Confronting Racism Raises Self-Esteem
Interesting, not surprising, but really helpful information here.
How people choose to cope with personal experiences of racism influences the distress caused by the encounter, says a new study of Filipino Americans. The study finds that denying or ignoring racial discrimination leads to greater psychological distress, including anxiety and depression, and lowers self-esteem.
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"Some coping methods are healthier than others for dealing with everyday racism," says Alvarez . "We found that when people deny or trivialize racist encounters, they can actually make themselves feel worse, amplifying the distress caused by the incident."The study focused on "everyday racism" -- subtle, commonplace forms of discrimination, such as being ignored, ridiculed or treated differently. "These are incidents that may seem innocent and small, but cumulatively they can have a powerful impact on an individual's mental health," Alvarez says. "Trying to ignore these insidious incidents could become taxing and debilitating over time, chipping away at a person's spirit
Alvarez surveyed 199 Filipino American adults, both men and women, in the San Francisco Bay Area and found that 99 percent of participants had experienced at least one incident of everyday racism in the last year. For men, dealing with racism in an active way, such as reporting incidents to authorities or challenging the perpetrator, was associated with decreased distress and increased self esteem.
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Coping by confiding in friends and family was found to increase men's psychological distress and lower their selfesteem. The authors believe this surprising finding suggests that seeking social support may not always be helpful -- particularly if talking about racism implies that the situation is unchangeable or if it causes a person distress by having to relive difficult experiences. ... The authors caution that what makes a healthy coping mechanism is influenced by such factors as socioeconomic status, age, English language capacity and length of residency in the United States.Full story at New America Media
In a way, these findings are not surprising. From my own personal experiences, choosing to ignore a racist incident or being denied the opportunity to respond leads to a great deal of personal anxiety and private recrimination. I re-play the incident over and over in my head, trying to come up with different ways that I could have dealt with the situation differently. But, on the other hand, it takes a great deal of courage to confront someone about their racism.
... Nonetheless, it still strikes me as frustrating that the onus is on us, as people of colour, to report and confront racists. Shouldn't it be the responsibility of the racists to... y'know... not be racist?
very interesting!
Confronting racism raises self esteem?? DOES IT NOW?? Really? Really AND truly?
You really and truly mean that someone who confronts racism and gets viciously attacked for doing so actually raises self esteem?
Really? Really AND truly?
Maybe theres a definition for the kind of racism that gets challenged perhaps?
Corporate racism, government racism, rich and powerful racism, maybe these are the kinds of racism that lead to a raising of self esteem?
Maybe it should be spelled out that self esteem can be raised by challenging any kind of racism EXCEPT Union racism! Hein?
Well as a non POC I have thought for decades that it is my job to confront racism whenever I hear or see it in my presence. I try to pay attention and make sure that if I am waiting for service in an informal line that the right person goes next. I can't begin too count the number of times I have had to tell a clerk that the "invisible" person standing beside me was next. I will complain about a staff person to a manager if I hear racism in a store. I merely tell the manager that I thought it was racist statement and I will not shop there anymore unless they train their staff better. I think it is my fight because while I am not a POC I do want to live in a just society. I probably hear at least as much racism because racists often beleive that my skin tone will mean I share their racist world view. I have heard so many nasty coments made as a POC has just left. Those are the ones I confront the most and take it too their bosses.
I know it helps my self esteem and interestingly my attitude began when I saw a particularly racist takedown by TTC police of a man who was asking questions through a plexiglas window. Yes he was speaking in an angry voice but no more so than I regularly do when I think I am being messed with. It bothered me for a very long time that I had not intervened when the pig slammed this citizens face into the concrete floor. Empathy is the key to social justice.