Spirituality, the Self, and the Struggle for Social Justice

1
Spirituality, the Self, and the Struggle for
Social Justice
Possibilities for a Post-Racial Nation/World in
the Obama Era Symposium April 24, 2009

• john a. powell
• Director, Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race
  and Ethnicity,
• Williams Chair in Civil Rights Civil Liberties,
  
• Moritz College of Law

2
Todays Conversation

• Identity and the Self
• Spirituality and Social Justice
• Race and Racialization
• Social Cognition and Implicit Bias
• Post-racialism and Talking about Race
• Targeted Universalism
• Linked Fate and Transformative Change

3
Identity

• Identities can be multiple and conflicted
• The British did not become white until Africans
  became black
• Both internal and external pluralism is supported
  by a healthy society
• We may experience an uncomfortable awareness of
  our own multiplicity
• W.E.B. DuBois double consciousness

4
Identity, Groups, Structures

• Identity reflects group positioning rather than
  actual group identity.
• Groups are often seen as possessing some distinct
  personal or social attributes that differentiate
  group members from non-group members.
• Considered relationally, a social group is a
  collective of persons differentiated from others
  by cultural forms, practices, special needs or
  capacities, structures of power or privilege.
  (p. 90)
• a structural social group is a collection of
  persons who are similarly positioned in
  interactive and institutional relations that
  condition their opportunities and life
  prospects. (p. 97)

Source Inclusion and Democracy by Iris Marion
Young (2000) chapter 3
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The Self Hobbesian View

• Current paradigm Hobbesian, isolated
• Perceives individuals as autonomous-independent
  selves
• Egoistic, possessive, separate, isolated,
  rational
• This has led to increasing isolation and fear of
  the other
• This framework creates, marginalizes the
  racialized other
• Racial disparities are seen as a subjective,
  personal experience
• Creates false separations negates shared
  humanity

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The White Self

• Whiteness illuminates everything but itself.

Blackness
Whiteness
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Identity White Identities

• In the past, non-whites sometimes tried to pass
  as whites in order to reap the benefits
  associated with whiteness
• Fully white - denotes those who, with all of
  the racially relevant facts about them widely
  known, they would generally be considered white
  by the community at large
• Honorary whites are extended the status of
  whiteness despite the public recognition that,
  from a bio-racial perspective, they are not fully
  white.
• More recently, non-whites have been accused of
  trying to cover, meaning they are acting as
  though they are white

Source Colorblind White Dominance by Ian Haney
López (2006)
8
Clip from Bowling for Columbine
A Brief History of the United States of America
http//www.youtube.com/watch?vNPBHtjZmSpw
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The Self A New Paradigm

• What is the alternative vision?
• A model of connectedness
• Inter-being, unified
• Not egoistically separate
• Individualism and interconnectivity are not
  mutually excusive
• When a linked correctly, interconnectivity
  supports individuality

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Spirituality and the Self

• How do postmodern rejections of an isolated or
  unified self and assertions of the multiplicity
  of selves come into play?
• If self is actually constructed within an
  intersubjective space, if there is no personal
  sphere without the social sphere, is it possible
  to have a private, personal relationship with
  God? Or are our yearnings always communal
  yearnings?
• If the social and the personal are constituted in
  relationship to each other, could our unresolved
  ontological suffering create the structures that
  perpetuate social suffering.

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Suffering

• Existential/Ontological Suffering
• Transience (First Noble Truth of Buddhism)
• Loys Sense of Lack
• Psychoanalysis (Lacans Lack)
• Inherent in existence
• Surplus/Secular suffering
• The result of social arrangements/structures
• Visited on people unequally

12
Suffering

• What is the relationship between spiritual
  suffering and social suffering? Individual
  Suffering and Collective Suffering?
• What is the relationship between spirituality and
  social justice?
• What is the greater relationship between the
  secular and the spiritual in our world?
• Questions reflections of each other

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Personal vs. Social

• If spirituality is our effort to connect to
  something beyond our egoistic self how does
  that relate to social justice?
• Could working to relieve social suffering be a
  non-optional part of moving beyond our self?
  Working for social transformation be an integral
  part of engaging deeply with all of our personal
  encounters?
• Addresses the tensions between transcendence
  and immanence
• Must reject structures that limit our ways to
  embrace love and hope in all our interpersonal
  interactions
• Love calls the ego beyond itself

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Spirituality and Social Justice

• We usually focus on how spirituality inspires
  social justice work, but not on how working for
  social justice informs spirituality
• Caring about others suffering not just about
  relieving their suffering, but about ones own
  spiritual development
• Suffering a central concern of both
• Spirituality ??Social Justice

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Avoiding the Duality Mindset

• President Obama has provoked discussions about
  race and racial identity, but much confusion
  remains
• Often race is portrayed as a duality, indicating
  that either
• Race is important, OR
• Race is not important.
• Perceiving race through these two perspectives is
  not accurate. Race is a continuum, not a duality.

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Whiteness and the Continuum

• There is a perception that minority populations
  are surpassing white populations.
• When considering racial identities, we must
  address the role of whiteness and white space.
• The fluidity of other races locations in the
  continuum depend on how we think about whiteness.
• This continuum is becoming more
• complicated, yet it is stable.

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Defining Racial Categories

• The Census has been a tool for defining
  whiteness
• Whiteness is not a stable category
• i.e., Irish Americans were once considered
  non-white
• Are Hispanics/Latinos considered white (yet)?
• Given that racial categories are dynamic, there
  is no way to know whether whites will be a
  numerical minority

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Deconstructing Racial Categories

• Our collective failure to deconstruct racial
  categories, especially the white category, has
  two main ramifications
• The racial hierarchy is maintained
• Whites who want to reject the white category need
  an alternate identity
• What is the meaning of being in these categories?
• These categories are constructed, sorted, and
  policed

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Not Just a Typology

• These categories of racial identity are more than
  just a typology.
• They give social meaning and social significance
  to race.
• These categories are reflected in institutional
  arrangements
• For example, consider privilege (specifically
  white privilege)

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White Privilege and the Organization of Structures

• Privilege is sorted through institutional
  arrangements
• Without critical examination, the system can
  appear to be just and fair, perhaps even neutral
  towards race.
• Often unbeknownst to them, whites inherit and
  possess many benefits that are often
  unacknowledged and/or taken for granted.
• Interestingly, the norm of whiteness is strong
  enough that the privilege of whiteness may not
  even be perceived by people of color.

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Another Example

• Some argue that the culture of poverty is a
  reflection of white dominance, not a particular
  groups (Blacks, Latinos, etc.) failure.
• Thus, the logic follows that in order to fix the
  culture of poverty, white dominance must be
  fixed.
• Others suggest that the culture of poverty is a
  reaction to being locked out of society.
• These examples clearly indicate that racial
  categories are reflected in larger societal and
  institutional arrangements.

22
Defining Race

• From this nations inception, the race line was
  used to demarcate and patrol the divide between
  those who constituted the We in We The
  People.
• Race-based interventions (such as Affirmative
  Action) are sometimes seen as unfair because race
  is incorrectly thought of as phenotype alone.
• Race is a modern idea. In the past, people were
  grouped by other attributes, such as religion,
  social class, or language.

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Race as Social Space

• We have fluidity in terms of our racial identity
  (or, in reality, racial identities.)
• Situations affect who you are, how you identify.
  
• For example, it may not be until youre in a room
  with full of people of a different race that you
  become truly aware of your own race.
• The British did not become white until Africans
  became black.
• In order to notice race, society has to create
  this category/idea of race. After it is created,
  individuals can negotiate it using the social
  tools created by society.

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The Social Construction of Race

• Race is a scientific fiction it is a social
  construction.
• Despite the lack of scientific support, the
  social reality of race is substantial.
• The racial categories into which we group people
  are not as problematic as the social meaning and
  racial hierarchy we assign to those groups.

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The Social Construction of Race

• People talk about race as though it is essential,
  even though it is socially constructed
• This provokes some important questions
• How is race constructed? By whom? For what
  purpose?
• The fact that race is constructed implies that it
  has a history and that it is constantly changing.
• People tend to misunderstand and underestimate
  the significance of this.

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Race and Racialization

• We have seen a move away from legal racism and
  personal prejudice to a racial hierarchy that is
  enforced through institutions/structures
• de jure segregation ? de facto segregation
• inscribed in laws ? inscribed in land
• Although racial attitudes and personal prejudice
  is improving steadily, racial disparities persist
  on every level
• Not enough just to recognize these disparities,
  we must understand our assumptions surrounding
  them
• What is the meaning of these disparities in terms
  of a true democracy?

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Understanding Structural Racialization

• Structural racialization addresses
  inter-institutional arrangements and
  interactions.
• It refers to the ways in which the joint
  operation of institutions produce racialized
  outcomes.
• Structural racialization analysis allows for a
  view of the cumulative effects of institutional
  arrangements.
• How we arrange structures matters
• The order of the structures
• The timing of the interaction between them
• The relationships that exist between them

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Social Cognition
and Implicit Bias
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Unconscious Cognitive ModelingThe Kanizsa
Triangle

• Illusion of a triangle appears even though there
  are no lines connecting it.
• Triangle appears brighter than the surrounding
  area even though it has the same brightness as
  the background.
• Active modeling occurs well before sensory
  information reaches the area of the brain
  responsible for conscious thought.
• Cognitive modeling occurs at higher levels of
  knowledge too

30
Social Cognition

• Cognitive psychologists explain that these
  schemas (black/white, young/old) are cognitive
  structures which permit us to make decisions
  quickly.
• However, because they are unconscious, we are
  generally unaware that these mental models even
  exist.

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Implicit Bias

• Data are complex, but so are people.
• We unconsciously think about race even when we do
  not explicitly discuss it.
• Implicit thoughts can overpower our explicit
  positions.
• People have multiple networks that may be
  activated without our awareness.
• Depending on the situation, one network becomes
  dominant over the others.
• Our race schemas may be activated without our
  awareness.

32
Implicit Bias

• Even though we may fight them, implicit biases
  reside within us.
• Often these biases are socially unacceptable or
  embarrassing, so we try to hide them.
  Nevertheless, our unconscious networks are still
  operating
• "Call Me, Harold" ad (VA Senate Race)
  http//www.youtube.com/watch?vkkiz1_d1GsA
• The Willie Horton/ Dukakis on Crimehttp//www.yo
  utube.com/watch?vEC9j6Wfdq3o

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Framing

• How messages are framed affects how they are
  perceived.
• Conversations about race and diversity must be
  honed to ensure that messages are effective.
• We need to start from the assumption that an
  awareness of racial disparities is fundamental to
  fostering race-conscious approaches to social
  justice policy.
• This is the first step in proactively achieving
  and maintaining diversity in our public
  institutions.

34
Moving forward

• Put your outcome first what do you want to
  achieve?
• Work backwards from there how do you achieve
  it, for everyone?
• Talk about race it is part of the American
  story
• Targeted universalism and linked fates

35
History shapes our present future
36
We were separated from each other
Detroits Wailing Wall being constructed
36
http//www.albany.edu/jmmh/vol2no1/sugrue.html
37
Opportunity still plays out across space
37

• Measures of segregation (i.e. the dissimilarity
  index) have nudged downward a tiny bit but are
  still high
• Outward growth can pull resources away from
  existing communities
• The favored quarter has a disproportionate
  share of high quality opportunity structures

38
Segregation leads to disparate (racialized)
outcomes
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Why We Need to Talk about Race

• To not talk about race is to talk about race.
• Race plays a critical role in the creation and
  perpetuation of many social, political, and
  organizational structures that control the
  distribution of opportunities.
• Race affects all aspects of our lives.
• Where we live, who our childrens friends are,
  what social programs we support, how we vote,
  etc.
• We must address race to understand the history of
  our nations democracy and the future well-being
  of its people.

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Consequences of Not Talking About Race

• Racial disparities are masked
• Misperceptions about equality are reinforced
• Support for equitable interventions is decreased
• Diversity becomes less valued
• Color-blindness gains salience
• Inadequate proxies, such as class, become more
  visible
• Understanding of linked fate is weakened (we
  fail to see that institutional arrangements are
  functioning poorly for everyone)

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Colorblindness v. Color-Consciousness

• Colorblindness
• The logic Since we know race is socially
  constructed (not scientific), we should eliminate
  racial categories
• This perspective assumes that the major race
  problem in our society is race itself, rather
  than racism.
• Attempting to ignore race is not the same as
  creating equality
• Is colorblindness an appropriate shift in how we
  perceive race? NO.
• Colorblindness will not end racism.

Source john a. powell. The Colorblind
Multiracial Dilemma Racial Categories
Reconsidered. (1997)
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Colorblindness v. Color-Consciousness

• Color-Consciousness
• This perspective acknowledges that race can be a
  divisive issue in our society
• Policies and interventions need to address race
  otherwise they will only provide partial
  solutions to problems that are grounded in race
• Acknowledging race through a multicultural frame
  can reduce prejudice
• Color-consciousness fosters an appreciation of
  each groups contributions to society

Source Philip Mazzocco. The Dangers of Not
Speaking About Race. 2006
43
Color-blind/ Color-conscious Racism
Understanding of Disparities
Present Extreme Persisting
Absent Minimal Declining
Explanations for Disparities
OPPOSE AA
SUPPORT AA
Structural Historical Abnormal
Individual Cultural Normal
Solutions to Disparities
Color-Blind
Color-Conscious
44
Talking about Racepost-Obama

• A popular discourse following President Obamas
  victory was that his win heralded a post-racial
  society.
• This conclusion is deeply mistaken.

45
A post-racial society? Anxiety over racial
identity and humor
I am the face of post-racial America. Deal with
it, Cate Blanchett!
Tracy Morgan accepting a Golden Globe for 30 Rock
46
A Post-Racial Society? (or Not?)

• Obamas victory does not change the facts
• Black and Latino children are much more likely
  than white children to attend high-poverty
  schools
• A white man with a criminal record is three times
  more likely than a black man with a record to
  receive consideration for a job
• Minority home-seekers, many with good credit
  scores, are steered disproportionately to
  high-cost, sub-prime mortgages, thus devastating
  their communities in light of the foreclosure
  crisis

By prematurely proclaiming a post-racial status,
we ignore the distance we have yet to travel to
make this country truly a land of equal
opportunity for all, regardless of racial
identity.
47
Talking about raceproductively

• Acknowledge racial progress
• Recognize our racial history and connect it to
  our future
• Explain how past injustices still matter today
• Create empathetic space
• Everyone needs help now and then we all want to
  do better
• We share deep values, concerns, and hopes
• Provide potential solutions
• We need to be able to articulate what we support
  - not just what we oppose.
• Martin Luther King, Jr. did not start a speech
  with I have a complaint

Source http//www.equaljusticesociety.org/2008/12
/talking-about-race-in-the-obama-era/
48
Thinking Transformatively about Race

• Transactional vs. Transformative
• Affirmative action is predicated on a
  transactional approach. It assists individuals
  but does not alter the larger system of
  structures.
• A transformative perspective changes the
  arrangement of societal structures and
  consequently alters relations to opportunity.

49
Conditions for Change

• Moving from a transactional to a transformational
  paradigm requires structural change
• Institutions should allow for participation and
  dissent of individuals in a democratic society.
• For those in poverty, this participation is
  denied as they lack access to power, influence,
  and choice thus, poverty is maintained.
• Structures act as filters, creating cumulative
  barriers to opportunity.
• Reorganization of institutions to encourage the
  emergence of differences is one example of
  transformative thinking.

50
What is a truly universal policy?

• Universal policies are often based on a
  non-universal standard (i.e. social security
  able-bodied white males working outside the home
  full-time for pay)
• Instead, a targeted universal strategy is
  inclusive, but pays particular attention to the
  needs of those falling behind
• Ex Every school a performing school
• What does each school need to get there?
• What does each student, family, teacher,
  community need?
• What are their strengths and constraints?

51
Universal Program
Group A
Group B
The universal program affected everyone in red,
but Group B is still constrained by the boxes.
52
Universal Program
Group A
Group B
The universal program affected everyone in red,
but Group B is still constrained by the boxes.
53
Targeted Universalism

• This approach supports the needs of the
  particular while reminding us that we are all
  part of the same social fabric.
• Universal, yet captures how people are
  differently situated
• Inclusive, yet targets those who are most
  marginalized
• Example goal Every school as a performing school
• What does each school need to get there?
• What does each student, family, teacher,
  community need?
• What are their strengths and constraints?

54
Targeted Universalism

• Targeted Universalism recognizes racial
  disparities and the importance of eradicating
  them, while acknowledging their presence within a
  larger inequitable, institutional framework
• Targeted universalism is a common framework
  through which to pursue justice
• A model which recognizes our linked fate
• A model where we all grow together
• A model where we embrace
  collective solutions

55
Understand and communicate our linked fates

• Racialized structures and policies have created
  the correlation of race and poverty. People
  assume that only people of color are harmed.
• BUT these effects are far reaching and impact
  everyone we share a linked fate
• Example credit tightened for everyone after the
  subprime fiasco

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Linked FatesTransformative Change

• Our fates are linked, yet our fates have been
  socially constructed as disconnected (especially
  through the categories of class, race, gender,
  etc.).
• We need socially constructed bridges to
  transform our society.
• Conceive of an individual as connected toinstead
  of isolated fromthy neighbor.

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Linked FatesTransformative Change

• Tension is dynamic and positive (constitutive).
• The situated nature/essence of the Self (and its
  multiplicity)
• Social justice (external)
• Spirituality (internal)
• We are the same and different. Because we are
  the same, dialogue is possible. Because we are
  different, dialogue is necessary.

58
For more information, please visit us online at
www.kirwaninstitute.org
58
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Appendix

• Our Unconscious Networks
• Commonly Used Frames
• Priming

60
Our Unconscious Networks

• What colors are the following lines of text?
• Vqeb peow ytro
• Cvur zxyq brrm
• Vhrn wwte zytn
• Xoc jbni oew mne
• Zre ytu vee mkp

61
Our Unconscious Networks

• What colors are the following lines of text?
• Red
• Blue
• Black
• Green
• Brown

62
Our Unconscious Networks

• What colors are the following lines of text?
• Sky
• Grass
• Dirt
• Coal
• Stop sign

63
Our Unconscious Networks

• What colors are the following lines of text?
• Dirt
• Sunshine
• Sky
• Grass
• Stop sign

64
Our Unconscious Networks

• What colors are the following lines of text?
• Green
• Blue
• Brown
• Red
• Black

65
4 Frames Commonly Used When Discussing Race

• 1) Minimize the existence of disparities
• Examples
• Things may not be entirely equal, but its not
  nearly as bad as it used to be.
• The racial playing field is level.

Source Bonilla-Silva (2003) Racism Without
Racists Mazzocco (May 2006) The Dangers of Not
Talking About Race.
66
4 Frames Commonly Used When Discussing Race

• 2) Blame culture for racial inequality rather
  than societal structures or white privilege
• Examples
• Blacks are lazy and lack motivation.
• We get what we deserve in life. If some racial
  groups arent doing as well as others, people
  just need to work harder.

67
4 Frames Commonly Used When Discussing Race

• 3) Racial phenomena is natural
• Examples
• Racial segregation in housing is natural. After
  all, they prefer to live by themselves instead of
  interacting with us.
• Theyd rather be with their own kind anyway.

68
4 Frames Commonly Used When Discussing Race

• 4) Focusing on individuals and their traits,
  assuming that we all start from the same
  position in society
• Examples
• We should all be judged as individuals based on
  our personal merits. No one should receive
  special privileges. Its not fair.
• People like Tiger Woods, George Lopez, and Oprah
  Winfrey are proof that anyone can be successful
  in America.

69
Challenging These Frames

• These frames are not easy to challenge,
  especially those that draw upon our national
  values of meritocracy and individuality.
• It is important to confront all four of these
  frames at the same time otherwise, people tend
  to just switch to a different frame rather than
  change their understanding of race.

70
Other Semantic Moves

• I am not racist, but.

• I kind of support and oppose. (views on
  affirmative action, interracial marriage, and
  other topics)

71
Priming

• Our environment affects our unconscious networks.
• Priming activates mental associations.
• Telling someone a scary story activates a frame
  of fear
• Claude Steeles stereotype threat
• For example, tell students about to take a test
  that Asian students tend to do better than
  whites, the whites will perform significantly
  worse than if they had not been primed to think
  of themselves as less capable than Asians.

Source http//www.eaop.ucla.edu/0405/Ed18520-Spr
ing05/Week_6_May9_2005.pdf
72
Social Cognition

• Racial schemes are the categories into which we
  map individual human beings. Once a person is
  assigned to a racial category, implicit and
  explicit racial meanings with that category are
  triggered.
• The meaning (valence) attributed to these schemas
  are culturally derived.
• Measured by IAT tests.

73
Implicit Association Test

• IAT measures unconscious attitudes toward various
  groups of people.
• IAT tracks the response time required to match up
  pleasant and unpleasant words such as love,
  kindness, trust and fear, hatred,
  dishonor, respectively, with images of
  individuals who belong to in-groups and
  outgroups Caucasians juxtaposed against
  African Americans or males juxtaposed against
  females, for example.
• Think about previous slides with text and colors.
  
• More than two-thirds of test takers register bias
  toward stigmatized groups.

74
The Shooter Game

• Using images of white and black men, each
  gripping a cell phone, a wallet, or a handgun,
  scientists have created a video-game experiment
  that requires split-second judgments.
• Images of suspectsboth armed and unarmed, black
  and whiteflash onto a monitor. Within a
  split-second, subjects must decide whether to
  shoot.
• One after another, images flash onto a monitor
  and participants must assess whether the man in
  each picture is carrying a gun. Within 850
  milliseconds they must press one key to shoot or
  another to leave the figure unharmed.
• In experiment after experiment peoples mistakes,
  although rare, follow a pattern they shoot more
  unarmed blacks than unarmed whites, and they fail
  to shoot more whites than blacks who turn out to
  be holding weapons.

75
What Would You Do?