Manitoba College of Social Workers Webinar – The first step to anti-racism (Heather O’Neale MSW, RSW)

Manitoba College of Social Workers Webinar – The first step to anti-racism Heather O’Neale MSW, RSW

Anti-racism is an active process where individuals are required to verbally identify racism.  It requires individuals to advocate for systemic change, organizational change, policies, and practices for change out loud.  IT acknowledges us to see our own ethnic colour and experiences that come with it and be able to openly discuss it.  Like racism, anti-racism is an “out-loud” practice against discrimination and oppression.

Racism does not end until non-oppressed ethnicities see the issue as an issue of their ethnicity that they need to solve, rather than the onus placed on BIPOC issues that they merely need to sympathize with.

Having self-awareness – the ability to look at ourselves and our life without assigning it as good or bad, right or wrong, is critical to addressing racism.  It allows us to not get defensive as a result of the discomfort that arises from privilege in the face of (dis)privilege.

Before acting, self-awareness requires us to be comfortable with being uncomfortable.  We need to be looking inside ourselves and know ourselves well.  We have to be open to finding things in ourselves that we were not expecting.  We also need to practice self-awareness daily.  We can not practice anti-racism in a meaningful/sustainable way if we are holding harmful beliefs of BIPOC knowingly/unknowingly.  We need to consider our own actions and ideas that go against our self-schema.  Cultural competence is not meaningful if we are not aware of our own biases and lenses form the schema that filter and make sense of other cultures.  Language is highly influential in how we make sense of cultural dominance.

Social Work has a culture of workers who are predominantly female, from a white middle-class background with higher-education.  There are inevitable biases that will emerge.  Be aware of the schemas that arise.

Racism is a social determinant of health – see the systematic review and meta-analysis published by Paradies, Y, et al., 2015).  Experiences of racism significantly related to poorer mental health through depression, anxiety, psychosis, and post-traumatic stress, S.I..  It also has been linked with poorer physical health – such as chronic illnesses.

When thinking of poverty, 18.6% of children are living in poverty (1/5).  In Canada:

• 53% are status First Nation children, 41% of status Frist Nation children off-reserve, and 32% non-status First Nation children
• 35% of landed immigrant children or permanent resident children
• 22% of racialized children
• 12% of non-Indigenous, non-immigrant, non-racialized children (i.e. white)

This leads to an over-representation of BIPOC in poverty, and misrepresentation of individuals.  These individuals are more likely to be seen in the context of poverty, aggressive behaviour, mental illness, and criminal behaviour – impacting our schemas.  Looking at how we may create shame for individuals of colour based on assumptions derived from our schemas is something to be continually conscious of.  Consider the impacts of over-compensation and that it may be a result of not being accepted by the dominant culture.  What may this mean for the individual?

Schemas kick in very quick! They are bringing up things that are familiar.  They are built-in shortcuts that influence our beliefs, understandings, and “knowing” about the world.  The are the “how” of the ways we interpret everything.  The directors of our responses are based on behaviours and memory.  These schemas allow us to operate on autopilot.  They are shaped by our biases.  We primarily pay attention to what confirms our pre-existing beliefs and ideas – often missing crucial information or distorting information that does not fit into our pre-existing schemas.  Details of events may be changed in our memory if we do not understand the culturally relevant components of another culture.  Our biases in meaning-making can emerge – and cause imperialism through recounts of a story or narrative.  We do not question what we don’t understand when we do not have schemas that fit.

Ther are multiple types of schemas:

Social Schema – about general social knowledge

Role Schema – Proper behaviours for yourself and others in specific situations

 

There are schemas of surrender – accepting schemas as accurate and let it continue.  We only pay attention to events that fit within our schemas.  We behave in ways that will confirm our schemas.  These types of responses reinforce stereotypes.

Schema avoidance – ignore schemas we do not like – ignoring the feelings they bring up.  One example is: “there is only one race – the human race.”  We need to consider the social construction of race – acknowledge that society treats individuals differently based on their race.  Discuss how the mind identifies and categorizes individuals based on the colour of skin.  Encourage others to embrace, acknowledge, and challenge the thoughts that arise from differences in skin tone.

When discussing black lives matter, frame it around an acknowledgement that black lives matter as much as all other lives.  Recognize that there are attempts to silence the voices to call for justice of black persons when someone says “all lives matter.”

Consider that seeing people for their colour may acknowledge the experiences of racism or (dis)privilege experienced throughout their life.  It opens the door to conversations around experience rather than avoiding those experiences.

Discussing race is not inherently racist –  factually discussing differences in experiences of people of carrying race is not racist.  We need to understand that factually discussing the experiences can be influenced by the colour of our skin.  Can explore life hardships in the context of how skin colour could contribute to additional barriers to wellbeing.  Not having other racial difficulties does not make a person worse than those who experienced additional hardships.  Don’t read social media comments – it is a rabbit hole.  It avoids the structural issues.

Schema overcompensating – try to do the opposite of what the schema tells us.  We create stories that “prove” we do not hold a certain schema.

Changing schemas is easier in childhood than adulthood – it just takes more work as adults.  Assimilation and accommodation are vital processes for changing schemas.  This make the working becoming anti-racism a choice and active process.  This is why we need to self-educate ourselves.  Social workers need to find a motivating factor – be it from the core values of social work ethics or other influences.

Assimilation:

• adding new information to pre-existing schemas
• Does not require much effort
• Our biases influence what gets integrated into schemas
• This makes it a very subjective process

Accommodation

• Pre-existing schemas altered and/or new ones are created as we learn further information and have new experiences.  It requires consistent, focused effort
• This is the route that we ideally want to use.
• It is easier to do in childhood but can be done with effort in adulthood.
• Steps include:
  • Being aware of and acknowledge our schemas
  • Question where the schemas came from – do we actually believe those schemas?
  • Reflect on how they influence our understandings, interpretations, and behaviours
  • Pay attention to information that dis-confirms our target schema.
  • When affirming information for a scheme arises, remind ourselves of the information concerning the individual.
  • Be conscious of our language – do not overgeneralize and be specific.  We risk removing diversity otherwise.
  • Avoid the critical self-judgement – we are “not” bad for holding some harmful beliefs, we are socialized into a dominant culture.
  • Be patient with ourselves – this takes time to rewire our brain, and we have defence mechanisms against this.  It takes effortful work.
  • This requires vulnerability and its subsequent discomfort to grow.

This is part 1 of 2 in a certificate producing webinar that was a partnership between the Manitoba College of Social Workers and the Canadian Association of Social Workers.  The address to the webinar can be found in the references.

References

O’Neale, H., & Manitoba College of Social Workers. (2020). Self-Awareness: The first step to anti-racism.  Retrieved from https://onlinexperiences.com/scripts/Server.nxp?LASCmd=L:0&AI=1&ShowKey=99598&LoginType=0&InitialDisplay=1&ClientBrowser=0&DisplayItem=NULL&LangLocaleID=0&SSO=1&RFR=https://onlinexperiences.com/Launch/Event.htm?ShowKey=99598

 

Appendix

Recommended videos to watch discussed in the webinar:

The UnAmerican Struggle | Diversity Under Attack in America

When They See Us

Living in Colour: The History of Anti-Black Racism in Canada – https://globalnews.ca/video/7061373/living-in-colour-the-history-of-anti-black-racism-in-canada