"If the word integration means anything, this is what it means: that we, with love, shall force our brothers to see themselves as they are, to cease fleeing from reality and begin to change it."--James Baldwin
This impacts our work as counselors in these ways
- communities whose ancestors endure(d) state-sanctioned and mob violence through genocide, slavery, terror, and mass incarceration are living with the psychological aftermath of transgenerational trauma while, at the same time, empowering histories of transgenerational resilience are omitted from public awareness
- dominant society is gaslighting people whose versions of history we chronically and systematically deny, retraumatizing them through that denial and continued structural violence as we unconsciously repeat unaddressed patterns from our past
- as a collective, we are repressing our shadow material and projecting a false self of harmony, equality, and the American dream, which impedes growth and self-realization as a national consciousness and cultural identity
Pan-African thinker, psycho-historian, social theorist, scholar and author, Amos Wilson pronounced that "If we do not know our history, then we do not know our personality.”
The denial of our difficult and traumatic past in mainstream narratives of history contributes to individual and collective suffering. When we bring into our national awareness the pain that was inflicted and absorbed in genocide, slavery, and violence, and unearth our long history of organizing for love and justice, our nation can begin to heal. Counselors can take an active role in bringing our collective psyche into wholeness by helping to name our hidden aspects and supporting integration and acceptance. Populations who have been disenfranchised and who are largely excluded from or added as an afterthought to mainstream narratives of history, will find healing, as will those of us who have inherited systems of power that are in part upheld by a denial of the collective shadow.
Mainstream models of counseling often unintentionally promote the status quo and support existing systems of power, and do not question accepted narratives of history. Liberation psychology and counseling theories of growth and change that focus on reclaiming the shadow and aligning behaviors with professed values can be applied to the collective to facilitate healing of the cultural "personality." As a field committed to the health of the nation, we must move beyond theory and critique into courageous practice.
"I am talking about opening a path to freeing white people
from the prison house of whiteness." --Robin D.G. Kelley
References
Baldwin, J. (1993). The fire next time. New York: Vintage International.
Barraza, J., Mazatl, Cervantes, M. Downloadable I am Trayvon Posters [digital image]. Just Seeds. Retrieved from http://justseeds.org/graphic/downloadable-i-am-trayvon-martin-posters/
Jamison, D.F. (2013, July). Amos Wilson: Toward a Liberation Psychology. Journal of Pan-African Studies. 6: 2 pp 9-22.
Kelley, Robin D.G. (2016, November 15). After Trump. Boston Review. Retrieved from http://bostonreview.net/forum/after-trump/robin-d-g-kelley-trump-says-go-back-we-say-fight-back
Baldwin, J. (1993). The fire next time. New York: Vintage International.
Barraza, J., Mazatl, Cervantes, M. Downloadable I am Trayvon Posters [digital image]. Just Seeds. Retrieved from http://justseeds.org/graphic/downloadable-i-am-trayvon-martin-posters/
Jamison, D.F. (2013, July). Amos Wilson: Toward a Liberation Psychology. Journal of Pan-African Studies. 6: 2 pp 9-22.
Kelley, Robin D.G. (2016, November 15). After Trump. Boston Review. Retrieved from http://bostonreview.net/forum/after-trump/robin-d-g-kelley-trump-says-go-back-we-say-fight-back