Racism in the UK

Much has been written in the psychological literature about the US and their centuries-old legacy of racism, but that brand of racism has origins, at least in part, according to some scholars in Britain. Afua Hirsch, a Black British writer, broadcaster and best-selling author, grew up trying to make sense of the way people racialized her, as well as the injustice and unfairness in the world around her. She says that ‘today, black people in Britain are still being dehumanised by the media, disproportionately imprisoned and dying in police custody, and now also dying disproportionately of COVID-19’. She notes that ‘as long as you send all children out into the world to be actively educated into racism, taught a white supremacist version of history, literature and art, then you are setting up a future generation to perpetuate the same violence on which that system of power depends’ (Hirsch, Reference Hirsch2020). So, despite being understudied and hardly discussed, anti-Black racism creates and contributes to ongoing social problems and mental health concerns in the UK (e.g. Ghezae et al., Reference Ghezae, Adebiyi and Mustafa2022; Holttum, Reference Holttum2020).

Racism in Germany

Racism is a fixture throughout Germany, so much so that only in the last year a major street in central Berlin, which had a name that is a racial slur, was just changed to honour Black feminist and queer scholar Audre Lorde (Arndt and Ofuatey-Alazard, Reference Arndt and Ofuatey-Alazard2011; Kopp and Aikins, Reference Kopp and Aikins2020). For many years, activists have been advocating for the street to be renamed. Only recently, both in response to pressure by racialized minorities and to some surprising findings about race, Germany started to develop a National Action Plan on Racism. The introduction to this plan clearly addresses the extent of the issue, highlighting that empirical studies by the EU indicate historical and ongoing anti-minority hostility which must be condemned and addressed: ‘Germany can be found in the mid-range here. Between one-quarter and one-third of those surveyed in Germany, France, the UK and Italy had hostile attitudes …. No open and liberal democracy can accept this result’ (Federal Ministry of the Interior, 2017; p. 9). As the official policy of the German state has been not to collect data by racial category, there is currently little to no clinical data on race-based disparities in Germany; however, this is changing. The results of the 2017 Plan led to a state-sponsored census of the one million diaspora of African descent living in Germany that was completed in 2021 and confirms the persistence of anti-Black racism in Germany. The report suggests relevant research topics to steer against anti-Black hostility and discrimination (Aikins et al., Reference Aikins, Bremberger, Aikins, Gyamerah and Yıldırım-Caliman2021).

Racism in France

France also has a racism problem. In general, the French do not like to talk about racism and prefer to pivot the conversation to social class. A government spokesperson by the name of Sibeth Ndiaye writes, ‘It was when I arrived in France that I became aware of what it meant to be Black. I experienced ordinary racism. Or, more exactly ordinary racists: those who openly challenge you because you are Black and those who believe they have overcome all prejudices, but still feed them without knowing it, almost without thinking about it. But this racism, whether explicit or unspoken, was never validated by French society or institutions’ (Ndiaye, Reference Ndiaye2020). Refusing to talk about racism does not make it go away, and it does not help those who are impacted. In fact, turning a blind eye only makes it worse. Avoidance only impairs our ability to have these important conversations.

Psychology’s shameful racist past

Few people are aware that the origins of the discipline of psychology were largely racist, in that many academic notables were invested in (mis)using science to prove that White people were morally and intellectually superior (Guthrie, Reference Guthrie2004). Many of these individuals were eugenicists as well; they advocated for a social agenda that included suppressing the number of children born to those they deemed less fit. These psychologists served in leadership roles such as journal editors and university faculty who were, and still are, shaping the next generations of bigots, as illustrated in Table 2 (Williams, Reference Williams2020d). As such, these racist ideas are still being taught, racist papers are still being published and cited, and racism continues to influence the discipline.

Table 2.

Psychologists advancing racism

At a recent meeting, the APA Council of Representatives (2021) adopted an apology for the organization’s role – and the role of the discipline of psychology – in contributing to systemic racism. The apology acknowledges that the APA ‘failed in its role leading the discipline of psychology, was complicit in contributing to systemic inequities, and hurt many through racism, racial discrimination, and denigration of people of colour, thereby falling short on its mission to benefit society and improve lives’ (American Psychological Association, 2021). Concrete actions to remediate these harms, however, remain to be seen.

Racism in clinical care today

Racism is still happening today in clinical care, with negative outcomes for people of colour (Cénat et al., Reference Cénat, Kogan, Noorishad, Hajizadeh, Dalexis, Ndengeyingoma and Guerrier2021; Lawton et al., Reference Lawton, McRae and Gordon2021; Williams, Reference Williams2021). In a study on access to therapeutic services carried out in New York City as recently as 2016, shocking disparities were unearthed. Kugelmass (Reference Kugelmass2016) conducted a study where 320 NYC psychologists with solo practices were randomly selected from a large health insurance provider’s health maintenance organization (HMO) plan. Each received voicemail messages from a purportedly Black middle-class and purportedly White middle-class caller of the same gender, or they received a voicemail from one purportedly Black working-class and one White working-class caller of the same gender, requesting an appointment. Callers were evenly divided by race, social class and gender. Social class was constructed through the caller’s speech patterns, while caller name and accent were used to indicate race. All callers requested an appointment with a preference for weekday evenings and had the same health insurance.

Among middle-class people who contacted a therapist to schedule an appointment, 28% of White and 17% of Black callers received appointment offers, whereas appointment offer rates for both working-class therapy seekers (both races) were 8%. The study author said, ‘The fact that this study uncovers discrimination in the private mental health care marketplace is consistent with previous audit studies that have revealed discrimination in other marketplaces, such as housing and employment’ (Winerman, Reference Winerman2016). Kugelmass found that 51% of calls from middle-class White and 49% from middle-class Black callers elicited a response, compared with 45% for working-class White and 34% for working-class Black callers. The White middle-class woman was favoured for the desirable weekday evening slot, receiving an agreeable response from 16 of 80 therapists (20%). By contrast, when the Black working-class man made the same request to 80 therapists, just one therapist was willing or able to fulfil the request (1.2%). A second study with these same results came out shortly thereafter, with the telling title, ‘Is Allison more likely than Lakisha to receive a call-back from counselling professionals?’ (Shin et al., Reference Shin, Smith, Welch and Ezeofor2016).

These studies challenge the nature of intent in racism. The psychologists in this study made the intentional decision not to take on certain clients because they preferred clients they believed to be in their own group when they thought their decision was anonymous.

Whiteness

It is impossible to have a meaningful discussion about racism without defining Whiteness (Haeny et al., Reference Haeny, Holmes and Williams2021). Whiteness here is defined as a socio-political in-group whose membership is defined in part by lightness of skin but also by political, social standing, and historical position. Understanding that, for the most part, people do not choose to be segregated into racial categories, society assigns in-groups and indoctrinates their correlated thought patterns to children at a young age (McGillicuddy et al., Reference McGillicuddy-De Lisi, Daly and Neal2006). White people today often do not always see how their membership in this in-group gives them increased advantageous opportunities and access to power and privilege. This makes it difficult for them to understand the experience of people of colour. However, without deconstructing Whiteness as race, privilege and social construction, we cannot start to think in ways that are explicitly anti-racist (Dlamini, Reference Dlamini2002).

Racism is learnt and we all, regardless of skin colour, learn it. Therefore, simply deciding to treat all people fairly is not anti-racist because the ingrained, pre-existing structures would continue to unjustly discriminate (i.e. racially gerrymandered voting districts). Furthermore, acting fairly towards individuals on a personal level is virtuous, but cannot undo institutional injustices such as redlining, race-norming, legacy college admissions, racially disproportionate drug sentencing, lead poisoned water, or any other historical injustice whose legacy and consequences seeps into the present day. Being anti-racist means actively combatting White supremacy by making conscious efforts and deliberate actions to dismantle historic unjust concepts, thought patterns, precepts, and structures, and provide equal opportunities for all people on both an individual and a systemic level (Haeny et al., Reference Haeny, Holmes and Williams2021).

Racism is learnt

To identify whether racial bias affects children’s reasoning about fairness and, if so, when it appears, researchers evaluated white second graders and fourth graders (de França and Monteiro, Reference de França and Monteiro2013). The researchers told two stories about three characters who produced artwork. One produced more artwork than the other two (more productive), one was poor (needy), while the third was the oldest (age-entitled). The characters’ teacher sold their artwork at a fair, resulting in an unexpected reward. The teacher gave the money to the characters and told them to divide the money among themselves in the fairest way.

With the stories, about one-third of the children saw pictures in which the oldest character was Black, one-third saw pictures with a productive Black character and one-third saw pictures with a needy Black character. In each case, the other two characters were White. The children were asked to allot the money to each of the story characters in the fairest way and explain why their choice was fair. Second graders’ responses were based on equality principles and did not vary with the character’s race. However, the fourth graders’ responses showed that children considered race. For example, they gave a greater share of the money to White needy characters than Black needy characters, while Black productive characters received greater shares than White productive characters. So, it seems clear that 9- to 10-year-old White children take race into account as they decide what is just and fair, and these considerations are based on in-group favouritism and stereotypes. These types of biases continue into adulthood. So, in summary, research shows that racism is learnt. As such, we all, regardless of race, learn about racism early in life. (For more empirical studies on how children learn social rules about bystanderism and discriminatory behaviour, also see McGillicuddy et al., Reference McGillicuddy-De Lisi, Daly and Neal2006; Staub, Reference Staub2019.)

What does it mean to be anti-racist?

Simply deciding to treat all people fairly is not anti-racist – this is just being a passive bystander, subject to learnt biases (Faber et al., Reference Faber, Strauss, Gran-Ruaz, La Torre, Bartlett, Faber, Levinson and Williams2022). There are several reasons for this. First, as all humans have in-group preferences learnt from childhood, which runs alongside the social stigma of not overly showing that one’s own in-group is preferred, without careful self-analysis it can be difficult to see where and how one’s own biases are functioning (McGillicuddy et al., Reference McGillicuddy-De Lisi, Daly and Neal2006; Hansen, Reference Hansen2017). Secondly, just being aware about one’s own in-group biases does not make them magically disappear. Finally, as we are all living in the legacy of an unjust and racially biased system, without deliberate action, these injustices of the past are perpetuated into the present and continue to occur (Sue, Reference Sue2017).

Being anti-racist means actively combatting systemic in-group preferences, and structural injustices, wherever they may appear. This means working to counter racial prejudice, systemic racism, and the oppression of racialized groups. This includes conscious efforts and deliberate actions to provide equal opportunities for all people on both an individual and a systemic level. It is necessary to centre and prioritize the voices of people who are racialized. It requires a life-time philosophy of humility, acknowledging personal privileges, confronting acts as well as systems of racial discrimination, and working to change personal racial biases (Donovan et al., Reference Donovan, Semmens, Keck, Brimhall, Busch, Weindling, Duncan, Stuhlsatz, Bracey, Bloom, Kowalski and Salazar2019; Spanierman and Smith, Reference Spanierman and Smith2017).

Motivation

The racial justice ally is motivated by values surrounding equity, inclusion and diversity, and acts out of genuine concern for the well-being of people of colour in their lives. Conversely, saviours are seeking reputational benefits, personal glorification, or are motivated by White guilt, to feel like a ‘good person’ or to say they have ‘done their part’. An example of an action motivated by saviourship would be attending a social justice event and posting selfies on social media to broadcast one’s ‘allyship’.

Action

A racial justice ally would work to transform White-dominated systems to be equitable, fair and just. They would maintain cultural humility, freely apologize for mis-steps, and step back and create opportunities for people of colour to be centred. Conversely, a saviour would help people of colour navigate a system (rather than confront the system) of White dominance, broadcast allyship behaviours and sentiments without accepting criticism, centre themselves and overstate their own relevance.

Moreover, a racial justice ally understands that White-dominated systems must be transformed to be equitable, fair and just, and is willing to take up the necessary work to start this process. For example, if an ally notices that an Indigenous patient is being treated badly by clinic staff, the ally will not only insist on better treatment, but work to ensure systems are implemented to prevent this from happening in the future – for example, implementing patient satisfaction questionnaires to ensure people of all racial groups are having a good experience. An ally furthermore maintains cultural humility and freely apologizes for any mis-steps, which are expected. An ally does not need to be the centre of attention.

Finally, a racial justice ally works to understand the needs of the group with which they hope to ally themselves and hold themselves accountable to those groups. In contrast, a racial justice saviour will pursue actions to obtain reputational benefits or personal glorification. They are motivated by guilt to feel like a ‘good person’ or to be assured that they have ‘done their part’.

Expectations

An ally will anticipate that anti-racism work is an ongoing effort to dismantle individual and institutional beliefs, practices and polices. They expect that learning about diversity issues will be a continual process of hard work and self-reflection, understanding they will at times receive disapproval and punishment from dominant in-group members. For example, an ally will freely offer support to a colleague of colour who may be struggling with racism without expecting acknowledgement or thanks.

On the other hand, saviours expect acknowledgement, credit and/or glory for their efforts. They label themselves ‘allies’ and expect others to agree. They also expect people of colour to be grateful for their good intentions, even if they accidentally cause harm. For example, they would expect praise and support for offering discounted therapy for clients of colour.

Connection

A racial justice ally builds meaningful relationships with members of the groups with which they aspire to ally themselves. As such, they will have several close friends of colour to which they would reach out to if in need or for mentorship. However, saviours tend to maintain hierarchical or distant relationships with members of the groups with which they wish to ally themselves, and, conspicuously, these people lack close friends of colour (Aberson et al., Reference Aberson, Shoemaker and Tomolillo2004; Cox et al., Reference Cox, Navarro-Rivera and Jones2016).

In a clinical context, an ally would check in with therapy clients of colour when something racist has happened in the media, and show care and support, whereas a saviour might pathologize a racialized client over an emotional reaction to racism in the media, saying ‘be calm and rational’ instead of justifiably distressed (Williams et al., Reference Williams, Sharif, Strauss, Gran-Ruaz, Bartlett and Skinta2021). One example of this lack of connection would be a group of White therapists trying to attract Black clientele by putting the phrase ‘Black Lives Matter’ on their website, despite not having any racial diversity among their clinical staff.

Accountability

In terms of accountability, allies work to understand the needs of the groups with which they hope to ally themselves and hold themselves accountable to those groups, whereas saviours do not hold themselves accountable to the groups with which they claim to ally themselves, but only to their own goals. An example of allyship would be asking people of colour (colleagues, community stakeholders, friends) for constructive criticism on a regular basis regarding one’s own anti-racism efforts.

Practical methods for dealing with microaggressions

As most racialized people experience microaggressions regularly, therapists should anticipate that microaggressions will be a topic of therapy occasionally, if not often. There are three main ways microaggressions appear in clinical care:

1. (1) A client of colour wants to discuss microaggressions experienced at work or in daily life;

2. (2) A client makes a microaggressive statement in therapy;

3. (3) The therapist makes a microaggressive statement in therapy.

Each of these will be briefly addressed.

Client wants to discuss microaggressions experienced at work or in daily life

In the same way racial microaggressions happen in everyday life, they are also observed in clinical care. Because of in-group solidarity, and the implication that negative actions of any member of one’s in-group can be imputed to oneself (guilt by association), the typical reaction to hearing about an act of injustice or a microaggression committed by someone in one’s in-group is to try to excuse it or explain it away. This is a normal human reaction. In addition, because the social stigma of being labelled as a racist is so high, when clients of colour report on injustices experienced from White people, a White therapist’s impulse to believe that it may not be true is that much higher. To be effective, the therapist must decouple any feelings of guilt-by-association when listening to a person of colour testifying about racial injustice, even if they feel that the client is including them in the group of oppressors (which, because the client is hurting, they may be doing!). This is not easy work. Key points include:

1. (1) Do not question if it was really a racial microaggression;

2. (2) Respond with empathy, validation and support;

3. (3) After validating, problem-solve around the issue.

Clinicians can reflect on the different ways they assess and respond to the impact of racism in clients to help them move forward. Sometimes, the problems are much more serious than an occasional microaggression, and it can help to use validated measures to assess the problem, and include race, ethnicity and culture in the case formulation (Graham-LoPresti et al., Reference Graham-LoPresti, Williams, Rosen, Williams, Rosen and Kanter2019). It is critical to recognize the psychopathological impact of racism in all its forms, address and treat racial trauma, support a positive and strong ethnic identity, and help clients build skills to respond to racism.

Client makes a microaggressive statement in therapy

Microaggressions of this sort can happen in many ways. Clients may commit a microaggression (1) against a racialized therapist directly attacking the therapist’s identity, (2) against a racialized group in the presence of a therapist from a different racial group, or (3) against a racialized group or person in the presence of a White therapist, expecting in-group loyalty.

Regardless of the identity of the therapist, it is important to teach clients that microaggressions are hurtful acts of racism. If they are committing microaggressions in session with the therapists, they are doing them outside of therapy too, causing hurt towards people of colour and offending White people who care about people of colour.

Therapist makes a microaggressive statement in therapy

Research shows that it is very common for therapists to commit microaggressions towards their marginalized clients (Constantine, Reference Constantine2007; Owen et al., Reference Owen, Tao, Imel, Wampold and Rodolfa2014). If a therapist becomes aware that they have committed a microaggression, a repair should be initiated (this process is explained in detail in Williams, Reference Williams2020c). It is not always immediately evident for many therapists that they may have committed a microaggression. In a clinical setting, it is crucial to invite clients (and others) to carry out a ‘call out’ of the offending therapist. It is the clinician’s responsibility to create a safe space and make room for an open dialogue. For example, people of colour may be reluctant to point out problems for fear of punishing reactions. A good therapist will pre-empt the problem and then recognize power imbalances and finally invite others to comment if this happens.

In the event that a therapist is called out, here are some steps that can be taken to solve the problem (Williams, Reference Williams2020c). The therapist should:

1. (1) Not become defensive;

2. (2) Demonstrate empathy for the client;

3. (3) Ask why the called-out behaviour was racist and listen;

4. (4) Validate the perspective of the individual making the call out;

5. (5) Acknowledge personal biases and blind spots;

6. (6) Clarify any misinterpreted remarks;

7. (7) Make it right.

Building ethnic identity

Supportive statements about your client’s ethnic group are an important way to help build resilience against racism, but are sadly under-utilized. In our own research focused on understanding tendencies of White students to commit microaggressions, in our battery of questions, we included behaviours that were either microaggressive, non-microaggressive/neutral, and supportive (Michaels et al., Reference Michaels, Gallagher, Crawford, Kanter and Williams2018). In examining our data, we were surprised to discover that many of the items considered supportive by our lab, diversity experts, and Black students alike were not regarded similarly by White respondents. Several items that would have made Black students feel supported were very unlikely for White students to do or say (e.g. ‘Say that you object to the song [containing the n-word] because it bothers your [Black] friend’ or asking ‘What’s it like for Black students in the law school?’). We see the same in therapeutic relationships as well. Therapists are often so afraid of making a mistake they say nothing at all (Constantine, Reference Constantine2007).

Often, clients have internalized many negative ideas about themselves and their group that manifests as psychopathology originating from an overwhelmingly toxic social environment. In these cases, detoxifying treatment is needed in the therapeutic process. This may include frequent positive affirming of the client and their ethnic group to provide a counter-perspective to the harmful negativity they experienced. It is important to acknowledge that these affirming comments should be genuine and not based on stereotypes (Williams, Reference Williams2020c). For example, a therapist might say, ‘As a people, African Americans have exhibited an unprecedented amount of grace, in spite of living in a society which has heaped abuses upon them’; or ‘Like a diamond, African Americans have endured the immense pressures of American society and have not only survived but they shine. They should be honoured for their contribution as a people, in making America a better place’.

Using personal power for good and reclaiming individual racial identity

People who aspire to make a difference feel discouraged that they are saddled with a racial label that they may not want. For members of dominant groups, the good news is that this power can be used for good and the unwanted racial identity can be re-purposed. Being labelled with a society imposed racial moniker (i.e. White, Asian, Black), which may have nothing to do with the way in which an individual understands their own identity, can elicit feelings of complicity or victimization that can be accompanied by shame, but racial identity is not destiny. To be a White ally is to know, accept and understand that White identity is not necessarily a chosen identity, but nonetheless gives those who possess it, special power in many societies to bring attention, intervention and justice to situations where a racialized person would not be able to act.

For those who are racialized in Western Society, that is also something not chosen and usually indelible, but life-long experience with injustice and suffering bestows eyes to see it and the empathy to make positive changes that a White person may not immediately notice.

Finally, for those who may look like a White person but identify as a racialized or as otherwise minoritized person, this grants them the unique position of being an unseen witness in the camps of the unjust and to hear and see things that a clearly racialized person would not know or hear, and then make a positive change either upfront or behind the scenes (Williams et al., Reference Williams, Faber, Nepton and Ching2022).

Combatting systems of oppression in our discipline

There are invisible systems of dominance all around which children notice, but many adults have forgotten how to see (McGillacuddy et al., Reference McGillicuddy-De Lisi, Daly and Neal2006; Staub, 2019). Anyone can open their mind to relearn to see these systems if they choose to do so (Donovan et al., Reference Donovan, Semmens, Keck, Brimhall, Busch, Weindling, Duncan, Stuhlsatz, Bracey, Bloom, Kowalski and Salazar2019). There is a need to recognize racism as a societal psychopathology and thereby reject systemic in-group privilege. This means actively looking for ways to give people of colour, or other out-groups, an equal voice in forums (including powerful positions in our organizations, such key decision-makers and on the board of directors). Allies must speak out when they observe racism, not expecting any rewards for doing the right thing, and embrace cultural humility.

Transforming our discipline: whose responsibility is it?

In psychology, specifically, we need to transform our discipline by addressing four specific problems: