Page 293 - Microaggressions in Everyday Live Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation

Sociopolitical Factors in the Helping Professional ’ s Credibility 267

Historical Dimensions Affecting Trust – Mistrust
In previous chapters, we build a strong case that the sociopolitical history of
race relations in the United States has been the history of racism (Sue, 2003). In
the mental health field, that history is equally unenviable. A common theme

throughout the psychiatric and psychological scientific literature is one of

equating minorities with pathology (Jones, 1997; Samuda, 1998). Sue and Sue
(2008) summarize the groundbreaking work of Thomas and Sillen (1972) and

cite numerous examples of false beliefs couched as scientific facts: (1) mental
health for Blacks was contentment with subservience, (2) anxiety was the result
of Blacks living under “ unnatural ” conditions of freedom, (3) infl uential medi-
cal journals portrayed Blacks as inferior to Whites in anatomical development
and neurological functioning, (4) the brains of Blacks were smaller and less
developed than Whites, (5) they were less prone to mental illness because their
“ minds were simple, ” (6) dreams of Blacks were more juvenile and less complex
than Whites, and (7) “ normal ” Blacks were “ happy - go - lucky ” and content to be
taken care of by Whites. Such beliefs were present throughout history and are
reflected, albeit in more sophisticated and disguised forms, to this present day.

• de Gobineau ’ s (1915) “ Essay on the Inequality of Human Races ” and
Darwin ’ s (1859) The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection sup-
ported the notion of the inferiority of “ lower races. ” Galton (1869) stated
explicitly that African “ negroes ” were “ half - witted men ” who made
“ childish, stupid and simpleton like mistakes. ”
• Terman (1916), creator of the famed and influential Binet tests of intel-

ligence, concluded that Blacks, Mexican Americans, and Spanish Indians
were “ uneducable. ”

• The first President of the American Psychological Association, Dr. G.
Stanley Hall, believed that human groups existed at different stages of
biological evolution and placed Africans, Indians, and Chinese much
lower than Whites; they were “ adolescent races ” in incomplete develop-
ment (Thomas & Sillen, 1972). The fact that Hall was a renowned psychol-
ogist and often referred to as the “ father of child study ” did not prevent
him from inheriting the racial biases of the society.
• Shockley (1972) believed that the accumulation of weak or low intelligence
genes in Blacks would seriously lower overall intelligence of the general
population and that they either should not be allowed to bear children or
be sterilized.

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