White Guy's Rant on Racism and Discrimination

Hi, I'm white and daring to talk to you about discrimination. But wait, don't click off the article yet! I think my opinion is fair and balanced- but not in a Fox News kinda way!

            At any rate, as far as racial discrimination I personally have not experienced it, but definitely have witnessed it in a general sense. As a white male it does pain me to admit that I have been in the company of other white men who have felt it appropriate to trade racial slurs about certain collective groups, or even specific people. Of course, this was done in the absence of anyone of color. Sadly, at a few jobs that I had when younger, these were often members of management who thought this way and expressed these thoughts with who was promoted into supervisory positions. I might add, it takes wisdom and tact (that I surely did not posses when younger) to be able to discuss the inherent wrong with racial preferences and stereotypes with co-workers. For instance at that time, I would not have been capable of properly articulating the fact that most views held regarding race are fabricated and that race itself is a social construct (Vietze, Jones, Dovidio, Sommers-Flanagan, & Sommers-Flanagan, 2017).

            Finally, on a personal level, growing up with cerebral palsy I have had a few incidents where I have been on the receiving end of discriminatory practices. For instance, during a job interview that required a physical, after disclosing I had cerebral palsy, I was made to go back and retake the physical, despite having passed the first attempt. This led me to cease disclosing my disability for many years thereafter. It was awkward and too difficult to explain easily. Moreover, even if was not treated differently in a negative way, I was overly helped along due to a perception of inability, which I’d argue, is almost as bad. Due to these experiences I can at least begin to see the reason why those that have the ability to not disclose something that might be...umm shall we say 'unaccepted' by the masses (such as sexual preference), choose not to do so. Naturally, this does little for those who cannot hide who they are, such as with race. However, in either case no one should be forced to deny their true selves but for the ignorance of another.   

References

Falender, C. A., Shafranske, E. P., & Falicov, C. J. (2014). Reflective practice: Culture in self and other. In C. A. Falender, E. P. Shafranske, & C. J. Falicov (Eds.), Multiculturalism and diversity in clinical supervision: A competency-based approach. (pp. 273–281). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. 

Vietze, D. L., Jones, J. M., Dovidio, J. F., Sommers-Flanagan, J., & Sommers-Flanagan, R. (2017). Ethics and Cultural Diversity in Mental Health & Wellness. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Where Were You?

The year was 2001. I can see it vividly. My back doesn’t hurt the way it does now. I know because I was slinging pallets and cases of Coca-Cola back then like the young man I once was. Hell, I might have even had a little bit of hair on the top of my head.

Tuesday morning, and I was in the backroom at the Kroger’s grocery store in Piqua, Ohio receiving area which was buzzing with activity.  You know where I mean; that mysterious veil of retail some of us know all too well. The place marked by those dual swinging doors with tiny square windows no one can see out of, or thick flaps of industrial grade plastic that turn yellow and brittle with age. The immediate area smelled of overripe vegetables and a trash compactor that had been used to dispose of them daily since the seventies.  

 Vendors stood impatiently next to their stacked deliveries, while salespeople ran here and there punching in orders on electronic devices, long before anyone ever thought of an iPad. It was the sweet hymn of organized chaos.

I was right in the middle of it. I had recently taken over a new merchandising (for those not ‘in the know’ that means glorified stockboy) route. My goal was twofold: correct the stuff the lazy guy before me hadn’t done right, and to start doing the stuff he wasn’t doing at all- you know important stuff like rotating product.[1]

At any rate, I was absorbed by my work. But not too absorbed to notice a majority of the vendors shuffling quickly outside. I wasn’t invited, but had to bring those empty pallets and shells outside to rot in the Ohio weather, so I decided to join them.

When I exited the oversized garage door that led to the back of the dock, I saw a strange site. Gathered around the Wonder-Bread vendor’s truck was every food vendor you could imagine in the Midwest. They were all huddled around the Wonder-Bread truck, leaning in as close as they could to the cab.

As I approached a UPS guy, drove up, hopped from his van with a couple boxes and hollered, “Boy look at this, a real meeting of the minds.”

“Jerry,” the Wonder Bread driver yelled at UPS, “You gotta hear this; they are saying some lunatic flew a plane into one of the twin towers.”

Jerry from UPS didn’t even slow his walk, “Whatever, you’re full of shit.” He continued inside with his delivery.

I approached Wonder-Bread van, and everyone else, trying to figure out if it was an insanely stupid joke or something else entirely. My mind immediately flashed to the original War of the Worlds radio broadcast in 1938, wherein people were supposedly whipped into mass hysteria because the production was interpreted as a newscast.

I got in as close as I could to the cab. I recoiled almost as eagerly.

I remember going from a 21 year old newlywed, who had lost his dad early that year, but still had everything figured out, to a speck, who knew nothing.  “Why?” marched through my head, and all its friends followed, rattling me in a way that I never have been, before or since. The world no longer worked the way I thought it had. And that was just the beginning, because my phone rang.  No wait, I didn’t have a cell phone. I had a pager. So…

My pager vibrated, I walked to the phone at the front desk and dialed my wife[2].

“Oh my God baby where are you?”

“Kroger Piqua.”

“Did you hear what happened?”

“Ya I just heard over a radio outside here.”

“Are you coming home?”

“No, I have a delivery to work.” Realizing how ridiculous that sounded I tried to shore it up, “Besides they aren’t going to let us come home.”

“Ok, get home as soon as you can, and you call me at every store!”

I didn’t and in fact, I worked my full shift that day, just as all my peers did. Perhaps, if I would’ve had more of the wisdom age has bestowed upon me, and less of the unquestioning desire to “get-ahead” that would’ve been different.

*

Fact is; I did get home to see my wife, as you all know I was lucky, because many Americans didn’t get home at all that day.

It was a day that shaped the world we lived in more than we’d like to admit. Or perhaps we’ve forgotten over time, even though we promised we wouldn’t. Even today, the aftereffects of its tragedy ring in our ears.  

That is not to say those responsible “won”, or even gained any ground- assuming there was ground to gain.

It could be said that single act did more to define American zeitgeist than the Kennedy assassination, the Great Depression, or the World Wars.  Of course, every generation has its defining moment.

They also managed to spread a consuming flame of hatred and confusion related to anyone that wears a turban, prays to Mecca, or has a beard longer than Chris Hemsworth (and a number of other details, accurate or not). Unfortunately, that might be the legacy that 9/11 offers to us most glaringly; cultural assumptions that lead to chaos. This maladaptive thinking proves dangerous to both sides, as it does nothing more than raise awareness for the things we can judge the other against.

---

[1] By the way, fuck you Bill you lazy bastard!

[2] “At the time”

Trauma vs. Resiliency (Macro vs. Microaggressions, Pt 1 of 2)

Part I - Macro vs. Microaggressions

“I am a Social Worker. I am not a Social Justice Warrior.”

That statement may make some social workers squirm, and that is intended. The lot of us have become to distracted by lines of language to see the full environment. We can’t see the forest for the trees. Or in other words, we can’t pinpoint the aggression for the microaggression.

I believe that we have become too focused within our profession on the idea that microaggressions are overly responsible for the erosion of an individual’s self-esteem or sense of self-worth ( http://www.socialwork.career/2011/07/what-are-microaggressions.html ).

When this term was first introduced, it was used to describe interactions between people that purposefully (or otherwise) demeaned a “minority”, typically verbal exchanges. More recently, the term has taken on a more generic meaning and has been applied to everyday insults and superficial comments made from anyone in a majority group to outside of that group, about anything disparaging (https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/microaggressions-in-everyday-life/201011/microaggressions-more-just-race ).

These “everyday slights,” as they are often referred, are then stated to be the chisel that gradually chips away at our mental health, causing depression, anxiety and other issues.

As someone with a life-long disability I have endured many of these microaggressions. While my opinion of these is admittedly anecdotal, rather than empirical, my opinion still stands: they are overblown, overemphasized by psychologists, psychiatrists, and other medical professionals, and gobbled up by social workers as the bullets that penetrate the self-worth and determination of our disenfranchised populations. This medicalization and “clinicalization” of trauma tends to focus more on the potential damage done to a person, rather than their ability to overcome the trauma. Specifically, this approach to “science” is socially constructed based on societal values (http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15622970500483110?journalCode=iwbp20 ).

At any rate, personally, these glib comments have barely held me back a moment, let alone a lifetime. Truth be told, they’ve done nothing but strengthen me. They’ve been the fire that’s burned within me to prove people wrong, to rise above.

Meanwhile, there are millions of people in this world that deal with legitimate toxic trauma every day. Sexual assault, physical assault, drug abuse and addiction, any and all manner of victimization and many others...these are the areas where time and energy and healing need to be focused.