Moving from Racial Literacy to Becoming an Antiracist- Bonus Episode
In this dialogue I had the pleasure to have an insightful dialogue with my dear colleague and mentor Dr. Kenneth Hardy. Dr. Hardy is one of the most original voices in the discourse around racial identity and family therapy. We touch upon three main topics: 1) multiple identities, intersectionality of these identities and the context in which they exist, being perceived and received with a practical model to get to know these selves and how they inform our way of being in our everyday lives. 2) the notion of reality and how it could be different based on our privileged identities and areas of subjugations. 3) VCR (Validate, challenge and Request) as a tool to acknowledge and heal rage within our society.
Dr. Hardy differentiates between being voiceless and having your voice being taken away. We address tough questions such as: How to become an antiracist in your everyday life? Who are your multiple selves? Are they all equally privileged? What constitute your racial self? What does it mean to be White? Black? Are we looking to be savors or ready to serve the underprivileged? What is a safe environment to have uncomfortable conversations and who is concerned with it? How does it feel to be uncomfortable, hurt, offended or triggered?
Dr. Hardy offers practical advice and models of practice on becoming an antiracist and engaging provider to nurture purposeful, clear and passionate voices of the underserved. He invites us to get to know our emotional pie: Get to know mad, glad, sad and nervous. Dr. Hardy provides a new look at rage as a passionate emotion that needs to be channeled to a productive way not shut down and he offers VCR (Validate, challenge and Request) as a model to acknowledge and heal rage.
Listen
About Dr. Hardy
Dr. Hardy presents workshops and provides consultations nationally and internationally on issues of diversity, multiculturalism, and cultural competency. He has provided training and consultation to an extensive list of Human Services agencies and School Districts devoted to providing culturally competent services to children and families. Some of his clients have included the Children’s Defense Fund, The United States Department of Defense, the Menninger Clinic, the New York State Office of Mental Health, Harlem Hospital, the Washington D.C. Superior Court, Philadelphia Department of Human Services, Allegheny County Department of Human Services, the South Carolina Department of Mental Health, the Westchester County Department of Human Services, and a host of Colleges, Universities, and Post-Secondary Institutions throughout the United States. Dr. Hardy has published extensively in the area of diversity and has earned considerable public acclaim for the contributions that his numerous publications and videotapes including Psychological Residuals of Slavery and the Experts series which have made great strides toward challenging our society to think critically about issues of diversity and oppression. His recent book, with Tracey A. Laszloffy, is Teens Who Hurt: Clinical Interventions to Break the Cycle of Adolescent Violence. He was co-editor with Monica McGoldrick of Re-Visioning Family Therapy: Race, Culture, and Gender in Clinical Practice (3rd Edition).
In addition to his own writing, he also serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, the Journal of Family Psychotherapy, the Journal of Divorce, the Journal of Couples Therapy, the Psychotherapy Networker, and the Journal of Family Counseling. Dr. Hardy is a frequent contributor to the print media such USA Today, Jet Magazine, and Good Housekeeping, and also has been featured in the electronic media having appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show, Dateline NBC, PBS, The Discovery Health Channel, and ABC’s 20/20.