AFTA MEETING—DISTINGUISHED LECTURE: TATUM, HINES, de LEFF

All in the Family: Talking about Race, Learning about Racism

By Joan Marsh Schlesinger

Beverly Daniel Tatum, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology and Dean of Mount Holyoke College, began her lecture by reflecting on her work over the past twenty years as represented by her books, Assimilation Blues, and Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? and Other Conversations About Race. Identifying herself as an "integration baby" whose educational experiences occurred in predominantly white schools situated in mostly white communities, she actively sought out other Black students in college. She noticed that some of those students invited connection, while others seemed more comfortable keeping their distance. Later, when Tatum focused her research on how Black families living in White communities dealt with acknowledging and supporting the racial identity of their children, she found that socialization strategies varied. While some parents actively pursued involving their children in Black cultural activities and sought out Black playmates (described as race-conscious), other parents made no such efforts (described as race-neutral). Many parents primarily concerned with their family's socio-economic status decreased contact with other African Americans and avoided acknowledging racial issues (described as race-avoidant). She concluded that Black youth growing up in White communities often felt isolated and confused about where they belonged. Tatum suggested that the values underlying the socialization strategies used by Black parents to address racial identity make a difference in influencing how connected or disconnected Black youth feel to their racial heritage and how their attitudes develop towards other Blacks and White people.

Tatum presented two vivid case examples comparing two 20 year-old Black women who had grown up in the suburbs, had attended predominantly White private schools and were currently attending the same prestigious New England college. However, their sense of connection to their heritage and other Blacks and Whites differed significantly. Janice's over-protective parents, who had little contact with Black friends and family, depicted Black schools and neighborhoods as dangerous and told Janice she could not handle the "culture shock" of being in a Black environment. This left Janice "stranded," unprepared to deal with her own identity confusion and social isolation. Conversely, Karen's talent for sports facilitated her inclusion in some White social activities and her family remained connected to Black family and friends. Most importantly, when she was aware of racist attitudes, her parents could receive her emotional reaction and argue the underlying stereotypical assumptions, supporting her Black identity and her need to find a way to live in a racist culture.

Tatum reflected on the evolution of her teaching experience in Black Studies. She constructed and has been teaching a course on the psychology of racism designed to "help students explore the psychological impact of racism [in their everyday lives] on whites as well as people of color" for over twenty years. Her mostly White students have reported this course to be a powerful and transformational experience. Tatum's talent to create a safe enough space to examine the alienation of self and others created by a racist culture also makes space for the possibility of personal and interpersonal clarity and the deconstruction of the culture of silence so injurious to both Blacks and Whites. After noting some of the ways Whites learn not to notice the racial inequities supporting their own racial privilege, she advocated for White people to acknowledge the personal and cultural benefits of being White, as this often releases a powerful, creative, spiritual energy that makes it possible to continue working toward clarity and connection. Tatum stressed ". . . the willingness to talk about the social meaning of race and the detrimental effects of racism is necessary for white children to function effectively in a pluralistic environment." This call to dialogue includes such questions as: How and in what setting do we break the silence? How do we consciously use our spheres of influence to break through the apathy and fears of the privileged?

Paulette Hines' impassioned discourse invited us to sit at her table—to hear, see, feel, and taste the pain, anger and rage that is the result of experiencing unrelenting racial oppression. She challenged us as to acknowledge that because racism is maintained not only through obvious, intentioned racist actions, but also through our collusion to remain silent and passive in response to racist attitudes and behaviors, we must stop avoiding our own painful feelings of inadequacy in addressing racism and face our fears head-on. To be effective therapists with racially oppressed families, we must acknowledge the reality of the necessity of these families to address the bombardment of racist incidents, overt and subtle, that they experience on a daily basis. Our primary clinical task is to help "clients to transcend oppression due to racism" by addressing their anger, rage, and fear as well as addressing our own anger, rage, and fear. Hines shared one of her own family's intimate experiences with overt racism, telling of a time when her son had protested to a police officer at school that the choke hold the officer had placed on a Black youth was cutting off the boy's air supply. The result was that her son was physically abused, arrested, held in detention for seven days and subjected to the judge's attempt to shame him for causing his family pain. Institutional racism was apparent again when the school administrator suggested this victimized young man might benefit from anger management counseling! Some of the painful ripples following this incident included the loss of a sense of community and a sense of dissonance between ideology and the perceived freedom to protect and defend family.

Hines showed a video clip from The Color of Fear where Victor, an African American, works through expressing his rage against racial oppression to a place of clarity and describes some of the costs to White people of denying racism and White privilege. She says, "We have the power to act on our own truth," to see the possibilities and opportunities beyond the obstacles and problems. Hines states confidently that we are "masters at knowing what process is needed" to help clients find their voice. In closing she asks: "Will we open our eyes to see? Will we open our ears to hear? Will we open our hearts and find the courage to seek understanding, to accept?" And finally, can we survive facing our fears?

Jacqueline Fortes de Leff explored racism as it evolved in Mexico and as it exists today. This race-based distribution of economic and social privileges is determined by a hierarchy of skin shade having its origins in the brutal Spanish colonization of the indigenous peoples of Mexico. The historical context includes an attempt at ethnic cleansing where the native Indians were subjected to militaristic, religious and educational domination aimed at eliminating their language, beliefs and customs. Spanish domination led to the development of a 4-tiered class system with skin shade as its organizing principle. The light (or blonde) skin of the Spanish is at the top while the darker skin of the Indians is at the bottom. Over time, internalized cultural racism encouraged the denial of, and the distancing from, anything associated with the various Indian cultures. In an effort to "pass," people began replacing their native language with Spanish, and later English, naming their children with Spanish, Christian, English, or foreign names, using the word "Indian" as a pejorative epithet of rejection, and abandoning centuries-old customs.

Concerning teaching, training and practicing family therapy, de Leff suggests that Mexico's dependence on family therapy models from other cultures is a form of internalized racism. To combat this, an analysis is needed to determine how Mexican history and culture applied to the concepts of race, gender and social class could create more useful models. For therapists working with Mexican families, she stresses the need to promote trust and mutual respect in acknowledging the hierarchy of the family by using customary language (titles) to recognize status, the need to work collaboratively with the family, and the need to be sensitive to intra-familial racism that scapegoats family members with darker skin. In closing, she encouraged us to recognize our own internalized oppressive messages and to work with the hidden agenda in all aspects of our therapy settings.

This plenary was a priceless gift to all of us, especially to White people like myself. The three courageous presenters shared their insights and understanding of the painful results of racism in public and private spheres. They created a sacred space around us, supporting us, helping us absorb the clarity of the truth and pain of their experience. At times, I wanted to press "pause" to allow my own furious associations to catch up. At times, I think I held my breath, straining every fiber to attend to what I sensed was an opportunity to be included in the "other's" experience. At times feeling like I was using a camera, getting the larger picture, zooming in on a detail, backing out again. I feel inspired!

Everyone I saw was touched by this plenary. Some reactions included: "How do we break the silence?" "As white people, what are our roles?" Another: "Gratitude. Now we're learning in our struggle with isms . . . how to trust that we can hold each other as we work through . . . despair and fear and confusion. You gave us hope, optimism, courage and clarity of vision." From yet another, like I "felt the rip tide and undertow [of the ocean], my embodied experience . . . was being caught in just such movements, caught, flung, de-stabilized, gasping for breath as I was grasping for a psychic place to stand. Terror/rage, fight/flight/freeze, fragmentation, shapeshifting all co-mingled with the familiar, but now forever changed: dinner table, neck, church, community now all re-contextualized."

Joan Marsh Schlesinger trained with Monica McGoldrick, Nydia Garcia Preto and CharlesEtta Sutton at the Multicultural Family Institute (formerly the Family Institute of New Jersey), where she is an Associate and in private practice. She is also a part-time lecturer at Rutgers Graduate School of Social Work and a Family Therapy Educator in the Family Practice Residency Program at JFK Medical Center, Edison, New Jersey.

She was an invited guest to this open AFTA meeting.