Preparing Counselors to Dialogue about Race

Abstract

PREPARING COUNSELORS A 750 word excerpt from this manuscript appeared in the March 2002 edition of the TCA Guidelines newsletter, on behalf of the Texas Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development. This article focuses on an interview conducted with Dr. Katherine Bankole, a scholar in the field of African American Studies and an expert in racial and ethnic conflict resolution. In this interview, Dr. Bankole discusses her perceptions concerning the importance of race relations work in the helping professions. Suggestions for the incorporation of these ideas into the counseling setting are provided. This article presents an interview conducted with Dr. Katherine Bankole, a scholar in the field of African American Studies and an expert in racial and ethnic conflict resolution. In this interview, Dr. Bankole discusses race matters in the helping professions and gives her thoughts about how race relations work relates to counselors. Dr. Bankole earned her B.A. (1987) from Howard University in Washington, D.C., in History, with an African American concentration. She received both an M.A. (1972) and Ph.D. (1996) in African American Studies from Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Dr. Bankole has completed additional certification in Conflict Mediation, Negotiation, and Racial/Ethnic Conflict Resolution Training. She is the author of Facilitating Race, Guiding Constructive Dialogue on the Subject of Race, Racism, and Race Relations (1998) and The Conflict Mediation Handbook (1991). Her scholarly essays have been published in Race, Gender, and Class and The Journal of Black Studies. Dr. Bankole is presently an Assistant Professor in the Department of History and Director, Center for Black Culture and Research at West Virginia University. The following interview took place in Denton, Texas on November 15, 2001 and addressed Dr. Bankole's reflections on her philosophy of Dynamic Diversity, whereby one empowers self in the effective development of race relations knowledge and skills and then transmits this information to others. BD: How did you first become involved in race relations work? KB: I first became involved in race relations work when I began as a program Assistant Director in African Studies at Kean University in New Jersey. It was my first professional position in African Studies and in an African Studies department. What I discovered was that I was going to have to not only fulfill the needs of the department, but do race relations work. We were on a predominately White college campus. As the Assistant Director, I often got pulled into all kinds of race programs and discussions. The Black Student Union would want to have forums. Black faculty and staff would participate in formal and informal discussions on race relations. I left that position and took another position at Kean as Coordinator of the Conflict Mediation Program. I was responsible for developing mediation at the institution. What I wanted to do was to develop the program in such a way that it addressed all kinds of issues that occur [on] a college campus. I also took on the issue of race relations as a component of conflict mediation. You will find, even today, the issue of racism is not dealt with consistently in conflict resolution. I believe that it can be, so I always worked on that piece. I also developed a model for addressing African and African American intergroup conflict while I was a graduate student. That's basically how I got into race relations work and its been good. BD: How would you describe the state of ethnic and racial relations today? KB: I think that as we embark on the 21st century, we're probably encountering some of the most difficult aspects of race relations because of our ignorance of history. We still live in a highly segregated society, even though we have the appearance of diversity, which I call virtual diversity. At the same time, we still have racism; we still have White supremacy; we still have these issues impact Black people, Latino people, American Indians, Asian people. …