Emotional Resiliency and Accountability Training

*For organizations*

Module 2: Leaning into the truth on how whiteness shows up in us

Breaking patterns of harm requires taking responsibility for ourselves and the legacy of whiteness, with dignity and humility. When we push through our human instinct to self-protect, and really lean into exploring how white supremacy has shaped us, we make space to reflect and choose who we want to be instead allowing cultural programming to shape us.

The body is a truth cord

As I learned from Langston Kahn, the body is a truth cord, with a concentration of information in our gut, heart, and mind. The body is a silent observer when any of those three parts are not in alignment, or are blocked because we are hiding something from ourselves.

While paying attention to your body as a truth cord, take some time to reflect on the questions below, written by Bob Anderson. Thinking about diversity, inclusion, equity, and belonging efforts in your spheres of influence, choose one or two that you know you should answer for yourself. Please take some notes on what answers come to you, paying attention to any messages your body (as a truth cord) gives you.

  1. Is there an important truth I haven’t been willing to tell?
  2. Is there something I haven’t been willing to hear from someone else?
  3. Have I been living in fear of the worst?
  4. Have I been pretending to know more than I really know?
  5. Is there something I should have done that I’ve left undone?
  6. Have I been waiting for someone or something else to rescue me?

Accountability and some symptoms of whiteness

Please watch the following video, and then complete the question prompts below.

Folks who move through the world as white commonly have a deeply embodied distorted sense of self. Below are some ways that might show up for white folks.

If you get really honest with yourself, which of these do you recognize in yourself? Please write down some key words or notes on how you see these show up for you. 

  • individualism: I, I, I instead of we, we, we – “I need to prove my worth or I will be rejected.”
  • entitlement: I, I, I instead of we, we, we – safety and comfort for self at the expense of others
  • white supremacy has a spoiled child effect on us: hoarding space and resources, with little patience when we don’t get our way (thinking our rights are being taken when we’re asked to only take our fair share)
  • white exceptionalism: many of us white folks in social justice movements think anti-racist practices aren’t about ourself, we think it’s about other white folks
    • there is no anti-racism resume that makes us immune to doing the work of unpacking our internalized white supremacy, iteratively and forever
  • white superiority: our minds and bodies are programmed that whiteness is normal and a bit better
    • often results in white folks (including those of us who see ourselves as social justice-oriented) acting like a boss, supervisor, or expert (giving unsolicited advice, thinking there’s an objectively “best” way, talking too much, over-valuing their opinion, and centering ourselves instead of the whole group)
  • individual/ancestral trauma mixed with whiteness can show up in ways that take up a lot of space, cause numbness or apathy, and/or can result in violence towards Black and Brown folks
    • “I have suffered, therefore the world owes me.”
    • “I was treated like I wasn’t smart, so now I constantly try to prove I am smart.”
    • “I can’t feel into my heart because I need to protect myself from grief.” 
    • “If I am not seen as good, I will be rejected—there is not enough unconditional love for me.”

Racial microaggressions

Although the term “microaggressions” can be a useful term, racial microaggressions are not micro in their impacts on People of Color.

From Perceived microaggressions in health care: A measurement study (Cruz et al., 2019):

  • “The current study found that racial microaggressions [are] correlated with depression and anxiety as well as with psychological stress. These findings are consistent with previous research that found evidence to suggest that negative health symptoms, such as depression and anxiety, manifested from the strain associated with experiencing racial microaggressions.”

Some examples of racial microaggressions:

Pulled from Racial microaggressions against African American clients in cross-racial counseling relationships (Constantine, 2007).

Please make note of any of these you have said, thought, and/or witnessed. Here are more examples if you don’t see any in these two boxes to pull from.

If you are newly realizing you have said or thought any of these things, know that this is what we are practicing in this training: facing the truth, letting it burn though us, and integrate this knowledge moving forward. You didn’t know, and now you do.

Do a body scan to see what your body needs (a walk outside, water, stretching, dancing, etc.). Click here if you want to access the guided body scan from Module 1.

Notice if you have any emotions that need to be tended to. Consider reaching out to a trusted support person to process out loud.

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