Prejudice and Pride

The following is an excerpted transcript of a live chat about "Prejudice and Racism" held here on Psybersquare.

PSYCoach Winner:
Welcome to the Psybersquare Live Conference in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday. We're pleased to see all of you here tonight, and we eagerly look forward to all your comments, questions and thoughts when Mark is finished speaking.

It's my pleasure to introduce Mark Sichel, Founder and Editor in Chief of Psybersquare. Mark's talk tonight is called "Prejudice and Pride" and he will address the current controversy over Atlanta Brave's pitcher John Rocker's racist, homophobic, and xenophobic remarks in Sports Illustrated magazine last month.

Mark will focus on understanding prejudice as a psychological problem which causes dysfunction and poor self-esteem for people. Please message me if you would like to ask a question or comment at the end of Mark's talk.

Mark Sichel:
The recent flood of opinion and editorial in response to John Rocker's racist comments in Sports Illustrated last month, has, in many ways, served to cloud the issue of the meaning of bigotry and prejudice. We can discuss all we want as to whether racism is a mental illness, Nonetheless, in my opinion, based on many years of working with people is that racism, bigotry, discrimination, & stereotypes are all signs of:

1. A person who doesn't know themselves

2. A person who doesn't like themselves

3. A person who lacks pride, integrity and spiritual balance

Here is a clinical example from my therapy practice which illustrates my thinking:

A client, let's call him Stan, 32, for therapy recently, and related the following. This is, of course, is in abbreviated form and modified to protect the client's anonymity. Stan is a graduate student studying for an M.B.A. He is in recovery from alcoholism and attends Alcoholics Anonymous regularly in addition to his psychotherapy.

Stan said to me recently: "I watched American History X last night. It's the movie with Ed Norton about neo Nazis. It made me realize how prejudiced I am, and it really freaked me out. It's so against the grain of everything I work on in therapy and in my efforts to be a spiritual human being.. I found a lot of my own stuff coming out, & found myself really believing the racist propoganda. I was shocked, amazed, and appalled by these feelings and racist thoughts in me.

I said to Stan, "You project everything you don't like about yourself onto Black people.

Stan: "Wow. I'm speechless."

Mark: "Why?"

Stan: "Cause you're right. That's exactly it."

Mark:"You don't like being a racist."

Stan: "Its poison; it's spiritually sick. I don't know what to do with the feelings."

Mark: "They're all about projecting unwanted and disavowed parts of yourself on to the Blacks. I think it's

very similar for homophobes, like the boys in Wyoming who murdered Matthew Shepard. They hate the homosexual feelings inside them and can't acknowledge them, and this leads to heinous acts of violence..

Stan: " I never thought about that, but still don't know what to do with these feelings. They make me really uncomfortable."

Mark:"I understand. The feelings will go away with time, as you start to accept yourself more and like yourself more.

I presented this brief vignette to illustrate to all of you how, in a general way, racism and bigotry can be part of the outcome of being confused, feeling weak, and not liking yourself.

As far as whether or not racism is a mental illness, I would say that the only reason it is not considered one is that it is still sanctioned by so many Americans. I would agree with Dr. Alvin Poussaint, Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, who was quoted in the New York Times, Saturday, January 15, "If you have a mental process that leads some people to commit genocide, how can you not think that's a mental disorder?"

I would add to Dr. Poussaint's comment that racism and bigotry is also a sign of spiritual sickness, self hatred, and maldadaptive functioning.

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