Global Curiosity Not Fear

Last Friday (March 19, 2010) I went to a lecture given by Dr. Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja on Violence in the Congo: Western Exploitation and Human Rights Abuse (see end of article for more on Dr. Nzongola-Ntalaja). I know very little about the Congo (which was Zaire until 1997) other than cultural stereotypes which I have put no credence into. I went to the lecture out of curiosity and because my son who is a graduate student in anthropology at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) invited me to attend. There were of course many extremely important topics embedded in the issues talked about and discussed by Dr. Nzongola-Ntalaja but there was one topic that struck extremely close to home and had a very familiar ring to it.

Again I was listening to a non-white person talking about the colonization of their country by Euro-Americans and the ongoing violence toward indigenous peoples taking place.

I could have closed my eyes and except for the dates, the dialogue could have been exactly the same as other talks I have been to concerning the colonization of Native Americans by Europeans. The primary difference was that the main country invading the Congo was Belgium not England and France.

As obvious as this may be to many people, I was thoroughly struck by the similarity. The change for me was my reaction. In the past I have felt defensive, guilty, and ashamed of the actions of my ancestors. This time I simply felt more and more curious about what had happened and what the American and European responsibility was for reparations in today’s world. Much as in my discussion with Native Americans, I am not hearing indigenous peoples advocating violence but rather an acknowledgment and acceptance of responsibility for what really happened. In addition I hear indigenous peoples wanting to meet equally at the table and discuss what can happen next for all the people involved and an acknowledgment of their right to make their own decisions about their own country. That is where I want to engage the world in my future work.

The Democratic Congo Republic is still forming its government and still determining how to do so without bloodshed. Being neighbors with Rwanda and unavoidably affected by the genocide that has gone on and still goes on in that country has made it extremely difficult to maintain any peaceful forms of government. In addition many of the soldiers serve in both the DCR and Rwanda armies and find it difficult to enforce different policies in different countries. Many of the local areas are governed by leaders of local armies who of course see only military solutions. But as difficult as this is, the indigenous peoples living in the DCR want to solve the problems themselves with assistance but not direction or leadership from the outside.

I hear this same thing from Native American tribal leaders and believe that within this desire for internal guidance and leadership from indigenous people lays the solution to many if not all global concerns. I also believe the solutions come in the form of education. This means educating myself, educating the people, and educating government personnel. As you can probably construe from my previous blogs this education is not another form of colonization but rather education through mindfulness. Thoughtful discussion where everyone’s needs are considered and decisions are made taking into consideration language and culture. That is the part of the world drama that I will be taking part in whether it is in Mendocino County or the Democratic Congo Republic with my son.

Reference:

Dr. Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja was educated in the Congo and in the United States. He has his PhD in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. His focus is on governance in African countries. He served as the Director of the UN Oslo Governance Center, and was a facilitator for the Africa Governance Institute. He has worked as a consultant for the United Nations, the World Bank, and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency. He has also worked for the US Department of State. His most recent publication is The Congo from Leopold to Kabila: A People’s History. He is currently a professor of African Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Being a Minority White Man in the US

According to a March 10, 2010 article by the Associated Press, the United States will reach the “tipping point” of minority births in 2010 and there will be more non-white births than white births. It is the belief of this blogger that this is a momentous and historical milestone for the United States. After hundreds of years of white dominance in the United States the pendulum is swinging the other direction. I say “It’s about time”. Between the change in the percentage of white people in the country and the results of the last presidential election the writing is on the wall. Either white culture learns how to see past skin pigmentation and become part of creating an enriched multicultural society or watch itself disappear into culturally impoverished oblivion. This blog is not going to address the issue of defining who is white versus who is not white. This blog is going to comment on becoming aware of how white culture can take its head out of the sand and become part of this exciting and enriching cultural change.

I have always viewed myself as a non-racist person but within the last few years I have learned a few things – things that non-whites I talk to say they have known their entire lives. The first is that until recently, I haven’t thought about race and that is a privilege unique to whites in the US. Another is that race is a social construct not a biological one. It is obvious when looked at scientifically but our culture often treats race as a biological reality. Most white people (including myself until recently) have not been aware of the privileges being white provides to the members of the white culture. And the most difficult realization for me to own is how I have unconsciously contributed to racism and supported white dominance on a daily basis.

I believe whites and non-whites have a great deal to offer each other. I know I am not the only one who is taken aback when we realize just how much energy and how many of our resources go into maintaining a race based power structure in our culture? The more I look the more I am appalled at the waste of human time and potential going into this maintenance. If we are going to deconstruct racism the first thing I need to look at is what are my contributions to the maintenance of white dominance? Racism is illegal in many of our social structures these days. Overt racism is illegal, so at one level it seems we have made a lot of progress in the last hundred years. The problem is that at other levels racism has simply changed its form.

In 1994, Lee Mun Wah made a film called “The Color of Fear” that took a stark look at the racism different cultures bring to the table of our culture. I highly recommend anyone who is interested in this topic to take a look at the film. This was a groundbreaking film and since 1994 there have been many films, seminars, and conferences dealing with this same topic. One that I found particularly interesting was a talk give by Dr. Gary Bailey PhD, associate professor at Simmons College School of Social Work in December of 2008. The talk was titled “The Color of Fear: Paradox of Fear and Oppression in the New Millennium”. There is a great deal of information concerning racism in the 70 minutes talk but the part I found particularly fascinating was his comments on subtle racism. The racism we all participate in on a daily basis whose cumulative effect undermines the very anti-racial goals many of us profess to hold.

Dr. Bailey mentioned a few example of subtle racism and I will mention three. The first of these is symbolic racism which is defined as people acting in ways they don’t believe. “It isn’t that I don’t like you, it is that you act in ways that I cannot condone”. If a person sees another person acting contrary to the rules of the dominate culture it is not racism to demand that they follow the rules even if the person’s culture uses a different set of rules. This is not seen as forced assimilation but simply needing to follow the rules if a person wants to succeed. If one doesn’t follow the rules then the person can’t be trusted therefore cannot work well on the team or in the system. The second is adversive racism which is defined as avoiding contact with or interaction with people from another culture. A person feels most “comfortable” working or socializing with people from her or his own culture therefore only goes to stores or joins organizations from his or her own culture. The third is micro-inequities. Without realizing it a person makes comments, uses a tone of voice or gives assignments that express aggression without being openly aggressive. An example would be a supervisor giving more menial tasks within a job description to a person from a different culture than his own.

I don’t think there are any surprises on the above list. I can look back and see places where I have participated in subtle forms of racism. Non are legally actionable or violations of policy or law. But the day to day subtle racist acts slowly ebb at a person’s feeling about themselves often resulting in the person contributing to self-racism – saying or doing things that validate the racism that is coming from the outside.

I experience the above information with appreciation – another opportunity to shed some light on how I contribute to the very behavior I am committed to fight against. The most surprising thing about the information was that it was not surprising. By shifting my attitude and looking for the hidden behavior in the larger cultural picture it increases my ability to self-reflect and expands my opportunities to be more mindful.

As I said in the first paragraph I believe people who find themselves in the current dominate culture are soon going to find themselves bewildered, confused, and angry about the raising dominance of non-white peoples if they don’t look at how they oppress others and change their consciousness and behavior. I believe taking more steps to be mindful and noticing the subtleties of our thinking and behavior is where we start. When we notice that what we are doing to contributes to the very things we are committed to destroying it gives an opportunity to change. These changes add up and the “tipping point” becomes not whether we are white or non-white but whether we share life with other human beings in a joyful and creative manner.

References:

Associated Press. (2010, March 10). Minority Birth Rates Following Long Track for a New Majority. New article posted to: http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/2010/mar/10/minority-birth-rates-following-long-track-for-a/

Bailey, B. (2008, Dec. 18). The Color of Fear: The Paradox of Race and Oppression in the New Millennium. Video posted to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7U9lOtxwDTk

Mindfulness and Social Work

Much has been written about the importance of mindfulness in social work practice. It is not difficult to locate peer reviewed studies citing the value of mindful practice in any of the human service fields. In a 2008 article by Turner he describes the similarities of mindfulness practice and clinical social work practice stating “(T)hat suffering can be relieved as both clinicians and clients develop the skills and qualities that result from incorporating mindfulness into their work. A Google search quickly brings up many articles and books on the subject. In my own professional work in mental health, drug and alcohol treatment, and social work I have found that incorporating mindfulness has had a positive effect but my experience has also led me to believe it is a good idea that has yet to be put into everyday practice.

I am currently a graduate social work student at Humboldt State University. During my internships over the last few years and my previous work as an and alcohol and other drug and mental health treatment provider I have come into direct contact with many social workers as they perform their various tasks (mostly in work connected with child welfare). I have spent a time talking with social workers of all ages and levels of experience about their own personal values and beliefs. Without exception everyone responds to questions about the importance of mindfulness positively – many talk about how they try to incorporate mindfulness into their own work.

But, in my experience, I do not see social workers’ practice being consistent with their expressed personal philosophy – and I include myself in that observation. I observe many social workers who are clearly highly experienced, half-heartedly going through the motions of providing services to their clients. So what is going on? Is the profession filled with hypocrites? Are people satisfied with mediocre practice and expressing their work in strictly pathological terms? I am proposing not.

I am suggesting that the culture as a whole does not support the values and tenants of social work practice as put forth by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) and the resultant laws, agencies, and policies just minimally support the profession. In a study by Regehr (2004) he states that “Ongoing workload stressors in the jobs of child welfare workers have been found to include unwieldy caseloads, court appearances, overwhelming paperwork and negative public perceptions”. As a result the social worker often ends up working only on the most severe cases and playing catch up with the rest. Regehr (2004) also speaks to the effect of high level crisis after crisis creating a situation where the social worker is overwhelmed and suffers from secondary traumatic stress disorder. In other words – very little opportunity for mindfulness or strength based practice.

Where and how can the change occur? I believe it starts with me. I am too busy to get the exercise or to sit in meditation to clear my mind. Yet what I do seem to have time to do is to relax from the stress and overwhelm I am feeling and watch a few sitcoms on TV. The culture promotes and I accept the notion that since I am a victim of the government, my spouse, the system, our work, (you fill in the blank) I am entitled to a few hours of “escape” into mindless behavior. We are encouraged to see ourselves as victims and as such we operate out of fear and focus in on what is wrong with the system.

It takes a monumental effort but a person must step out of the culture long enough to realized the positive tools we have around us. Health, both mentally and physically, is there for the taking. Fruits and vegetables are cheaper than processed food. Your dog needs and wants to be walked. More problems are not going to be solved if problems are all a person focuses on. The focus needs to be on creating a positive environment within which to live. I don’t think anyone disagrees and this is not a new idea but the question remains – in real practical terms, how?

Mindfulness. What does that mean? Meditating? Yes. Conscious Living? Yes. Meaningful work? Yes. In other words, learning how to use the “full mind”. I am proposing that the solution to feeling overwhelmed is not working harder. I am proposing it is learning how to create positive environments where full brains are stimulated and creating solutions. How does a person stimulate the frontal cortex and expand their thinking? I believe that once that question is answered for social workers and clients alike, the solutions to problems begin to present themselves.

A few examples: Education. It is generally agreed that the quality of life for people who have higher literacy rates and educational levels is better. Sanders (2009) is just one article that reports the enhanced lives of children given increased educational opportunities versus children who were not. The quality of life enhancement refers to opportunities, income, health, and more. Let’s start by talking about health. If a person is given health care they will be healthier. But by increasing the ability to use the frontal cortex through mindfulness practice, literacy, and other educational opportunities a person also learns how to think about their health. The focus moves from finding something to eat right now to finding something to eat for this month that is not contaminated or finding something for the entire homeless community to eat. If the food is contaminated this of course leads to increased health problems. If I know how to think I know that to drink water it is often helpful to heat the water first, perhaps make tea, which then kills harmful bacteria, viruses, or other contaminates in the water.

I am proposing that social work is not simply teaching people how to get their needs met. It is also about teaching people how to think and how to learn. My work becomes not so much how to meet the needs of the people as teaching them how to think about their needs and move from needing into solutions. If I don’t take the time to increase my mindfulness how can I expect my clients to take the time to increase their mindfulness? Solutions based social work practice incorporating mindfulness practice. It is more than a great idea. It is the solution.

REFERENCES:

Regehr, C., Hemsworth, D., Leslie, B., Howe, P., & Chau, S. (2004). Predictors of post-traumatic distress in child welfare workers: a linear structural equation model. Children and Youth Services Review, 26, 331-346.

Sanders, J., Munford, R., & Maden, B. (2009). Enhancing outcomes for children and young people: The potential of multi-layered interventions. Children and Youth Services Review, 31, 1086-1091.

Turner,T. (2009). Mindfulness: The present Moment in Clinical Social Work. Clinical Social Work Journal, 37, 95-103