While I understand the whole idea of victimhood culture I'm not sure that the example they presented was a good one. I mean I couldn't hope to count the number of times I've gotten off-hand remarks about being Hispanic. I just brush them off, but I honestly can't see this dude blowing up like that if this was literally the first instance of this issue. Even if this was the first issue, it may not have been the first instance in his current environment. If it is the dude is being oversensitive, and blew it way out of proportion.
Yeah, what people don't understand about what are termed "microagressions" is that they are constant. The example here is so minute that it just looks ridiculous to people, but imagine getting these comments every day, or even several times a day. It gets pretty damn tiring after a while. But the kid's reaction is just insane. Trying to publicly shame the other party instead of just privately telling them why you feel offended? Kid's got issues...
I was also thinking about the place in which he posted it. I'm at work, but it was a school website with the explicit goal of bring things like that to light. That sort of brings into question whether this school has a problem with this already that warrants a website like that.
http://obiemicroaggressions.tumblr.com/ A much longer version of the letter is on the site. The white guy seems to be confused by the situation and hammering out a lot of identity problems. It's a fascinating read, mostly because I can identify with his confusion and self aware lack of understanding.
Or does the existence of a prominent outlet like that create more situations like this, which would otherwise be resolved in private? I find it incredibly rude that the 'aggrieved' student's first course of action was to publicly shame and condemn their fellow classmate in front of the world, instead of privately expressing their concerns. They certainly do not look better for it.