Being Culturally
Competent in an
Incompetent World: A Call
to White Folks
Frances L. McClain, MA, LCPC
Lisa Salvadore, MSW, LCSW, LCPC, CADC
{Disclaimer}
By the end of the training…
▪ Participants will be able to explain the difference between
diversity, cultural awareness, cultural competence and
cultural proficiency and how that applies to their work.
▪ Participants will be able to look introspectively, identify
where they are in the cultural awareness continuum and think
of ways to progress to the next level.
▪ As a group, participants will be able to identify and discuss
cultural barriers from case studies and/or in real life situations.
▪ Participants will be able to recognize the importance of being
culturally proficient in their work setting.
Equality is making sure everyone has shoes; equity is
making sure everyone has shoes that fit.
White people are more offended by the
fact that they can’t say the “N” word or
have dreadlocks than the fact that they
were responsible for slavery , genocide ,
colonization and the destruction of entire
civilizations…
Summary of the World…
If we could shrink the Earth’s
population to a village of precisely
100 people, with all existing human
ratios remaining the same, it would
look like this . . .
• There would be 60 Asians, 11 Europeans, 14 from the Western
Hemisphere (North and South) and 15 Africans.
• 70 of the 100 would be nonwhite; 30 white.
• 67 of the 100 would be non-Christian; 33 Christian, 22
Muslims, 14 Hindus, 7 Buddhists, 12 Other, 12 Non-religious
• 50% of the entire world's wealth would be in the hands of
only 6 people. All 6 would be citizens of the United States.
• 70 of the 100 would be unable to read.
• 22 would own or share a computer.
• 13 would have no clean, safe water to drink.
• 15 would suffer from malnutrition; 1 dying from starvation, 21
overweight.
• Only 7 would have a college education.
http://www.100people.org/index.php
Demographics of America…
Our diverse nation is expected to become substantially more so over next
the several decades.
The U.S. Census Bureau projects that by 2050, populations historically
termed “minorities” will make up 50% of the population.
The Latino/a population will be the fastest growing ethnic group tripling
by 2050.
The fastest growing racial group will Asian and Pacific Islander
population. Asian American elders will increase by 300%.
Marked differences in education, income with a greater number of blacks
and Latino/as being considered “near poor” (100-200% of poverty
level). This is remarkable in that income significantly influences health
status, access to health care and health insurance coverage.
One–sixth of the U.S. population speaks a language other than English at
home.
Why is Cultural Diversity an Important Issue?
The U.S. is becoming a multicultural Society:
• By 2040 no race will make up a majority
• By 2050:
– The U.S. African American population will
increase from 13% to 14%
– The Latino/a population will increase from 14%
to 25%.
– The White population will decrease from 74%
to 50%.
– The Asian population will increase from 3% to
8%.
www.census.gov/population/www /projections/2008projections.html
Persons from marginalized groups…
• Are over-represented in the criminal justice
•
•
•
•
•
system
Have less access to, and availability of, health
and mental health services
Are less likely to receive needed services
Are under-represented in human services
research
Are over-represented in special education classes
Are over-represented in restrictive levels of care
(foster care, residential, juvenile detention)
Issues for African Americans…
▪ Importance of religion and spirituality
▪ Extended family network
▪ Concerns about racial discrimination
▪ Concerns about privacy and stigma
▪ Mistrust of health professionals
▪ Belief that suffering is a part of life for Black
people
Issues for Latino/as…
▪ Legal status may impact ability to trust and be cooperative;
▪ Patriarchal culture; gender roles impact interactions with persons in authority;
▪ Culturally appropriate assessment and engagement is critical;
▪ Involve extended family; family values are important;
▪ Use of folk healers is common;
▪ Support of church; religious/spiritual beliefs are central to the community;
▪ Access the acculturation level;
▪ Determine if a translator is needed;
▪ Respeto, familismo, dignidad, personalismo, fatalismo are core values.
Sue & Sue, 2012
Asian Americans…
▪ Many groups (43) and languages with separate cultures- Heterogeneous
▪ Asian/Pacific Americans are one of the fastest growing ethnic minority
groups
▪ Major groups
 Chinese
 Southeast Asian (Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian, Hmong, Mien)
 South Asian
▪ Filipino
▪ Japanese
▪ Korean
▪ Substance abuse is under-reported due to shame and stigma
Self Awareness Activity:
▪ What is your ethnicity?
▪ Was this often discussed in your home growing up?
▪ What was the racial mix in your town growing up?
Now?
▪ Did you or does your family now celebrate holidays
that aren’t recognized by the rest of the country?
▪ What types of foods do you prefer to eat?
▪ When you have family gatherings what are the
activities/foods?
FACTORS THAT IMPACT
CULTURAL DIVERSITY
ABILITY/
DISABILITY
GENDER &
SEXUAL
ORIENTATION
Family/
Social
Support
Urban
Suburban
Rural
Race/Oppression
Experience
CULTURAL
DIVERSITY
Socioeconomic
Status
Immigration
Status/
Acculturation
Education
Age
Beliefs/
Values
15
Culture Defined:
T
The learned, shared, transmitted values and beliefs and
practices of a particular group that guide the thinking,
actions, behaviors, interactions, emotions and view of the
world.
▪ Art
Beliefs about:
▪ Relationships
Family obligations
▪ Customs
Gender Roles
▪ Clothing
Preventative Health
▪ Environment
Illness and death
▪ Economics
Sexuality
▪ Religion
▪ Diet
Culture has an impact on:
•
Parenting and child rearing
•
Communication
•
Body language
•
Perception of time
•
Help-seeking behaviors; help-giving behaviors; stigma
•
Attitudes and beliefs about the law and government
•
Use of services and social supports
•
How we see the world
Lazear, K., 2003.
Some Cultural Blocks to Cross-Cultural
Relationships
Stereotyping
Blindness
Ethnocentrism
Prejudice
Oppression
Discrimination
Imposition
Fear
Lack of
Experience
Racism: Then and Now…
Old Fashioned
Racism…
▪ Overt “In your face”
Modern Racism…
▪ Covert
▪ Blatant
▪ Subtle
▪ No Question What is
▪ Hidden
Meant
▪ Openly Aggressive
▪ Undisguised
▪ Intentional
▪ Flagrant
▪ Aversive
▪ Disguised
▪ Sometimes
Unintentional
▪ Passive Aggressive
MicroAggressions…
Commonplace verbal, behavioral or environmental
indignities, whether unintentional or intentional
which communicate hostile, derogatory, or
negative slights and insults to people from
marginalized groups.
Common Themes…
Treating like a second class citizen…“Your English is so good…”
Assuming inferiority or pathology of identity/culture…“Their families are
so enmeshed…”
Denying personal bias…“I’m color blind…”
Myth of meritocracy…“All they have to do is work hard like I did…”
Ascription of intelligence…“You people are so smart at Math…
Assuming criminality…”How many times have you been arrested?”
1940′s Clark study
Edelman, Marian Wright. (2005)
In 2007 High school student
Kiri Davis explores the selfimage of black children in
the US by repeating the
historic "doll test" of Dr.
Kenneth Clark that led to
school desegregation. The
experiment shows how
many black children are
trapped by low self-esteem.
Community Tampa Bay
works to eliminate
prejudice, stereotypes and
racism. We envision a world
free from discrimination, in
which every individual is
treated with dignity and
respect. Learn more about
our work at
www.communitytampabay.
org.
http://youtu.be/ybDa0gSuAcg
Latino Doll Study…
▪ In attempt to measure the degree to which Mexican
children are affected by the legacy of European
colonialism and the present day images they are
bombarded with via the media, researchers in Mexico
conducted an experiment modeled after the famous
1940′s Clark study that was designed to measure skin
color preference in black American children.
▪ Mexico’s National Council to Prevent Discrimination, or
CONAPRED, are circulating a video in which children
who are mestizos, or half-Spanish, half-Indian, are
asked to pick the “good doll,” and the doll that most
resembles them. The children, mostly brown-skinned,
almost uniformly say the white doll was “better” or was
most like them.
Los Angeles Time, December 30, 2011
"Today there are more African-Americans under
correctional control — in prison or jail, on
probation or parole — than were enslaved in 1850,
a decade before the Civil War began. There are
millions of African-Americans now cycling in and
out of prisons and jails or under correctional
control. In major American cities today, more than
half of working-age African-American men are
either under correctional control or branded felons
and are thus subject to legalized discrimination for
the rest of their lives."
http://www.npr.org/books/titles/145175923/the-new-jim-crow-mass-incarceration-in-the-age-of-colorblindness
The Truth for African Americans today…
▪ There are more African Americans under correctional control today -- in
prison or jail, on probation or parole -- than were enslaved in 1850, a
decade before the Civil War began.
▪ As of 2004, more African American men were disenfranchised (due to
felon disenfranchisement laws) than in 1870, the year the Fifteenth
Amendment was ratified, prohibiting laws that explicitly deny the right
to vote on the basis of race.
▪ A black child born today is less likely to be raised by both parents than a
black child born during slavery. The recent disintegration of the African
American family is due in large part to the mass imprisonment of black
fathers.
▪ If you take into account prisoners, a large majority of African American
men in some urban areas have been labeled felons for life. (In the
Chicago area, the figure is nearly 80%.) These men are part of a growing
undercaste -- not class, caste -- permanently relegated, by law, to a
second-class status. They can be denied the right to vote, automatically
excluded from juries, and legally discriminated against in employment,
housing, access to education, and public benefits, much as their
grandparents and great-grandparents were during the Jim Crow era.
The War on Drugs…or is it?
▪ The uncomfortable truth, however, is that crime rates do not
explain the sudden and dramatic mass incarceration of African
Americans during the past 30 years. Crime rates have fluctuated
over the last few decades -- they are currently are at historical
lows -- but imprisonment rates have consistently soared.
Quintupled, in fact. And the vast majority of that increase is due
to the War on Drugs. Drug offenses alone account for about
two-thirds of the increase in the federal inmate population, and
more than half of the increase in the state prison population.
▪ The results have been predictable: people of color rounded up
en masse for relatively minor, non-violent drug offenses. In
2005, four out of five drug arrests were for possession, only one
out of five for sales. Most people in state prison have no history
of violence or even of significant selling activity. In fact, during
the 1990s -- the period of the most dramatic expansion of the
drug war -- nearly 80% of the increase in drug arrests was for
marijuana possession, a drug generally considered less harmful
than alcohol or tobacco and at least as prevalent in middle-class
white communities as in the inner city.
Helms, J.E. (2008).
Stages of Cultural Awareness
Proficiency
Unconsciously Aware
Spontaneous Sensitivity
Competence
Sensitivity
Consciously Aware
Deliberately Sensitive
Consciously Unaware
Troubling Ignorance
Blindness
Unconsciously Unaware
Blissful Ignorance
Storti, 1999
Cultural Competence:
~It is a process that allows individuals to accept,
respect and work with others who are different
from them
~Cultural competence is the result of awareness of
your own biases and knowledge of the factors that
influence cultural differences and similarities
~The process requires the development of skills,
attitudes and behaviors that allow individuals to
understand and interact effectively with people
from other cultures.
Acculturation Issues…
Their results suggest that acculturation can be a strainproducing process for Hispanic youth increasing their
propensity of criminal involvement (Perez et al., 2008).
Basic Multicultural Competencies…
▪ Ability to recognize direct and indirect communication styles
▪ Sensitivity to nonverbal cues
▪ Ability to recognize cultural and linguistic differences
▪ Interest in cultures other than your own
▪ Sensitivity to the stereotypes and myths of other cultures
▪ Ability to describe elements of your own culture
▪ Ability to recognize relationships between and among
cultural groups
▪ Acknowledgement of your own racist attitudes
(Pederson, Draguns, Lonner, and Trimble, 2002)
Understanding Cultural Differences…
▪ Family is defined differently by different cultures
▪ The concept of an exact time is not used or reinforced in
some cultures.
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
Some cultural groups stress the veneration of ancestors
Eye contact varies by culture.
Physical distance during social interactions varies by culture.
Culture greatly influences attitudes about physical contact.
Different cultures regulate the display of emotion
differently
▪ Some cultures may use different standards for loudness,
speed of delivery, silence, attentiveness and time to
respond to another's point
Unpacking Privilege
Social Identities and Privilege Indicators
ABILITY
AGE
RELIGION
RACE
ETHNICITY
GENDER
ECONOMICS
SEXUALITY
© Cathy L. Royal Ph.D.
Systemic Oppression…
▪ Media
▪ Religion
Norms and
standards of the
dominant group are
embedded in…
▪ Education
▪ Language
▪ Economics
▪ Criminal Justice
▪ Definitions of Beauty
▪ Family
What is Privilege?
An unearned right, advantage or immunity
granted to or enjoyed beyond the common
advantages of all others;
An exemption in many cases from burdens or
liabilities.
White Privilege…
1.
I can move wherever I want to move
2.
I can do well in a challenging situation
without being called a credit to my race
3.
I can go into a supermarket and find the
staple foods which fit my cultural
traditions
4.
I can take a job without my coworkers
suspecting I got it because of my race
5.
I am never asked to speak for all the
people of my racial group.
Adapted from McIntosh, 1989
Improving
Communication
Ways to Facilitate Communication Across Cultural
Boundaries…
1.
Recognize differences
2.
Build Your Self-Awareness
3.
Describe and Identify, then Interpret
4.
Don’t assume your interpretation is correct
5.
Verbalize your own non-verbal signs
6.
Share your experience honestly
7.
Acknowledge any discomfort, hesitation, or concern
8.
Give your time and attention when communicating
9.
Don’t evaluate or judge
10.
Be cautious about humor (new English speakers find humor difficult
to understand)
Tips for Cultural Sensitivity when working with people…
•
Don’t treat others as you would want to be treated. Try to learn how they would want to be
treated. What is viewed as kind and caring in one culture may be considered rude and uncaring
in another culture.
•
Address all adults from other cultures by their last name unless they have asked you to use
their first name.
•
Find out where the person was born and, if out of the country, how old s/he was when they
immigrated.
•
Speaking on the phone is difficult thing to do in a foreign language. When speaking to anyone
who has a foreign accent over the telephone speak especially simply, slowly and clearly.
•
Find out a persons religion and how important is it to her/him.
•
Know the support systems in the family’s life and what cultural issues exist in those support
systems.
•
Understand the importance of individualizing each situation while knowing cultural context.
Malone, B.L.(2000) Minority Health Today Magazine, Vol. 1, Number 2, Jan/Feb
References…
▪
Alexander, Michelle L. (2013). The New Jim Crow: Mass incarceration in the age of
▪
Edelman, Marian Wright. (2005). The Contributions of Kenneth B. Clark. Washington Informer, Washington, D.C., 19.
▪
Helms, J.E. (2008). A Race Is a Nice Thing to Have: A Guide to Being A White Person or Understanding the
life (Second Edition). Hanover, MA: Microtraining Associates.
▪
http://www.npr.org/books/titles/145175923/the-new-jim-crow-mass-incarceration-in-the-age-of-colorblindness
▪
http://youtu.be/ybDa0gSuAcg
▪
http://www.100people.org/index.php
▪
http://www.census.gov/
▪
Malone, B.L.(2000) Minority Health Today Magazine, Vol. 1, Number 2, Jan/Feb
▪
McIntosh, P. (1989). White Privilege: Unpacking the invisible knapsack. Peace and Freedom, pp. 8-10.
▪
Mexicans confront racism with white, black doll video. (2011). Los Angeles Times,
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2011/12/mexico-racism-video-
▪
Storti, Craig. Figuring Foreigners Out: A Practical Guide. Yarmouth, Maine, Intercultural Press, Inc., 1999.
▪
Sue, Derald Wing, & Sue, David. (2012). Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Hoboken, New Jersey: Practice.
Wiley & Sons, Inc.
colorblindness. New York: New Press.
White Persons in your
December 30, 2011. Retrieved from
children-debate-race.html
John
Questions?