We have been given a daunting task. As a case worker for youth in the foster care system, we are expected to help instill a healthy racial and ethnic identity in our young people. How does one instill a healthy racial and ethnic identity in a child? How does one even know what that looks like?
I have been taught that there are four stages of racial/ethnic identity development: Relative Unawareness, Emerging Awareness, Exploration/Identification, and Commitment. All people move in an out of these stages – sometimes returning to one or the other, sometimes staying stuck at one stage for long periods of time. The first stage, relative unawareness, is one where race is not seen as very important, stereotypes are believed, and one identifies primarily with the dominant white culture. The second stage moves into an emerging awareness where one notices that race matters, that people are treated differently, and this comes with feelings of confusion, guilt, anger, shame, depression, or self/group appreciation. The third stage is an exploration/identification process where people begin to distance themselves from mainstream culture and actively define for themselves what race/ethnicity means to them. The last stage, commitment, involves developing positive feelings about ethnicity, confidence and security about racial identity, and acceptance. This also includes a commitment to eliminate all forms of oppression and an openness to acquire new knowledge and skills regarding race/ethnicity.
Before we begin the task helping children develop healthy identity, we must take a stark look at our own progress in racial identity development. I completed a masters degree in Women’s and Gender Studies – a field that examines systems of oppression and works towards developing healthy racial, gender, sexual, class identity. As a white woman, I have come through different stages of racial identity development. Throughout this growth process, I find that I continue to return to prior stages and back to commitment again. This includes feelings of shame, confusion, and struggle. Feminism was my way of distancing from mainstream culture to find a more socially just way of living. It was a way for me to develop my gender and racial identity in our current society. It is my way of staying committed to anti-racism and to end oppression. However, people often ask me, “What is feminism anyway?” and “What does feminism have to do with race?”
Feminism has many definitions. One definition is that feminism is the movement to end sexist oppression. Feminists and others have found that sexist oppression cannot be disconnected from other forms of oppression. Oppression is the absence of choices. Oppression's many forms are interconnected. Our children in the foster care system experience an absence of choices in many areas of their lives. Add race to that. Add class to that. Add sexual orientation. Feminism is a movement to end these forms of oppression – it includes an examination of race.
In 1919, WEB DuBois wrote, “The uplift of women is, next to the problem of the color line and the peace movement, our greatest modern cause. When, now, two of these movements—women and color—combine in one, the combination has deep meaning.” Uplifting our children who experience oppression in these different forms has deep meaning. Even though this was said almost 100 years ago, I would still say that ending the many forms of oppression is our greatest modern cause.
Being a woman has shaped and influenced my life in a variety of ways. In many other ways, however, I am privileged. I am privileged for being white, college educated, and middle-class. bell hooks writes: “Privileged feminists have largely been unable to speak to, with, and for diverse groups of women because they either do not understand fully the interrelatedness of sex, race, and class oppression or refuse to take this interrelatedness seriously.” We MUST take this interrelatedness seriously. Especially when trying to help our children develop healthy perspectives of themselves.
I believe that all people have power. People can use their power to resist exploitation and oppression. People can use their power to gain the freedom to work at transforming society so that political and economic structures will exist to benefit all people equally. The unequal society in which we live affects all of us and our behaviors. In his book Race Matters, Cornell West writes: “We must acknowledge that structures and behavior are inseparable, that institutions and values go hand in hand. How people act and live are shaped—though in no way dictated or determined—by the larger circumstances in which they find themselves.” Although structures influence our behaviors, we don't need to allow social institutions to dictate or determine how we act and live. We can work towards building healthy racial/ethnic identity.
We live in a racist society, no one can deny that. I now turn to my children in the foster care system. How can we prepare them for the discrimination they may face? How can we instill in them healthy identity and perspectives – for both white children and children of color? We must talk about it. We must have courageous conversations with the young people. We must ask questions. Don’t ignore the problem. For the sake of the children, we must join the anti-racism movement to transform our society into a more equal and just society. This begins with an examination of our own identity and working towards instilling a healthy racial and ethnic identity in our youth.
