A Practical Application of Critical Race Theory
Updated September 14, 2021
I did not like it. Not one little bit of it.
I had just finished my weekly meeting with my supervisor, Dr. James Smith. I am working on my clinical social work license within the state where I live. I need to meet at least 100 meetings along with substantial clinical and nonclinical hours over a minimum two-year period. After those numbers are met, I will be qualified to take the clinical social work licensing test.
I did not feel qualified based upon what he told me at this meeting. To understand our dynamics a little bit better, I need to share with you that I am White, and Dr. Smith is Black. We have different perspectives on many things, including race. Dr. Smith, at this meeting, shared with me that I need to remember who I symbolize.
Who I symbolize? What is he talking about?
Dr. Smith employed symbolic interaction theory (1). He said, because I am White, I may serve as a symbol to the Black, female clients where I work. Because I am a White man, I am ascribed meaning to those women based on their experiences. For instance, they may remember and project the memories of men in their lives who have abused them through domestic violence. They may also recollect prejudicial encounters of Whites. Dr. Smith said I need to remember what I may symbolize to the Black, female clients.
As I drove home that evening, I grew increasingly incensed over the words which were spoken to me. I could not ascertain why I was so angry. I stewed over it for a few days. I began to rationalize (2). I have Black friends. I have heard, several times, Martin Luther King’s speech “I Have a Dream.” I am reading Malcom X’s newest biography. I try to treat all the patients at the facility the same and with fairness. After those few days, I became aware of why I was so enraged.
He was right. I grieved my inaccurate self-concept.
Looking at it from Black women’s viewpoint, I am a White man. Maybe I am a symbol from their history, and I am ascribed meaning from their experiences. No, I did not like it. Not one bit. But I accepted it with the understanding of their experiences. With this new awareness, I became intent on remembering this symbol as I interacted with my clients.
I also remembered a short video one of my cohort members mentioned in class about implicit bias. In short, we, as human beings, automatically group items together because of media images, news images, conversations, and education. When peanut butter is mentioned, one thinks of jelly. When one thinks of Black people, one tends to recall violence (3).
Ugh.
Yeah, that’s me. When I looked at the Black females, I thought about violence. I was not aware of it at first. I am now.
I am also more aware of Critical Race Theory (CRT). CRT interrogates “the role of race and racism in society” and “critiques how the social construction of race and institutionalized racism perpetuate a racial caste system that relegates people of color to the bottom tiers.” Furthermore, “it acknowledges that the legacy of slavery, segregation, and the imposition of second-class citizenship on Black Americans and other people of color continue to permeate the social fabric of this nation (4).” I also thought CRT existed “out there.” “Out there” meant in other people’s lives and in the media. I was not touched by it. Or was I?
Dr. Smith shared with me several experiences of being a Black man in a predominantly rural state. Even though he lives in one of the largest cities in the state, he is constantly thinking about this safety. Case in point: he keeps his car license and registration in the visor above his head. Why? When he is stopped by the police, he does not have to reach for them in the glove compartment. Dr. Smith is aware that an officer may think he is reaching for a gun. Also, Dr. Smith does not keep his phone in a holster on his hip. Again, a cop can think it may be a gun. Another example. During one of our weekly meetings at a local coffee shop, we both noticed a young White man get out of his pickup truck. He had a firearm stuck in his holster for all to see as this is an open carry state. I had never seen Dr. Smith get so nervous and fearful. Several weeks later, I asked him why. He told me in a recent mass shooting, the White gunman stepped past other Whites to shoot and kill the African Americans.
While attending the Institute of Clinical Work, the matters of race have been brought to the forefront in our classes. One question had been raised. How do we deal with race in a session? I still remember the response the professor said. He simply stated, “to ask and deal with it honestly.” With the best of egalitarian intentions, the “niceness” of not approaching the subject further obscures and serves to deny the far-reaching psychic pain of inequality (5).
What the instructor stated sounded reasonable. I decided to test it. Miss H. came to mental health sick call one morning. I had spoken to her previously a few times. She was very polite and well-mannered. Today, tears welled up in her eyes. As you remember, I am White. Miss H. is Black. I inquired about her tears. She mentioned the then guilty verdict of Jeffrey Chauvin, the man who placed his knee on George Floyd that led to his death (6). Miss H. stated she was glad he was held accountable for his actions.
I could sense something else was there (7). Something unpleasant. In my “niceness,” I could have not approached the subject and dismissed her with the farewell, “Have a nice day.” I did not. Rather, I shared with her that I wondered if something else was there. She told me that she was glad, a White man, was held accountable for killing a Black man. I could sense there was even more. I also shared that with her. I told her that I wanted to understand. She then told me about being sexually assaulted in an abandoned house in a major metropolitan area by a White police officer. With tears streaming down her face, she told me what transpired including how the cop got away with it even with an abundance of evidence. We sat there in silence as she sobbed for several minutes. I felt a portion of her anguish. The Jeffrey Chauvin guilty verdict symbolized justice. Justice for her.
Kimberlé Crenshaw, who coined the phrase CRT, expressed that CRT is not a noun, but a verb. It cannot be confined to a narrow and static definition. It is considered to be an evolving and malleable practice. In preparation of this article, Dr. Smith asked me what I have learned. I shared with him that I have learned to look at others, initially at their humanity, but to also understand the role of intersectionality in my interactions with others, and how to connect with common humanity. We are all human beings. We all have dignity. That’s what I have learned. And that learning is an evolving and malleable practice.
Special thanks go to James E. Smith, M.S.W, Ph.D. He is a licensed specialist clinical social worker (LSCSW) and a full professor of social work at Washburn University in Topeka, KS.
REFERENCES
(1) Blumer, H. (1969). Symbolic Interactionism: Perspective and Method. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.
(2) Freud, A. (2018). The Ego and The Mechanisms of Defence. New York, NY: Routledge.
(3) https://www.pbs.org/video/pov-implicit-bias-peanut-butter-jelly-and-racism/
(5) Ryan, J. (2018). “Class is in you”: An exploration of some social class issues in psychotherapeutic work. In Thinking Space: Promoting Thinking About Race, Culture and Diversity in Psychotherapy and Beyond. London: Routledge.
(6) https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/derek-chauvin-trial-04-20-21/h_95ee1c6103dff868814e107b579e9cf2
(7) Goldberg, S. (2012). “Transference.” In Textbook, of Psychoanalysis, Second Edition. Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Publishing.
Matthew Benorden, PhD student at ICSW
Matthew Benorden, PhD student at ICSW