Implicit Bias

Lessons consist of PowerPoint presentations

Historic & Multigenerational Trauma:  Compounded loss and repeated trauma have been part and parcel of the experience of boys and men of color in the United States in many aspects of their lives, on all levels of social functioning, from individual to societal, in generation after generation. The accumulation of such trauma creates high vulnerability to further disruption, loss, and trauma. Repeated, traumatic, and overwhelming losses have been endemic to the experience of boys and men of color in the United States. Until recently the reality of that experience has remained largely invisible, leading to a pervasive ignorance concerning their past and their contributions to the building of this country. With no power to affect the writing of American history, few resources to disseminate their story, and little to no influence to assure that they would be listened to, their place in history has been known through stereotypes, untruths, and omissions that they have been unable to challenge. Because of the imperative of survival they have colluded in their invisibility through blocking out the painful degradation of their realities, sealing off the past, and looking to the future. This examination of loss and its effects upon boys and men of color is a contribution to the recent attempts at revising history to include the true experience of the marginalized, the subjugated, and the silenced.

The consequent confluence of conditions under which they have been forced to live has exerted an ongoing and unrelentingly disruptive and traumatic effect upon their efforts to build cohesive families and communities to ensure their survival. From their arrival years ago to the present day, their existence has been marked by massive and repetitive losses. As a result, the family and the community, the social institutions most significant to human survival, have been in perpetual peril.

Evidence of this trauma-plagued existence is reflected in many social indicators of the quality of current life for boys and men of color: the high rate of poverty, marital disruption, single-parent families, incarceration, drug and alcohol abuse, homelessness, poor school achievement and dropout, children in foster care, and disparities in health morbidity and mortality. These realities are the endpoint of multiple years of accumulated loss, traumatization, and the transmission of racial stress in a multi-generational and cultural manner.

The “Gaining Clarity & Urban Cultural Construct” models view all behavior as occurring in a larger social and historical context, serving a specific function. As such, behavior is a product of one’s learning history, encompassing family dynamics, specific circumstances, thoughts and feelings.

The models focus on improving the skills of the client/student who has demonstrated an inability to self-regulate, develop goals and a vision for life. Assessment of the behavior will use a behavioral analysis to identify the contextual variables and the function of the behavior. Using basic behavioral change techniques of shaping, reinforcement, extinction, and contingency management, the model engages the client/student in the change process, targets behavior using a hierarchy system and then teaches the client/student specific behavioral skills to change his/her actions, thoughts or feelings.

Instructional value of material to clients/students:

• Enhanced understanding of clients/students and challenges they face!
• Clearer understanding the stages of psychosocial development!
• Better understanding of core needs and common coping strategies!
• Enhanced ability to identify individuals that are helping to shape the clients/students belief system and how to approach “faulty or irrational” beliefs!
• Staff/Teachers gain knowledge on how to positively guide students in developing a process to respond to the environmental conditioning that is occurring!
• Enhanced understanding of the 5-psychological sets!
• Enhanced understanding of the 5-stages of minority identification development!
• Enhanced understanding of the 7-cultural resilience builders!

1. Urban Cultural Construct: the unique development of personality and identity, heavily influenced by cultural identification, accentuated by marginalization and stigmatization from the majority culture.

Urban cultural construct is predominant among minority groups, in urban areas, that are characterized by violence, drug use/dealing, single parent homes, adverse childhood experiences, traumatic events, and serious economic and academic challenges.                          

• Urban Cultural Construct Conditioning:

• A way of thinking and patterns of self-defeating learned behaviors, often introduced by significant others in the individuals immediate environment.
• This conditioning is typically a result of marginalization (economic, academic, political) resulting in poverty – combined with poor parenting skills, accentuated by Adverse Childhood Experiences, contributing to  percentages of urban minorities being conditioned to be less academically invested, less economically astute, and the intense need to be accepted by culturally significant others.
• Conditioning allows an individual to essentially function on “auto-pilot” – by moralizing and justifying his/her beliefs. Once an individual moralizes and justifies his/her belief system through urban cultural construct, the individual can act on his/her beliefs without processing/filtering beliefs, thoughts, and behavior through any pro-social, moral, or rational process. 
• This conditioning allows individuals to act in self-defeating ways that intensify marginalization attempts of others.

• Urban Cultural Construct Conditioning – Core Components:

(a) Beliefs: Cultural conditioning begins at 3 or 4 years of age. If the majority of messages or injunctions in the individuals environment during his/her formative years ignore, negate, or denigrate the desire to achieve of the individual, particularly messages from family members or culturally significant others, the individual can become environmentally conditioned to develop a self-defeating and anti-social belief system -built upon negative messages and injunctions.

• 5-Stages of Urban Cultural Construct

1. Cultural Identification: identification with the values, beliefs, traditions, social relationships, political beliefs and worldview created, shared, and transferred by a group of people bound together by a common history, geographic location, language, social class and/or religion.
2. Traumatic Identification: the impact of traumatic events on one’s development, beliefs, confidence, outlook, and overall ability to function.
3. Marginalization: attempts by one culture to minimize the identity, progress, and exposure to economic power, social, political, & mainstream influence of a different culture – characterized by as lack of exposure, access, and opportunity.
4. Stigmatization: a mark of disgrace or reproach. Beliefs held by the majority culture that young urban minorities are violent, academically inferior/uninterested, overly sexual, impulsive and overly image conscious.
5. Criminal Seduction/Attraction: increased risk to be lured into criminal behavior, due to traumatic events and Adverse Childhood Experiences, negative effects of marginalization and stigmatization, combined with daunting socio-economic challenges, under-performing educational systems, and poor parenting practices.

• The 5-Stages of Minority Identification Development

1. Conformity Stage: minority groups face the choice of conforming to the majority culture – can result in feelings/beliefs of marginalization.
2. Dissonance Stage: internal conflict with conformity to majority culture, culture of origin issues. Lack of power from connecting with one’s inherent self – intrinsic motivation.
3. Resistance Stage: extreme cultural connection-issue of personal and cultural insecurity.
4. Introspection & Awareness Stage: ability to be self-critical & self-validating, ability to objectively evaluate one’s own culture.
5. Articulation: ability to appreciate & articulate strengths of one’s own culture of origin-while respecting the culture of others.

Strengths

• Clients/Students are made aware that specific stages of development exist.
• Clients/Students can work to enhance performance in each stage.

Instructional value of material to clients/students:

• Enhanced understanding of clients/students and challenges they face!
• Clearer understanding the stages of psychosocial development!
• Better understanding of core needs and common coping strategies!
• Enhanced ability to identify individuals that are helping to shape the clients/students belief system and how to approach “faulty or irrational” beliefs!
• Staff/Teachers gain knowledge on how to positively guide students in developing a process to respond to the environmental conditioning that is occurring!
• Enhanced understanding of the 5-psychological sets!
• Enhanced understanding of the 5-stages of minority identification development!
• Enhanced understanding of the 7-cultural resilience builders!