Spring 2008

Diversity In and Out of the Classroom

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While my developed white racial identity may have permitted the desire to go to Claflin, it was built upon being a white man whose predominant racial identity status for many years was the Contact status – an obliviousness to issues of race and, most especially, to white identity. In general, whites tend to operate from this status, which prevents them from understanding race as a sociopolitical construct that determines an individual’s place in society. Whites, whose predominant racial identity status is Contact, tend to have color-blind attitudes (“I don’t see color; I just look at the person”). The Contact status is, in essence, a form of covert racism, as whites who operate from this status dilute the importance of race, avoid conversations about race, and lack awareness about white privilege. Reducing the centrality of race allows whites to remove the fear of being judged as racist.

Recent research (see, for example, Gushue, 2004; Gushue, Constantine, & Sciarra, 2008) has shown that white counselors tend to assign significantly higher (i.e., healthier) ratings to clients of color versus white clients, even when the presenting symptoms are exactly the same. This is a contrast to research in the 1980s, when results showed that white mental health practitioners tended to overpathologize clients of color. One explanation for this more recent discrepancy may be a racial identity status that fears appearing racist and therefore evaluates the client to be healthier and not in need of services. It is the equivalent of making a Type II error in research, i.e., the error of failing to observe a difference when in truth there is one. A second explanation is the shifting standards model proposed by Biernat and colleagues (Biernat & Manis, 1994; Biernat, Manis & Nelson, 1991; Biernat & Kobrynowicz, 1997) of how racial or cultural stereotypes could influence judgment. These authors suggest that when making subjective judgments about a member of a group for which social stereotypes exist, evaluators subconsciously shift the standards they use to arrive at a judgment. In the case of white counselors making judgments about clients of color versus white clients, the latter is held to a higher standard (e.g., “for a white person, they really should be doing a lot better”). Conversely, the client of color is held to a lower standard and therefore evaluated as healthier (e.g., “for a black person, she’s really doing quite well”).

The Immersion Experience:

An Antidote to Color Blindness Teaching multicultural counseling over the years, I have had some success in promoting higher levels of racial identity among white students through the use of the immersion experience. The value of the immersion experience is based upon the Contact Hypothesis (Brown, 1995). The Contact Hypothesis rests upon the belief that contact between divergent social groups is the best means toward reducing tensions and misunderstandings. Allport’s (1954) comprehensive studies of the contact theory of inter-group relations have provided the framework for many interventions designed to reduce racism. Allport’s findings were not a patent endorsement of simple contact theory. He was quick to point to data derived from the study of blacks and whites living in Chicago to prove that close proximity alone did not eradicate racial bias. In fact, the data presented showed that just the opposite was true, close proximity led to a clearer manifestation of racial prejudice. Rather than dismissing the Social Contact theory completely, Allport (1954) and others identified conditions of contact that must be met in order to bring about the reduction of prejudice:

1. Contact must be of sufficient frequency, duration, and closeness to permit the development of meaningful relationships between members of the groups concerned.

2. Contact should take place, as much as possible, between participants of equal status.

3. The necessity exists for cooperation so that all members of the different groups are mutually dependent upon one another for the attainment of a desired outcome. A need for cooperation provides an instrumental reason for the participants to be motivated to develop better relationships with each other. (Allport, 1954; Amir, 1969; Cook, 1962, 1978; and Pettigrew, 1971)

A carefully planned immersion experience would ideally meet the aforementioned conditions. Over the course of a 15-week semester, students are required on a weekly basis to be part of a group that is culturally alien to them. White students are encouraged to find a group where they visibly don’t belong. Some students do a better job with this than others, as they allow their limits to be tested. The immersion experience is endowed with the power to upend students’ basic assumptions about themselves and their place in the world by introducing them to a community where they take on the role of the nondominant member. As part of the anxiety that accompanies the adaptation to this new environment, students’ underlying belief systems are activated and their contents brought into sharp relief. It is only through this process of examining internalized prejudices that they can start to grasp the significance of the insidious nature of cultural biases that impinge upon quality of life for so many people. The sharing of these insights in an understanding class atmosphere can qualify the conceptual material presented in a deeply personal manner. Here is an excerpt from a former student’s journal as she began her immersion experience by attending with her daughter a predominantly black after-school program:

The history of the location combined with the racial make-up of the neighborhood seemed to stir some previously unconscious fears within me. Though I rationally could tell myself that it was the African-American community members who were successful in combating the drugs and violence that had plagued the location in question, I could not shake the feeling of anxiety. When I attempted to name the fear cloaked within the anxiety, I shamefully came to recognize it as residual racial mistrust. I was uncomfortable with this recognition since it clearly indicated that I was not as multiculturally evolved as I had wanted to believe. Up until this time all my interracial experience had been conducted within settings where the whites were the racial majority. This was a neighborhood I drove through almost daily but had never stopped and walked through. I was aware that first week that I was crossing what had existed in my mind as a racially determined geographic boundary. I felt conspicuously white. As I entered the waiting room and sat down, I found myself scanning the faces of the other parents, looking for some sign of welcome or acceptance. It was not forthcoming, and I was then left to consider why I thought it was someone else's job to take care of my discomfort. Whatever I experienced, it would be mine to work out. I felt an acute sense of aloneness (DeRicco & Sciarra, 2005, p. 7).

Claflin: An Immersion Experience?

I mentioned earlier that the impulsive manifestation of my desire to go to Claflin as the inaugural faculty exchange professor may have been rooted in longing for yet another immersion experience because I had benefited so richly from previous ones. Was Claflin an immersion experience? Yes and no. Claflin met some of the requirements of the immersion experience. It was sustained (I was there more than four moths); it was total (my sole job was at Claflin, I took my meals in the student cafeteria, and I lived in its small town, also predominantly black), and as a white person I was clearly in the minority (Clafin's student body is 96 percent black and the faculty is 50 percent black, 25% Southern Amerasian, and 25% white). In addition, much like the student described above, my psychological projections ran amok – a clear indication that one is immersed in some fashion.

On the other hand, Claflin was not an immersion because I was there as a visiting professor, and contact was not always with those of equal status. While I engaged as much as I could with other faculty members, to the students I was someone with expert knowledge who had come from the outside to further their learning. In many ways, I still had privilege – for some because of my whiteness, for others because of my position.

Race In and Out of the Classroom

Since I had done a good deal of teaching, writing, and research in multicultural counseling and racial identity development theory, I looked forward to Claflin because I wanted to experience the difference of talking about race and whiteness as a white professor at an black institution versus a predominantly white institution. Perhaps it is of little surprise to know that putting race on the table at Claflin was a much easier and more comfortable experience. The audience simply “got it.” I enjoyed great facility in expressing my white racial identity and consciousness. I was fond of making statements that were preceded by phrases such as: “As a white person, I have been socialized to think ...” “As a white person, I am accustomed to ...” “What do you expect from a white person who ...” I believe that making my whiteness a central focus of my identity permitted honest and enriching conversation about race and racism in our society. Though this never occurred in any obvious fashion, I always felt psychologically ready to deal with those who would dismiss me simply because I was white.

As I went to work everyday, race was at the forefront of my consciousness. I thought of my life at Claflin as an existential laboratory to examine and reflect upon the constant cross-racial interactions that I encountered and where I could test and be tested on my white racial identity. It was not always easy. I remember one incident where I traveled with a black colleague to Hilton Head Island (a bastion of whiteness) where he had a time share. There was some problem with the condo we had been assigned, and I remember my friend coming out of the office and commenting to me: “People pay a lot of money to come here and the last thing they want to see sometimes is a black man living next door to them.” I was both angry and uncomfortable wanting to avoid and perhaps deny that such racism exists. I felt sad about what had happened and yet somewhat encouraged that my colleague could share such ugliness with me, a white man. It was one of many experiences that made Claflin an ideal place to deal with race in and out of the classroom.

At Hofstra, race in the classroom is a different experience. Talk about issues of whiteness and white privilege often seems to evoke defensiveness, apathy and quizzicalness. Talk about privilege is especially difficult, as students want to find something in their history to deny that they have been privileged. Once again, I return to the immersion experience as a means of helping students understand racial privilege. Rather then lecturing them about issues of race, power and privilege, immersions allows them to experience some of the challenges and stressors faced by members of a minority group, especially one of color. This is especially important for counselors-in-training who will work with clients of color who are dealing with the emotional challenges of being members of a minority group.

I would like to end by quoting from the same former Hofstra student’s immersion experience during the time she and her daughter had attended a predominantly black after-school program for eight weeks:

I was getting my daughter ready for school one day this week when she announced that she wanted braids in her hair “just like the other girls have.” Her girlfriends are black, and they wear their hair in multiple, beaded braids or cornrows. I explained to her as gently and as patiently as possible that she had a different kind of hair and, though it wasn't the kind of hair that could be made into a lot of braids, that it could be pretty worn in another way. She was not satisfied. “I want braids like the other girls” she said, “I want black hair!” This was a watershed moment for me as a parent. Suddenly I realized that I was inversely experiencing what some black mothers experience with their daughters. It is painful and disturbing to see my daughter compare herself unfavorably to a standard derived from a reference point that does not reflect the distinct lines of her own natural beauty. In Olivia’s case, her reference points were her friends in class and thus a standard that was based upon African- American attributes. This, of course, is not generally the case in the world beyond her preschool walls. It made me think of what it would be like as a black mother and to try to raise my daughter to cultivate her black beauty in a world where white standards of beauty prevailed (DeRicco & Sciarra, 2005, p. 11).

If we are to progress as a racially conscious society and institution and eradicate the insidious effects of color blindness so popular in certain sectors, I believe whites must experience racism for themselves for there to be any chance of dealing effectively with diversity in and out of the classroom.

References

Allport, G.W. (1954). The Nature of Prejudice. Reading, MA: Addison- Wesley.

Amir, Y. (1969). Contact hypothesis in ethnic relations. Psychological Bulletin, 71, 319-342.

Biernat, M., and Kobrynowicz, D. (1997). Gender- and race-based standards of competence: Lower minimum standards but higher ability standards for devalued groups. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72, 544-557.

Biernat, M., and Manis, M. (1994). Shifting standards and stereotype-based judgments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 5-20.

Biernat, M., Manis, M., and Nelson, T.E. (1991). Stereotypes and standards of judgment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 485-499.

Brown, R. (1995). Prejudice: Its Social Psychology. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.

Carter, R.T. (1995). The Influence of Race and Racial Identity in Psychotherapy: Toward a Racially Inclusive Model. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Cook, S.W. (1962). The systemic analysis of socially significant events. Journal of Social Issues, 18, 66-84.

Cook, S.W. (1978). Interpersonal and attitudinal outcomes in cooperating interracial groups. Journal of Research and Development, 12, 97-113.

DeRicco, J.N., and Sciarra, D.T. (2005). The immersion experience in multicultural counselor training. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 33, 2-16.

Gushue, G. V. (2004). Race, color-blind racial attitudes, and judgments about mental health: A shifting standards perspective. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 51, 398-407.

Gushue, G.V., and Carter, R.T. (2000). Remembering race: White racial identity attitudes and two aspects of social memory. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 47, 199-210.

Gushue, G.V., Constantine, M., and Sciarra, D.T. (2008). The impact of culture, self-reported multicultural counseling competence, and shifting standards of judgment on perceptions of family functioning of white family counselors. Journal of Counseling and Development.

Helms, J.E. (1984). Toward a theoretical explanation of the effects of race on counseling. A Black and White model. The Counseling Psychologist, 13, 695-710.

Helms, J.E. (1990a.). Toward a model of White racial identity development. In J.E. Helms (Ed.), Black and White Racial Identity: Theory, Research, and Practice (pp. 49-66). Westport, CT: Greenwood.

Helms, J.E. (1995). An update on Helms’s White and people of color racial identity models. In J.G. Ponterotto, J.M. Casas, L.A. Suzuki, C.M. Alexander (Eds.), Handbook of Multicultural Counseling (pp. 181-198). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Pettigrew, T.F. (1971). Racially Separate or Together? New York: McGraw-Hill.