Counseling the Culturally Diverse. Laura Smith L.

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СКАЧАТЬ his text and know the subject matter covered in it if I wanted to succeed on the examinations. So, out of necessity, I read on and struggled with the feelings that Sue's words stirred in me.

      Cultural competence and humility in counseling/mental health practice demands that nested or embedded emotions associated with race, culture, gender, and other social identity differences be openly experienced and discussed. It is these intense feelings that often block our ability to hear the voices of those most oppressed and disempowered (Appiah, Eveland, Bullock, & Coduto, 2021). How we, as helping professionals, deal with these strong feelings can either enhance or impede a deeper understanding of ourselves as racial, ethnic, and cultural beings and our understanding of the worldviews of culturally diverse clients. Because Mark did not allow his defensiveness and anger to get the best of him, he was able to achieve insights into his own biases and false assumptions about People of Color. The following passage reveals the internal struggle that he courageously fought and the disturbing realization of his own racism.

       I tried to make sense of my emotions—to ascertain why I was drawn back to Sue's book again and again in spite of my initial rejection of it. I know it may sound crazy, but I read certain sections of Sue's book repeatedly and then reflected on what was happening inside of me … I began to discover important lessons about myself, significant insights prompted by reading Sue's book that would shape the direction of my future … I now realized that Sue was right! The system had been destructive toward people of color, and although my ancestors and I had not directly been a part of that oppressive system, I had unknowingly contributed to it. I began to think about how I had viewed people of color throughout my life, and I had to admit to myself that I had unconsciously bought into the racist stereotypes about African Americans and Latinos. Yes, I had laughed at and told racist jokes. Yes, I had used the “N” word when referring to African Americans. Yes, I had been a racist. Sue's book forced me to remove my blinders. He helped me to see that I was both a product and an architect of a racist culture. (Sue & Sue, 2013, pp. 9–10)

Years after first reading the book, Mark Kiselica (1999) talks about his racial awakening and identifies some of the major fears many well‐intentioned White Americans struggle with as they begin studying racism, sexism, or heterosexism on a personal level. This passage, perhaps, identifies the major psychological obstacle that confronts many White Americans as they process the content and meaning of the book.

       You see, the subjects I [White psychologist] am about to discuss—ethnocentrism and racism, including my own racism—are topics that most Whites tend to avoid. We shy away from discussing these issues for many reasons: We are racked with guilt over the way people of color have been treated in our nation; we fear that we will be accused of mistreating others; we particularly fear being called the “R” word—racist—so we grow uneasy whenever issues of race emerge; and we tend to back away, change the subject, respond defensively, assert our innocence and our “color blindness,” denying that we could possibly be ethnocentric or racist. (p. 14)

      It is important to note Mark's open admission to racist thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. As a White psychologist, he offers insights into the reasons why many White trainees fear open dialogues on race; they may ultimately reveal unpleasant secrets about themselves. In his own racial awakening, he realizes that discussing race and racism is so difficult for many White Americans because they are racked with guilt about how People of Color have been treated in the United States and are fearful that they will be accused of being a racist and be blamed for the oppression of others. Rejecting and avoiding racial topics are major strategies used to hold on to one's self‐image as a good, moral, and decent human being who is innocent of racial bias and discrimination.

      Mark's honesty in confronting his own racism is refreshing, and his insights are invaluable to those who wish to develop culturally competence and become allies in the struggle for equal rights (Chao, Wei, Spanierman, Longo, & Northart, 2015; Spanierman & Smith, 2017). He is a rarity in academic circles, even rarer because he was willing to put his words on paper for the whole world to read as a means to help others understand the meaning of racism on a human level. Mark's courageous and open exploration of his initial reactions to CCD indicates what we have come to learn is a common, intensely emotional experience for many readers.

EMOTIONAL INVALIDATION VERSUS AFFIRMATION: MARGINALIZED GROUP MEMBERS

      It is clear that the same subject matter in CCD often arouses a different emotional response from marginalized group members; for the two students of color, for example, they felt heard, liberated, and validated. They describe the book content as “honest” and “truthful,” indicating that their lived experiences had finally been validated rather than silenced or ignored. Many People of Color describe how their thoughts and feelings about race and racism are often ignored, dismissed, negated, or seen as having no basis in fact. They are told that they are misreading things, overly sensitive, unduly suspicious, or even paranoid when they bring up issues of bias and discrimination; in other words, they are “crazy” to think or feel that way.

      As can be seen from the students of color, many marginalized group members react equally strongly as their White counterparts when issues of oppression are raised, especially when their stories of discrimination and pain are minimized or neglected. Their reality of racism, sexism, and homophobia, they contend, is relatively unknown or ignored by those in power because of the discomfort that pervades such topics. Worse yet, many well‐intentioned majority persons seem disinclined to hear the personal stories of suffering, humiliation, and pain that accrue to Persons of Color and other marginalized groups in our society (Sue, 2015). The following quote gives some idea of what it is like for a Black man to live his life day in and day out in a society filled with both covert and overt racist acts that often are invisible to well‐intentioned White Americans.

       I don't think white people, generally, understand the full meaning of racist discriminatory behaviors directed toward Americans of African descent. They seem to see each act of discrimination or any act of violence as an “isolated” event. As a result, most white Americans cannot understand the strong reaction manifested by blacks when such events occur … They forget that in most cases, we live lives of quiet desperation generated by a litany of daily large and small events that, whether or not by design, remind us of our “place” in American society. [Whites] ignore the personal context of the stimulus. That is, they deny the historical impact that a negative act may have on an individual. “Nigger” to a white may simply be an epithet that should be ignored. To most blacks, the term brings into sharp and current focus all kinds of acts of racism—murder, rape, torture, denial of constitutional rights, insults, limited opportunity structure, economic problems, unequal justice under the law and a myriad of … other racist and discriminatory acts that occur daily in the lives of most Americans of African descent. (Feagin & Sikes, 1994, pp. 23–24)

The lived experience of People of Color is generally invisible to most White Americans, as this quotation portrays. As we will discuss in Chapter 4, racial, gender, and sexual orientation microaggressions are experienced frequently by People of Color, women, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) persons in their day‐to‐day interactions with well‐intentioned members of the dominant society (Nadal, Griffin, Wong, Davidoff, & Davis, 2017; Sue & Spanierman, 2020). Microaggressions are the everyday slights, put‐downs, invalidations, and insults directed to socially devalued group members by well‐intentioned people who often are unaware that they have engaged in such biased and harmful behaviors. A lifetime of microaggressions can have a major harmful impact on the psychological well‐being of victims. Note the following narratives provided by American Indians as they describe day‐to‐day experiences with microaggressions that serve to undermine their humanity through exposure to racial hostility and assumptions of inferiority.

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