This article was downloaded by: [Case Western Reserve University]On: 30 October 2014, At: 11:39Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House,37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Social Work with GroupsPublication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wswg20

Talking with Adolescents About Race and Ethnicity:What a Group Worker NeedsIrene Shen MSW aa New York City Environmental Justice Alliance , 115 West 30 Street, Room 709, New York,NY, 10001Published online: 08 Sep 2008.

To cite this article: Irene Shen MSW (2004) Talking with Adolescents About Race and Ethnicity: What a Group Worker Needs,Social Work with Groups, 26:3, 61-76, DOI: 10.1300/J009v26n03_07

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1300/J009v26n03_07

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) containedin the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make norepresentations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of theContent. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, andare not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon andshould be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable forany losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoeveror howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use ofthe Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematicreproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in anyform to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Talking with AdolescentsAbout Race and Ethnicity:

What a Group Worker Needs

Irene Shen

ABSTRACT. This paper discusses two necessary characteristics of agroup worker who is exploring issues of race and ethnicity with adoles-cents. These two characteristics are: (1) the knowledge and ability to ex-plain systems of oppression, especially as they relate to racial and ethnicoppression, and (2) a secure and positive sense of self. Discussions ofrace and ethnicity are not exclusive to groups which have workers withthese characteristics; however, groups with workers who exhibit these char-acteristics will engage in dialogues of greater depth, honesty, and authentic-ity. [Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document DeliveryService: 1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail address: <docdelivery@haworthpress.com>Website:<http://www.HaworthPress.com> © 2003 by The Haworth Press, Inc. Allrights reserved.]

KEYWORDS. Race, ethnicity, People of Color, systems of oppression,positive sense of self, group work, adolescents

Fear stymies the depth at which discussions about race and ethnicitycan happen with adolescents. It often relegates these conversations toshallow versions of multiculturalism where the expectation is merely toaccept difference. Racial and ethnic identities affect daily existence.

Irene Shen, MSW, is Open Space Equity Campaign Director, New York City Envi-ronmental Justice Alliance, 115 West 30 Street, Room 709, New York, NY 10001.

Social Work with Groups, Vol. 26(3) 2003http://www.haworthpress.com/web/SWG

2003 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.Digital Object Identifier: 10.1300/J009v26n03_07 61

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cas

e W

este

rn R

eser

ve U

nive

rsity

] at

11:

39 3

0 O

ctob

er 2

014

People not identified as White European persons, who do not receivethe privilege of that dominant racial and ethnic population, fall within acategory of racial minority in this country and are the targets of racism,while those who benefit from the privileges of their White European an-cestry are the agents of that oppression. An individual’s status as amember of a minority group in the United States results in potential per-ception of racial discrimination everyday (Romero and Roberts, 1998).Asking anyone to blindly accept difference is to dismiss and invalidatethese daily experiences. In this paper, those who identify as racial mi-norities in the U.S. will be referred to as People of Color, and those whobenefit from the privileges of White European ancestry will be referredto as White people.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss two necessary characteristicsof a group worker who is exploring issues of race and ethnicity with ad-olescents. These two characteristics are: (1) the knowledge and abilityto explain systems of oppression, especially as they relate to racial andethnic oppression, and (2) a secure and positive sense of self. Discus-sions of race and ethnicity are not exclusive to groups that have workerswith these characteristics; however, groups with workers who exhibitthese characteristics will engage in dialogues of greater depth, honesty,and authenticity.

These characteristics are needed by all group workers, regardless oftheir race and ethnicity, working with group members of any racial andethnic background and trying to explore issues of race and ethnicity.This paper, however, is based on the specific experiences of the author,a group worker of Chinese heritage working with 13-year-olds of Colorin which her own race and ethnicity was in the minority among thegroup members, most of whom were Latino.

The excerpts included in this paper are from two groups of 13-year-oldswho attended an after-school program at P.S. 314 through the Center forFamily Life, a community-based social service agency in Brooklyn’s Sun-set Park neighborhood. The neighborhood is a racially and ethnically di-verse community of color. Its population is 52.7% Latino,predominantly Puerto Rican; 17.4% Asian or Pacific Islander, predomi-nantly Chinese; 3.5% people of African heritage; and 22.8% White peo-ple (Census 2000). In general, the community is working class andgenerally lacks resources, e.g., no local high school, a polluted environ-ment with an expressway, multiple industrial complexes along the wa-terfront, exploited community labor in local sweat shops, and a weakcommunity economy.

62 SOCIAL WORK WITH GROUPS

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cas

e W

este

rn R

eser

ve U

nive

rsity

] at

11:

39 3

0 O

ctob

er 2

014

While the community suffers from societal oppressions of povertyand racism, these oppressions are manifested into a hierarchy of raceand ethnicity specific to the community’s local history and influencedby the national and international histories of our global societies. Be-cause Puerto Ricans have the longest history in the community and arecurrently the largest population, they reign as Sunset Park’s majority ina society where they are a targeted minority. In recent years, there hasbeen an increased number of Mexican and Central American immi-grants. There is also a long-standing community of Chinese immigrantswhich continues to grow alongside the Puerto Rican community. Withinthis diverse population of People of Color are complex racial and ethnictensions where limited resources in housing, jobs, and social services re-sult in community in-fighting. It is from this community that the obser-vations in this paper are based about the characteristics of a worker thatare necessary for that worker to facilitate an honest discussion aboutrace and ethnicity with adolescents of color.

GROUPS

“Groups are a social microcosm of the wider society” (Brown andMistry, 1994, p. 7). As such, the dynamics among group members areinformed by what happens in the community outside of the group. Ten-sions, conflicts, and confusions that exist in the “wider society” emergein small groups where group members play out their struggles in a moreintimate setting. Groups are wonderful places where issues of descrip-tive difference, traits describing a person, e.g., race, sexual orientation,socioeconomic status, etc., can be discussed and explored. “[D]iversitythat exists between the members of a social work group can provide aunique and rich opportunity for members to be exposed to a range of be-liefs and attitudes” (Northen and Kurland, 2001, p. 229). In groups,members make contact with people of different racial and ethnic back-grounds, engage in dialogues about difference, build trusting relationships,receive accurate information, and, more broadly, challenge oppressions in-stitutionally (Miller and Donner, 2000).

Unfortunately, issues of race and ethnicity have become difficult todiscuss openly.

Perhaps this is because of the historical legacy of slavery and op-pression based on race and the existence of societal prejudice, big-

Irene Shen 63

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cas

e W

este

rn R

eser

ve U

nive

rsity

] at

11:

39 3

0 O

ctob

er 2

014

otry, and stereotyping, all of which can combine to make race adifficult area for discussion. (Northen and Kurland, 2001, p. 229)

The history of mistreatment and injustice faced by People of Color tar-geted with racial and ethnic oppression makes them feel unsafe, infuri-ated and hopeless about having honest discussions regarding race andethnicity (Miller and Donner, 2000). White people, whose racial iden-tity categorizes them as agents of racial and ethnic oppression, oftencarry feelings of shame and guilt for being identified as an oppressorand potentially act defensively, or they do not understand their racialand/or ethnic privilege, both feeling and acting superior (Miller andDonner, 2000). While there is nothing inherently awkward about thetopic, the consistent silence surrounding racial and ethnic differencesconveys a message that the topic is forbidden and cannot be talkedabout openly. For group members,

[d]ifferences that are rooted in race and culture often seem to befeared . . . and therefore not talked about openly. Too often, discus-sion of such differences seems to be a taboo. (Northen andKurland, 2001, p. 229)

The group worker needs skills to lead the group towards a discussionabout race and ethnicity and to support group members in discussionabout it (Shulman, 1986). Once the topic is broached by the group, thenthe group worker needs to keep the group “in the mess” (personal com-munication, Roselle Kurland, December 13, 2001) of exploration of apotentially tough dialogue about race and ethnicity. The problem-solvingprocess, based on John Dewy’s model (as cited in Northen and Kurland,2001) and tailored to the group work process by Northen and Kurland(2001), encourages the group worker to help group members stay in theexploration stage of a problem rather than rushing prematurely to findsolutions to the problem. Similarly, a group worker needs to articulatethe hierarchy of power that exists between White people and People ofColor and help group members stay in the exploration stage of that dis-cussion rather than rushing group members blindly to accept difference,a move that parallels the rush to arrive at solutions in the problem-solv-ing process. Recognizing the power differentials may be the toughestpart of a discussion of race and ethnicity, as it challenges both groupworker and members to examine their own identities within a hierarchyof power as well as their behaviors, attitudes, and biases about people ofdifferent races and/or ethnicities.

64 SOCIAL WORK WITH GROUPS

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cas

e W

este

rn R

eser

ve U

nive

rsity

] at

11:

39 3

0 O

ctob

er 2

014

A dynamic that commonly surfaces in the face of discussions aboutrace and ethnicity is scapegoating among group members. Scapegoatingoccurs when a group member “is attacked by the rest of the group in oneway or another” (Shulman, 1967). Descriptive differences of raceand/or ethnicity are easy targets for attacks. Attacks may take the formof direct comments about race and/or ethnicity, or they may be maskedby some other pretext but motivated by racial and ethnic differences.While scapegoating is a common dynamic during the middles stage in agroup, if racial or ethnic scapegoating occurs, the group worker mustpurposefully place attention on the racial and/or ethnic aspects of thescapegoating so as not to perpetuate the silence that usually occursaround the topic. If no mention of race and ethnicity is made, then themessage is sent that such comments and motivations are tolerated andthat future racism and/or ethnic oppression is permissible.

SYSTEMS OF OPPRESSION

Injustice is pervasive in our society. The sociopolitical frameworkthat compartmentalizes difference creates identity groups that are tar-geted with oppression and identity groups that are the agents of that op-pression, e.g., People of Color and White people. Injustice is thenmaintained by the unequal power dynamics that result. The agents ofoppression appear to benefit from this system, and the targets of the op-pression suffer noticeably. All people are affected by these power dy-namics dictated by difference. As adolescents gravitate toward peergroups and explore their own identities during this developmental stage(Erikson, 1968), they are keenly aware of difference. Adolescents ofColor experience the harsh realities of these differences as they walkaround their communities, go to school, and are bombarded by racistimages in the media. While adolescents are exposed to these social dif-ferences, there is not often an explanation of how these differences arerelated to positions of power. A social group worker can provide educa-tion, exploration, and guidance as adolescents try to make sense of theseideas.

The following excerpt occured during the middles stage of a group of13-year-olds who are all Latina with varying ethnicities. During the ses-sion, the group worker purposely created an unequal power dynamicwithout first explaining this to the group members. The group membersresponded with an acute awareness of difference and the association be-tween difference and preferential treatment. The relationship between

Irene Shen 65

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cas

e W

este

rn R

eser

ve U

nive

rsity

] at

11:

39 3

0 O

ctob

er 2

014

difference and preferential treatment is not related to race in this ex-change, but “racist” is used as a label for the person who mistreats oth-ers based on difference.

Worker: Here Jen. (throws a small bag of M&Ms to Jen, turnsback toward group and starts writing on the butcher paper)

Members: (perturbed) Hey, where is mine? How come we don’tget any? Can I have some?

Worker: No, I don’t have any more, just that one bag I gave to Jen.(continues to write)

Members: That’s not fair! Why don’t we get any?

Worker: You’re right, it’s not fair.

Jess: It’s ’cause she’s the quiet one.

Lisa: Why is it Jen?

Members: Hey (they start to look around), she’s wearing glasses.(points to worker) And you’re wearing glasses!

Laura: You’re being racist to people who don’t have glasses!

Worker: (hadn’t noticed that Jen was the only other person wear-ing glasses) You’re right, she is the only one wearing glasses.

Members: If we have glasses, can we get some too?

Lisa: I have glasses, can I go get my glasses?!

Laura: You’re being racist to people who don’t have glasses!

Laura did not have a full understanding of “racist.” However, sheknew enough to equate it with unfairness and inequality. The languageof racism is commonplace enough for adolescents to use it casually, butthere is not enough information provided for them to use the terms cor-rectly. To explore and discuss the term “racist” requires a clear explana-tion of why a White person who negatively stereotypes a Person of

66 SOCIAL WORK WITH GROUPS

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cas

e W

este

rn R

eser

ve U

nive

rsity

] at

11:

39 3

0 O

ctob

er 2

014

Color is racist, but a Person of Color who negatively stereotypes aWhite person is not racist but may have biases. Understanding a hierar-chy of power within an oppressive system can help clarify these con-cepts. Without exploration into the dynamics of power between racialand ethnic groups, muddled discussions may result, leaving both groupworker and group members confused and frustrated. In addition, groupmembers lose an opportunity to examine their own attitudes and behav-iors based on racial and ethnic stereotypes.

Racial and ethnic differences are exploited in our society. The inunda-tion of messages about our racial and ethnic differences leaves people con-ditioned to believing negative stereotypes about people different fromthemselves as well as believing in their own racial and ethnic superiorityand/or inferiority. Adolescents participate in this system, whether they real-ize it or not. This setup leaves them misinformed and “dumbed-down” with-out ever being offered an explanation of why these stereotypes exist and howthey are perpetuated by a system that thrives from misinformation.

The next excerpt comes from a mixed gender group of 13-year-oldLatinos/as during the beginning stage of the group. The group membersare commenting on a cultural difference between the washing habits ofpeople in the U.S. and washing habits of Arab immigrants in the U.S.Although the difference itself bears nothing unusual, their judgment istainted by an attitude of U.S. cultural superiority and the recent stereo-types of Arabs as terrorists.

Gina: Yeah, they’re gross. They’re terrorists.

Worker: (gives a look of surprise) Are they all terrorists?

Dave: No they aren’t. Only a few Arabs were responsible for 9/11.We can’t say that all Arabs are terrorists. But they don’t takeshowers.

Worker: Did you know about the Arabs before 9/11?

Dave: No, not really.

Jess: No.

Dave: After September 11th, the whole world knew about Osamabin Laden.

Irene Shen 67

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cas

e W

este

rn R

eser

ve U

nive

rsity

] at

11:

39 3

0 O

ctob

er 2

014

Eda: True, but they still smell. Why don’t they wash more? (at theend of the group)

Eda: Today I learned that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover,and some Arabs smell, but not all.

During this discussion, before Eda’s comment at the end of thegroup, the worker explained that people from different countries havedifferent cultural practices where having your own smell is the norm.The group also explored issues of poverty that resulted in a lack of re-sources, such as water and energy, that might make it harder for peopleto wash more even if they wanted to. Discussions about cultural differ-ence and poverty are not enough, however; the reasons behind negativestereotyping must also be deconstructed. Adolescents’ perceptions areaffected by what they see and hear and read around them. For theworker to tell the group members to be nice to people of Arab heritageor that they should not think that all Arabs smell would only minimally,if at all, change the group members’ attitudes and negative stereotypingbased on race and ethnicity. Discussion about culture and poverty isnecessary to broaden the group members’ perspective, but also crucialis an explanation of why stereotypes exist and why change is necessary.

Explaining systems of oppression can clarify why intense racial andethnic targeting of Arabs emerged after September 11, 2001, and how itaffects the knowledge of the group members and their comments. Itwould challenge adolescents to be more critical of racist assumptionssuch as the belief that Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden had a po-litical connection when their only commonality was their racial heri-tage. It may also compel them to question why, if Hussein and binLaden were associated in the minds of the public, no one suspected aconnection between the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 and the shoot-ings at Columbine High School in 1999 when both atrocities were com-mitted by White people.

Explaining the power dynamics between people of different racialand ethnic backgrounds can also help group members understand theconnection between the injustice and mistreatment their families andcommunities face as People of Color and their own racially and ethni-cally oppressive thoughts and behaviors towards people with back-grounds different from their own. Having a context from which tounderstand their own realities as targets of racism and ethnic oppressionand the realities of other target groups, group members can begin a pro-cess of empathy that can lead to the ending of future oppressive behav-

68 SOCIAL WORK WITH GROUPS

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cas

e W

este

rn R

eser

ve U

nive

rsity

] at

11:

39 3

0 O

ctob

er 2

014

iors towards other groups. It is a disservice to adolescents to ignorethese points as they negotiate the complexities of racial and ethnic iden-tity.

POSITIVE SENSE OF SELF

As a group worker takes on the challenges of talking with adoles-cents about race and ethnicity, he/she needs to have a sense of his/herown past and work through unresolved experiences that might other-wise hinder his/her work with the group. “Counselors themselvesmust be fully engaged in the self-knowledge process” (Myers et al.,1991, p. 60). If the group worker has a strong sense of self, then he/shewill be able to talk about issues of race and ethnicity without sending amessage that it is a taboo topic. The worker will then not feel humiliatedor defensive about things said about his/her identity group, will be ableto use humor to facilitate discussion around the topic of race and ethnic-ity, and will be flexible and willing to change his/her own attitudes andperspectives if his/her original viewpoints are inaccurate.

The following is an example of a group worker lacking a positivesense of self. It results in an unsafe environment for group members andenables a situation of racial stereotyping and insults. The excerpt alsodemonstrates how larger community struggles are played out in thesmall group. The group of 13-year-olds is a mixed gender, mixed eth-nicity and mixed race group with mostly Latino group members and acouple of Asian group members. Many of these group members alreadyhave some previous relationship with each other, either through schoolor from participating in the after-school program together. The group isin the beginning stage, and the group members are spread out at differ-ent desks, chatting to each other and writing down their family names tomake genograms.

Sandy, a Puerto Rican group member, teases John, a Chinesegroup member, by calling out that he is from the Chan family overand over even though she knows that his last name is actuallyWong. The worker gives Sandy a reprimanding look, trying tostop her teasing, and Sandy covers her mouth and laughs. Dave, aPuerto Rican group member who is sitting with Sandy, gives theworker an embarrassed glance. None of the other group membersstop their chatter or respond in any way. A few minutes later, Daveleaves for the bathroom and the door automatically locks behind

Irene Shen 69

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cas

e W

este

rn R

eser

ve U

nive

rsity

] at

11:

39 3

0 O

ctob

er 2

014

him. When he returns, he knocks on the door and the worker asksJohn, who is standing closest to the door, to go and open it forDave. John goes to the door and turns the door handle, but releasesit before Dave can push the door open. After Dave makes severalunsuccessful attempts, the worker goes to the door and opens itherself. Dave looks at John and calls him a stupid little Chinesekid. No one responds, not even the worker. Fifteen minutes later,the group does a closing circle during which each member is say-ing what he/she is looking forward to over the weekend. When it isJohn’s turn, he says that he is looking forward to watching T.V. towhich Gina, a Puerto Rican group member, responds, “after heshoves egg rolls and dumplings in his mouth.” The worker, unsureof what to say, mumbles a disapproving “Hey, c’mon” and quicklymoves to the next person.

As typical in group beginning stage behaviors, the members may betesting the group leader with such questions as, who are you, what be-haviors are accepted in this group, what and how much can you takefrom us. Because the racial stereotyping by group members also targetsthe worker’s race and ethnicity, she feels personally threatened and isunable to think rationally, if at all. Brought back to being age 13 again,she loses any positive sense of self and is essentially paralyzed. Conse-quently, the worker hardly addresses any of the racial and ethnic stereo-typing that is taking place. While the worker tries to silently reprimandSandy for calling out, “he’s the Chan family,” her efforts are weak andcommunicate that racially motivated teasing is not a big deal. Theworker’s continued silence, even after Dave’s name-calling that iden-tifies John’s race and ethnicity, reinforces that topics of race and eth-nicity are taboo. The continued silence enables the final racial andethnic stereotyping by Gina during the closing circle. Meanwhile, themessage conveyed to all the other group members is that this is an un-safe group in which to be a minority member and that it is okay to makefun of John’s heritage.

Community dynamics are reflected in this excerpt as the group mem-bers, only in the beginning stages, already exhibit shameless racial andethnic scapegoating. Tensions between the majority Puerto Rican popu-lation and the minority Chinese population of the larger Sunset Parkcommunity are exposed in the small group. The group worker needs tobring the group’s attention to the specific issues of race and ethnicity asthey are manifested in the group’s scapegoating dynamic. If they go un-acknowledged, then the group worker is replicating the silence that sur-

70 SOCIAL WORK WITH GROUPS

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cas

e W

este

rn R

eser

ve U

nive

rsity

] at

11:

39 3

0 O

ctob

er 2

014

rounds the community struggles, and the group members take away amessage that tensions and oppressive behavior between groups of dif-ferent races and ethnicities will continue unchallenged.

In contrast, the group worker exhibits a positive and secure sense ofself in the following example, when the same 13-year-old group walkedaround the neighborhood to look at local murals. During the walk,Nalini, a female Puerto Rican group member, is worried about an inci-dent that occured between herself and an Asian worker in a bodega. Thecommunity tensions between Puerto Rican and Asian residents areagain reflected in this exchange as the group member is concernedabout how she is perceived by the Asian shopkeeper. Knowledge of thecommunity’s dynamics and an understanding of the broader social is-sues of power and oppression are important in helping the worker un-derstand what the group member is feeling. The worker’s positive senseof self helps her to pursue issues of race and ethnicity with Nalini ratherthan to dismiss her concerns and change the subject.

Nalini: I hope that woman didn’t think I stole this drink.

Worker: Why would she think you stole it?

Nalini: Because I took the drink and put a quarter on the counter,but I didn’t want to wait because I knew you guys were walking soI just left it there, but I don’t know if she saw me.

Worker: Did you say anything to her?

Nalini: Well, yeah, I waited and told her I took this, but I don’tknow if she heard me.

Worker: Well, if you told her, she probably knows.

Nalini: Well, I just don’t want her to think that I steal.

Worker: Was the woman behind the counter Puerto Rican?

Nalini: No, she was Asian. I think she was Chinese.

Worker: Do you feel bad that she might have thought that youstole the drink?

Irene Shen 71

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cas

e W

este

rn R

eser

ve U

nive

rsity

] at

11:

39 3

0 O

ctob

er 2

014

Nalini: Yeah. I don’t want her to think that I stole it because I didn’t.

Worker: Sometimes there are miscommunications between groupsof people that might look different, or have a different language. (in-terrupted by another group member)

Nalini: What were you saying about miscommunication and dif-ferent people?

Worker: I was saying that sometimes people who have differentracial backgrounds or speak different languages or have differentcultures don’t get a chance to really know each other because theyeach assume different things about each other that are not true.There is a lot of miscommunication that leads to bad feelings.(Nalini nods.) It would help if people would try and get to knoweach other instead of making assumptions. Would you like it if Iwent back with you sometime to tell the woman that you didn’ttake the drink?

Nalini: Yeah.

In this example, the group worker purposefully directed the conver-sation towards race and ethnicity, recognizing Nalini’s distress as a con-sequence of community dynamics. Despite the fact that the groupworker shared the same racial identity as the shopkeeper, she did not de-fend the shopkeeper but was willing to talk honestly about interracialstruggles and offer Nalini support to stop miscommunication and po-tential racial stereotyping. Complex conversations about race and eth-nicity are often met with trite comments such as “it’s nothing to worryabout.” If the group worker is uncomfortable with his/her own identity,then exploring tough issues, such as race and ethnicity, may result inthese types of weak solutions. This leaves the group members with yetanother roadblock to understanding how to handle the racial and ethnictensions they confront everyday. The group worker with a positivesense of self will be able to admit the struggles of race and ethnicity,even when there are no easy answers.

Finally, the more secure and relaxed a worker is around his/her ownracial and ethnic identity, the more room there will be for group mem-bers to be honest with their thoughts and perceptions of people with dif-ferent racial and ethnic backgrounds, including that of the groupworker. The following excerpt is with the same 13-year-old group dur-

72 SOCIAL WORK WITH GROUPS

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cas

e W

este

rn R

eser

ve U

nive

rsity

] at

11:

39 3

0 O

ctob

er 2

014

ing an activity where the group members are asking questions of thegroup worker.

Ros: What’s your boyfriend’s name? (she’s recording the an-swers)

Worker: He has two names. Jonathon and HyoSung.

Sandy: Hoson (said with an accent, possibly a mixture of SouthAsian and Middle Eastern).

Worker: (laughing) No, it’s HyoSung.

Gina: HoSung . . .

Ros: Wait, (she’s writing) Jonathon and . . . ?

Worker: HyoSung.

Ros: How do you spell it?

Sandy: Yosun (said still with an accent, laughing)

Worker: No, that’s not right. And you’re saying it with an accent.h-y-o-s-u-n-g . . . it’s “yo” with an “h” in front of it and “sung” likehe sung a song.

Gina: yo, son!

Worker: Yeah, sort of like that, people have used that one before.

Sandy: HyoSung (does “hip-hop” arm gestures)

There are two ways this exchange could be perceived. If the workerwas not feeling positive and secure about her own racial and ethnicidentity, then she would not be able to express any flexibility with thegroup members’ play of an Asian name. The playing might have beeninterpreted as a mockery of the name, and the worker might have re-acted negatively to the group members. However, because the workerhad a positive sense of self, she was able to understand the play as a wayfor the group members to process something that was different from

Irene Shen 73

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cas

e W

este

rn R

eser

ve U

nive

rsity

] at

11:

39 3

0 O

ctob

er 2

014

what they were familiar with. Putting the Corean1 name into a contextthat made sense to the group members helped them understand it. If thegroup worker felt humiliated or defensive about the process, then shemight have tried to stop the group members’ comments, setting a tonethat something was wrong with noticing the differences and similaritiesbetween names from various racial and ethnic backgrounds.

People need the space to try new things, make mistakes, laugh aboutthem, and try again without the fear of being shut down or punished.The more open group members observe the group worker to be, thedeeper and more honest they are willing to be with their own beliefs,whether negative or positive. Group workers must develop enoughslack to allow group members these possibilities of exploring with hon-esty. Being able to joke with the group members about the groupworker’s own racial identity, especially when it is in the group’s minor-ity, invites group members to take more risks in their explorations. Themore positive and secure sense of self the group worker has, the easier itis to do this.

CONCLUSION

Providing adolescents with opportunities to challenge their mindsaround issues of race and ethnicity is a responsibility. The silence sur-rounding the topic needs to be broken, and purposeful discussions onrace and ethnicity need to begin. Young people have the right to under-stand the systems of oppression that define the sociopolitical context inwhich they live. The multicultural perspective of just getting along isdisrespectful of adolescents’ realities. Many do not have positive andpowerful interracial relationships. Instead, miscommunication and mis-treatment across racial and ethnic lines is more the norm as little effort ismade to offer useful information that debunks stereotypes about peopleof different racial and ethnic backgrounds.

Dialogues on race and ethnicity can help members explore racialidentity and ethnocentrism, struggle with interracial tensions, buildtrusting relationships, have a cooperative group of people where openand honest conversation about race can occur and, more broadly, chal-lenge institutional racism (Miller and Donner, 2000). It is crucial to artic-ulate that racism and ethnic oppression underlie community problems,such as stereotypes and limited resources, and especially important tohelp adolescents deconstruct the misinformation that forms their negativeattitudes and behaviors towards people of other racial and ethnic back-

74 SOCIAL WORK WITH GROUPS

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cas

e W

este

rn R

eser

ve U

nive

rsity

] at

11:

39 3

0 O

ctob

er 2

014

grounds. The deconstruction of community dynamics illuminates theneed for individual change so that positive interracial and interethnic re-lationships can develop for bigger institutional battles for communityimprovement. The small group is a place where these positive relation-ships can be tried among group members and between group membersand group workers.

Offering an academic understanding of the systems of oppression isnot enough, however. Group workers must also look introspectively. Agroup worker’s comfort level with his/her own racial and ethnic identityis communicated in many ways to the group members. If conversation isconsistently directed away from issues of race and ethnicity, group mem-bers will also avoid the topic. Without personally developing a positivesense of one’s own identity, discussions of race and ethnicity, includingsystems of oppression, would, at best, be informational. Such discussionsare limited by the group worker’s insecurities. If the group worker has anidentity different from the group members, then the group members can-not take risks to explore the race and ethnicity of the group worker be-cause the worker will communicate, whether consciously or not, thathe/she feels too threatened. Without a positive sense of self, discussionsare cut short and have little meaning for future change or systematic ef-forts to build relationships among group members and between groupmembers and group workers of different identities.

Racism and ethnic oppression will not disappear by themselves. Asadults have left tough challenges for the world’s young people to con-front, adults also need to provide them with resources to combat theseissues. The small group is a place where group workers can give adoles-cents the opportunity to explore the complex issues of racism and eth-nicity. Taking the challenge seriously as a social worker by learningabout systems of oppression and making the effort for self-explorationis important in the process. Armed with the ability to explain the func-tions and significance of racial and ethnic oppression and developing apositive and secure sense of self are first steps in turning differences ofracial and ethnic identity into empowering aspects of life.

NOTE

1. Prior to the Japanese colonization of Corea in 1910, Corea was spelled with a Cin romanized alphabets. This is still true in Spanish and French. To have Japan comebefore Corea in alphabetical order, the Japanese changed the spelling of Corea with a Cto Korea with a K. Some scholars have chosen to return the spelling of Corea to itspre-Japanese colonization version.

Irene Shen 75

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cas

e W

este

rn R

eser

ve U

nive

rsity

] at

11:

39 3

0 O

ctob

er 2

014

REFERENCES

Brown, A., and Mistry, T. (1994). Group work with ‘mixed membership’ groups: is-sues of race and gender. Social Work with Groups, 17(3), 5-21.

Erikson, E.H. (1968). Identity Youth and Crisis. New York: Norton.Miller, J., and Donner, S. (2000). More than just talk: The use of racial dialogues to

combat racism. Social Work With Groups, 23(1), 31-53.Myers, L.J., Speight, S.L., Highlen, P.S., Cox, C.I., Reynolds, A.L., Adams, E.M., and

Hanley, C.P. (1991). Identity Development and Worldview: Toward an OptimalConceptualization. Journal of Counseling & Development, 70, 54-63.

New York City Department of City Planning. Census 2000. http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/dcp/html/lucds/bk7lu.html.

Northen, H., and Kurland, R. (2001). Social Work with Groups (3rd ed.). New York:Columbia University Press.

Romero, A.J., and Roberts, R.E. (1998). Perception of discrimination and ethnoculturalvariables in a diverse group of adolescents. Journal of Adolescence, 21(6), 641-656.

Shulman, L. (1986). The dynamics of mutual aid. Social Work with Groups, 8(4),51-60.

Shulman, L. (1967). Scapegoats, group workers, and pre-emptive intervention. SocialWork, 12(2), 37-43.

MANUSCRIPT RECEIVED: 05/16/03MANUSCRIPT REVISED: 06/23/03

MANUSCRIPT ACCEPTED: 09/04/03

76 SOCIAL WORK WITH GROUPS

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Cas

e W

este

rn R

eser

ve U

nive

rsity

] at

11:

39 3

0 O

ctob

er 2

014