We project beliefs and images about race onto others. These beliefs are often outside of our awareness. These beliefs become activated in a variety of situations. We construct others based on our beliefs and images and not on who they actually are. We may see others as dangerous when they are not. We are the dangerous ones. Our beliefs and images bring great harm to others. This powerpoint shows contemporary understandings of racism, how to become aware of our racism, and how to change racist beliefs, images, and practices.

1. Racism: We White
People are the
Dangerous Ones
Jane F. Gilgun, Ph.D., LICSW
Professor
School of Social Work
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, USA

2. Topics
• Projections
• Racism
• Effects of Racism
• Intersectionality
• Identity
• Resistance

3. Projections
•“If a person constructs a situation [or
person] as real, they are real in their
consequences” (Thomas theorem)
•Projection: seeing others through
our own fears, stereotypes, and
beliefs;
• projections are below levels of
awareness
• We don’t realize we’re doing it

4. Racism
• Racism: constructions of persons with similar
physical features based on beliefs & practices
held by persons who are members of groups
with more power, privilege, & prestige
• Physical features:
• Color of skin
• Shape of eyes
• Shape of body
• Types of hair
• Food

5. Racism as Projection
• We project our beliefs and images on
others
• We therefore construct others based on
what is inside of us and outside of our
awareness
• In racism,
• We project negative inner beliefs & images
• We are unaware that we construct others
on the basis of our beliefs & images

6. Racism Leads to Harm
• Racist beliefs and images construct others
• As not as good as we are
• As dangerous
• As people to be feared
• As people who want to hurt us
• As people who are not as smart as we are
• As people who are not as worthy as we are

7. Racism Leads to Harm
• With these beliefs
•We are the dangerous ones
•We are people to fear
•Our beliefs and images bring great
harm to others

8. Change
• We can change our racist beliefs &
practices
• By becoming aware of them
• Group and individual work where we reflect
on our beliefs and experiences with persons
of other races
• If we are white, individual and group work
on
• Our own privileges
• The sources of our privileges
• Whose work makes our privileges possible?

9. Change
• Immerse ourselves in non-white
cultures
• Visits ethnic neighborhoods
• Go to ethnic spoken word
• View ethnic art exhibits, movies
• Join advocacy efforts
• Learn histories of non-white people
• Start discussion groups related to racism
• Get training on cultural sensitivity

10. Effects of Racism:
Structurally/Institutionally
• US: long history of institutionalized racism
• Limits power, privilege, prestige,
opportunities
• Disproportionality that results from racist
constructions of other people:
• Poverty
• Quality of education
• Expulsion from schools
• Child protection cases

11. Effects of Racism:
Structurally/Institutionally
• Disproportionality
• Police killings
• Increased scrutiny at airports
• Arrests; Crack vs. powder cocaine
• Juvenile/adult prison populations
• Physical health
• Access to medical care
• Alternative economies
• longevity

12. Effects of Racism: Interpersonal
• Daily microaggressions
• Pejorative language regarding identity
• Dehumanizing
• Becomes embedded in brain circuits from an early age
• Inner working models
• Adult reactions to normal child behavior
• Appears to vary by adult perceptions of the meanings
of appearance/race/gender
• White children may be treated more benevolently that
children who do not look European American
• If persons define situations as real, they are real in their
consequences

13. Advantages of Dehumanizing
Others
• Historically
• Genocide of American Indians freed up the
land
• US Economy boomed during slavery
• Today: Cheap Labor
• Farm workers
• Undocumented workers
• For Some, Feeling Superior is a Boost

14. Practice Principles
• Children of color who act out in schools & elsewhere
require special care
• Often have experienced complex trauma
• Experiences of racism included
• Have a systems of beliefs that guide their behaviors
• Work with parents and the children
• Work with school personnel
• Develop relationships
• Offer services such as group work, recreational
opportunities, opportunities to develop talents
• Recreational opportunities that build on children’s
interests

15. Effects of Racism: Interpersonal
• How young people think is laid down in the
brains’ neural pathways from birth and
even before birth.
• Experiences shapes us long before we have
choices about how to behave
• We have choices about how we behave but our
choices are limited according to our
interpretations of our experiences
• Practice principle:
• Our jobs are to understand other persons’
interpretations of their experiences

16. Effects of Racism:
Interpersonal
• Parents socialize children
• By who they are
• Some model resilience in racist contexts
• Some do not

17. Effects of Racism:
Interpersonal
• Parents socialize children (cont’d)
• By how they respond to their children
• Some socialize their children to understand and
cope with racisms
• Some cannot: too disorganized themselves
• Many others socialize children
• Some foster coping well with racism: resilience
• Some do not

18. Practice Principles
• Empathy
• Listen
• Seek to understand meanings of behaviors
• Don’t assume
• You can’t do much
• Be a reflective practitioner
• Open up to internalized racism
• Think in terms of butterfly effect

19. Practice Principles
• Dealing with our own privileges
• We have them
• We did not chose them
• We accept them
• We know we are no better than anyone else
• SW Ethics
• Dignity & worth of all persons
• Social and economic justice
• Care

20. Practice Principles
• We are social workers because of these
values
• Others may be defensive about their
privilege
• Some unmovable
• Some open to change

21. Practice Principles
• Words encapsulate beliefs about other
people.
• These beliefs translate into policies,
• programs, every day practices, and inner
working models of those
• who hold these beliefs and
• those who are the subject of these beliefs.

22. Intersectionality/Identity
• Race & gender
• Differential effects of racism by gender
• Practice Question
• What do behaviors mean in the contexts of
racism and gender
• How about when poverty is an issue?
• How about when age is an issue?
• How about sexual identity?
• Unaddressed complex trauma at issue?
• Parents with unaddressed complex trauma?

23. Identity Formation
• Who am in these intersectionalities of status
variables?
• How do I internalize experiences connected to
intersectionalities?
• What specific experiences have I had that
connect to these intersectionalities?
• How are these intersectionalities connected to
cultural-wide beliefs and practices?

24. Coping & Resistance
• Coping=Resilience
• Resilience=adversities + use of resources
• Racism-Specific Coping
• Identify the adversities
• Respond to the adversities
• Structural/culture wide responses
• Interpersonal responses

25. Coping & Resistance
• Responses to adversities associated with
racisms
• Structural/culture wide responses
• Critical race theory
• Names racist practices
• Advocates against racist practices & beliefs
• Counterstories to push back against dominant
stories
• Research & Teaching

26. Coping & Resistance
• Responses to the adversities
• Research & Teaching
• Organized resistance: Example
• Civil rights movement
• Chavez: National Farm Workers’
Movement
• Ghandi in India
• Advocacy & Organizing

27. Coping & Resistance
• Responses to the adversities
• Policies--examples
• Scholarships & Grants
• Head Start
• Indigenous Peoples Day
• Voting Rights

28. Coping & Resistance
• Interpersonal responses
• Parents socialize children
• Other institutions socialize children
• Invite children and parents in
• Be safe havens

29. Coping & Resistance
• Interpersonal responses (Continue)
• Teachers, social service providers
• UNDERSTAND PERSONS IN CONTEXTS
• Listen, show, teach, and refer when professional
services are required
• Partner with parents, schools, legislators, policy
makers
• Join advocacy groups
• organize
• VOTE

30. Coping & Resistance
• Interpersonal responses (continued)
• Create safety
• Safety is first
• Children learn when they feel safe
• They cooperate
• When they dysregulate
• Safety is first
• Build coping once re-regulated
• Listen
• Affirm
• Show other ways of responding to triggers

31. Teaching about Projections
• Is racism related to projections of what is
inside of us onto others?
• Do we project what is inside of us onto
others?
• How about when we meet someone we
like?
• Are these positive projections?
• If we become friends or marry this person, do our
first impressions change?
• Are first impressions projections?

32. Teach about Projections
• Are we aware of our projections?
• What are our beliefs and images about race?
• How do we become aware of our inner beliefs
and images?
• How do we test our inner beliefs and images?
• What can we do to change our inner beliefs and
images?

33. Resources
• Du Bois, W.E.B. (1935). Black reconstruction.
New York: Harcourt, Brace, & Co.
• Penumbra Theater, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA
• Northside Achievement Zone, Minneapolis, MN,
USA
• NAACP
• Critical race theory
• Social stratification theory
• Life course theory
• Early movies of Spike Lee

34. Resources
• Immerse yourself in the cultures of others
• Festivals
• Novels
• Study groups
• Organizations
• Volunteer work in schools and mentoring programs
• Work in soup kitchens
• Work with the homeless
• Use your own talents in the many programs for youth
in your own communities

35. Resources
• Listen
• Know you don’t know
• Empathy: Walk a mile in the shoes of
others
• Values: Dignity and worth of all persons of
all ages, social class, gender, races,
abilities, looks
• Equal opportunities, level playing grounds
• Be willing to change your mind when
evidence warrants it

36. Resources
•What else?