Color also continues to be an issue in terms of our organizational and societal structures. It still plays a key role in one's ability to make it in the system and is a more prevalent factor than one's ethnic background or abilities. People can often hide their ethnic identities but not usually their racial identities. This reality must be examined in the group.
A second dynamic in the group may be the denial of responsibility for racism: "I'm not responsible for what my ancestors did." This altitude should be explored in terms of the privileges whites have because of the racist nature of the system and in terms of the fact that whites maintain, support, and perpetuate the system. Although they are not responsible for the historical aspects of racism, the historical dimensions are still playing out today—in the criminal justice system, the educational system, the health care system, and so on.
Another part of Stage 5 explores one's individual racism through one's attitudes and behaviors and tries to uncover inconsistencies in them. Your role here is to help participants honestly discuss their real values, assumptions, and attitudes as well as understand the reasons why an attitude or a behavior may be racist.
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You must help participants to work through these feelings, not support people getting blocked from owning their whiteness, and get to a deeper understanding of themselves as white people in a white racist system. Guilt prevents people from moving forward and taking action. Participants must understand that their guilt alone benefits no one. It is important that they feel some internal conflict and responsibility, and these valid feelings should be supported.
