also being free from defensiveness to ongoing accusations that may still linger with a scent of truth (after all, how can we see all our biases?). As we mature in Christ, the hymn of Phil 2 (to which you quote the prelude) becomes the song of those who are no longer “offendable”. Such is our “office” – to be ambassadors of reconciliation (II Cor 5:20) in a world so desperately in need of it. Keep going sister; the Peace of Christ be with you.
LikeLiked by 1 person