Systemic Racism Explained [Video]

Throughout the United States, we see racism protests and debates at the forefront of nearly every part of the country. Within mental health, we have already talked about how black communities are not receiving the full of services, whether because they don’t feel comfortable with the counselor or the black community has stigmatized mental health. Within the Church, through centuries of evangelism, we know that understanding a community’s culture is the best way of sharing the love of Jesus.

So this video below is not to insight anger, divide people, or condemn. It is to educate. And to be clear, this is not education so that you can now say you understand racism. In clinical counseling, there has been a shift from trying to achieve cultural competency to cultural humility.

Cultural competence is having the capacity to function effectively as an individual and an organization within the context of the cultural beliefs, behaviors and needs presented by consumers and their communities. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, OPHS – Office of Minority Health) On the other end, a more appropriate way of looking at this is cultural humility which is an ongoing process to evaluate your own biases, prejudices, and culture in a way that allows you to accept and understand other people as being equal to you and deserving of respect.

In short, it’s about listening, having humility, and having grace. If you want to hear more about this from a Christian perspective, I was part of a podcast episode where we talk about Black Lives Matter for the Church in a digital era on the ChurchMag Podcast.