The View From Here

There's so much happening that it's hard to start, as it has been two years since I've written. From March 2020 to June 2020, much of the US (and the world) was shut down to the COVID-19 pandemic. It's strange to read my past postings and to find myself here - isolated most of the time and hesitant to leave the confines of my home due to this highly contagious virus which to date has killed over 500,000 and has infected over 14 million , and disproportionately impacted BIPOC . Then in May, our nation was roiled once again in racial violence with the murder of George Floyd by police officers in Minnesota. As a result, many companies, organizations, and institutions published statements of support and a commitment to change. What's disheartening is that the murders of Black men, women, boys and girls have been happening for time out of mind, and in recent memory have been viewed and heard in social media for at least a decade. Four years ago I walked i...

As you may have noticed, many of my blog postings are about the issues I have about previous workplaces and their lack of diversity, lack of cultural understanding, institutional racism and willfulness in their White privilege. So much of it was about working through the oppression I experienced in those places, and in so many ways it was necessary for me to do so for my healing. However, most recently, I recognized that my seemingly constant outrage was not helpful in my pursuit for peace of mind. For a long time I equated being passionate to being angry. No doubt there are plenty of times that calls for righteous anger and moral indignation. Yet, I am now choosing to move on and let go even when I know the issues at these institutions are not going away any time soon. All I can do is watch "Rome burn." I wish it could be otherwise but my hope needs to be re-directed in other ways that will actually make a difference. Time to move on....

In the ACA Code of Ethics and the CACREP standards , there is an expectation that counselors are to be trained for cultural competence at some level. Surprisingly and thankfully, they include addressing identity and privilege of the counselor and the effect on clients. Unfortunately, from what I'm hearing from White classmates who have taken the cross-cultural counseling class in my program, these expectations are certainly not being fulfilled. For one student, she talked about how her White privilege was being pushed into her face and how she was very uncomfortable. I'm sorry but I have little sympathy for the fact that she was uncomfortable for a semester three hours a week whereas people of color since childhood have had to live not only with discomfort but danger for being who they based on what they look like. Another student stated that he actually wished his class had more dialogue about race and privilege especially since this was so new to him. However when I delv...