ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on how race can emerge as a subject in the therapy hour, drawing on topics that have come up in my work. I first discuss the often confusing nature of racism, particularly since the end of legal discrimination, using clinical examples of how racist enactments can become mystified—e.g., “Did I not get the job because I wasn’t qualified, or was it a racial thing?” Rankine depicts tennis champion Serena Williams as she grapples with the same uncertainty. Another issue considered is what happens when experiences shared by the therapist and client, such as learning of the acquittal of George Zimmerman for shooting Trayvon Martin are brought into the session. I also look at how the effects of massive psychic trauma (slavery, Jim Crow, violence, discrimination leading to financial deprivation, and injustice in general) result in a compromised support system for its survivors. I provide clinical examples, most with a basis in economic injustice. I conclude the chapter with a literature review on the subject of white privilege, and discuss some of my own countertransferential problem areas, as well as ideas about hate.
