Master Syndrome and Internalized Racial Superiority

"No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck."    --Frederick Douglass

The Foundations
Listening to Joy DeGruy discuss her book, Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America’s Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing a few years ago got me thinking about the psychological impact on white people of slavery, genocide and other forms of institutionally sanctioned oppression. My thinking on this topic was pushed further when developing a workshop with Delbert Richardson and reflecting on America's Unspoken Truths. Through readings, workshops, and conversations with others committed to social justice work, I've come to recognize there is also a very damaging "master syndrome".


I've begun to develop a list of current behavior patterns of white people connected to historical race relations in the United States. In addition to Dr. DeGruy's work, this is heavily influenced by Mab Segrest's essay, "On Souls and White Folks" in her book Born to Belonging. I'm also pulling from ideas in Temu Okun's article, "White Supremacy Culture." There's a link to this article as well as related information on Dismantling Racism Works website.

People who engage in anti-racism work will recognize many of the patterns I'm delineating. What I'm hoping in this process is to make a visible connection between these ways of being and their historical context.

The Roots of Master Syndrome
What myths have we white people created about ourselves and people of color to live with the cognitive dissonance of perpetuating white supremacy and still seeing ourselves as good, nice people? In what ways does this legacy show up in the behaviors of white people today? What examples can I recognize in my own life?
 
On an individual level these behaviors help white people protect our identities as good people. This is especially true if we are not actively racist, because we need a way of thinking that justifies mistreatment and oppression.

On a cultural level, these behaviors keep white cultural beliefs and practices in place. They are designed to perpetuate white privilege in ways that are often invisible to white people. White culture is unseen or the "normal" way of being in the United States.

On an institutional level, these behaviors maintain social, political and monetary power for white people. What may look like an individual characteristic becomes part of a self-reinforcing system of codified laws or institutional values.

Recognizing these behaviors and beliefs as part of the psychological damage caused by oppression is one step towards healing ourselves. The process of deepening our understanding and examining white cultural norms can lead us to ways of being and taking action to create more equitable institutions.

Patterns of Master Syndrome
I plan to write about each of the behaviors on this list. They are not in any particular order.

• Think of White People  Individually and People of Color as a Group
• Expectation of the Center
• In Charge
• Fear of Losing Control
• Intellectual and Disconnected from the Heart
• Objectify the "Other"
• Invested in False Harmony
• Paranoia
• Construction of Alternative Communities

 This is a work in progress coming from discussions with many people. I appreciate feedback and additions as it unfolds. 

10 Qualities of Culturally Competent Leaders

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Culturally competent leaders can come from all levels of an organization or community. While leaders have the responsibility to move their organization towards positive change, it’s important they recognize they are also learning along the way. Becoming culturally competent is a journey not an event and no one person has all the answers. The best leaders are those who are intentional about developing their cultural competence through practice with others and by learning from their mistakes.

Cultures Connecting developed the following list of 10 qualities of culturally competent leaders for our workshop Learning and Leading in a Multicultural World.

1. Learners

No one is ever culturally competent in every way with everyone, no matter how much work they do to grow in their awareness, knowledge, and skills.  Culturally competent leaders acknowledge they are learning and are always in the process of becoming more skilled. 

Culturally Competent Leaders…

• Openly admit and critically reflect on mistakes they make
• Share what they are learning
• Take risks to try new things
• Engage in culturally relevant professional development (CRPD)
• Seek consultation
• Acknowledge and continually try to surface and address their own biases, stereotypes, privilege and power

2. Courageous

Culturally competent leaders are bold.  They are not driven by the fear of making mistakes or the need to be liked by everyone.  They know their work involves making difficult choices and as a result not everyone will be pleased with the decisions they make.  If decisions they make to stand against oppression draw negative public attention, they stick to their core values regardless.  

Culturally Competent Leaders…

• Are grounded in their core values
• Try things that haven’t been done before 
• Are willing to make executive decisions
• Accept and embrace the discomfort that comes with learning 
• Engage in courageous conversations about racism and privilege 
• Speak the unspoken

3. Data Driven

Culturally competent leaders think about a situation from multiple perspectives and explore what impact their decisions will have on different people.  They then make the best decision based on that information. 

Culturally Competent Leaders…

• Seek input from different people at different levels of the organization, clients and/or community
• Use data to inform their decisions (qualitative and quantitative)
• Research and collaborate with other organizations that are working to address institutionalized racism
• Hold people in the organization accountable, e.g., cultural competence in evaluations
• Survey staff and clients to assess their experiences, thoughts, attitudes, etc.
• Continually assess progress, celebrate successes, and change course as needed

4. Transparent

Culturally competent leaders communicate frequently with the rest of the organization.  This includes what they are doing, why they are doing it, and how it relates to their mission and vision of what is yet to come.

Culturally Competent Leaders…

• Post information on their website to inform the community
• Hold community meetings
• Share meeting minutes about equity plans publicly
• Take time during staff meetings to inform, answer questions, etc.
• Engage their Board, President and/or Executive Leadership

5. Inclusive

Being a culturally competent leader means getting other people within the organization involved in the decision making process.  The more diverse perspectives you gain, the more likely you are to meet the needs of the staff and clients you serve. 

Culturally Competent Leaders…

• Involve people from different levels of the organization to help make decisions
• Provide other people in the organization with opportunities to lead conversations about equity
• Clearly communicate when they are making collaborative decisions versus when they are seeking input but will make the final decision alone
• Recognize cultural competence work is greater than them
•  Identify diverse perspectives missing from important decisions and find ways to recruit or include these viewpoints, i.e., Who is not in the room that needs to be here?
• Actively listen to and engage resistance

6. Sensitive

Culturally competent leaders understand they inherit the history of the organization with regards to institutional racism. This includes the attitudes, beliefs, and feelings clients and staff have towards the organization and/or cultural competency work as a result of past experiences.  They don’t try to minimize or invalidate these experiences with a “new day” attitude.  Instead they approach their work through a lens of understanding. 

Culturally Competent Leaders…

• Research the history of the organization with regards to racism and culture
• Operate with a historical understanding, not a blank slate mentality
• Recognize and adapt their approach to issues that touch on past relationships or identities
• Know when a technical approach is appropriate
• Look for root causes of barriers or resistance to change

7. Connected

Culturally competent leaders run the risk of burning out quickly.  Their work is demanding and presents many challenges.  They can often feel isolated as a result and so must stay connected to people who are also engaged in social justice work to help keep them energized and focused.  Culturally competent leaders see themselves as servants of their community.  They are out in their communities, growing in their understanding of the needs of the clients they serve.  

Culturally Competent Leaders…

• Get involved in their community
• Live in the communities they serve
• Seek community input to identify the most pressing needs, particularly from those who are most impacted by the decisions
• Work with rather than do for community members
• Participate in action and advocacy efforts beyond their workplace
• Attend social justice conferences to learn and share new ideas
• Meet with other equity leaders for critical support and strategizing
• Organize groups of people for on-going reflective action when none currently exist

8. Strategic

Culturally competent leaders think things through to figure out the best approach for undoing institutional racism, understanding the urgency but knowing that it can’t be done well when rushed.  They are not impulsive and don’t respond whimsically to every request or new exciting idea. 

Culturally competent leaders…

• Are not quick to do something for the sake of checking a box
• Work with a team to develop a strategic plan
• Ensure that the mission and vision of the organization is inclusive
• Allocate resources to support social justice initiatives
• Provide culturally relevant professional development for staff to ensure everyone is considering their job through an equity lens
• Review policy and practice e.g., H.R. hiring practices
• Are thoughtful about when to push and when to hold back
• Identify and engage gatekeepers
• Consider the organizational culture, hierarchy, and other dynamics in decision-making

9. Enthusiastic

Culturally competent leaders know how to energize others around the work they are doing.  They get people excited about the possibilities and create an atmosphere where people want to be a part of the change. 

Culturally competent leaders…

• Have a hopeful attitude about the possibilities without being naive
• Believe things can be better
• Inspire others to be a part of the work
• Share why this work is important to them personally and professionally
• Celebrate accomplishments, even small wins
• Motivate rather than shame or blame

10. Realistic

While culturally competent leaders might get excited about the change that is on it’s way, they know changing systems takes time. 

Culturally competent leaders…

• Understand change doesn’t happen over night
• Don’t try to do everything at once
• Stay engaged for the long-term
• Recognize they are teaching people how to fish vs. doing it for them
• Don’t give up

Are you in the process of becoming a culturally competent leader?  Which of these qualities of culturally competent leadership can you say are true about you most of the time? What would you add to the list?

Support Equity in Seattle Public Schools

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Update:
The Seattle School Board Passed the Ensuring Educational and Racial Equity Policy on August 15th!
 
Below is the letter I sent to the Seattle School Board regarding the Equity Policy that was recently proposed. A final decision will be made at the August 15th Board meeting. As I mention in the letter, we're asking them to amend the policy to include "Racial" in the title. Please email your support to schoolboard@seattleschools.org before that meeting. More info at the School Board website.

Dear Seattle School Board Members,

My name is Ilsa Govan and I’ve worked as a teacher at TOPS K-8, Daniel Bagley Elementary, and as an Equity and Race Specialist in the Department of Equity, Race and Learning Support. I’m writing to urge you to adopt the Ensuring Educational and Racial Equity policy, intentionally naming race in the title, as it was originally written. The name of this policy is important and should reflect the root of the problem of disproportionality, institutional racism.

I testified at the last Board meeting and wanted to send you more details than I could include in two minutes.

In 2003, my fifth grade class at TOPS was watching a movie. I paused and asked, “Who knows why I stopped the movie just now?”

They said, “Because they were stereotyping Asian people and making fun of their accents. It’s supposed to be a joke, but it’s not funny. Can we watch the rest now?” I smiled to myself and turned the movie back on.

Those conversations were normalized by our school-wide commitment to open discussion and action around issues of equity.  The staff read and discussed Gary Howard’s You Can’t Teach What you Don’t Know: White Teachers, Multicultural Schools, race was addressed in student classroom assignments and hiring, and children as young as the 1^st grade completed action research projects around equity issues in their lives.

This was a result in part because of the Courageous Conversations and Equity Teams being led by Glenn Singleton throughout the District. That moment in time is but one in a long history of equity work in Seattle Public Schools.

You probably know this policy is widely supported by the Seattle community, is being proposed by a committee of 47 diverse members, and is connected with the Race and Social Justice Roundtable, representing 25 organizations and public institutions. You’re likely aware that OSPI has made several recommendations to close the opportunity gap state-wide that are aligned with this policy. Now I’m going to offer a short refresher on how this policy also builds on the history of racial equity work in Seattle.

·      In 1986 the Eliminating the Achievement Gap Action Group made 27 recommendations to address racial disproportionality.

·      This was revisited by the Disproportionality Task Force in 1996 and again in 2001.

·      In 2002, the School Board finally adopted several of these recommendations.

·      In 2004, the District’s first Director of Equity and Race Relations, Dr. Caprice Hollins, was hired with a job description that included eliminating institutional racism. At that time, recognizing and making changes to address the impact of institutional racism was also a part of the School Board’s mission, vision, values and beliefs.

·      2 years later I was hired as an Equity and Race Specialist, working to implement the legacy of these community recommendations. This department was then eliminated in a reorganization of resources.

·      Bernardo Ruiz, with the support of many others who work for the District and live in the community, is now continuing this work.

One thing history has taught us is that when leadership and the School Board support equity, we have the power to make real change.  Now you have the opportunity to be a part of this courageous legacy.  Please pass the Ensuring Educational and Racial Equity Policy. Our children have waited long enough.

Thank you,

Ilsa Govan
Cultures Connecting
www.CulturesConnecting.com

Dreaded Identity

I was born in a commune. Between the ages of 18 and 22 I lived part of a summer in a Volkswagen bus and another summer in a school bus. With my dog, of course. I went to 7 Grateful Dead shows and you can even see a clip of me at Jerry Garcia's memorial from the documentary The End of the Road: Summer Tour '95. I believe they chose to include the shot of me blowing bubbles because I personified the quintessential hippie.


Gradually, over the next several years, my focus started to shift to racial justice. I began learning about white privilege and how people and systems enact oppression.

At first it was all about other people. I loudly criticized colleagues and presenters at conferences for their lack of racial cognizance. I dubbed myself an ally and worked with people of color on Western Washington University's campus to highlight and address injustice. We showed the movie The Color of Fear in dorms and facilitated conversations about white privilege.

And slowly during this time, I began to examine my own role in perpetuating injustice. I made the personal and political decision to shave my dreads and start wearing deodorant. Teaching for social justice became my full-time occupation, as I tried to navigate and promote change in Seattle's public school system.

As my identity changed, something else happened. I began to vilify my old self. I never mentioned rainbow gatherings to my coworkers in the Equity and Race Department of Seattle Public Schools. I was scared others would see me as a fraud, and scared I might actually be one. I felt ashamed of my lack of awareness of white privilege and the ways I had unknowingly participated in racism in my life. Even as I write this publicly, a deep part of me worries you will use my missteps to dismiss my commitment to justice. Despite knowing better, I still tend toward ranking people, including myself, as either good or bad.

I've noticed this phenomenon among other white social justice activists. Many of us distance ourselves from one another in an attempt to prove ourselves allies to people of color. The people I push away most are those who remind me of an earlier Ilsa. It is what my colleague Yarrow referred to as the Dreaded Identity (pun coincidental).

I probably would have shrugged this off and decided it was something I had moved beyond, until a recent incident caused me to reexamine my Dreaded Identity. My business partner, Dr. Caprice Hollins, had been listening to the audio book Speaking Peace by Marshall Rosenberg and was inspired by his work. She began incorporating his ideas into workshops and our everyday conversations. Given that Dr. Hollins is a solid advocate for racial justice and has recommended a number of other books I found inspiring and useful in our work, I thought I'd better check out this Rosenberg guy.

I had a vague recollection of hearing about his work on nonviolent communication. When I looked him up on-line, I remembered seeing videos of interviews with him in the past. I also remembered dismissing them as interesting, but a little too airy-fairy-hippie-dippy for my tastes. Dr. Rosenberg talks about spiritual connections, plays guitar, and speaks in a soft voice I find mildly annoying. Put all of those pieces together, and he fits my Dreaded Identity.

Despite my past misgivings, I downloaded and listened to his audio book in two days, then proceeded to recommend it to friends. When I told my partner Paul about it, I was afraid he would totally dismiss Rosenberg's ideas. Instead, he got upset and told me, "I bought you his Nonviolent Communication book three years ago! You never read it, did you?"

"No," I admitted, then found the book on our shelf. I looked at the cover which features a bright yellow flower and cursive writing. "I remember I tried to read it, but I couldn't get past the font," I told Paul.

Because I was pushing back so hard against my Dreaded Identity, I wasn't allowing myself to learn from anyone I associated with this identity. I had categorized everything that reminded me of hippie or "crystal-thumping" (as my sister calls it) as BAD, developing a stereotype strongly reinforced by how I want to be seen by others.

As I listened to Rosenberg, I didn't agree or find useful everything he said. But some, in fact most, of his work inspired me to think in new ways about my relationships, social justice activism, and facilitation. Had I been completely ruled by my Dreaded Identity, I would have missed this opportunity.

So, what does this mean for social justice work? When we stereotype people as those we want the least to do with, not only do we miss the opportunity to learn from them, we also create new enemies. When I put down hippies, it makes me feel superior, but in no way moves us closer to social justice. I'm exploring how to best reach out to people who remind me of my old self and to embrace the fact that that self is still, and always will be, a part of who I am. What would it look like for us to work together for equity? If that person doesn't understand white privilege, in the way I didn't understand, how can I engage her in conversation? In collective action? I know the first step is to see her as a potential ally, someone with flaws and strengths, just like me.

Finding the language to name and examine my own Dreaded Identity has made me more aware of this tendency in other people as well. For a Christian I met, it is right wing Evangelicals. For a mother who took two years off to raise her children, it is soccer moms.

I'd love to hear from you: What is your Dreaded Identity? What would you need to do to work for justice with someone who reminded you of this identity?

If You See Race, You're a Racist

What do you notice about this picture?
What does it tell you about desirable skin?

When I first asked these questions in a workshop, I got answers I was expecting, along the lines of:
"The woman on the left, the 'before' is the darkest, then the woman in the middle is lighter, and the woman on the 'after' side is white."
"It shows darker skin is bad and lighter skin and straight blond hair are more desirable."
"They're all women in towels and they're using these bodies to sell the soap. Also, there's a difference in the way they are standing."

I also got some answers I hadn't expected:
"I don't notice anything about the skin color in the picture. I think black women are beautiful."
"Doesn't seeing race in this just reinforce a victim mentality?"
"When I look at this, I just see three women. If you choose to focus on their race, that's because of your ideas about race. It shows your racial stereotypes."

These statements really shouldn't have surprised me. I hear the idea that noticing race makes one racist repeatedly used by media, people in workshops, and in conversation with friends.

Just this morning on KUOW's Weekday I heard a member of the 5th Avenue Theater's production of Oklahoma! talking about their casting of a black man, Kyle Scatliffe, as the lead villain. I haven't seen the show, but have heard about it from more than a few people. As they describe the dream-sequence featuring sexual exploitation of a white woman by a black man, they claimed anyone watching the play who saw a racial stereotype held that stereotype. They said this made the audience uncomfortable not with the show, but with themselves because the musical was "holding up a mirror" into the audience's obviously racist souls. Therefore, anyone who missed the stereotype was somehow less racist because they're able to be colorblind or have moved beyond racism. Rather ironic to imply we get over the past in a play that is set in the early 1900s.

I know I have stereotypes about black men being dangerous. It is not hard to point to hundreds of instances where I was socialized to believe in this myth. And those stereotypes don't go away just because I want them to. In fact, every time I witness something like a class for students with "Behavior Disorders" that is made up of mostly black young men, my stereotypes are subtly reinforced. The same way they would be if I saw that scene in Oklahoma!

The filter I have to recognize when my stereotypes are triggered is vital to countering them. If I didn't have that filter, if I didn't consciously notice racism, it would still become a part of my unconscious interactions.

The idea that noticing stereotypes makes you racist is founded on the belief that we do not live in a time where racism is still present. It is dangerous in that it gives credence to the idea that affirmative action is no longer a necessity in a society where racial disproportionality in housing, jobs, school success, health, and numerous other arenas is still patently evident. Recognizing, for example, that less than 50% of Native American students graduate from high school (data in this study from the Civil Rights Project) is vital to changing these statistics.

Ending institutional racism will not happen if we ignore the racial history in the United States that has led us to current inequities. Refusing to recognize or believe the subtle microaggressions or overt discrimination people of color face every day does more to separate than bring us together as a human family.

So, no matter how beautiful you personally think all of the women in the Dove ad are, that doesn't change the messages we are getting all the time about beauty standards. And it doesn't change the fact that statistically speaking, the woman on the left will have a have a harder time finding work because of the intersection of racism and sexism. Seeing the racial context of our decisions, be it in advertising, casting a play, or everyday conversation, is the only way we'll ever be able to end racism.