People of Color Network

By MaryAnna Domokos-Cheng Ham, with Jay King, Roxana Llerena-Quinn, and Matthew Mock

Each year, the People of Color Network continues the tradition of bringing together AFTA members who self-identify as a people of color. And, each year, the members of the group maintain and reexamine their established relationships, while inviting new members into the group. This year, like other years, the People of Color Network was a conversation among people committed to a process of sharing the richness of their lives, advocating passionately for their identity, listening to and learning from each other, and reflecting about their experience of the conversation. This year being no exception; the conversation was richly textured.

However, we felt that this year was unlike other years. World events prompted by September 11 had affected us all. By holding the annual meeting in New York City, AFTA brought us face-to-face with the complexities and consequences of cultural and racial diversity. New York City, the home to many immigrants over the last century, mirrored our lives and interactions with each other. Like New York City residents, we vary in skin color and physical features, languages, and cultural traditions and values. In keeping with the location of AFTA and with the events of this year, our conversation focused on the points of connection among us all.

After welcoming returning and new participants, we began our conversation with an exercise to discover our "points" of connection. The purpose of this initial experiential process was to establish quickly those points of our personal and historical connections—as in borderlands—and then examine those forces that lead to greater differentiation—like fractures and fault lines. In dyads, we introduced our "family name" to our partner as a way to tell the stories of personal "borders" that had been shaped by race, culture, class, sexual orientation, gender and any other defining characteristic. From small groups, we came together in one group to share themes, perspectives, and individual vignettes, and to hear our points of connection. The following summary is only an attempt to convey the breadth and depth of our conversation; what is muted by the written word is the passion of voice tone, the laughter, and nods of agreement and disagreement:

Individual stories reflected themes of shared experiences of our families. We had stories of immigration from other countries and cultures and assimilation to the United States, the adopted culture and location for our families and ourselves. The effects of gender, colonialism, language and accents, family names, and customs were central themes for our families. Each person was aware of that these themes had influenced their family's attitude toward and adjustment to the United States.

There were many poignant personal vignettes, but two, in particular, bring to mind world shaking historical events. The first: in taking about her life in South Africa as a black person, a group member recalled events which could only be understood through the prism of Apartheid and its after effects. Her experiences with borders that limited her personal freedoms, of politically imposed boundaries, and of fractures in family-community structures and functioning were part of her daily life. She was aware of the overlapping of multiple cultures within South Africa, with each culture having its own borders and fractures. There was the White group with its division between Afrikaans-Dutch and British. The Colored, or mixed-race people, Indian, Japanese, and Chinese, were separated from the White group, and further separated from each other through different languages and skin color. Separated from all the other groups were the black people, who were further defined by their distinct dialects. Yet, as history continues to unfold, South Africa is moving toward repairing fractures and redefining boundaries. The second vignette pointed out the synchronicity of world events: a group member noted that the murder of Chilean leader, Salvador Allende, occurred on September 11, the date of the acts of terrorism in New York City. His memories of planes coming down from the sky, lives lost, and fear were evoked by the events in New York City on September 11, 2001. The personal tension stemmed from the possibility that there could be some similarities between the events.

Several personal reflections examined the meaning of American citizenship. The question was asked, "What does it mean to be an American?" "How does citizenship in one country differ from citizenship in another?" One member stated, "On September 11, I became an American, not just an American citizen." With passion, he described his awareness of the role of the United States in the world. He cited occasions when other countries blamed the United States and used it as a scapegoat for their own political stances, their own inequities and injustices. Throughout the world, he added, there is oppression, and said, "I am glad to be an American, where I have some voice, a vote." Another member described how September 11 changed the attitudes of her community in the Bronx, where her Latino family is surrounded by other immigrant groups, such as Russians, Italian, and Albanian Muslims. Before September 11, the Albanian families did not allow their children to play with the Latino children. Since September 11, a kind of joining has occurred. Albanian families have begun seeking more contact with their marginalized neighbors.

Then debate began, as we contributed our individual perspectives on the stories we had just heard. What we heard was our own internal debate of grappling with truths and with the dilemmas presented in our stories. Poignant questions were asked: As Americans, are we the scapegoats or are we the colonizers? How can we feel like Americans when some things have changed, but others have not; for example, what has changed is that privileged Americans experience vulnerability and increased patriotism, but what has not changed is the plight of the underprivileged, their restricted civil liberties, and racism? Are immigrant families learning about racism from the United States, or is skin color an issue everywhere, even in Europe, South, South East, and East Asia? Does insidious trauma arise when voices of "us" are amplified to the point of drowning out the voices of "them?" How dedicated are we to genuine dialogue, rather than to speaking without listening? Can we imagine that, in addition to violence, racism, lack of education, and inadequate resources can all take away an individual's choices and personal freedom? With all of society's "isms," do we really have personal freedom and choices when there are differences—designated by social context—in assessments of resources? How much personal control do we have in choosing where we live and shop, and travel during the day or night? Perhaps success and freedom cannot be measured in terms of affluence only. What, then, is the definition and meaning of freedom and choice?

As the conversation came to an end, a number of members made a similar appeal for action. Important to this point was their plea to recognize the limitations of dialogue in the absence of action. While dialogue at different levels is useful, it can also be futile. Finding truth is a political activity that needs to go beyond dialogue and understanding. However, action, as promoted by Paulo Freire, is an ongoing process of action, reflection, action . . . We questioned if action included forgiveness as a process of accountability and reparation, and wondered if forgiveness should be included in further discussions about the consequences of our differences, too often experienced as racism.

Our conversation concluded with collective questioning about how this group differs from others at AFTA, and reminding ourselves that this group has been, and should be, a continued sacred space of sorts, where there is openness to share personal thoughts, to make connections with one another, to revitalize ourselves, and to support, inspire, and draw energy from one another. This question brought to mind the importance of future group reflection about what brought us to this group for the first time and what keeps us coming back. Most of us agreed that we are able to say what we think about our own sense of difference, thus the question was raised, "Should we more fully engage in conversations about our differences, about racism and oppression, as part of our lives? We all agreed that we want to expand our community of People of Color by recognizing and welcoming to the POC Network anyone who identifies as a Person of Color.

References

Freire, Paulo (2000). Pedagogy of the oppressed
(30th Anniversary Ed.). New York: Continuum International

MaryAnna Domokos-Cheng Ham, Ed.D., is an Associate Professor and Director of the Marriage and Family Track in the Department of Counseling and School Psychology, Graduate College of Education at the University of Massachusetts Boston. She has combined her interests in Asian American issues, empathy, and family therapy in her writing and research. Her latest research and clinical interest is in the study and treatment of biracial couples.