“Liberty and justice for all”
Photo of Taishya Adams as a child playing in the sand on the beach.
That phrase has been and continues to be a driving force in my life. That’s what you get when required to recite this phrase everyday in public elementary school in Virginia. Growing up in a family of firsts, I believed that the American Dream was possible for all who worked hard enough – merit based. Believing the myth of rugged individualism. My grandfather was one of the first Black men with an engineering company and my mom the first to integrate her high school. I grew up witnessing my family make a way out of no way. Doing things “Black people don’t do.”
Ever since I was a little Black girl, I was told that if we Black folk just got educated, secured degrees, had the right jobs and work experiences, we would get a place in the American Dream. The latest election for US President revealed many things about the state of that dream. I am angry that the meritocracy that we have been taught and reflected in policy is not implemented in practice. Far from it.
As I look around at the election carnage, I am grateful for this “Grieving the Culture” series where we embrace themes of anger and denial. This blog continues our journey that crosswalks the grief spiral with the cultural competence continuum.
Spiral of Grief and the Cultural Competence Continuum
Today, we will focus on part one of the cultural competence continuum and the grieving spiral that is rooted in anger and denial. Missed the series introduction, visit here to access the Saving Humanity One Tear at a Time blog post.
Exit polls also reveal a huge gap between peoples beliefs and worldviews. Differences between those who deny the full realities of the past and present – an absolute ‘us’ versus ‘them’ worldview – and those who embraced the full humanity without the need to assimilate. This election has revealed the power of anger and denial. People on very different parts of the cultural competence continuum.
Is Anger good or bad?
What is anger? How does it show up in our personal and professional lives that shape our culture? What if this anger can break through denial?
Reflecting back on times I have been angered about the disconnect and doublespeak that plagues US cultural identity, I recall a beautiful summer’s day in Tennessee. Walking down a country road, my new friends from the Children’s Defense Find Freedom Schools. My new Black and African American friends from around the country. We were laughing and enjoying the vibrant green leaves, huge branches and tree trunks. Between jokes, a friend asked us to quiet down for a moment as they heard birdsongs.
Just then we heard a truck approaching from behind. In an instant, our joy turned terror as we turned to see where the sounds were coming from. Before I turned around a pit already formed in my stomach. Perhaps the microbial DNA of my ancestors who knew this sound could mean a lynching awaits.
“Get out of here N*gger. Go back to Africa”
Angry, afraid, scared. I didn’t have the cultural competence language at the time but now know these young White men in the truck here in a state of cultural defensiveness. Defending their stolen land and illusions. A denial of the full history that shaped this country including who did what, where, when, and how. Denial of the forced, unseeded removal of Indigenous people to turtle island. Denial of the trials and triumphs of African Americans. Denial of the reason why ethnically diverse people from other countries would emigrate to the US. Denial of the international industrial complex that includes the military, banking institutions, development institutions.
Thankfully, the truck continued on its way without stopping. As it pulled in front of us, we could see the confederate flag in the window and two shotguns on a rack. Being robbed of land, language, culture, history to build wealth for people who despise us, it’s a brain melter. Then to learn how that built wealth is expanded through international dealings that mirror the inequality approaches at home. I had a rude awakening about our international aid programs while pursuing my masters degree in International Education.
At the time in the early 2000s, the USAID program required that 70% of the aid be used to purchase from US based companies. Here we see a non-representative democracy make decisions for another country as if they have been suck wonderful stewards to all humans on their own country.
Cultural defensiveness, destruction, and incapacity looks like rage, doublespeak, gaslighting, half truth telling where words and actions don’t align. One of my favorite poets and musician, Saul Williams, has a song called, List of Demands” in it he sings,
“I want my money back
I’m down here drowning in your fat
You got me on my knees
Praying for everything you lack
I ain’t afraid of you
I’m just a victim of your fears
You cower in your tower
Praying that I’ll disappear
I got another plan
One that requires me to stand
On the stage or in the street
Don’t need no microphone or beat
And when you hear this song
If you ain’t dead sing along
Bang and strum to these here drums
Till you get where you belong”
Defensive, destruction, and incapacity rests on denial. It requires an ‘ivory tower’ to facilitate cognitive dissonance that the brain allows and sometimes encourages. Cultural defensiveness, destruction, and incapacity breeds half steppers and compromises made for the illusion of shared resources and humanity. Which compromises … the Missouri Compromise is a great example. Couple this with a human mind that can be easily tricked and controlled. Thus the intergenerational battle for who controls public education.
Quote by Toni Morrison on the function of racism.
Denial and Dissonance
We now live in such a data rich environment. An environment where within a minute, you can access video and audio recordings, books, articles, studies, films, and a variety of different ways of learning new information. How is denial possible now?
The human brain is magnificent. So many complex processes that can allow movement, laughter, etc. The brain also can deceive us and policymakers, their lobbyists, donors, and marketers know it. The purpose of assimilation and exclusionary practices – made possible by the divide and conquer edict – set us up to actually fight for the status quo.
This denial is a constructed and effective distraction. Toni Morrison wrote extensively on the role of racism to distract and divide. I am exasperated by the constant distraction of racism which requires us to be on the defense proving our humanity and right to exist again and again and again.
Moving Through Grief Support
Grief knows no timeline. The ebbs and flows can last a lifetime. Grief looks different for every person and can change within the same person. Judge less, experience more. For me, music and movement is where I can allow grief to flow. Below are a few of my go to songs, meditations, and breathwork exercises.
Cover photo of Zee Clarke and Black People Breath Releasing Anger Meditation
- Songs that Soothe My Soul: Ease. Release. Relief.
- Meditations in Wisdom: Black People Breathe: Releasing Anger by Zee Clarke
- Breathwork Exercises: Anger & Tension Release Through Kriya & Breathwork
Where do we go from here?
Next week, we will explore the second half of the cultural continuum which offers pathways towards individual and collective healing. We will unpack cultural bargaining, pre-competence, and proficiency.
We are on an intergenerational continuum. Our ancestors have prepared us well to meet this moment if we are willing to use the fire of anger to dismantle dissonance and restore collective humanity.
