White Privilege and Supporting People of Color

The great shadows of racism and xenophobia in America have recently been legitimized by the election of Donald Trump. Already in these past seven weeks hate crimes and hate speech have been reported to be on the rise. Even at my local university reports of harassment based on race, religion, and nationality have risen dramatically. How do white therapists support people of color when the pain of racism is deeply impacting a client's sense of safety and wellbeing? What can white therapists do to insure our own privilege and our fragility around that privilege doesn't interfere with our ability to effectively support our clients?

In short, it's time to get woke. And woke on a whole new level. 

Below are some themes that white therapists can look at and process. Each theme offers ideas of what to do as a white person trying to get more conscious of the realities of racism and race as well as ideas for white therapists in particular to insure they are offering the highest quality of care to their clients of color and non-Christian clients. There is a lot of overlap in the solutions, but these same solutions cover several different issues at the same time. 

1. It is time to inform ourselves far more comprehensively about the look and feel of racism and xenophobia, overt and covert. Race, Class and Gender in the United States: An Integrated Study by Paula S. Rothenberg is a great reference book for looking more closely at race and its impacts on targeted populations.  You can also search these terms if you are unfamiliar with any of them: white fragility, implicit bias, micro-aggressions, intersectionality. 
It's a great time to consume more media from diverse perspectives: try podcasts and TED talks by People Of Color, and read articles, blogs or books by POC's. I believe it's time to get truly curious about racism, owning that there is a lot you don't know when you never experience it directed at you. This very stance will be key in effectively supporting clients who are impacted by racism. 
When you are learning about the realities of racism and xenophobia, journal about your reactions: they may include confusion, denial, guilt, helplessness, outrage, anger, sadness, or guilt. Did I mention guilt? I've experienced all of these. Out yourself in the privacy of your journal as a person who carries white guilt and implicit bias, making a laundry list of ways this impacts your perspective. We need to treat racism and xenophobia like the diseases they are, and know as much about them as we possibly can: this includes getting familiar with our own implicit biases as well as societal racism. 

As a therapist: If you find yourself treating a client whose race/class/ethnicity/religion is largely unknown to you, it's time to start researching. We all know this, but it's worth repeating: it is not the client's job to inform the therapist about their entire cultural heritage. Of course it's appropriate to ask some questions - we would never assume everything we've researched about a cultural group applies to every person from that group - but it's not ok to rely on a client to explain every part of their culture. Research can be fun - it's not about reading a textbook, but tapping into good (and often entertaining) cultural products created by People of Color. My favorite podcasts at the moment include #goodmuslimbadmuslim, Still Processing, OUR NATIONAL CONVERSATION ABOUT CONVERSATIONS ABOUT RACE, and 2 Dope Queens. Each one addresses race and xenophobia among other topics in smart, entertaining, and often hilarious ways. Incredible books I've read recently include The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, Don't Touch My Hair and Other Things I Still Have to Explain by Phoebe Robinson, Salam Pax: The Clandestine Diary of an Ordinary Iraqi by Salam Pax.

2. Read about the impacts of racism and xenophobia on the human nervous system and psyche, and validate your client's feelings as they share them with you. Research shows higher rates of depression and anxiety in People of Color as a result of racism.  Having your legitimacy as a human being consistently questioned either directly or via microaggressions can lead to lowered self-esteem, chronic fear for one's safety, and, as mentioned above, chronic anxiety and/or depression. There are many traumatic experiences connected to racism and xenophobia within the greater society and even within families of mixed race and religion. With or without direct contact with trauma, People of Color can experiences symptoms of PTSD without meeting the full criteria for the diagnosis just by living in the United States. Reading some current books about trauma can be helpful. My go-to trauma reference is The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk, which I find to be very culturally competent. 

As a therapist: Validate your client's feelings about experiencing racism or xenophobia, even if you don't feel like you fully understand. If you've done your homework, you'll be able to empathize much more deeply with the experience of racism. If a client is describing an experience unfamiliar to you, listen closely and offer a way for that client to repair or at least lessen the resultant wound.  For example: if your client regrets their response to a racist action or comment, offer them space in therapy to say what they didn't/couldn't say in that moment. A lot of times it isn't safe for a POC to fully defend themselves in the face of racism. The perpetrator may be a customer,  employer or supervisor, or a threatening person or group in a public place. The client may have had their children with them and they did not want to potentially incite further aggression. Or the client may have been hurt by a close friend or lover, and it didn't feel emotionally safe to speak out. Offer that space now. It may seem very old school, but I use Empty Chair regularly in moments like this. I also offer art therapy, asking a client to draw first how the experience was for them and second how they wish it had been. 

3. Examine and track your reactions to active racism. Notice a tendency in white people to distance ourselves from the parts of white culture embracing hate speech and acts. I hate to say it, but these are our people if we're white. We are cut from the same historical cloth, and we all manifest some forms of implicit bias towards People of Color, brazen or subtle. I believe it’s time to own that being white in America includes implicit bias towards other races and a sense of entitlement that nearly (or enthusiastically) touches into superiority. It’s like someone admitting they have a problem like addiction or anxiety: they can’t do anything to change until they step out of denial and own their problem. White privilege is a social disease that affects us all personally. As white people we have lived in a world where we are the stars of most movies, the protagonists in most children’s books, the faces delivering most news, and the bosses at most jobs. This is an inaccurate representation of American society, and one that marginalizes People of Color while simultaneously instilling a sense of entitlement for white people that is highly divisive. We can start to track this entitlement and approach it CBT-style by challenging the inaccurate thought and replacing it with a more rational and helpful one. Approach the accompanying guilt by reminding yourself that guilt is an indicator of a wound, and this is the great un-treated wound of America. Note that entitlement can also lead to complacency about racism in our peers, where we merely shrug our shoulders or explain away things they say as “they meant well” or “well, I’m not like that.” If we can see where that bias lives in us, we may be able to approach racism in others with a deeper clarity and the courage to engage compassionately in a conversation about race. I think there's also a deep class divide among Whites that plays into more privileged white people's struggle to own racism within white culture. Racism is often associated with lower socioeconomic classes, and there is a long-held rejection and denial of values embraced by poor [and especially rural] whites in mainstream middle class white America. A fascinating book that I have just started reading addresses this: White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America by Nancy Isenberg. I also recently read Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance that touches into this topic in a more heartfelt and personal but less comprehensive way. 

As a therapist: If you find yourself verbally distancing yourself from our racist brothers and sisters in a session with a person of color when hearing about an act of racism -- and I myself have done this  --- you have just made that session about you. You may have also signaled to your client that they can't talk about racism in therapy because you can't really handle it. When the knee-jerk response to distance yourself pops up during a session, label it as such and sit with it. If you are able to really listen to your client and respond with validation and understanding, you are proving to them that you are a white ally.

4. Notice the media you consume for entertainment, and diversify who shows up in the movies and shows you watch. Mostly white? I know this was the case in my household, and it's been a process to increase the representation of diversity (a token POC in a show doesn't count) on our nightly roster. It is, in fact, still in progress. This time has been called the golden age in television, and I'd have to agree: there is so much out there from so many different perspectives, that it is no longer difficult to find diverse shows if you are looking. Explore! Try something even if it doesn't feel comfortable in terms of the cast or theme: I think comfortable or relatable in entertainment is often an unconscious term for familiar/white in white media consumption. We are very used to our friends of color and of different religions knowing our cultural references and understanding a lot more about whiteness (and Christianity if that applies to you) than we may about their race, ethnicity and religion. Take Christmas for example: please show me a non-Christian friend who knows very little about this huge holiday that just passed. If we truly care about evening the playing field, we must expose ourselves to the experience of others and, for example, get familiar with major Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and Buddhist holidays. Take a class. Or just watch movies and shows about POC's living their lives. 
An often hidden barb in white privilege is a cultural narcissism that can cause white people to self-segregate culturally, to the detriment of ourselves and our quality of life on top of the impact of not listening to and supporting voices of color. I think this self-segregation is largely learned and unconscious, but it impoverishes our worldview.  

As a therapist: If we don't expose ourselves to the various diverse perspectives that make up the cultural landscape in the U.S., we will inevitably see POC's as other. Then as therapists we will see our clients as other and will, at best, rely on them to explain their cultural experience to us without us bringing any background knowledge to session. At worst, we will act "colorblind" and not even take our clients' cultural context into consideration, possibly pathologizing their cultural perspective or their response to a racist world. I think reading books and blogs by POC's, listening to music and podcasts by POC's, and attending multicultural events, alongside diversifying our entertainment consumption are all really helpful ways to expand our cultural savvy. It will also help us appreciate and live in a woke and conscious manner the diversity of our country and planet. That is an outcome everyone benefits from.