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Ashley Maxie-Moreman, M.Ed./M.A.
Ph.D. Counseling Psychology Student,
University of Miami
During this presentation Dr. Washington defined and illustrated the concept of continuous traumatic stress (CTS), which was introduced by Straker and the Sanctuaries Counseling Team (1987) in the context of apartheid in South Africa. Eagle and Kaminer (2013) added to the concept of CTS by further articulating the need for an expanded conceptualization of trauma that “attempts to characterize prolonged and ongoing threat that occurs outside the exclusive context of attachment relationships or other dyads…” (p.96). In the presentation Dr. Washington applied this conceptualization of trauma to racism and discrimination in America and the deleterious effects that it has on racial minorities, resulting in PTSD-like symptoms, such as anticipatory anxiety and avoidance. He called these resulting symptoms Persistent Enslavement Systemic Trauma (PEST), when such behaviors emerge amongst persons of African descent within the context of European dominant thought/oppression.
As Dr. Washington talked about CTS and PEST, I sat glued to my seat as both rage and joy began to bubble up inside of me. I was enraged reflecting on how this applied to my own life but joyful that it was being named. I found myself remembering many of the moments that I had been racially microaggressed (Sue et al., 2010) against in class, on the elevator, at an event, and in the store. I thought of the anxiety that I had experienced in those situations when deciding if and how I should respond, and how my response might be judged. I also thought of how I would often anticipate stressful situations when in white spaces and thus began avoiding these spaces as much as possible. I found myself leaving emotionally charged as thoughts and emotions jumbled around in my head. As I thought about how participating in this dialogue surrounded by people from varying racial backgrounds impacted me personally, I also found myself wondering what those who didn’t look like me had left that presentation with. Had the presentation impacted them? What was it like for them to hear people share their personal experiences and thoughts throughout the presentation? What was it like for them to see my Black female colleague crying during the presentation? Could they see my emotions on my face? These questions brought me back to Dr. Washington’s point that he posited at the end of the presentation. He asked us to consider the impact that hearing and sharing diverse narratives in and between groups might have on both the oppressor and the oppressed. Washington (2010) states that “The greatest destruction is the deforestation of the soul caused by colonization, which has led to an erosion of the spirit as evinced by the fading away of communal values.” (p.34). This points to the need for a particularized healing of a marginalized people.
Engaging in intergroup dialogue, like the conversation with Dr. Washington, where people can share their stories of experiences related to both their marginalized and privileged identities, is the simultaneous act of healing and resistance that is needed to improve intergroup attitudes (Pettigrew, 1998). Exposure to different narratives often begets personal reflection on how there are people living lives very different from our own and how we may be unwittingly contributing to systems of oppression (Tatum, 1992; Wheatley et al., 1992; Grodofsky & Soffer, 2011).
Wheatley et al. (2012) posits that intergroup dialogues “…have the capacity to be useful at the community/group level by bringing people together in an attempt to address systemic issues and differences.” (p.3). As a clinician and researcher in training my personal mission is to take up the responsibility of a warrior healer, assisting in the restoration and healing of individuals and communities by initiating intergroup dialogue around issues that are often scary and uncomfortable to address. As Dr. Washington indicated, we must not forget that we are the system, and making a consistent effort to challenge the ways in which I contribute to systems while finding new and strategic ways to resist it is what I hope to do in both my research and practice.
Dialogue like this talk and other intentional intergroup dialogues around marginalized and privileged identities (i.e., race, sexual orientation, gender, sex, religion, etc.) forces me to explore the ways in which I experience systemic oppression as well as the ways in which I contribute to oppressive systems. Intergroup dialogue challenges me to hold myself and others accountable to acting against discrimination and oppression. As Zúñiga et al. (2002) states intergroup dialogue is “A process that encourages participants to recognize, question, broaden, and challenge individual, cultural, and institutional beliefs and behaviors that perpetuate estranged and oppressive relations between groups.” (p.9). This to me is what exemplifies the work of the Warrior Healer referred to by Dr. Washington during his talk. Continued efforts to establish intergroup dialogue around race and racism are needed to move towards healing and establishing racial harmony (Sue, 2013).
For strategies that will assist you in becoming a Warrior Healer in your work, school, or community check out the Challenging Racism & Empowering Communities through Ethnocultural Research (CRECER) and partner’s Anti- racism toolkit at www.RaceRelationsMiami.com.
References
Dias, B.G., Ressler, K.J. (2014). Parental olfactory experience influences behavior and neural structure in subsequent generations. Nature Neuroscience, 17(1), 89-96.
Eagle, G. & Kaminer, D. (2013). Continuous traumatic stress: Expanding the lexicon of traumatic stress. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 19(2), 85-99.
Fanon, F., & Philcox, R. (2004). The wretched of the earth (First ed.).
Grodofsky, M. M., & Soffer, G. (2011). The group as a community social agent: The case of the Bedouin. Social Work with Groups, 34(2), 190-202.
Pettigrew, T. F. (1998). Intergroup contact theory. Annual Review of Psychology, 49, 65-85.
Straker, G., & the Sanctuaries Counselling Team. (1987). The continuous traumatic stress syndrome: The single therapeutic interview.
Psychology in Society, 8, 48–78.
Sue, D. W. (2010). Microaggressions in everyday life: Race, gender & sexual orientation. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Sue, D.W. (2013). Race talk: The psychology of racial dialogues. American Psychologist, 663-672. doi: 10.1037/a0033681
Tatum, B.D. (1992). Talking about race, learning about racism: The application of racial identity development theory in the classroom.
Harvard Educational Review, 62(1), 1-24.
Washington, K. (2010). Zulu traditional healing, Afrikan worldview and the practice of Ubuntu: Deep thought for Afrikan/Black psychology. Journal of Pan African Studies, 3(8), 24-39.
Wheatley, A., Christman, S.T., Nicolas, G. (2012). Walking the talk: Reflections from a community-focused dialogue series. Journal for Social Action in Counseling Psychology, 4(1), 1-17.
Zúñiga, X., Nagda, B.A., & Sevig, T.D. (2002). Intergroup dialogues: An educational model for cultivating engagement across differences. Equity & Excellence in Education, 35(1), 7-17.
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