Indiana Law Review


The Many Costs of Discrimination:
The Case of Middle-Class

African Americans

Joe R. Feagin*

Kevin E. Early**
Karyn D. McKinney*"

A century ago the pioneering social psychologist, William James, noted that
there is no more serious punishment for human beings than social isolation and
marginal ization.

1 An "impotent despair" often develops among those who are
isolated and treated as less than human in social interaction. In the last two
decades social scientists have documented the severe effects that marginalization

and dehumanization have on the physical and emotional health ofhuman beings
in a variety of settings.

2

Writing in the 1940s, Gunnar Myrdal underscored the link ofdiscrimination
to social isolation and caste-like marginalization.

3 From this perspective, which
we extend in this Article, the serious damage that discrimination inflicts on its
victims includes marginalization and dehumanization, which in turn can have

serious physical and psychological consequences. In various accounts, African

Americans see themselves as "outsiders" excluded from recognition, important

positions, and significant rewards in predominantly white settings.
4

In the

workplace, which is our focus here, they cite discriminatory training and

promotions, racial threats and epithets, racist joking, subtle slights, and lack of

social support.
5

* Graduate Research Professor of Sociology, University ofFlorida. The authors wish to

thank Dr. Roy Brooks, University of San Diego School of Law, Dr. Sharon Rush, University of
Florida School ofLaw, Dr. Hernan Vera, University ofFlorida Department ofSociology, Dr. Juan

Perea, University of Florida School of Law, and Ms. Darby Fitzgerald, University of Florida

School of Law, for their invaluable comments and suggestions on drafts of this manuscript.
* * Associate Professor of Sociology, Oakland University.

*** Assistant Professor of Sociology, Penn State University.

1

.

See 2 William James, The Principles of Psychology 430 (1 890).

2. Robert H. Lauer & Warren H. Handel, Social Psychology: The Theory and
Application of Symbolic Interactionism (1977).

3

.

See 1 Gunnar Myrdal, An American Dilemma 57-59 ( 1 964).
4. See Sara E. Gutierres et al., Job Stress and Health Outcomes Among White and Hispanic

Employees, in Job Stress INACHANGING WORKFORCE 1 07, 108-11 (Gwendolyn P. Keita& Joseph
J. Hurrell eds., 1994).

5. see lois benjamin, the black elite: facing the color line in twilight (1991);

Philomena Essed, Everyday Racism: Reports from Women of Two Cultures ( 1 990); Bob
Blauner, Black Lives, White Lives: Three Decades of Race Relations in America ( 1 989);

Joe R. Feagin & Melvin P. Sikes, Living with Racism: The Black Middle Class Experience
( 1 994); MargaretAustinTurner et al., Opportunities Denied, Opportunities Diminished:

Racial Discrimination in Hiring, Urban Institute Report 91-9 (1991); Lawrence Bobo &
Susan A. Suh, Surveying Racial Discrimination: Analysesfrom a Multiethnic Labor Market, in

Prismatic Metropolis: Inequality in Los Angeles 523 (Lawrence D. Bobo et al. eds., 2000).



1314 INDIANA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 34:1313

Over the last decade very little systematic, in-depth research has been
conducted in the social and health sciences on the personal or family costs of
racial exclusion and lack of social integration in the workplace.

6 The early
research exploring racial differences in health primarily blamed African
Americans' biological characteristics for the high morbidity and mortality rates

in their communities.
7
Today, much public health research similarly focuses on

the supposed deviant lifestyles ofAfrican Americans as the cause oftheir unique
health problems.

8 From our perspective, there needs to be a renewed social
science focus on the costs of racial animosity and discrimination to African
Americans, to other people of color, and to U.S. society generally. In this
Article, we begin this major project by describing and analyzing the character
and range of racial discrimination's costs by examining the African American
experience in workplaces. Our exploratory research questions are the following:
Is there a link between reported workplace discrimination and personal stress for

African Americans? Ifso, what are the psychological and physical consequences

of that racially related stress? In addition, what are the family and community
consequences of that racially related stress? Finally, what are the broader
implications of these findings for questions of racial discrimination and hostile

racial climates in U.S. workplaces?

I. Integration and a Hostile Racial Climate

One might query what is the legal and constitutional relevance of our
research about the consequences and effects ofeveryday racism. We argue here
that many U.S. workplaces cause great harm to black workers, and probably to
other workers of color. Although the legal standard for proving a "hostile work
environment" was originally extended from racial discrimination cases to sexual
discrimination cases,

9
the courts have thus far not allowed the kind of evidence

to demonstrate a hostile racial climate that is currently allowed to demonstrate

a hostile sexual climate. In Faragher v. City ofBocaRaton,
10
the Supreme Court

observed: "Although racial and sexual harassment will often take different

forms, and standards may not be entirely interchangeable, we think there is good
sense in seeking generally to harmonize the standards of what amounts to

actionable harassment."
11

At this point in time, although the legal standards are ostensibly the same for
proving hostile racial and sexual climates, the courts tend to be more lenient in
the evidence they allow to prove hostile sexual climates than they are in the case

ofevidence for proofof hostile racial climates. This tendency for leniency may

6. See Gutierres et al., supra note 4, at 110.

7. See Susan L. Smith, Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired: Black Women's

Health Activism in America, 1 890- 1 950, at 6 ( 1 995).

8. See id at 169.

9. See Meritor Savings Bank F.S.B. v. Vinson, 477 U.S. 57, 66-67 (1986).

10. 524 U.S. 775 (1998).

11. /</. at787n.l.



2001] MIDDLE-CLASS AFRICAN AMERICANS 1315

be due in part to the fact that while two female Supreme Court justices
(particularly Ruth Bader Ginsberg) actively rule to protect the rights of women,
and in so doing set legal precedents for the lower courts, African Americans have
no strong voices or allies on the high court. Only Justices Ruth Bader Ginsberg,
John Paul Stevens and Stephen Gerald Breyer have sometimes acted as "allies"

to African Americans in their decisions. Justice Clarence Thomas is the only
person able to know first hand what it is like to be an African American, but as
yet he has failed to strenuously represent the needs or protect the interests of

African Americans.
12

We see no reason that this workplace standard should diverge, for, as we
show below, many workplaces can be very hostile and damaging for African
Americans. Not only is workplace integration a potential cause of stress for
African Americans, they are also not adequately protected by the law in these

often hostile environments. In 1993, in Harris v. Forklift Systems, Inc.,
13

the

Supreme Court decided that a victim ofsexual harassment did not have to prove
"severe psychological injury" in order to be compensated for sexist

discrimination. Writing for the majority, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor made it
clear that a hostile sexual climate could be demonstrated by evidence ofa string

of humiliating actions or offensive comments by an employer

whether an environment is "hostile" or "abusive" can be determined only

by looking at all the circumstances. These may include the frequency of
the discriminatory conduct; its severity; whether it is physically

threatening or humiliating, or a mere offensive utterance; and whether
it unreasonably interferes with an employee's work performance. 14

Thus, the court determined that a single major act of discrimination is not

necessary to prove sexism in the workplace. Continuing patterns of minor acts

are sufficient. In contrast, in cases alleging a hostile racial climate, African

Americans and other people ofcolor attempting to remedy racial discrimination
in the workplace are subject to a much more stringent burden of proof.
Moderately derogatory racial comments made over time are generally not
enough.

Under the Harris standard, harassing conduct need not have caused serious
psychological distress, but it had to be "severe or pervasive enough to . . . alter

the conditions ofthe victim's employment."
15 A distinction was also to be made

between physically threatening behaviors and "mere offensive utterancefs]."
16

In Faragher, the Supreme Court further clarified this standard, explaining that

12. See, e.g., Rudolph Alexander, Jr., Justice Clarence Thomas's First Year on the U.S.

Supreme Court: A Reasonfor African Americans to Be Concerned, 27 J. BLACK STUD. 378 ( 1 997)

(summarizing Justice Thomas's opinions in cases relevant to issues of race and racism during his

first year on the Court).

13. 510 U.S. 17(1993).

14. Id. at 23.

15. Id. at 21-22.

16. Mat 23.



1316 INDIANA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 34:1313

the Harris factors should serve as a filter to eliminate complaints regarding

"ordinary tribulations of the workplace" such as "occasional teasing."
17 The

Second Circuit was correct, according to the Faragher Court, in holding that
statutory reliefshould not be given for "episodic patterns ofracial antipathy," but
only for "incidents of harassment, [that] occur . . . with a regularity that can
reasonably be termed pervasive."

18
Thus, under Faragher, it is left up to the

courts' discretion to decide when a company or defendant should be held liable
for allowing a hostile environment to exist. It is also up to the courts to
determine when that hostile environment is "pervasive as to alter the conditions
of the victim's employment."

19
Often what may be a hostile racial environment

to most people ofcolor is not regarded as such by courts on which Americans of
color are not significantly represented. As presented in our data below, many
middle class African Americans reportwork environments where harassment and
discrimination reshape the conditions of work.

In one 1996 case, Aman v. Cort Furniture Rental Corp.,20 the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Third Circuit decided that white supervisors and coworkers'
repeated use ofterms such as "another one," "one ofthem," and "poor people,"

in referring to two black employees constituted racial "code words," which
created a "complextapestry ofdiscrimination" for which the companywas liable.
The court recognized that subtle discrimination is constitutive of a hostile
workplace.

21 The standards the court asserted for proving a hostile workplace
were that the employee suffered intentional discrimination, that the treatment was
pervasive and regular, that the discrimination detrimentally affected a particular

employee, and that the discrimination would also detrimentally affect "a

reasonable employee in a similar situation."
22

These four standards are similar

to those set forth in the hostile sexual climate cases.

Most recently, however, it seems that the courts are backpedaling on issues
regarding racial discrimination.

23
For example, in a case heard in the California

Court of Appeals, Etter v. Veriflo Corp.,
24

frequent racist epithets directed at a

black man were not "severe or pervasive" enough to warrant legal remedy. Etter
alleged that his supervisor directed toward him and other black employees
racially derogatory terms, among them "Buckwheat," "Jemima," and "boy," and
that she mocked supposed black pronunciation of certain words. However, the
court asserted that Etter was referred to as "Buckwheat" by his supervisor "only"
twice, and also noted that Etter could not remember the precise dates when his

17. Faragher v. City of Boca Raton, 524 U.S. 775, 788 (1998).

18. Id. at 787 n.l (citing Lopez v. S.B. Thomas, Inc., 831 F.2d 1 184, 1 189 (2d Cir. 1987)).

19. Id. at 786.

20. 85 F.3d. 1074 (3d Cir. 1996).

21. See id. at 1082-84.

22. Id.

23. See Steven Keeva, A Bumpy Road to Equality: Panelists Say Courts Are Backpedaling

on Minority Issues, 82 A.B.A. J. 32 (1996).

24. 67 Cal. App. 4th. 457 (Ct. App. 1998).



200 1 ] MIDDLE-CLASS AFRICAN AMERICANS 1317

supervisor called him "boy."
25

Further, the court opinion referred twice to the

fact that Etter laughed at the racially insulting comments of his supervisor,
implying that the negativism of racist comments was only "in the head" of the
victim and thus legally benign.

26
In fact, Etter may have laughed nervously or

only in an attempt to get along with his boss at the time, a common report of
black employees.

27
The Etter court reaction reminds one of Justice Henry

Brown's opinion Plessy v. Ferguson:
29

We consider the underlying fallacy ofthe plaintiffs argument to consist
in the assumption that the enforced separation of the two races stamps
the colored race with a badge of inferiority. If this be so, it is not by

reason of anything found in the act, but solely because the colored race

chooses to put that construction upon it. The argument necessarily
assumes that if, as has been more than once the case, and is not unlikely
to be so again, the colored race should become the dominant power in
the state legislature, and should enact a law in precisely similar terms, it

would thereby relegate the white race to an inferior position. We
imagine that the white race, at least, would not acquiesce in this
assumption.

29

Here the Chief Justice and his associate judges, all white, explicitly say that it
was only Plessy^perception that he faced humiliating segregation. As the white
justices saw it, any feelings by Plessy or other African Americans that whites saw
them as inferior were just in their heads—a classic example of blaming the
victim, highlighting the pervasiveness ofextreme antiblack racism at the turn of

the century.

The Etter court implied a similar view of African Americans' experiences
with discrimination in that they found it relevant to their decision that Etter had

previously filed discrimination charges against another employee. The likely
reason for the court to mention this fact was to imply that Etter was overly
sensitive, or "paranoid," or was using his racial classification for the financial
gain that might be won through a successful discrimination suit.

Thejury in Etter was instructed to consider whether "a reasonable person of
the Plaintiffs race would have found the racial conduct complained of to be

sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter the conditions of the person's

employment and create a hostile or abusive working environment."
30

However,

one may question whether a predominantly white jury, or a white judge, is able
to determine what is "reasonable" for an African American plaintiff. Social

science research has shown that very few whites have any significant
understanding of the depths and severity of the everyday racism faced by the

25. See id. at 461-62.

26. See id. at 461.

27. See FEAGIN & SlKES, supra note 5, at 135-222.
28. 163 U.S. 537(1896).

29. Id. at 551.

30. Etter, 67 Cal. App. 4th at 460.



1318 INDIANA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 34:1313

majority of black Americans.
31

The Etter court, in deciding that the plaintiffs
experiences were merely "episodic," and not "pervasive," may have failed to
understand the severity and impact of those experiences for black employees.
One might speculate, based on the relative success of such cases regarding
gender, that had Etter been a white female charging a sexual hostile workplace

environment, the same number and severity of comments might have been
enough for the court to find for the plaintiff. We will discuss possible reasons
for this "selective sympathy" later in the paper.

32

In this Article we show how damaging the racial work climate can be, and
why the courts need to take African American reports of a hostile racial work
environment seriously. African Americans and other plaintiffs who allege
discrimination must show how their workplaces actually do harm. Here we
provide some clues on how to gather and present such evidence. The type of
evidence we have gathered clearly shows how and why workplace climates can
be hostile.

Racial integration has not worked well for African Americans, as evidenced
by the continuing huge inequalities in income, education, and life expectancies
between African Americans and whites. On the average, black families have an
income ofonly about sixty percent ofthat ofwhite families and family wealth is
only about ten percent ofthat ofwhite families.

33
Additionally, on average white

Americans live about six to seven years longer than black Americans.34 A major
problem with racial integration, as it has operated so far, is that it has mixed
varying numbers of people of color into predominantly white institutional

settings without giving them enough power to alter those settings or enough

resources to significantly improve their material standards as a group. As it is
practiced and implemented, racial integration in the workplace has caused many
black Americans much anger and pain. Roy Brooks has documented the
limitations of current integration, suggesting that African Americans might do

better to practice "limited separation," for their economic, physical, and

psychological well-being.
35
Racial integration, as it has been implemented in U.S.

31. See Joe R.Feagin&Hernan Vera, White Racism: The Basics 13 5-61 (1995);Feagin

& SlKES, supra note 5, at 337-45.
32. "By the phenomenon of racially selective sympathy and indifference I mean the

unconscious failure to extend to a minority the same recognition of humanity, and hence the same

sympathy and care, given as a matter of course to one's own group." Paul Brest, Foreword: In

Defense ofthe Antidiscrimination Principle, 90 HARV. L. Rev. 1, 7-8 (1976). While this concept

is relevant, we see it as grounded in the "color blind" approach that is part of"whiteness." Whites

are most often not conscious that they are exercising "selective sympathy," but think that they are

in fact treating everyone the same.

33. See JoeR. Feagin&ClaireceBooherFeagin, Racial andEthnic Relations 236-90

(1999).

34. see joe r. feagin, racist america: roots, current realities, and future

Reparations 196 (2000).

35. Roy L. Brooks, Integration or Separation? A Strategy for Racial Equality
(1996).



2001] MIDDLE-CLASS AFRICAN AMERICANS 1319

society, is at best, one-way assimilation into a white-framed culture and
institutions. This haphazard mixing is not the appropriate standard for racial
integration designed to undo past wrongs.

In order to have real integration rather than one-way assimilation, African
Americans and other people of color must be given the same opportunity as
whites to change the contours of the workplace by their presence in it - hence
requiring two-way (or more) assimilation. At the very least, they must not be
required to become "whitewashed" and thus to give up significant parts of their
identity in order to be accepted as coworkers, employees, and supervisors.

Recent cases involving language issues for Latinos illustrate that these

Americans of color are willing to make some concessions to be integrated into
workplaces, but not to give up their language—a critical carrier of their
culture—just because whites arbitrarily insist that they do so.36 The parallel
question is how much should African Americans have to give up in order to
assimilate to historically white workplaces and other institutional settings?

Clearly, they are willing to make concessions, but not to suffer nearly as much
as they must under current circumstances.

The goal ofreal integration is much more than one-way assimilation into the
workplace. As we see it, the goal should be two-way accommodation. Whites
need to make major adaptations to those entering their institutions. They need
to allow full incorporation into the workplace and give up racist practices,

including the many practices that create a hostile climate. They need to change
the number ofemployees to create a critical mass ofAfrican Americans and other
workers of color. In defense of the critical-mass argument Richard Delgado

posits that middle-class African Americans, because they are often alone in their

workplace, are by necessity one-way assimilationists.
37

Because of their small

numbers, African Americans often have little power to change the culture ofthe

workplace and thus create two-way integration.

Most of our study participants are among the most economically successful
middle and upper-middle class African Americans. These middle-class African

Americans have often been viewed as having achieved the American dream like

the middle classes of white ethnic groups before them.
38

Ironically, integration

into the white workplace has in many cases created stressful situations for
African Americans. For example, many of the first African Americans to
integrate white workplaces were assigned to racialized jobs, such as positions as

"community liaisons" or heads of affirmative action compliance departments.
In these positions, they served to calm the potentially disruptive African

American communities of the late 1960s, and many have been subsequently

36. See Juan F. Perea, Los Olvidados: On the Making ofInvisible People, 70 N.Y.U. L. REV.

965, 986-91 (1995).

37. See generally Richard Delgado, Affirmative Action as a Marjoritarian Device: Or, Do

You Really Want to Be a Role Model?, 89 MlCH. L. REV. 1222 (1991).

38. See William Julius Wilson, The Declining Significance of Race 124-26 (1978);

Thomas B. Edsall & Mary D. Edsall, Chain Reaction: The Impact of Race, Rights, and
Taxes on American Politics ( 1 99 1 ).



1320 INDIANA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 34:1313

unable to move out ofthose jobs.39 Accordingly, because the African American
middle class was to a significant degree politically facilitated, it is vulnerable to
political changes that make economic attainment more difficult.40 For individual
middle class African Americans, workplace integration may be accompanied
with forced assimilation, everyday discrimination, and the sense of being

constantly watched and outvoted.
41

Indeed, workplace integration has currently

been primarily one-way—African Americans and other people ofcolor have been
required to accept white norms without being given the power to affect the
workplace culture.

42

Nathaniel R. Jones, ajudge in the 6th Circuit Court ofAppeals remarked that
it seems that Justice Harlan's statement in his dissenting opinion in Plessy, that
"justice is colorblind," is now being used against African Americans.43 Several
legal scholars have suggested race-conscious ways that standards might be
changed to make it easier to show the damage caused by hostile racial
workplaces. Barbara Flagg has discussed a situation that exists in predominantly

white workplaces which she calls the "transparency phenomenon."
44

Because

whites are generally unaware ofrace, they are not conscious that decision-making

in the historically white workplace that appears "neutral" often benefits whites

and disadvantages people of color. We suggest that this type of discrimination,
which automatically advantages whites and disadvantages people of color but
is nonetheless thought of as "neutral standards," is better referred to as

"woodwork racism" because it is not transparent. Rather, it is commonplace,
tough, and real.

Flagg suggests that instead of a disparate treatment test for racial

discrimination, which relies on proofofintentional discrimination, courts should

consider finding employers liable for failure to create a culturally diverse

workplace environment that imbeds the sometimes divergent norms of newly

integrated groups. Flagg suggests two possible new standards, a "foreseeable
impact" approach and an "alternatives" approach.

45
Both approaches would

make it necessary for courts to consider the transparency phenomenon in
deciding what constitutes a racially hostile workplace. Flagg advocates the

alternatives approach, in which a historically and predominantly white workplace

likely means white norms of decision-making, and thus requires strict judicial

scrutiny. The employer is then responsible for explaining the criteria used in the

39. See generally Sharon M. Collins-Lowey, Black Corporate Executives: The

Making and Breaking of a Black Middle Class ( 1 997).

40. See generally id.

4 1

.

See Anthony J. Marsella, Work and Well-Being in an Ethnoculturally Pluralistic Society:

Conceptual and Methodological Issues, in JOB STRESS IN A CHANGING WORKPLACE 147, 148-50

(Gwendolyn P. Keita & Joseph J. Hurrell eds., 1994).
42. See COLLINS-LOWEY, supra note 39, at 142.

43. See Keeva, supra note 23, at 32.

44. Barbara J. Flagg, Fashioning a Title VII Remedy for Transparently White Subjective

Decisionmaking, 104 Yale L.J. 2009, 2012 (1995).

45. See id at 2039-48.



200 1 ] MIDDLE-CLASS AFRICAN AMERICANS 1 32

1

particular workplace standard that led to the suit, after which the plaintiff may
propose alternative criteria that would not have a disparate impact on the
employee of color.

46

Another race-conscious solution to the difficulty ofproving a racially hostile

workplace has been suggested by Charles Lawrence III. Lawrence asserts that
the courts' reliance on proof of intent and a show of individualized fault should
be replaced with a "cultural meanings" standard.

47
Such a standard would take

into account the unconscious and half-conscious discrimination practiced every

day by whites who have grown up in a racist society. Lawrence advocates that
legal scholars might look to social science research to offer evidence of the

racially derogatory cultural meanings ofseemingly "neutral" acts.
48
Although he

admits that his approach will not be readily accepted and easily applied, and that

it is optimistic in its challenge of commonly held beliefs, Lawrence's insights
might be useful in creating a new standard forjudging the "reasonableness" of
African Americans' complaints of discrimination in their workplaces. Their

longterm experience and collective memory must be factored into any
meaningful legal approach that tries to judge hostile racial climates.

This Article contributes to the creation ofthis new standard by describing the
character and impact ofhostile workplace environments endured bymany middle
class African Americans, and the severe physical and psychological effects this

workplace climate can have on their health and well-being. Some of the most
harmful treatment by white perpetrators that is described by our respondents may
be half-conscious or even unconscious. In line with Flagg's transparency

phenomenon, it is our suggestion that, until true racial integration is attained in
predominantly white workplaces (with its impact on white attitudes and

behavior), most of these places have the potential to be hostile to black

Americans and other workers of color.

The transparency phenomenon should also be applicable to the judicial
system, which ordinarily and routinely operates according to white norms due to
the predominance ofwhitejudges, prosecutors, andjuries in most court systems.

For example, a recent Amnesty International report on the U.S. justice system
reported that in 1 998 almost all (1 ,8 1 6 out of 1 ,838) ofthe district attorneys and

similar officials with the power to make decisions about the death penalty were
white. The report also cited evidence on the use of peremptory challenges by
prosecutors to keep juries as white as possible.

49
Flagg does not believe that

transparency applies to "maleness" as it does to "whiteness" in the workplace.
50

This could perhaps be part ofthe reason that women have been more successful
in proving hostile sexual workplace climates in the courts. Almost every white

46. See id. at 2044.

47. Charles R. Lawrence III, The Id, the Ego, and Equal Protection: Reckoning with

Unconscious Racism 39 STAN. L. REV. 317, 378-88 (1987).

48. See id. at 358-59.

49. See AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: RIGHTS FOR ALL

109-11(1998).

50. Flagg, supra note 44, at 2012-13, 2012 n.9.



1322 INDIANA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 34:1313

male judge and jury member has some close contact with a woman, whether she
be his mother, daughter, wife, or friend. Thus, most will have some idea ofwhat
a "reasonable woman" might find offensive, as well as some sympathy toward
a white woman. However, evidence ofracial hostility in white workplaces is also
usually assessed by whitejuries andjudges, and that evidence is often considered
to be merely the "perceptions" of"oversensitive" African Americans. Thus, the
test presented by the courts, in which the standard of"a reasonable person ofthe
plaintiffs race" is invoked, lacks meaning. Most white people have very little
understanding of what African Americans' experience in white workplaces is
like. The purpose of this Article is to contribute to a more race conscious
standard for assessing the damage often done to African Americans in white
workplaces.

II. Research Methods

To begin this serious sociological examination of the perceived costs of
racial discrimination, we conducted five exploratory focus groups with
economically successful African Americans, two in the Midwest and three in the
Southeast.

51 We secured thirty-seven participants, sixteen in the Midwest and
twenty-one in the Southeast. Of those who reported their age, the majority
(seventeen) were between thirty-one and forty years of age, with five between
twenty-one and thirty and twelve between forty-one and sixty. Among those
reporting their education, most (nineteen) had pursued graduate work beyond a
four year college degree, while thirteen others had completed some college work
or earned a college degree. Only one reported not having gone to college.
Among those who reported family income, the majority (twenty-five) had an
income that was $3 1,000 a year or more, with fourteen reporting income above
$50,000. Eight listed a family income at $30,000 a year or less. The respondents
reported a variety of occupations, mostly in professional or managerial

positions.
52

Twenty-seven were female, and ten were male. In the analysis, we
quote from about eighty percent of the focus group participants.

53

5 1 . This exploratory research utilized a sample of middle-class African American men and

women. The findings suggested by our research should be extended to include both working class

and under—and unemployed African Americans. Also, this study might be used to identify topics
for quantitative public health research studies.

52. The participants included a dental assistant, several nurses, a community health specialist,

a psychologist, a counselor, several government administrators, a planner, a social services

coordinator, a sheriff, several postal service managers, teachers, a college admissions advisor, a

college residential coordinator, two college students, several secretaries, a purchasing agent, and

several corporate managers and engineers. Three participants held skilled blue-collar jobs.

53. We used black moderators to conduct the focus groups. We are indebted to John
McKnight for moderating three groups.



2001] MIDDLE-CLASS AFRICAN AMERICANS 1323

III. Racial Discrimination in the Workplace: The Social
Generation of Anger and Rage

In the last decade much argument has been directed at what has been termed
"black paranoia" about racism . For example, Dinesh D' Souza argues that middle
class African Americans move too quickly to see racism and that black rage is a
"dysfunctional aspect of black culture, a feature mainly of middle-class African

American life" and that this rage represents "the frustration ofpursuing unearned
privileges" of affirmative action.

54
In effect, this perspective suggests that

African Americans have mainly themselves to blame for mental health problems
associated with their racial histories.

In contrast, other researchers have found that African American "paranoia"
is actually a healthy response to recurring experiences with racial discrimination.

Some researchers call this response "cultural mistrust," which is a suspicion of
whites that is adopted by African Americans for survival.55 Others have rejected
the use of terms such as "mistrust" or "paranoia," which have implications of
pathology, and instead use the term "racism reaction" to describe the protective

orientation individual African Americans often assume in interactions with
whites.

56
Research suggests that health-care providers should be familiar with

this black response in order to avoid misdiagnoses of pathological paranoia.
57

This precaution is particularly important given the fact that, although African

Americans are less likely than whites to seek mental health care, those that do
seek such care are more apt to be diagnosed with more serious mental illnesses.

58

In a now classical study, psychiatrists Grier and Cobbs examined the extent
to which individual rage and depression among African Americans were
determined by racial discrimination and asserted that black mistrust ofwhites is

a reasonable attitude based on their experiences with racial discrimination.
59

In

54. Dinesh D'Souza, The End of Racism: Principles for a Multiracial Society 491

(1995).

55. Francis Terrell & Sandra Terrell, An Inventory to Measure Cultural Mistrust Among
Blacks, 5 W. J. Black Stud. 180, 180 (1981).

56. Chalmer E. Thompson et al., Cultural Mistrust and Racism Reaction Among African-
American Students, 31 J. C. STUDENT DEV. 162, 163 (1990).

57. See id.; Charles R. Ridley, Clinical Treatment of the Nondisclosing Black Client: A

Therapeutic Paradox, 39 AM. PSYCHOLOGIST 1234, 1244 (1984).

58. See Stephen I. Abramowitz & Joan Murray Race Effects in Psychotherapy, in BIAS IN
Psychotherapy 215-55 (Joan Murray & Paul R. Abramson eds., 1983); Raymond M. Costello,
Construction and Cross-Validation of an MMPl Black-White Scale, 41 J. PERSONALITY
ASSESSMENT 5 1 (1 977); Ezra E. H. Griffith, & F.M. Baker, Psychiatric Care ofAfrican Americans,
in Culture, Ethnicity, and Mental Illness 147-73 (Albert C. Gaw ed., 1993); Billy E. Jones
& Beverly A. Gray, Problems in DiagnosingSchizophrenia andAffective DisordersAmongBlacks,
37 HOSP. & Community Psychiatry 6 1, 65 (1986); Jerome M. Sattler, The Effects ofTherapist-
Client Racial Similarity, in Effective Psychotherapy: AHandbookof Research 252-90 (Alan
S. Gurman & Andrew M. Razin eds., 1977).

59. See generally WILLIAM H. GRIER & PRICE M. COBBS, BLACK RAGE ( 1 968).



1324 INDIANA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 34:1313

this study, Grier and Cobbs drew on extensive clinical experience with black
patients and concluded that the treatment of enraged African Americans must
center on experiences with discrimination in the workplace and other sectors of
society in order for psychological healing to take place. They noted that black

[pjeople bear all they can and, if required, bear even more. But if they

are black in present-day America they have been asked to shoulder too
much. They have had all they can stand. They will be harried no more.
Turning from their tormentors, they are filled with rage.

60

More recently, Cobbs reiterated the point that rage against discrimination is
commonplace among African Americans, but for many, continues to be turned
inward.

61
Silent, all-consuming rage can lead to inner turmoil, emotional or

social withdrawal, and physical health problems.

African Americans working or traversing historically white places often feel
frustration, anguish, anger, or rage—all of which may be expressed in their
words, the tone oftheir comments, or the character offacial expressions. All the
focus group respondents indicated in one way or another that they suffer
substantial and recurring stress and frustration because of racially hostile

workplaces. As one Midwestern respondent put it, her symptoms ofstress do not
happen "on weekends or after five o'clock." In the focus group interviews there
is a consensus that much of their life-damaging stress at work does not come
from the performance of the job itself but from hostile work environments.

Some social science research shows that a person'sjob satisfaction is rooted
in how much work contributes to a sense of control and to self-esteem, in how
much co-workers and supervisors are helpful in supporting one's work, and in
whether rewards are meritocratic.

62
Black employees have difficulty doing their

best work when conditions and rewards are inequitable. Recent data demonstrate
that African Americans continue to be rewarded economically at lower levels

than do white Americans. The broad economic costs of being black include

continuing disparities in income, wealth, and occupational position.
63 Some

portion ofthese disparities stems from the accumulating impact ofdiscrimination

over centuries, while another portion comes from the well-documented patterns
of discrimination in contemporary employment settings.

64

Black workers' lives are disrupted by lack of support and discrimination by

60. Id. at 4.

61. See Price M. Cobbs, Critical Perspectives on the Psychology ofRace, in THE STATE OF

Black America 1988, at 61-62 (Janet Dewart ed., 1988).
62. See Robert Karasek & TOres Theorell, Healthy Work: Stress, Productivity,

and the Reconstruction of Working Life 69-72 (1 990); John Mirowsky & Catherine E. Ross,
The Consolation-Prize Theory ofAlienation, 95 AM. J. Soc. 1505 (1990); Catherine E. Ross &
John Mirowsky, Households, Employment, and the Sense ofControl, 55 SOC. PSYCH. Q. 2 1 7, 2 1 9-

20(1992).

63. See Feagin & Feagin, supra note 33, at 258-60; Melvin L. Oliver & Thomas M.
Shapiro, Black Wealth/White Wealth: A New Perspective on Racial Equality (1995).

64. See Benjamin, supra note 5; ESSED, supra note 5; FEAGIN & SlKES, supra note 5.



2001] MIDDLE-CLASS AFRICAN AMERICANS 1325

co-workers and supervisors; these encounters can become "life crises" with a
serious health impact similar to that of life crises like the death of a loved one.

65

Recent research on 726 African American men and women showed that the
amount ofdecision latitude they were allowed on theirjob was linked to the risk
of hypertension. African American men who were given more control over
decisions on their jobs had fifty percent less prevalence of hypertension.

66

However, many of our respondents discussed being excluded from decision-
making. As the reader will see, an African American's attempt to compensate
for this lack of control can lead to specific physical health problems.

67

In commenting on racially hostile or unsupportive workplace climates, some
focus group participants described general feelings of frustration and anger,
while others told of specific incidents that generated these feelings. A common
source of anger is white use of racist epithets or similar derogatory references,

which can trigger painful individual and collective memories. One
black professional described her reaction to an incident with a white

administrator:

I have felt, I have felt extremely upset, anger, rage, I guess you would
call it? One incident that comes to mind happened in a social setting. I
was with some, with my former boss and some coworkers and a man
who ran, like, a federal program. And we were having dinner, and he
made a comment, and he had been drinking heavily. And he referred to
black people as "niggers" .... I'm sitting—he's there, and I'm here. .

.

. And as soon as he said it, he looked in my face. And then he turned
beet red, you know? [Laughter] And I said, "Excuse me, what did you
say?" And he just couldn't say anything. And then my boss, my former
boss, intervened and said, "Now, you know, move his glass, because he's
had too much to drink." And you know just making all these excuses.
So, ofcourse, I got up and left. I said goodnight, and left. And the next
morning, the man called me and apologized His excuse was that he
had been drinking, you know. And I said, "Well [gives name], we don't
get drunk and just say things that we wouldn't otherwise say. You
know, I don't get drunk and start speaking Spanish. [Laughter]. This

was already in you, you know, in order for it to come out. [Voices:
Exactly. Yeah, yeah. ] .... I mean so, keep your apology, I'm not
interested.

68

65. See Karasek & Theorell, supra note 62, at 71 ; Lydia Rapoport, The State ofCrisis:
Some Theoretical Considerations, in CRISIS INTERVENTION: SELECTED READINGS 22, 31 (Howard

J. Paraded., 1965).

66. See Amy B. Curtis et al., Job Strain and Blood Pressure in African Americans: The Pitt
County Study, 87 Am. J. PUB. HEALTH 1297, 1300 (1997).

67. Sherman A. James et al., John Henryism and Blood Pressure Differences Among Black

Men IT. The Role ofOccupational Stressors, 7 J. BEHAV. Med. 259 (1984).
68. Some quotes have been lightly edited. We deleted some filler words like "you know" and

"uh" and corrected grammar in a few places. We have kept respondents anonymous by deleting or



1326 INDIANA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 34:1313

Then she concluded with a comment on what she did with her anger:

I was so angered that I wanted to get him, you know? I was out to get
him. I called his boss in [names city] . . . who is black, and informed
him of what happened. Because he was referring to his boss, actually.
. . . And he said, "Yeah, he's out with the other niggers." You know, so
he's calling his boss a nigger! And I think his boss should know that!

Similarly, a secretary in the Midwest related an incident in which she had to
explain the meaning of an epithet to her supervisor, who subsequently did
nothing to reprimand the white employee who used the term:

A white individual in my department was talking to me, and he referred
to me as "Buckwheat." My supervisor, when I reported it to her, told me
that she did not feel that I looked like Buckwheat. Nor . . . did she
understand what the term meant. Then she asked me to define it for her.
She felt that [the term] was not derogatory. After I told her what it
meant .... she said "Well, you don't exemplify that, so I wouldn't
worry about that." She also refused to talk to the individual.

The impact of racist epithets may be underestimated by many white
observers. One older black psychologist told the first author that when he hears
the epithet "nigger," in his mind's eye he sees a black man hanging from a tree.
Individual and collective memories compound the damage of present-moment
discrimination. The connection between hostile epithets and the brutality of

racism are intimate parts of the collective memory of African Americans.
Robert Bellah and his associates have noted that communities "have a

history" and "they are constituted by their past—and for this reason we can speak
of a real community as a 'community of memory,' one that does not forget its
past."

69
Collective recollections are not always positive: "Remembering . . .

heritage involve[s] accepting . . . origins, including painful memories ofprejudice
and discrimination."

70
Past and present discriminatory actions—and the

contending responses to that oppression—become inscribed in collective
memory. The community passes along information from one generation to the
next about how to deal with discrimination and the anger it causes. A nurse's
assistant noted the importance of generational advice and collective memory:
"Kindness will kill a person. My grandmother told me that so many times.
'Don't get upset. Don't fuss. Don't argue with them. Just smile at them.'"

[Male voice: "That's true."] After this comment, a health care professional in the
focus group spoke about her rage over a traumatic workplace incident with a

white coworker. She partly attributed the hostility in their relationship to racial

tensions in her workplace:

disguising names and places.

69. Robert N. Bellah et al., Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in

American Life 153 (1985).

70. Id. at 157.



2001] MIDDLE-CLASS AFRICAN AMERICANS 1327

Most ofthe time you can do that, but it comes that point where you just
can't. They have backed you into a corner. It's like a mouse, if you
back him into a corner he's going to come out. So, then you just
explode. I had that to happen on the job and I hit this person. I

physically, yes, I hit her. She's white and she called me a "bitch."
[Moderator: After you hit her or before you hit her?] Before I hit her.
That's why I hit her. She was abusive to the patients, and I had already
had a conversation with her, with the supervisor. . . . [s]he cursed me,
and I'm looking at my supervisor who was her friend. . . . Both ofthem
are white, and this was her friend. You know, they would go out to
lunch together, whatever. She cursed me in the patient area, and I'm
looking to my supervisor for some kind of response to her. Well, after
she didn't say anything to her, then I cursed her back. And then I
thought well, "Okay, this isn't cool, let me just get away from the
situation." And I went [to] the medication room just to separate myself.

Then she added this to complete the story:

Well, that wasn't good enough for that person. She had to come where
I was and ask me a question that she could have asked the patient. And
I wouldn't respond to her. I said I'm not going to talk to her when she
just cursed me. Shejust cursed me, what's the point? So, then she said,

"Well, you bitch." When she said that, I just really lost it and I was out
ofthere and grabbed [her coworker] by the back ofthe hair and punched

her in the mouth. Well, when that happened of course your job flashes
before your face. It's like "God, I'm going to lose my job." Well, the
supervisor had her back to us luckily. ... I was angry with myself
because I allowed this person to get me off my ground. She wasn't
worth [it], I could have lost my job. She wasn't worth that and I was
really angry with myself for allowing her to get me off my ground.

Many cases of discriminatory treatment entail a sequence of events which
take place over time; they consist ofmore than one encounter. The white woman
cursed the respondent, who responded in turn, triggering another curse by the
white woman. The respondent was angry at her own actions because she lost
control over her own space. When she finished her account, one man in the
group added this: "There's no one answer to a question like that. Each situation

warrants a different response. I think what helps us as being black now, we
understand what these [white] people think." One consequence of racial
oppression is the understanding one necessarily develops into the behavior ofthe

oppressor, an effort and level ofunderstanding usually not required ofthe latter.
71

Some research has linked the stress caused by this bicultural stance African

71. See Peter Bell & Jimmy Evans, Counseling the Black Client: Alcohol Use and
Abuse in Black America (1981); Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks (Charles Lam
Markmann trans., 1967).



1328 INDIANA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 34:1313

Americans must take to increased vulnerability to illnesses.72

A female supervisor in one focus group discussed the link between black
rage and unfair promotion practices in workplace settings:

I think a lot of anger and rage comes in when we . . . feel like—like I
have a friend, he's been with the company twenty years, and he didn't
get a promotion. And he was well over-qualified. They gave it to a
[white] guy who had been there only seven [years], and knows nothing.
So, of course, I was kinda angry with the process, but it was because he
was the ex-boyfriend of the girl who was doing the promoting. So he
was upset about it. But I told him, I felt like this: "They can only tell
you 'no' so many times. Keep applying for that position."

The anger over mistreatment is more than a matter ofwhat happens to the black
person as an individual. Rage over racism is also fueled by what happens to
friends and family members. Collective memories of racism against all African
Americans, as well as knowledge of specific discriminatory actions against
particular friends and relatives, multiply racial ized stress for African American
individuals.

73

The seriousness ofblack rage over discrimination was made clear by a retired
professor interviewed in a recent nationwide study of African Americans.

Speaking to a question about the level of his anger toward whites because of
discrimination (on a scale from one to ten), this man implicitly suggests the
serious health consequences of rage:

Ten! I think that there are many blacks whose anger is at that level.
Mine has had time to grow over the years more and more and more until
now I feel that my grasp on handling myself is tenuous. I think that now
I would strike out to the point ofkilling, and not think anything about it.
I really wouldn't care.

74

IV. Anger and Rage: Attempts at Repression and Control

The daily struggle against racial attacks and slights can be seen clearly in
many aspects of the focus group transcripts. The intensity of the pressures are
clear when the respondents speak ofthe means they use to cope with anger over
racial discrimination. Resignation and reinterpretation of events are among the
coping tactics. One respondent told of an incident in which a young black man
came to her workplace to donate items to the service organization for which she

72. See, e.g., F. M. Baker, The Afro-American Life Cycle: Success, Failure, and Mental

Health, 79 J. NAT'L Med. ASS'N 625, 630-3 1 (1987).

73. See ESSED, supra note 5; FEAGIN & SiKES, supra note 5, at 16-17; James S. Jackson &
Marita R. Inglehart, Reverberation Theory: Stress and Racism in Hierarchically Structured

Communities, in EXTREME STRESS AND COMMUNITIES: IMPACT AND INTERVENTION 353, 367-71

(Stevan E. Hobfoll & Marten W. de Vries eds., 1995).
74. FEAGIN & SiKES, supra note 5, at 294.



200 1 ] MIDDLE-CLASS AFRICAN AMERICANS 1329

works. Her white boss asked the young man why he was donating, and the latter
answered that he had grown up in the service organization, though in another
location. The woman concluded the story:

And he [her boss] said "Oh, I will have to call him. I know the person
who directs the organization down there. I'll have to tell him that you
didn't end up in jail." And the guyjust, he's like, "I don't . . . know quite
how to take [that]." But he [her boss] says this [stuff] all the time.

Although the woman recognizes her supervisor's comments to be stereotypical,
she tries to understand his ignorance:

I think that he just doesn't know any better I've come to grips with
him, I've worked for him for many years I let him know that I don't
like his comments and that they're inappropriate, but there's nothing I
can do about it. But I just think he doesn't know any better.

This woman's workplace situation exemplifies that ofmany African Americans,
who often find ways to attribute the behavior ofwhite coworkers to things other
than overt racism in order to be able to work with them on a daily basis.
Contrary to white notions of African American "paranoia," most frequently

struggle to find explanations other than racism for the negative behavior ofmany
whites.

75

Some participants spoke oftrying not to let their anger over racism take root
deeply in their lives. One government employee discussed this approach to
discrimination:

To never get upset. Not to let that rage consume you, and after, and it
really takes a lot to be really thoughtful, and to get beyond that, and, and

try to educate them [whites]. I, that's what I've found works for me.
And it helps me not to go home and to have thatjust simmer in me—that
I can just leave it.

Middle-class African Americans, who often have high levels of interaction with
whites as coworkers, find various ways to "leave" their anger, and may use a
combination ofcoping strategies for discrimination.

76
Extant research suggests

that, before choosing a coping strategy, African Americans often reflect on the

source of a white person's discriminatory behavior.
77 Some discuss methods of

mentally or physically withdrawing from a hostile situation, while others verbally

or physically confront discriminatory whites. Sometimes African Americans

attribute racist behavior to ignorance and choose to educate whites as a response

to discrimination, which can give a sense ofempowerment. Yet others describe
a "shield" they must use in order to protect themselves in white society. Many

75. See, e.g., D'SOUZA, supra note 54, at 491 (asserting that middle-class African Americans

suffer from paranoia); ESSED, supra note 5; Feagin &SIKES, supra note 5, at 275-78 (discussing

the other interpretations for discriminatory behavior that African Americans often consider first).

76. See FEAGIN & SlKES, supra note 5, at 273.
77. See JOE R. Feagin& Karyn D. McKlNNEY, The COSTS OF RACISM (forthcoming 2002).



1330 INDIANA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 34:1313

discuss social networks, whether in the family, community, or church, as
important buffers against the harmful psychological and physical effects of
discrimination.

78

Many African Americans discuss the importance of"choosing one's battles"
in regard to confronting racism. Most indicate they do not have the energy to
confront each instance of discrimination.

79
However, repressing emotions can

be problematical. A too-restrained response to one's anger over workplace
problems can bring even more suffering because of the feelings of impotence,
which in turn can contribute to stress-related illness.80 Researchers Alexander
Thomas and Samuel Sillen have suggested that finding some socially viable way
of openly expressing anger at oppressors is better than self-derogation as a
response to racial oppression.

81

This sense ofempowerment is linked to position and resources by one female
professional:

I think that we're some empowered people sitting around the table, and
so we can do that. I think that there's a lot of people that don't feel that
they have the power to do that. There's a lot ofAfrican Americans who
don't feel that they have the power. I've seen it in the kids I've seen

it in the workplaces. They don't—and so that rage just builds up. I see
it in black men. They don't feel that they have the power. . . . and older
people. They really don't. And that's, I think the issue that, that really
needs to be spoken to. We can do it because we've made up in our
minds that we're going to educate them But what about those people
that really have not, you know, are not, are not feeling this strength and

energy? What about those, those kids that I see every day? And
particularly again, if they are black males. . . . You see, a lot of people,
I think a lot of our people end up in jail or dead because they don't have

the tools . . . that we're talking about, that we use to, to deal with it.

Teaching whites becomes part of the strategy for dealing with anger over

racism. Middle class African Americans, it is suggested, have more resources
and strength to deal with racism in this and other ways than do other African
Americans. The sense of lacking power to fight back or to bring about change
is likely to be central to the continuing reality ofdiscrimination for many African
Americans.

A government supervisor in the Southeast noted his approach to handling
anger from job discrimination:

You're always going to feel anger, I mean, obviously ... [in the]

simplest things sometimes. Because, just because, if you can look and

tell, if it's a black man and white man thing. ... So you're gonna feel

78. See FEAGIN & SlKES, supra note 5, at 294-307.
79. See id. at 281.

80. See KARASEK & THEORELL, supra note 62.
81. See ALEXANDER THOMAS & SAMUEL SlLLEN, RACISM AND PSYCHIATRY 53-54(1 972).



2001] MIDDLE-CLASS AFRICAN AMERICANS 1331

anger, but the thing is, when you put that rage in there . . . number one,
it's your job. You're gonna do certain things. But it's my health. And
it's my life. So I'm not gonna put myself in a position where you're
gonna get me to that point. I know when we were talking about
psychological and physical things. I'm just not gonna let you put that—

I

can wake up in the morning time, and I know, I don't even have to open
my eyes, I know I'm a black man. I don't have to tell me. You don't
have to tell me. So when I sit there and, and take this—and say, I'm
sitting across a table from a, in a meeting, and there's a superior, and

they happen to be white. In this case, of course, they may do something
that's going to get me upset, but like I say, it's theirjob. Or if they pass
me over, and, all I can look in is the variables. . . . But I control how I
feel about it. I can control whether or not it affects my health or not. So,
that's why, when you say, as far as rage and anger, you know how to
override it.

This man believes he has developed strategies to control the anger he feels from
racial tensions at work. It is impossible to know to what degree his strategies are
successful, but he perceives his need to monitor his anger constantly for fear the

anger coming from workplace discrimination will affect his health. The
constancy ofbeing reminded ofbeing black is part ofwhat racism means in U.S.
society. One can never escape this, and during encounters with whites in the
workplace, one's racial identity is in the front of one's mind. Some anger over
mistreatment is inevitable, and the overarching strategy is often to "choose one's

battles" and assess each situation separately for the appropriate response.

In some cases whites may intentionally provoke black workers to see ifthey
will react strongly. After the government supervisor spoke, a female voice

added: "This is a set up You get into rage, theyjust say, 'See, that's why we
didn't give [a promotion] to her.'" The ability to hold in one's anger and to
control feelings is central to survival in a work world where strong reactions to
animosity can affect one's job opportunities and economic success. Many
African Americans must exert much effort to check emotions so as not to play
into white stereotypes ofblack people being out ofcontrol. An engineer had also
decided not to let rage have a negative affect on health: "So you see, these things
like that, those things like that, those things make you upset . . . and the stress
does make a difference, I think it probably takes five years off your life, to tell
you the truth, if you let it get to you." An administrative secretary in the
Midwest echoed this sentiment about how to deal with racially generated stress:
"You learn how to deal with it. . . . You sit up there, and you be mad all day long
and that's not good for you and you end up dead. I'm not dying from them."

A victim of discrimination frequently shares the account with family and
friends in order to lighten the burden. African Americans often rely on their

families and community institutions (e.g., churches) as part of their coping
mechanisms for dealing with recurrent discrimination at work and elsewhere.82

82. See, e.g. , Sayde L. Logan, The Black Family: Strengths, Self-Help, and Positive



1332 INDIANA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 34:1313

In several focus groups the participants repeatedly noted or underscored these

critical sources of social support. One teacher commented on bringing the stress
of racism home with her, "I think I bring it home with me, I do. But, I have a
good partner here, who listens . . . and, you know, I tell him all the problems,
when it's happened. And I get feedback from him. And I get it all out, and that,
I think that's good."

Similarly, a male respondent in the Southeast said his wife was his major
source of support in dealing with stress from racial animosity:

I'd say oftentimes I've brought it home. Because I don't share that stuff

with my work group, but I can share it with my wife, and she'll listen
and give me appropriate feedback, and help me get through that. And
you know I get the bike out, and I'll ride, or take the kids and go
somewhere, or take me a good, hot, steamy shower. And get a back rub,
or something. [Others chuckle.] And that kinda thing. Settle for that!

Numerous focus group participants indicated that they told their families and
friends about discriminatory events in employment and other settings, which
accounts spread both knowledge and pain through social networks and

communities.

Several respondents mentioned how their families of origin raised them to
recognize and deal with racial hostility and discrimination. A secretary stated
that:

I think my family is very supportive. . . . [m]y father is more like,
"Maybe you should ignore it and turn the other cheek," where my mom
is like, "Report it." You know, so I ... get it from both sides I think
these are things that I should tell them, and these are also things that they

should relate to me about their experience so that I can distinguish what
is racism, what is prejudice, and how to deal with it. ... I think we have
a lot of individuals today who don't even know [how to recognize
racism]. . . . [s]omebody in that family should have brought that out to

these individuals. . . . [t]his is important for families to sit around, and

let them know. This is another way ofcommunication to bring it out so
they don't have to bring it into the workplace and be angry.

Another woman, a purchasing agent, agreed with this respondent, and added that
her family "told us different stories that have happened to them, so we can
distinguish between what is and what is not [racism] .... [t]hey give you an

example ofsubtle prejudice and racism " Several parents in the focus groups

noted the importance ofpreparing their children for racism and its torments and

frustrations.

One should note the cumulative impact of racial animosity and
discrimination reported throughout our interviews. This accumulating impact

Change (1996); Carol B. Stack, All Our Kin: Strategies for Survival in a Black

COMMUNITY (1974); James S. Jackson, Black American Life Course, in LIFE IN BLACK AMERICA

264, 265-66 (James S. Jackson ed., 1991).



2001] MIDDLE-CLASS AFRICAN AMERICANS 1333

likely accounts for much of the anger and rage expressed by the focus group
participants. The problem is not just a particular racial incident but the steady
pattern of incidents over long periods of time and across many life spaces.
Recurring discrimination may eventually erode the coping skills ofmany African
Americans and cause them increased illness or problems in families.83 In one
study, a retired schoolteacher in a southwestern city recounted her experience

with a racist epithet yelled by a clerk in a mall shop, then characterized the many
recurring incidents ofracism as the "little murders every day" that have made her
long life so difficult.

84
Particular instances of discrimination in workplaces or

elsewhere may seem minor to some outside (especially white) observers,
particularly if they are only considered in isolation. However, when blatant
racist actions and overt mistreatment combine with discrimination in more subtle
and covert forms, and when these discriminatory practices accumulate over
weeks, months, and years, the effect on African Americans is more than what a
simple summing of the impact of particular incidents might suggest. There is
often a significant multiplier effect from recurring racial hostility on a person's

work, health, and social relationships.
85

Although their specific strategies for dealing with racism differ, there was a
general consensus among the respondents that the anger generated by racism in
the workplace must generally be dealt with by African Americans themselves,

who can expect little!, if any, support from white coworkers and supervisors. A
nurse described the lack of concern for racism shown by white supervisors:

I think that most supervisors, managers, [the] higher echelon knows
about racism in the workplace. And I think some ofthem leave it up to
lower managers to do something about it even when they discuss it, and
some ofthem just leave it, period. And then some have diversity groups
... or seminars or things . . . but racism is so prevalent I just think that

it's going to be hard to get rid of.

The costs of racial discrimination encompass the time and effort put into
dealing with that discrimination. The responses of African Americans to racial
stress vary, with some using aggressive countering tactics and others
withdrawing from the situation. Sometimes the stress forces the costly response

ofwithdrawal. One woman, working in corporate administrative services, noted
her response to harassment:

The way I deal with it is I try to stay out of the office as much as I can
. . . even outsiders who come in the office, they can sense the air is tight.
. . . [a]nd it's all because ofour boss. And it's notjust racial harassment,
it's sexual harassment.

83

.

see elaine plnderhughes, understanding race, ethnicity and power: the key

to Efficacy in Clinical Practice (1989).

84. See FEAGIN & SlKES, supra note, 5, at 54.
85. See Darielle Watts-Jones, Toward a Stress Scale for African-American Women, 14

Psychol. Women Q. 271 (1990).



1334 INDIANA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 34:1313

Several female respondents described how racial marginalization at work was
amplified by the sexist behavior of white male coworkers and supervisors.

Another woman, who now works at a college, described racially related
stress and why she quit her previous job in a store:

When the black customers would come into the store to possibly return
merchandise, and maybe not have a receipt to accompany that purchase,
they were asked . . . "Do you think you could go home and find it [the
receipt]? Well, when was it purchased?" They were denied adequate
assistance. But when the white people would come into the store, it was
like, "Oh, well, can I credit it to your [store credit account] or Visa?" .

. . [I]t was always, with the black person, it's like, "Well, where did you
buy it? Well, take it back to the store that you bought it from," although
you can take any ofthat merchandise to any store, because that's policy.
... I was just amazed by the kind ofthings that would occur. And that's
a reason why I no longer work there, because I could no longer work for
a company that discriminated against my race [T]hey did it blatantly
and they really didn't care.

Whatever the source of stress at work, its consequences are serious. What is
noteworthy about racial stress is that it generally comes on top of the other
frustrations in the workplace. Note too that this woman's frustration and anger
were generated by what was happening, not to herself, but to other African
Americans.

V. Depression and Other Psychological Problems

Long ago, in the 1960s the critic ofracial colonialism, Frantz Fanon, argued
forcefully that colonization causes the colonized serious psychological problems,

because of the continual assaults it inflicts on their personalities.
86 Numerous

studies have documented the harmful effects ofworkplace stress on the health of

employees ofany racial or ethnic group.
87

Although work is a primary source of
stress for many individuals, some research shows that certain types ofjob stress
are unique to the experiences ofAmericans of color, and may contribute to their
facing unique physical and mental health challenges.

88
Certain social conditions,

including racial inequality, blocked opportunities, and discrimination are major

generators of pain and distress for individuals. Physical and mental health

problems can stem from the stresses of discrimination.
89

Recent research has

86. See JockMcCulloch, Black Soul, WhiteArtifact: Fanon's Clinical Psychology

and Social Theory 127-28 (1983).

87. See, e.g., Gutierres et al., supra note 4, at 11 8.

88. See id. at 1 20; see also Marsella, supra note 4 1

.

89. See generally Jewelle Taylor Gibbs & Diana Fuery, Mental Health and Well-Being of
Black Women: Toward Strategies ofEmpowerment, 22 AM. J. COMMUNITY PSYCHOL. 559 (1994);

Griffith & Baker, supra note 58; Vickie M. Mays et al., Perceived Race-Based Discrimination,
Employment Status, andJob Stress in a National Sample ofBlack Women: Implicationsfor Health



2001] MIDDLE-CLASS AFRICAN AMERICANS 1335

highlighted the need to take into account three dimensions in considerations of

the role of stress in the lives of African Americans. The first is the individual-
level interactions between race and health; the second, interpersonal relationships

and health; and the third, societal factors, such as poverty and racism, that

contribute detrimentally to African American health.
90

Research has found that

African Americans are caught in economic, social, and political conditions that

are harmful to their health.
91 Mirowsky and Ross conclude that this pain and

distress can take two psychological forms: being depressed, being demoralized,
and feeling hopeless; and feeling anxiety, fear, and worry.

92
Karasek and

Theorell have shown that variations in control and socioemotional support at
work predict variations in psychological depression.

93

Demoralization, anxiety, and anger over everyday discrimination are to be

expected under the circumstances faced by African Americans in U.S. society,

but they are nonetheless unhealthy at the levels experienced. A few recent
research studies have touched on the relationship of discrimination to mental

health problems. In addition to older studies of African Americans such as that

of Grier and Cobbs, three recent studies of Mexican Americans have found that
experience with discrimination is linked to higher levels of stress and

psychological suffering, including depression and lower levels of life

satisfaction.
94 An analysis drawing on the National Study of Black Americans

has also suggested that recent experience with discrimination may be associated
with poor mental health.

95

Often a worker ofcolor finds he or she is one offew, or even the only person

ofthat racial-ethnic background within their work environment. This status often

does not allow them the social support that could help to alleviate workplace

Outcomes, 1 J. Occupational Health Psychol. 319 (1996); Charles B. Wilkinson & Jeanne
Spurlock, The Mental Health of Black Americans: Psychiatric Diagnosis and Treatment, in

Ethnic Psychiatry 13 (Charles B. Wilkinson ed., 1986).

90. See James S. Jackson & Sherrill L. Sellers, African-American Health over the Life
Course: A Multidimensional Framework in HANDBOOK OF DIVERSITY ISSUES IN HEALTH

PSYCHOLOGY 301, 301-04 (Pamela M. Kato & Traci Mann eds., 1996).
91. See James S. Jackson & Monica L. Wolford, Changes from 1980 to 1987 in Mental

Health Status and Help-Seeking Among African-Americans, 25 J. GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY 15, 65

(1992).

92. see john mirowsky & catherine e. ross, social causes of psychological
Distress 95 (1989).

93. See KARASEK & THEORELL, supra note 62, at 71-72.
94. See GRIER& COBBS, supra note 59; Hortensia Amaro et al., Family and Work Predictors

ofPsychological Weil-Being Among Hispanic Women Professionals, 11 PSYCHOL.WOMEN Q. 505
(1987); V. Nelly Salgado de Snyder, Factors Associated with Acculturative Stress andDepressive

SymptomatologyAmongMarriedMexican Immigrant Women, 1 1 PSYCHOL. WOMENQ.475 (1987);
Gutierres et al., supra note 4, at 1 1 9-20.

95. David R. Williams & An-Me Chung, Racism and Health, in HEALTH IN BLACK AMERICA
(R. Gibson & J. Jackson eds., forthcoming 2001).



1336 INDIANA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 34:1313

stress.
96

Additionally, this isolated status may draw an inordinate amount of
attention to the minority group member's job performance, and may cause a
stigmatizing "token" status to be ascribed.

97
Thus, African Americans in

predominantly white work settings may feel pressure to prove that they were not
hired strictly because of affirmative action, as may often be the assumption of
their white colleagues. This pressure, coupled with experiences with exclusion

and other discrimination, may lead to stress for African Americans as well as
other Americans of color.

98

Although some research has been done on the mental health of African
Americans, the findings have been contradictory.

99 Some studies point to the
resilience and coping skills of African Americans and conclude that African
Americans have much lower rates ofmental illness than do whites. Other studies
find that African American rates of mental illness are higher than those of

whites.
100

Still other studies have found that rates ofmental illness for people of

various racial-ethnic backgrounds are moderated by demographic characteristics
such as marital and socioeconomic status.

101
These contradictory findings have

led some to suggest that public health researchers abandon racial comparison
research altogether.

102
Others have called for qualitative research, such as

ethnographic research and case studies, as well as longitudinal studies that cover

96. See id.

97. See id.

98. See id/, see also James et al., supra note 67, at 259.

99. See, e.g., George W. Comstock & Knud J. Helsing, Symptoms ofDepression in Two
Communities, 6 PSYCHOL. Med. 551, 556-59 (1976); Ronald C. Kessler & Harold W. Neighbors,
A New Perspective on the Relationships Among Race, Social Class, and Psychological Distress,

27 J. Health & Soc. Behav. 107 (1986) (finding that there are racial differences in psychological
problems and that these interact with socioeconomic status); Shae Graham Kosch et al., Patient

Ethnicity and Diagnosis ofEmotional Disorders in Women, 30 FAM. MED. 215, 218-19 (1998)

(discussing the contradictions in findings ofmental illness in persons ofvarious ethnicities); David

R. Williams & Toni Rucker, Socioeconomic Status and the Health ofRacial Minority Populations,
in Handbook of Diversity Issues in Health Psychology 407 (Pamela M. Kato & Traci Mann
eds., 1996).

1 00. See Griffith & Baker, supra note 58, at 1 59 (discussing research that negates the myth that
African Americans do not get depressed).

101. See, e.g., Deborah Belle, Poverty and Women's Health, 45 AM. PSYCHOL. 385, 385

(1990); Maisha B. Bennett, Afro-American Women, Poverty and Mental Health: A Social Essay,

12 WOMEN & HEALTH 213, 223-25 (1987); Comstock & Helsing, supra note 100, at 551-52;
Horacio Fabrega et al., Black- White Differences in Psychopathology in an Urban Psychiatric

Population, 29 COMPREHENSIVE PSYCHIATRY 285, 286 (1988); Kessler & Neighbors, supra note
99, at 107.

102. See, e.g., Raj Bhopal & Liam Donaldson, White, European, Western, Caucasian, or
What? Inappropriate Labeling in Research on Race, Ethnicity, and Health, 88 AM. J. PUB. HEALTH

1303, 1303 (1998); Mindy T. Fullilove, Comment, Abandoning "Race" as a Variable in Public

Health Research—An Idea Whose Time Has Come, 88 Am. J. PUB. HEALTH 1297, 1298 (1998).



2001] MIDDLE-CLASS AFRICAN AMERICANS 1337

more time, in order to supplement contradictory research findings. ,03 Still others
have suggested that various societal stereotypes regarding African Americans
lead to bias in mental health diagnoses, making any findings regarding the mental
health ofAfrican Americans dubious.

104
Contradictions in quantitative research

regarding the mental health of people of color suggest that researchers should

consider that perceptions of people of color may play a primary role in the
diagnosis and treatment of those who are psychologically troubled.

Historically, the mental health treatment of African Americans has been
conducted on a foundation ofstereotypical ideas about African Americans. 105 In
the 1 800s, some enslaved African Americans who either disobeyed their masters
or ran away were given specific diagnoses of mental illness. 106 During
Reconstruction, mental health practitioners asserted that the supposed increase

in mental illness ofAfrican Americans was due to the loss ofthe many civilizing
"benefits" of slavery.

107
In the early 1900s, African Americans were often

characterized by whites as promiscuous, emotionally and criminally volatile,
childlike, and unintelligent. Psychiatric research generally relied on these racist
stereotypes in diagnosis, and researchers even congratulated themselves on the
"fortunate guidance" of members of society through whom many African
Americans have been "saved" from physically and mentally ruining their lives.

108

Some mental health studies written between the late 1800s and the mid 1900s
even stated that African Americans lacked the psychological complexity to

become depressed, given their "inferior" psyches.
109 By the early 1960s, new

research was beginning to turn to cultural, rather than biological, explanations for
racial differences in mental health, and suggested that the more integrated
African Americans became, the more they would experience depression, often
designated as "the white man's malady."

110

103. See Fullilove, supra note 102, at 1298; Gibbs & Fuery, supra note 89, at 566; David R.
Williams et al., Marital Status andPsychiatric Disorders Among Blacks and Whites, 33 J. HEALTH

& SOC. BEHAV. 140, 155 (1992).
104. See Gibbs & Fuery, supra note 89, at 562-63; Kosch et al., supra note 99, at 218-19.
105. See generally Sander L. Gilman, Difference and Pathology: Stereotypes of

Sexuality, Race, and Madness 1 3 1 -49 ( 1 985) (discussing historical stereotypes ofpathological

madness of African Americans and other people of color).

1 06. One example is the term "drapetomania" used to describe "runaway-ness." See Thomas

S. Szasz, The Sane Slave: An Historical Note on the Use ofMedical Diagnosis as Justificatory

Rhetoric, in THE PRODUCTION OF REALITY: ESSAYS AND READINGS IN SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 426,

427 (Peter Kollock & Jodi O'Brien eds., 1994); Wilkinson & Spurlock, supra note 89, at 15;
Donald H. Williams, The Epidemiology of Mental Illness in Afro-Americans, 37 HOSP. &
Community Psychiatry 42, 42 (1986).

1 07. See Griffith & Baker, supra note 58, at 1 54.
108. See generallyW .M . Bev i s, Psychological Traits ofthe Southern Negro with Observations

as to Some ofHis Psychoses, 1 AM. J. PSYCHIATRY 69, 69-70 (1921).

109. See Victor R. Adebimpe, Overview: White Norms and Psychiatric Diagnosis ofBlack

Patients, 138 AM. J. PSYCHIATRY 279, 281 (1981).

1 1 0. See Arthur J. Prange, Jr. & M.M. Vitols, CulturalAspects ofthe RelativelyLow Incidence



1338 INDIANA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 34:1313

Some current research suggests that African Americans are often
misdiagnosed by mental health professionals. Diagnostic tests may be racially
biased, elevating the observed rates ofcertain types of mental illness for African

Americans.
111

Researchers have found that even when African American and
white individuals present the same symptoms to doctors they are sometimes
diagnosed with very different illnesses.

112
For example, with the same symptoms,

whites are often diagnosed with depression, which is treated with psychotherapy

and has a good prognosis, while African Americans tend to be diagnosed as
having schizophrenia, which is more serious and must be treated with
medication.

113 A study of 1 00 white and 1 00 African American women, matched
by age, who had visited an outpatient family practice center from 1993 to 1994,
explored the rate ofprimary or secondary diagnoses ofemotional disorder for the

two groups. 1 14 The research findings showed that forty-four percent ofthe white
women, compared to twenty-four percent of the African American women, had
either a primary or secondary diagnosis of psychiatric disorder.

115 The
researchers suggested that this racial discrepancy was based on evidence that
black women actually have less psychiatric disorder, perhaps due to either better
family and community support network or a greater reluctance to discuss
personal problems with physicians.

116

A white standard of normality is usually taught to and used by white
therapists. However, cultural norms for what constitutes "normal" or "abnormal"
behavior may be different for African Americans than for whites. 1I7 Specifically,
African Americans may have different ways of expressing symptoms and
complaints, different culturally normative behaviors, and different coping

mechanisms than do whites.
118

Recent research has suggested that as therapists

become more aware of mental health issues unique to people of color, they may
need to retrospectively diagnose African American patients to correct earlier

ofDepression in Southern Negroes, 8 Int'L J. SOC. PSYCHIATRY 104, 105 (1962).

111. See, e.g., Costello, supra note 58, at 518; Gibbs & Fuery, supra note 89; Watts-Jones,
supra note 85, at 274-75.

1 1 2. See generally Gibbs & Fuery, supra note 89 (discussing the various problems with mental
health diagnosis of African Americans).

113. See id. at 57 1 ; Griffith & Baker, supra note 58, at 1 5 1 , 1 53; Nancy F. Russo & Esteban
L. Olmedo, Women 's Utilization ofOutpatient Psychiatric Services: Some Emerging Prioritiesfor

Rehabilitation Psychologists, 28 REHABILITATION PSYCHOL. 141 (1983); Wilkinson & Spurlock,
supra note 90, at 16-18.

1 1 4. See Kosch et al., supra note 1 00, at 2 1 6.

115. See id. at 217.

116. See id. at 218.

117. See GeorgeDevereux, Basic Problemsof Ethnopsychiatry 3-71(1 980); Adebimpe,

supra note 110, at 282-83; Harold W. Neighbors et al., The Influence of Racial Factors on

Psychiatric Diagnosis: A Review andSuggestionsfor Research, 25 COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH

J. 301,301-02(1989).

1 1 8. See Fabrega et al., supra note 1 02, at 286; Gibbs & Fuery, supra note 90, at 568-72.



200 1 ] MIDDLE-CLASS AFRICAN AMERICANS 1339

misdiagnoses.
119

White therapists may harbor negative views of African American patients,
based on societal myths.

120
They may communicate these feelings in their

nonverbal behavior, causing African American patients to withhold the kind of
self-disclosure that is necessary for psychotherapy.

1 21
Researchers have found

that for African Americans, psychotherapy with a white caregiver often leads to

"unhealthful consequences."
122 Many call for better cross-cultural training for

psychiatrists and psychotherapists.
123

Because of racial bias in the mental health care profession, African

Americans have generally relied on other forms of help for psychological

difficulties. Research has been done on the differences in help-seeking behaviors

ofwhites and African Americans.
124

Early bias in mental health care led African

1 19. See Griffith & Baker, supra note 58, at 151-53.
120. See Elaine J. Copeland, Oppressed Conditions and the Mental-Health Needs ofLow-

Income Black Women: Barriers to Services, Strategiesfor Change, 1 WOMEN& THERAPY 13, 26
(1982); Gibbs & Fuery, supra note 89, at 569; Griffith & Baker, supra note 58, at 153-54;
Wilkinson & Spurlock, supra note 89.

121

.

See Griffith & Baker, supra note 58, at 166; Ridley, supra note 57.
122. See Stanley Sue, Psychotherapeutic Services for Ethnic Minorities: Two Decades of

Research Findings, 43 Am. PSYCHOLOGIST 301, 302 (1988); Ridley, supra note 57.

123. See Manuel Ramirez III, Psychotherapy & Counseling with Minorities: A
Cognitive Approach to Individual and Cultural Differences (1991); Evalina W. Bestman,

Intervention Techniques in the Black Community, in CROSS-CULTURAL TRAINING FOR MENTAL

HealthProfessionals213 (Harriet P. Lefley & Paul B. Pedersen eds., 1986) [hereinafter Cross-
Cultural TRAINING]; Robert L. Bragg, Discussion: Cultural Aspects ofMental Health Carefor

Black Americans, in CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY 179 (Albert Gaw ed., 1982); Lawrence E.
Gary, Attitudes of Black Adults Toward Community Mental Health Centers, 38 HOSP. &
COMMUNITYPSYCHIATRY 1 1 00, 1 1 05 ( 1 987); Jewelle Taylor Gibbs, Can We Continue to Be Color-

Blind and Class-Bound?, 13 COUNSELING PSYCHOLOGIST 426 (1985); Gibbs & Fuery, supra note
89; Gerald G. Jackson, Conceptualizing Afrocentric and Eurocentric Mental Health Training, in

CROSS-CULTURAL Training, supra, at 131; Gerald G. Jackson, Cross-Cultural Counseling with

Afro-Americans, in HANDBOOK OF CROSS-CULTURAL COUNSELING AND THERAPY 231 (Paul

Pedersen ed., 1985) [hereinafter HANDBOOK]; James S. Jackson, The Mental Health Service and

Training Needs ofAfrican Americans, in ETHNIC MINORITY PERSPECTIVES ON CLINICAL TRAINING

AND SERVICES IN Psychology 33 (Hector F. Myers et al. eds., 1991); Enrico E. Jones,

Psychotherapy and Counseling with Black Clients, in HANDBOOK, supra, at 173; Harold W.

Neighbors, Improving the Mental Health ofBlackAmericans: Lessonsfrom the CommunityHealth

Movement, in Health POLICIES AND BLACK AMERICANS 348, 380 (David P. Willis ed., 1989);

Ridley, supra note 58; Richard I. Shader, Discussion: CulturalAspects ofMental Health Carefor

Black Americans: Cultural Aspects ofPsychiatric Training, in CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOL. 187

(Albert Gaw ed., 1982); Jeanne Spurlock, BlackAmericans, in CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOL., supra,
at 163.

124. See generally Gibbs & Fuery, supra note 89, at 570-72; Donald R. Atkinson, A Meta-
Review of Research on Cross-Cultural Counseling and Psychotherapy, 13 J. MULTICULTURAL

Counseling&Development 138(1 985); Ruth L. Greene et al., Mental Health andHelp-Seeking



1340 INDIANA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 34:1313

Americans to care for their mentally ill family members at home. 125 Today, older
African Americans in need ofpsychological support are often more likely to seek
help from family and extended family members than from mental health
professionals.

126
Findings also suggest that African Americans are likely to see

both physical and mental health as dependent on a healthy spiritual life.
127

Thus,

they often rely on prayer, ministers, and church services for psychological

help.
128 Some have noted that African American church services are similar to

group therapy in offering psychological relief.
129

This might account for the fact

that group therapy seems to be more useful than individual psychotherapy, at
least for African American women. 130

Whatever the actual differences in African American and white mental

illness and treatment, one observation made by many researchers is that given the
amount of societal stress in the lives of African Americans, one would expect
them to exhibit much higher rates ofmental illness than they do. 131 Some suggest
that due to their life circumstances, African Americans may be more tolerant in
coping with symptoms ofstress. 132 Thus, researchers have been urged to explore
the resilience and coping skills that African Americans utilize to protect their

Behavior, in AGING IN Black America 185 (James S. Jackson et al. eds., 1993); Griffith & Baker,
supra note 58, at 1 64-65; Vickie M. Mays, et al., Mental Health Symptoms andService Utilization

Patterns of Help-Seeking Among African American Women, in MENTAL HEALTH IN BLACK

AMERICA 161 (Harold W. Neighbors & James S. Jackson eds., 1996); Harold W. Neighbors et al.,
Help-Seeking Behavior and Unmet Need, in ANXIETY DISORDERS IN AFRICAN AMERICANS 26

(Steven Friedman ed., 1994); Harold W. Neighbors & James S. Jackson, The Use ofInformal and
Formal Help: Four Patterns ofIllness Behavior in the Black Community, 12 AM. J. COMMUNITY

Psychol. 629 (1984); Wilkinson & Spurlock, supra note 89.
125. See Griffith & Baker, supra note 58, at 1 54.
126. See William W. Dressier, Extended Family Relationships, Social Support, and Mental

Health in a Southern Black Community, 26 J. HEALTH & SOC BEHAV. 39, 40 (1985); Griffith &
Baker, supra note 58, at 164-65; Robert Joseph Taylor et al., Changes over Time in Support

NetworkInvolvementAmongBlackAmericans, in FAMILY LIFE IN BLACKAMERICA 293-3 16 (Robert

Joseph Taylor et al. eds., 1997);

1 27. See Karen L. Edwards, Exploratory Study ofBlack Psychological Health, 26 J. RELIGION

& Health 73 (1987); Griffith & Baker, supra note 58, at 156.
1 28. See Harold W. Neighbors et al., Stress, Coping, and Black Mental Health: Preliminary

Findingsfrom a National Study, 2 PREVENTION IN HUMAN SERVICES 5, 24 ( 1 983); Gibbs & Fuery,
supra note 89, at 571; Griffith & Baker, supra note 58, at 156.

129. See Ezra E. Griffith et al., An Analysis ofthe Therapeutic Elements in a Black Church

Service, 35 HoSP. & COMMUNITY PSYCHIATRY 464, 464-65 (1984).
130. See Nancy Boyd-Franklin, Group Therapyfor Black Women: A Therapeutic Support

Model, 57 Am. J. ORTHOPSYCHIATRY 394, 394-95 (1987); Vickie M. Mays, Black Women and

Stress: Utilization ofSelf-Help Groupsfor Stress Reduction, 4 WOMEN & THERAPY 67 (1985-86).
131. See generally Harold W. Neighbors, Mental Health, in LIFE IN BLACKAmerica 22 1 , 22

1

(James S. Jackson ed., 1991); Williams et al., supra note 89, at 104.

132. See Linda K. Sussman et al., Treatment-Seeking for Depression by Black and White

Americans, 24 SOC. SCI. &MED. 187, 195 (1987).



2001] MIDDLE-CLASS AFRICAN AMERICANS 1341

mental health from racist attacks.
133 To this end, a few researchers have

suggested using a stress/adaptation paradigm in mental health research, which

emphasizes environmental as well as personality factors in seeking the cause for

African Americans' emotional problems and focuses on their unique coping

skills.
134 Some have also stressed the need for life-course research, which would

offer a perspective on the strengths and structural barriers in mental and physical

health care for African Americans at all stages of life.
135

Our focus group participants reported various psychological complaints they
believed to be the result of workplace discrimination, ranging from extreme

anxiety and added stress to depression severe enough to require medication or
hospitalization. An administrative assistant was hospitalized for depression after
she was almost laid off:

I had been in . . . my department for eleven years when I, we had a major
change in staff. We had gone from a white male boss who had just left,
and a white female who had taken over in the position. I had seniority
in the office as far as time and had just received a promotion in the job,

and had nothing but excellent, excellent performance evaluations. But

when it came time to do the budget cuts, my position was offered as
being ten percent cut. I was told that there was no way to avoid this
position being cut. Being that at this time I was the only minority that
was, that was in the office, it was devastating to me at the time because
we tried to work it out. Now I'm working for an agency that advertises
. . . strong affirmative action and equal employment opportunities. So
I had a right to file [a] discrimination [complaint].

She then described the resolution, which involved a black elected official

interceding for her:

Because I was looking at a layoff. . . . [He] basically went in and told
this supervisor that, "With all these vacant positions that we have in this
county, you will find her ajob." I was told on a Friday by the department

they wanted to transfer me to, that I had to make a decisions over the
weekend and let them know by that following Monday whether I was
going to accept this job, which was a [big] cut in pay ... or go in the
unemployment line. I had to help take care of two children, so I chose

to go for the transfer. But . . .through all this, and, the mental anguish

133. See Gibbs & Fuery, supra note 89, at 574-75.
1 34. See generally Griffith & Baker, supra note 58; Neighbors, supra note 131; Watts-Jones,

supra note 85.

135. See Linda M. Chatters & James S. Jackson, Quality ofLife and Subjective Weil-Being
Among Black Americans, in BLACK ADULT DEVELOPMENT AND AGING 191, 208-09 (Reginald L.

Jones ed., 1989); James S. Jackson & Sherrill L. Sellers, Psychological, Social, and Cultural
Perspectives on Minority Health in Adolescence: A Life-Course Framework, in HEALTH-

Promoting andHealth Compromising Behaviors Among Minority Adolescents 29, 40-4

1

(Dawn K. Wilson et al. eds., 1997).



1342 INDIANA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 34:1313

that I went through, I was hospitalized for nine days. It was just
devastating, because I saw it as blatant discrimination. . . . There was
nothing they could go to in the file and find in terms of not performing
or anything like that. And then the amount oftime, get basically kicked
out the door is what happened. . . . But then, but not only the financial
burden, but just the toll that it took. ... I think the toll was so hurtful
because I saw it strictly as racial.

It appears that much racially linked mistreatment in work settings is disguised by
the perpetrators in bureaucratic terms, as here in a budget cut. This woman's
judgment ofdiscrimination is not arbitrary but comes from past experience as the
"only minority" in an almost exclusively white department. Her ability to read
the situation may also be grounded in past experience in a variety of settings. In
such cases significant achievements are ignored and serious mental and physical

pain can result.

A teacher described a situation in which her boss moved her to a different
position just before school started. This woman discovered later that she was
moved in order to make room for a new and less experienced white teacher. She
described the stress she underwent as a result of having to change so quickly:

I was so upset I didn't know what to do. Just totally wiped out. I'm
thinking about all of this stuff I've got to move. She promised that the

janitors would help me move. Nobody helped me. People were almost
in tears watching me move all of this stuff in a shopping cart. . . . And,
it took me, that means I had to organize my stuff, move it, and get ready
for another grade level and be ready to teach. ... So I did my pre-
planning; it almost killed me. . . . Nobody came to help me, but
everybody was giving me sympathy. I had to go to the doctor. . . . and
I had become hypertensive. But I felt myself, I could hardly work, I was
so upset. And I had gotten prayer, and, was reading my scripture, and
meditating ....

When the moderator asked her if she had been hospitalized for hypertension, the
woman answered:

No, he put me on an antidepressant ... in addition to the medication I
needed to take—I'm glad you made me clarify that, helped me to clarify
it, brother. I had to go on an antidepressant. I didn't take it very long,

but that's how upset I was, had to see a physician. I was under his care
for awhile. But, I mean, they brought these three white women on. . . .
That's what irks me, when I hear about the white people attacking
affirmative action, when it's worked in reverse, and it's still
happening—to them. They're, nobody hears about how they get hired,
and they're less qualified than we are. Nobody hears about how many
times we're hired with extra qualifications, more than qualified, to do

the same job that they're hired to do.

Thinking along similar lines, an engineer spoke ofa black coworker's experience

ofdepression. His view, shared by other respondents, is that African Americans



2001] MIDDLE-CLASS AFRICAN AMERICANS 1343

are reluctant to seek assistance with psychological pain:

But it's kind of more, against black culture to go for any type of
psychological . . . testing, or, I had one friend who actually went to a
depressive state . . . because he was the type of person who just tried to
do the best he could at everything. And sometimes you just can't do
that, or do everything. So in this particular case, he went to the point
where his body just collapsed, mentally. Where some people's bodies
can collapse physically, his collapsed mentally. I personally didn't

experience that, but I saw the pain that he went through. And likewise
he's having racial type things at his job, where his counterparts would

get promoted at a certain level, where he would stay on a level below,

after years. And he was as qualified—sometimes they get you in a
position to think that you're not as qualified as the next person, where in

reality you may be more qualified than the person that got promoted over
you. But a promotion doesn't necessarily mean that this person does
higher quality work. It means, sometimes that person knows how to
network with the boss better than you do.

Again the suffering ofone black person is communicated to and felt by others in

a social network. Research shows that most African Americans rely on informal

social networks for emotional support, thus the concerns of one individual are

often known in great detail by a larger support network. 136 After this comment,
a woman in this man's group added that black employees have less time to
network with the boss because they are working extra to prove themselves as

capable. The engineer agreed with her statement, then continued:

And ifyou're working, you can't network with the boss, and drink coffee
with him, and tell him what kind of work and stuff that you're doing.
Because you're actually out there in the trenches going to work. So it

was not my personal case, but his particular case, he might have gone to
a stage where he had such depression he had to actually take medication.

This idea about black qualifications is a theme that one finds in other

accounts by African Americans ofdiscrimination in the workplace, yet it receives

little public or media attention.
137 From the black middle class perspective, it is

often the less qualified whites who get special privileges over better qualified
people of color. This recurring white advantage can create much psychological
pain, including depression, for its black victims. Ofadditional importance is the
networking theme suggested in previous comments. In the United States

economy many racial barriers are linked, directly or indirectly, to white "good-
ole-boy" networks, which are commonly at the core of workplaces and even of
large business sectors.

138
In these networks whites commonly exclude outsiders

136. See Dressier, supra note 1 26, at 40; Taylor et al., supra note 126, at 293-3 16.

137. See generally ESSED, supra note 5, at 145-256; FEAGIN& S\KES, supra note 5, at 135-86.

138. Carmenza Gallo, The Construction Industry in New York City: Immigrant and Black
Entrepreneurs (1983) (unpublished working manuscript, on file with authors).



1344 INDIANA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 34:1313

from critical information flows.

VI. Energy Loss from Discrimination

Another major cost of being mistreated in a hostile workplace is a serious
loss of personal energy, including the loss of motivation to do work and other
activities. In one national research study an experienced black psychologist

commented eloquently about the energy loss suffered by African Americans:

If you can think of the mind as having 1 00 ergs of energy, and the
average man uses 50 percent of his energy dealing with the everyday
problems of the world . . . then he has 50 percent more to do creative
kinds of things that he wants to do. Now that's a white person. Now a
black person also has 1 00 ergs; he uses 50 percent the same way a white
man does, dealing with what the white man has [to deal with], so he has
50 percent left. But he uses 25 percent fighting being black, [with] all the
problems being black and what it means.

139

The individual cost of dealing with discrimination is great, and one cannot
accomplish as much when personal energy is wasted on discrimination. One of
the most severe costs of persisting discrimination, this energy loss is often more
than an individual matter. An engineer made this clear in a group that was
discussing the "eight whole hours of discrimination" they daily experience:

One of the things, though, that really has had an effect on my family
personally was, me having [less] time to really spend with my son. As
far as reading him stories, talking, working with him, with his writing,
and, all of that. And those things really, really hurt us, and it hurt my
child, I think, in the long run, because he never had that really. ... I

know when, when the program was really, really running, some, some
days I would come home and I would have such excruciating headaches
and chest pains that I would just lay on the bed and put a cold compress
on my head and just relax. Thank God I got him through that period.

.

. . And by the time I come home, I'm so stressed out. And he runs up to
me, and you know I give him a hug, but when you're so stressed out, you
needjust a little period oftime, maybe an hour or so, just to unwind, just
to relax, you know ... to just watch the news or something, to kinda
unwind and everything. So it definitely affects . . . and you know you're
almost energy-less. . . . And then by the time you get home, you have
your family. So, by the time you kinda unwind a little bit to get ready to
go to upstairs, you haven't handled responsibilities

The pain of workplace mistreatment can have a domino effect, with chest pains
and headaches being linked to a loss of energy, and that in turn resulting in far

less energy to deal with important family matters. The drain on personal strength
caused by discrimination takes a toll on the activities of workers in their lives

139. Feagin & SlKES, supra note 5, at 295-96.



200 1 ] MIDDLE-CLASS AFRICAN AMERICANS 1 345

outside the workplace.

In one discussion group a government employee examined the personal
energy exertion issue in another of its troubling aspects:

One thing, too, is especially if you spend time documenting situations,
that takes time: What was said, what did he say, what did I say, and what
did I do? It's not keeping, that's time, too, I mean you're doing that
because you never know what's gonna jump out. [Moderator: Why do
you feel it necessary to do that?] History. I mean, there were just
certain things that, that teaches you that you need to have some
information because that's really the only thing they [whites] understand.

. . . Documents. When you start pulling out "This is mine, this is what
was said, here, here, here," they understand that. [But if] you start
talking off the top of your head . . . you have no credibility, you know
what I'm saying? With us it always comes down to being above them.
This is just like when we were talking about qualifications, you know,
they can come in with less qualifications, but we always have to be
maxed out. . . . And sometimes go beyond that.

A psychologist in the group once again put this into a long term perspective:
"That would seem like, that's always been a factor, always has been a history of
us having to prove ourselves, over and over again, with documentation, this and

that, and I would like to see [it], get to the point where my kids don't have to do
that." The energy drain extends beyond the extra effort necessary to prove
oneself to whites with prejudiced minds, for it often entails keeping

documentation in order to prove one's accomplishments and to counter

discrimination in employment. We see again the importance ofrecording history
and ofcreating a family and community memory, as these respondents constantly
orient themselves to what African Americans have had to do collectively in the
past and in the present.

To be good at what one does, a black worker usually must learn many things
about coping with whites, energy-wasting learning that is not a requisite task for

similarly-situated white Americans. In another context, a female planner

explained that "Just like we have to, we have to consistently, we have to keep
learning things, you know, they need to do the same, they need to jump through
the same hoops we have to jump through." In addition, the education ofwhites
seems to be an imposed responsibility of many black victims of discrimination.
A sheriffs deputy responded to the previous speaker's statement with this
summary:

And that's the same thing ... we were talking about on the energy.
Burning so much energy trying to educate these people, that we qualify,
you know? And I always said if you see a black doctor and a white
doctor standing side by side, equal in status, that black man is twice as
better, because he had to work harder ... in every profession.



1346 INDIANA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 34:1313

This is a point one often hears in interviews with African Americans.
140 The

great achievements ofmany African Americans have come in spite of, and on top
of, the energy-sapping barriers of discrimination.

VII. Physical Consequences of Discrimination

As seen by all our respondents, blocked opportunities and discrimination not
only generate psychological pain and suffering, but also link to many different
bodily conditions such as chest pains, stomach problems, headaches, and
insomnia. Other research supports this observation.

141
The economic status of

African Americans has stagnated and even declined in regard to some indicators
in recent years, and this decline in economic well-being is associated with
worsening health status for African Americans.

142 Some research has shown that
the realization that negative treatment in the workplace is based on one's race or
ethnicity causes more extreme stress than usual workplace problems that are not
based on racial discrimination.

143
Other research has found that not only are

physical health problems associated with workplace discrimination but other

health problems are also experienced by persons ofunder-represented groups.
144

The overall life expectancy of African Americans is lower than that of
whites, and this gap increased between 1980 and 1991.

145
African American

infant mortality is twice the rate of that of whites.
146

For African Americans

under seventy years ofage, fifty percent ofexcess deaths ofmales and sixty-three

percent offemale excess deaths can be accounted for by cardiovascular disease,

cancers, and problems resulting in infant mortality.
147

Despite popular

conceptions, only nineteen percent of excess male deaths and six percent of

female excess deaths can be accounted for by homicide. Additionally, excess

deaths related to genetic problems make up a tiny percentage. For example,
excess deaths from sickle cell anemia make up only three-tenths of one percent
of all African American excess deaths.

148
African Americans are

disproportionately represented among people with coronary heart disease,
myocardial infraction, strokes, and renal disease, and are more likely to have risk

factors such as hypertension, high cholesterol, smoking, and diabetes.
149

African

140. See, e.g., BENJAMIN, supra note 5; ESSED, supra note 5; FEAGIN & SlKES, supra note 5.
141

.

See Mirowsky & Ross, supra note 62, at 21-40; see also Keith James, Social Identity,
Work Stress and Minority Workers ' Health, in JOB STRESS IN A CHANGING WORKFORCE 127-45

(Gwendolyn P. Keita & Joseph J. Hurrell, Jr. eds., 1994).
1 42. See David R. Williams & Chiquita Collins, U.S. Socioeconomic and Racial Differences

in Health: Patterns and Explanations, 21 ANN. REV. SOC. 349, 351 (1995).

1 43. See James, supra note 1 4 1 (for a summary of this research).

144. See id. at 131-33.

145. See Williams & Collins, supra note 142, at 360.
146. See id. at 359.

147. See id. at 361.

148. See id. at 370.

1 49. See Linda Chatters, Physical Health, in LIFE IN Black AMERICA 1 99 (James S. Jackson



200 1 ] MIDDLE-CLASS AFRICAN AMERICANS 1 347

Americans, regardless of socio-economic status, also have the highest age-

adjusted rates ofcancer incidence and mortality ofany racial group in the United

States.
150 Not only do African Americans have higher rates of several illnesses,

they also have poorer outcomes and survival rates for most illnesses, evidence

that the health care they receive may not be adequate. For example, the cancer
survival rate for African Americans is twelve percent lower than that ofwhites.

151

In addition to the discrimination that increases the health problems of African

Americans, racism in the health care system may cause African Americans to
receive less adequate care than do whites.

152

African Americans tend to report more health complaints than do persons of
other racial or ethnic groups. In a national study of two thousand African
Americans, when asked ifthey have had any health complaints in the last month,
only thirty-five percent of African Americans said that they had no health

problems at all. The most common health complaints reported were high blood
pressure (3 1 .6%), arthritis (24%), and "nervous conditions" (2 1 .9%).

153 Twenty
percent of the African Americans studied had never gone to see a doctor in an

independent office setting, and twenty-one percent were uninsured.
154

However,

as in the case of psychological complaints, most (sixty-eight percent) of the

respondents said that they have three or more people from whom they can seek
informal health care.

155

As in the case of psychological health disparities, racial disparities in
physical health can also not be totally accounted for by racial differences in

socioeconomic status. In fact, some studies have found higher mortality rates for
African Americans with higher socioeconomic status than whites with the same
status.

156
Neither can racial disparities in health be accounted for by oft-repeated

notions of "genetics." In her research, Dr. Camara Jones, a Harvard
epidemiologist, has found that African Americans have the most genetic diversity

ofany racially defined group. Nor do African Americans as a group have weaker
immune systems than whites. In fact, African American transplant patients run
the highest risk ofcomplications because their immune systems are so strong that
their bodies are more likely to reject donated organs.

157
Moreover, excess

hypertension cannot be attributed to genetics. Black blood pressure levels are

similar to whites until adulthood, at which time they increase faster with age than

those ofwhites. This suggests strongly that the racial differential is not a matter

ed., 1991).

1 50. See Chatters, supra note 1 49, at 202; Frank Michel, Racism Can Be Cancer on the Health

System, HOUS. CHRON., Sept. 21, 1998, at 18.

151. See Chatters, supra note 1 49, at 202; Michel, supra note 1 50.

1 52. See Michel, supra note 1 50.

153. See Chatters, supra note 149, at 206.

154. See id. at 206-07.

155. See id.

1 56. See Michel, supra note 1 50.

157. NPR Weekend (radio broadcast, Frank Browning moderator, Oct. 31, 1998) (transcript
number 98103106-21).



1348 INDIANA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 34:1313

ofgenetics or lifestyle; it suggests that being a victim ofracism has a detrimental
effect on blood pressure. In a study ofAfrican American and white nurses, Jones
found that the majority of African American nurses think about race at least
daily, and many ofthem are constantly aware oftheir racial classification. This
constant awareness contributes to undue stress. 158

Others have highlighted the need to take into account not only African

Americans' personal context, but also the larger historical context when looking
at racial disparities in health. For example, the civil rights movement seems to
have had a positive effect on African American health.

159
Other research has

found that African American physical and mental well-being is highest when the
discrimination reported by African Americans is lowest.

160
Research suggests

that racism can affect African American health in three major ways. First, racism
can transform socioeconomic status such that its effects are not equal across race.

For example, African Americans cannot expect the same returns on their
educational investments, in terms of wages, as those ofwhites. Second, racism

may restrict access of African Americans to health services and to recreational
facilities that could benefit their health. Finally, racism causes psychological

distress that may create severe health problems for African Americans. 161

Our respondents noted the impact ofracism on their health. One focus group
participant, a dental assistant, made the connection between the discrimination
and physical ailments eloquently:

I don't think a lot of [people] realize that, when you're talking about
ailments, you're talking about more colds, higher blood pressure, things
like that. People don't relate that to your job. Like when you come
down with more colds, a lot of times, it's [racial] stress on yourjob . .

.

. [I was] in anotherjob, and it seemed like the more stress I was under,
it would make me feel worse. I would be sick, I would have more colds,
I would want to sleep more, and basically it was related to my job, the
pressure on myjob. But I didn't put it that way, you know, a lot oftimes
I would think if I was under stress, I wouldn't relate it to a cold.

Similarly, a nurse in a southeastern state noted that the bottling up of stress

from discrimination leads to a variety ofhealth problems, as well as to excessive

smoking and drinking:

But you stuff that stuff inside, and it comes out in these kinds of ways.
And we can sit down and talk to each other, and that pain . . . they said
that it can cause fibroids in women, that's why black women have a lot
of fibroids. Because all ofthat pain gets stuffed inside That's why
black men ... die so early. You know, if you take out the factors of
drinking, and smoking, and why is it that black men die from heart

158. See id.

159. See Chatters, supra note 149.

160. See id.

161

.

See id. (giving a complete discussion of these three points).



2001] MIDDLE-CLASS AFRICAN AMERICANS 1349

disease or from—it's that stuffing inside ofthose subtle things that we,
that we just, that we can't say anything ....

From this perspective, it seems discrimination has many consequences, ranging
from fibroids to heart disease. To ease their pain stemming from racial
harassment, some African Americans smoke and use alcohol excessively.
Benjamin suggests that racial barriers are likely to be associated with stress
patterns, alcohol abuse and other health problems.

162
Gibbs similarly contends

that anger created in black men by racial discrimination is likely to manifest itself
in chronic fatigue, depression, anxiety, and psychosomatic complaints such as

headaches.
163

A. Headaches

A number of male and female respondents spoke of severe headaches that
they attributed to workplace stress, such as a nurse in the Midwest: "I would
have this headache and it would be for eight hours until I walked out the door and
then it was like ... a weight was lifted off." A social services coordinator
described headaches and other consequences in a discussion of discriminatory

work conditions:

I was having severe headaches and chest pains. ... It would be times
when I would almost be in the office hyperventilating. And ... it was
just a lot of physical things happening to me. I would pull hair more,

because, just the stress, you know? You just, you're trying to do so
much, and collect your thoughts and do what needs to be done. And my
hair had fallen out in the back of, the back of my hair, it just had fallen
out! ... And the headaches werejust, just terrible, just unbearable. And
it's also a psychological kind of ill, in that, well you know if [white]
people are constantly watching you. . . . But it, it's just amazing the

psychological ill that it does to you. And even though you know you're
competent? People can do that so much to you . . . they can get in
meetings and try to show you up and make you look like you just don't
know anything. And it is so many of them, you are outnumbered!
Sometimes, you come out, and lash out, and you almost validate what
they're trying to say about you, because you feel outnumbered! ... So,
you, you begin to doubt yourself, you begin to psychologically feel

somewhat incompetent. ... So, it, it can take a toll on you, and I think
it takes more of a psychological toll on us than we even care to admit.

Headaches are only one part of an often complex set ofconsequences that come
from coping with hostile or unsupportive whites in a workplace with few African

Americans. Chest pains, hyperventilating, and serious psychological doubts also

accompany headaches that stem from whites questioning African Americans'

162. See BENJAMIN, supra note 5.

1 63. See Jewelle Taylor Gibbs, Anger in Young Black Males: Victims or Victimizers?, in THE

AMERICAN BLACK Male 136, 127-43 (Richard G. Majors & Jacob U. Gordon eds., 1994).



1350 INDIANA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 34:1313

competence and abilities.

B. High Blood Pressure

Recent research reports have indicated that high blood pressure is a serious

problem among black Americans. 164 A few studies have shown that stressful life
events, such as racial inequalities, are linked to high blood pressure.

165
For

African Americans, socioeconomic status has been shown to be associated with
blood pressure and hypertension; as socioeconomic status decreases, blood
pressure increases. A recent research study of 1 784 African Americans found
that this relationship may be in part due to poorer nutrition of those with lower
socioeconomic status.

166
Yet, racism also has an effect. Research by Krieger and

Sidney examined stress and blood pressure in over 2000 African Americans.
167

Those who gave accounts of facing discrimination on three or more of seven
situational questions tended to have higher blood pressure than those who
reported facing discrimination on one or two questions. 168 In a previous study,
Krieger found that black Americans who usually keep quiet about or accept
unfair treatment are more likely to report hypertension problems than those who
talk to others and take action against unfair treatment.

169
Another study, which

controlled for age and weight, found that higher levels of discrimination were

positively related to higher blood pressure for African Americans.
170

Still other

studies have found that for hypertension, as well as for certain forms of cancer,

socioeconomic status alone did not account for differences in illness rates

between whites and African Americans.
171

Recent research has associated a cultural pattern known as "John Henryism"
with higher blood pressure. "John Henryism" refers to the attempts made by
African Americans to control their environment through hard work.

172
These

attempts amount to long-term, intensive contending with the psychosocial
stressors associated with dealing with racism. Sherman James and his colleagues

1 64. See generally Alphonso Pinkney, Black Americans ( 1 993).

165. See, e.g., Norman B. Anderson, Racial Differences in Stress-Induced Cardiovascular

Reactivity and Hypertension, 105 PSYCHOL. BULL. 89, 89 (1989); James et al., supra note 67.

1 66. See generally Ann M. Gerber et al., Socioeconomic Status andElectrolyte Intake in Black

Adults: The Pitt County Study, 81 AM. J. PUB. HEALTH 1608 (1991).

167. See generally Nancy Krieger & Stephen Sidney, Racial Discrimination and Blood
Pressure: The CARDIA Study of Young Black and White Adults, 86 AM. J. PUB. HEALTH 1370,

1371 (1996).

168. See id. at 1372-73.

169. See Nancy Krieger, Racial and Gender Discrimination: Risk Factors for High Blood

Pressure?, 30 SOC. SCI. & MED. 1273, 1278 (1990).
170. See James, supra note 141, at 138.

171. See George Davey Smith et al., Mortality Differences Between Black and White Men in

the USA: Contribution ofIncome and Other Risk Factors Among Men Screenedfor the MRFIT,

351 Lancet 934, 936(1998).

1 72. See James et al., supra note 67, at 260.



2001] MIDDLE-CLASS AFRICAN AMERICANS 1351

have found that African Americans with higher "John Henryism" are more likely
to have high blood pressure.

173
Several focus group participants gave details on

how hypertension is linked to racial stress, including that encountered at work.
One nurse in the Midwest commented on her reactions as she enters the driveway
of the place where she is employed:

That's when I got high blood pressure. And my doctor ... I told him
what my reaction, my body's reaction would be when I would go to this
place of employment .... which was a nursing home. When I turned
into the driveway I got a major headache. I had this headache eight

hours until I walked out that door leaving there I went to the doctor
because the headaches had been so continuously. And he said, "[Her
name], you need to find ajob because you do not like where you work."

And within myself I knew that was true. But also within myself I knew
I had to have a job because I had children to take care of. But going

through what I was going through wasn't really worth it because I was
breaking my own self down It was constant intimidation. Constant
racism, but in a subtle way. You know, but enough whereas you were
never comfortable. . . . And then I finally ended up on high blood
pressure pills because for the longest, I tried to keep low. I tried not to

make waves. It didn't work. I hurt me.

Again the workplace is filled with the headaches and other pains of "constant

racism."

In one focus group, a secretary working in the South believed that being

repeatedly passed over for promotions caused her hypertension:

And to me, it hurt me deeply. ... So I had, you know, I had stood in
prayer lines for prayer, to help me ease my mind and everything. To
help me say the right thing, or go to the right, appropriate department, to
get, you know, get it started. And it was just hard, because I was real
hurt, and sometimes I would just down and cry about it So, well, to
make the story short, I had applied for a promotion, and I had applied for
this promotion twice. ... I was tired, I was getting stressed out, and
everything, and plus this—so I was in a lot of pain, so I think I built up
my blood pressure, really.

Later, this woman required a doctor's care for her high blood pressure:

I had to see several doctors, because of the discrimination, and I went

through a lot of stress. And then, my blood pressure, I had never had
high blood pressure, and all of the sudden, it just went on the rise, and

I couldn't control it. And . . . [her supervisor] wanted me to perform the
duties, you know, totally by myself, which it took like three, two or three

people to do.

This account underscores the levels of pain and the loss of energy involved in

173. See id. at 273.



1352 INDIANA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 34:1313

contending with mistreatment seen as racially motivated. Using religion for
solace, as well as speaking out, are strategies for the daily struggle. Although
this woman noted in the interview that she finally received the help needed at
work, the damage to her health had already been done.

As we have noted previously, in the focus groups, the suffering of other
African Americans was sometimes cited as a cause of personal stress for the
commentator. In one focus group an engineer explained how he empathized with
a fellow employee who developed hypertension:

I have a prime example of this, this has actually happened in ourjob. A
particular [black] person in our, in the branch. . . . was being
discriminated against. The supervisor knew of it, and—what was
happening, all our branch chiefs, they knew of it. And knew that the
[white] supervisor was discriminating against this young lady. And,
matter offact, it drove this young lady to where now she's on high blood
pressure medicine, and it really affected her. She wasn't getting

promoted and all that. And the branch chief knew what was going on.
. . . But the thing is, is that this person went through all that, and now
the person is on high blood [pressure medicine]—it affected her mentally
and physically.

Being hired is only the first hurdle for black employees. For recurring promotion

problems are also reported by African American employees in a variety of
businesses.

174 Not surprisingly, they create great stress. In late 1996, some
unexpected evidence of this problem surfaced on an audiotape made of top
Texaco executives discussing a lawsuit brought by black employees, some of
whom asserted they had been passed over for promotions because they were
black. In the taped meeting the white executives did not take the reports of the

black employees about the pain and frustrations ofa "hostile racial environment"

seriously.
175

C. Stomach Problems and Emotional Distress

According to several ofthe focus group participants, stress in the workplace

creates or contributes significantly to stomach and other intestinal problems. A
telephone technician explained the intertwined nature of psychological and

physical problems resulting from overt racial animosity:

Well, psychologically, the psychological part and the physical part kind

of go hand and hand. . . . And I have never been a sickly type person,
and I had never had any problems with my stomach, but I actually did
have to go to the doctor, and the doctor said I was having—they ran a
test and he diagnosed it as gastrointestinal problems. And . . . depending

1 74. See generally ELLIS COSE, THE RAGE OF A PRIVILEGED CLASS ( 1 993); ESSED, supra note

5.

1 75. See Kurt Eichenwald, Texaco Executives, on Tape, DiscussedImpedinga Bias Suit, N.Y.

TIMES, Nov. 4, 1996, at Al.



2001] MIDDLE-CLASS AFRICAN AMERICANS 1353

on the amount of stress work would be in, I would actually have serious
attacks, where I would really get, really feverish, high fever, and I would
just get real, real sick. And they prescribed Tagamet ... for me to take,
but after taking that a couple of times, it made me really sick, and so,
when I would have these gastrointestinal, these attacks, I wouldjust kind
of really have to go through it. And a lot oftimes myjob would just be
so stressful, because I work for people that . . . they were overt . . . not
covert . . . they'd just flat out let you know that theyjust didn't like black
folks .... I worked with those kind of people. And even though I kind
of enjoyed my work, I didn't enjoy those people, because they could
make the situation really hard for me. . . . And they would actually try
to find . . . something wrong with [your work] . . . and that would just
bug me, because, you know, I know that I meticulously try to do it, but
even in that they could come right behind me and try to pinpoint little,
little small things, and find something wrong with it.

Then she added how she copes in advance: "It was very, very stressful, because
every day you're constantly mentally trying to prepare yourselfwhen you get out
of the car in the morning and you go in, go into work, you're trying to prepare

yourself, 'Well what do I have to face today?'" One factor in the personal cost
of discrimination is that which comes from having to be constantly prepared.
One strategy used by African Americans to counter mistreatment from whites is
to put on a defensive "shield," the term used in a conversation with a retired

teacher recorded by Feagin and Sikes.
176

In that account an older black woman
contrasted her life with that ofa white woman, who, like her, bathes and dresses
before leaving the house. Unlike the white woman, however, she must put on her
"shield" just before she leaves. She noted that for six decades, she has had to

prepare herself in advance for the often unpredictable racist actions in the white

worlds she often traverses.

Another woman, a supervisor in the Southeast, reported stomach problems
that she believed stemmed from actions of a fellow white employee:

But I was just so frustrated because she was . . . prejudiced, and she let
it be known. And even though I confronted her on it, and any time she
would say something to me, and I would tell her, I said "Look, if you
can't deal with me on a professional level, then don't deal with me at
all." And she was the type that, she would just do little things. And that
just would annoy me . . . and I never knew it then, and then I was reading
a book one day, and it said don't let things bother you, because, you
know, physical breakdown I can't really say it's an ulcer, but I had

stomach problems. I'm gonna tell you what, what I did come to find out
about her, though, was that sometimes when people are like that . . . she
was raised in [names a southern state], this is backwoods. So she was
brought up that black people—you know to treat us like that. And I told
her, I said, "Well, you can't treat—everybody's not the same, what if I

1 76. See Feagin & Sikes, supra note 5, at 295.



1354 INDIANA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 34:1313

treat all white people bad? You know, call you all kind of names and
everything like that? That's not fair!" I said, "Because I could miss out
on a good friend, or a good person." And it took some convincing, but
what I did, I didn't step to her level. Because she would [say] little
things—I would never get upset with her, but I always remained myself,
because I didn't want her to think that she was getting next to me,
because once they figure that out, then they really start to pour it on. .

.

. . But see, sometimes people do you like that, it was a girl at work . .

.

she called me and another girl ... a "nigger" one day. And the other girl
got mad, was very, was ready to fight.

Physical ailments are only one aspect ofsuch complex situations. Again one sees
the energy lost in making and implementing one's decision about interpersonal
confrontations over racial matters. This black woman shows much understanding
and even forgiveness for a white employee. In a later account, not quoted here,
she relates how the woman became sick and how the respondent was the one who
accompanied the woman to the hospital and stayed with her. In the end, the
white woman eventually told the respondent that "all black people aren't bad."
This black woman was able to treat the prejudiced white woman with
compassion despite how the white woman had treated her.

VIII. Family and Community Costs of Discrimination

A. Family Costs

As some of the respondents have already noted, the damage of a racially
hostile or unsupportive employment situation does not end at the workplace door.
An individual's experience with racial animosity and mistreatment at work not
only is personally painful at the moment it happens, but also can have a
cumulative and negative impact on other individuals, on one's family, and on

one's community.

Bringing frustrations home can have negative effects on families and
relationships, such as the lack of energy that a father mentioned previously has

for doing things with his young son. The harmful effects of bringing
discrimination home to one's family was clearly elucidated by one concerned
mother, who is a social services administrator:

So many times, after you've experienced an eight whole hours of
discrimination, either directly or indirectly, it really doesn't put you in

the mood to go home and read that wonderful bedtime story. You'rejust
tired, and you just want to get somewhere, and really, you're crying on

the inside, and you may not really want to admit [it] to yourself.
Because all us like to think we're in control of what's happening to us.

And I think we all deal with it differently. And that anger sometimes
builds up, and you're not even aware that it's there, so the moment your
spouse, or your child, if there is anything that may seem like it was a
belittling or demeaning, you're responding to them with a level ofanger,

even, that really is inappropriate for the situation. But what you're really



2001] MIDDLE-CLASS AFRICAN AMERICANS 1355

responding to is that eight hours prior to getting home.

She then reiterated how often she had to deal with substantial amounts of stored-
up anger:

And I know several times . . . well, a couple of times I totally forgot to
pick my child up from school! Because I was so engrossed with trying
to make sure that I do this, because if I don't do this, I'm gonna duh-dah,
duh-dah, duh-dah. . . . My daughter had gotten to the point during that
year when I was under all that stress, till she would tell me four and five
times, she would remind me "Mom, I'm having this at school." And
then she would get to school, and she would call me—one day she called
me to remind me about something, I was supposed to pick her up, or
something, and I just sat at my desk, and I just boo-hooed, I said, "My
baby doesn't have any confidence in me anymore. . . . I'm really not
there.". . . And that, really, that was really the beginning of me saying
"Look, nobody's gonna do anything to get this on track for you, you got
to get this on track for yourself." And then, sometimes you go home and
you've held your peace so long, till the first hour that you walk in the
door, you're still dealing with everything. You may even be dealing
with it verbally. . . . And then, they have their own issues to deal with
that day. And like, they just want to have dinner and relax, you know?
So your family, inevitably I'd say, suffers. We bring all ofthat baggage
home, and then we wonder why our relationships are in trouble.

Whether a person recognizes the harmful effects of bringing anger home from
work to the extent this woman does, struggles with discrimination can lead to a
variety of suffering for others, as in this case for a child who is forgotten at
school or for a spouse who wants to relax. Sharing problems with animosity and
discrimination can create a domino effect of anguish and anger rippling across
an extended group. Another result ofusing families as a resource to deal with the

stress ofracism can be troubled relationships. It has often been noted that black

women are more likely than white women to become separated or divorced and
less likely to remarry.

177
Nonetheless, the direct, negative impact of everyday

racism on the difficulties faced by black families has not been featured in the

mainstream literature on the so-called "broken" and "disorganized" black

families.
178

B. The Community Impact

The impact of marginalization at work can carry over into community
activities. Black workers' lack of energy affects motivation to socialize outside

the home and to participate in community activities. The social services worker

177. See Arthur J. Norton & Louisa F. Miller, U.S. Department of Commerce,
Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage in the 1990's, 3-5 (1992).

1 78. see, e.g. , office of policy planning and research, u.s. departmentof labor, the

Negro Family: The Case for National Action (1 965).



1356 INDIANA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 34:1313

who discussed her family above reported that she had withdrawn from activities
in her community because ofthe drain on her energy caused by racial animosity
at work. A teacher described having to give up participation in community
groups because of lack of energy:

At one point we had started a minority action committee which is still in
existence, with the school district. And it's interesting because it's very
hard to get people after they've fought all day, in a sense, that have

enough energy to come out and support an effort like that where it is
needed. We know the racism is out there, we know we need to fight for
our kids—that was the main thrust of it when we came together. We
could see it happening in the schools everyday, particularly to our black

boys. . . . And we endeavored to do something about it, but, as I was
saying, we were just so drained, it just never got off, off the ground,
[speaking quietly] Hopefully, somebody might ....

Other participants echoed this sentiment, noting the impact ofthe energy loss on

various community and church activities. Note here that there is both a personal
and a community cost. Part of the personal price is not being able to be fully
involved, which includes meaningful interaction in community groups and
associations.

The spin-off effects of animosity and mistreatment in employment settings
can be seen in other areas of the lives of African Americans. One respondent
noted the negative impact on participation in church activities:

I have withdrawn from some ofthe things I was involved with at church
that were very important to me, like dealing with the kids at church. Or
we had an outreach ministry where we would go out into the low-income
housing and we would share about our services, we would—And I was
just so drained, like [names person] said, ifwe are all so drained, and we
stop doing that, then we lose our connection. But I, physically, by the
time I got home at the end of the day, I was just so tired, I didn't even
feel like giving back to my community, I didn't feel like doing anything.
And so I withdrew from church activities, to the point where I just really
was not contributing anything. And it was pulling all that energy, I was
exhausted from dealing with what I had to at work. And then whatever
little bit was left, went to my family, so there was nothing there to give.

The overwhelming impact ofworkplace racism is graphically described, for even

church activities become a problem for this person. These economically
successful African Americans can be important role models in their" local

communities, but only if they have the energy to participate actively in churches

and other community organizations.
From their discussions ofthe energy-draining aspects ofdiscrimination, one

might wonderhow African Americans have developed community organizations
and resistance movements over the centuries. Most overcome the everyday
racism enough to stay in life's struggles. Interestingly, the post-World War II
"medical civil rights movement," which was an effort by African Americans to

gain equal access to quality health care, was a precursor to the larger civil rights



2001] MIDDLE-CLASS AFRICAN AMERICANS 1357

movement of the 1960s. 179 Such efforts, as well as the efforts involved for the
success of the more general civil rights movement of the 1960s, required that
African American activists have good health and the energy necessary to struggle
for societal change. While some people drop out entirely, most seem to stay in
the struggle most of the time and exert great energy to overcome the barriers.
The retired professor who spoke earlier of the "ergs of energy" lost because of
discrimination also noted his many accomplishments and the issue of what he
might have accomplished without racial barriers.

Accumulating discrimination in predominantly white work settings creates
serious difficulties not only for African American employees but also for ongoing
group relations in these places. A number of comments by the focus group
participants suggest or imply that animosity exhibited by white employees makes
normal interaction across the racial line difficult or impossible. Incidents at work
disrupt lives by changing the meaning of the most commonplace of everyday
interactions. Moreover, there is much unnecessary stress in forming new white
contacts when one is suspected of being a discriminator. Several respondents
noted that they felt a need to keep a distance from whites at work. Indeed, most
seemed to agree with this respondent in his evaluation of coping with white
hatred: "I think what helps us as being black now, we understand what these
[white] people think. We understand why they have hate. Where before, coming
offthe boat when we were slaves we didn't understand it." Note too that slavery
still remains a reference point for African Americans, even though many white
Americans see it as a part of a very distant and irrelevant past.

Conclusion

Some literature suggests a "declining significance ofrace," and an increasing
importance ofclass, in regard to the situation ofAfrican Americans nationally.

180

Other more recent research goes further to assert the "end of racism" in U.S.
society today.

181 Our research flatly contradicts both the assertion that racial
discrimination is being replaced by class discrimination, and that racism has been

substantially or entirely eradicated. While both class and racial characteristics

have been shown to interact and cause health problems for African Americans,
our interviews with relatively affluent African Americans demonstrate that

racism alone is enough to create serious health problems for them.
182 A

racialized society exists because discrimination is practiced, rewarded, or ignored

within important social settings such as historically white workplaces. Our data
and that of other recent studies undertaken by the authors and other scholars

indicate that discrimination by white Americans targeting African Americans is

still commonplace in a variety of arenas, including government and corporate
workplaces.

1 79. See SMITH, supra note 7, at 1 69.

1 80. Wilson, supra note 38, at ix.

181. See generally D'SOUZA, supra note 54, at 525.

1 82. See Kessler & Neighbors, supra note 99, at 1 08.



1358 INDIANA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 34:1313

Much research on racial relations focuses on the attitudes of those who
discriminate rather than on the suffering inflicted on the targets ofdiscrimination.

A fleshed-out perspective on discrimination directs us to pay attention to
particular social settings and to the consequences ofracial discrimination in such

settings. Recurring discrimination in workplaces and elsewhere wastes human
beings and human capital and seriously restricts and marginalizes its victims,
destroying the possibility of completely normal lives.

183
This discrimination is

so dehumanizing that in discussing it some black workers even make reference
to the "slave-master mentality" of discriminating whites and to "feeling like a

slave" in white workplaces. By marginalizing and dehumanizing black workers,
whites cause them and their loved ones much damage, pain, and suffering.
According to the accounts of the respondents, the damage takes many forms.
The negative impact of racial animosity and discrimination includes a sense of
threat at work, lowered self-esteem, rage at mistreatment, depression, the

development of defensive tactics, a reduction in desire for normal interaction at

work, and other psychological problems.

Our respondents understood that the often high level of racialized stress in
workplaces has generated or aggravated their physical health problems. Most
recognize the threat discrimination brings to their health, and most try hard to

fight it and its consequences. Not surprisingly in the light of the data from the
focus groups, a growing public health literature indicates that there are wide

disparities in the physical health ofwhite Americans and African Americans, as

well as in the application and use ofmedical services.
184 A full understanding of

the physical and psychological suffering of black Americans at the hands of

white Americans necessitates a close look at the character and impact of the

discriminatory workplaces as they are experienced by workers. Sentient human
beings react seriously, in their minds and bodies, to mistreatment and

discrimination. The recurring and dehumanizing discrimination creates, among
other things, marginalization, impotent despair, and rage over persisting injustice.

Our data show that the costs of racial animosity and discrimination extend
beyond the individual to families and communities. Social scientists have written
much over the last few decades about problems in black families and
communities. This discussion often focuses on the so-called "broken" or

"disorganized" black families, with the responsibility for these conditions

commonly placed on African Americans for not maintaining their families and
communities and for not adhering to certain values.

185
In contrast, more

structural and contextualized accounts ofthese family and community problems
fault the U.S. economy for its failure to provide enough job training or jobs. 186

Yet, to our knowledge, nowhere in the social science literature is there a serious

discussion ofthe points made by the focus group participants about the direct and

183. See Marsella, supra note 41 (describing how racism in the workplace harms not only

African Americans, but also the companies in which they are employed and society at large).

184. See, e.g., supra notes 141-55 and accompanying text.

1 85. See D'SOUZA, supra note 55.

1 86. See WILSON, supra note 38.



2001] MIDDLE-CLASS AFRICAN AMERICANS 1359

harsh impact of racial animosity and discrimination on their families, voluntary

associations, and communities. The long era of racial discrimination has often

reduced the energy available to African Americans to build stronger and better

families and communities. While many have managed to build strong families
and communities in spite of discrimination, they have done this by exerting

super-human efforts that take toll in their personal health or on the ability to

maximize contributions to the larger society. These focus group accounts
suggest that the total cost of racial animosity and discrimination is much higher
than most social science, legal, and journalistic commentaries have heretofore
recognized.

African Americans remain central to the costly system of racial oppression

in the United States, and they have long been among the strongest carriers ofthe
ideals of liberty and social justice. In spite of the weight of racial oppression,

most have been creative and successful in their lives and communities, and most

have regularly pressed the society in the direction of greater liberty and justice.

Indeed, their sense of social justice has perhaps the greatest potential for

stimulating further movement by this society in the direction ofits egalitarian and
democratic ideals. African Americans have developed large-scale social

movements twice in U.S. history, and smaller-scale movements many other
times. Significantly, most African Americans have not retreated to a debilitating

pessimism but have slowly pressed onward. Today, theyjoin religious, civic, and

civil rights organizations working to eradicate systemic racism, to get civil rights

laws enforced, and to secure better living conditions for Americans of all racial

and ethnic backgrounds. There are lessons here for all Americans concerned

with eliminating systemic racism in the United States.

Today, the state and federal court systems face many challenges, not the least
ofwhich is the fact that the U.S. population is rapidly becoming less white and
European and much more Asian, Latino, African, and Native American in its
composition. In spite of these changes over the last few decades, however, the

overwhelming majority ofdistrict attorneys,judges, and court administrators are

still white. This means major and increasing problems for the court system. As
the mostly whitejudges look across the bench at growing numbers ofdefendants

of color, their understanding of those they face, and their ability to mete out

justice, are likely to be affected by the heritage ofwhite racism that is imbedded

not only in the court systems but in all major institutions. These understandings

(or lack of understanding) sometimes result in court decisions, such as the Etter

decision by a California court, that do not view black workers' representations

of pain and suffering from recurring racial insults as severe. In that case, racist

epithets such as "Buckwheat," "Jemima," and the like were not seen as

"sufficiently severe or pervasive" to warrant ajudicial remedy. Yet, as we have
shown, racists epithets and incidents can be very serious, painful, and damaging

to their African American targets. The hurling ofeven a few racist words can be
a very hostile and discriminatory act, and that can in turn generate much pain,
especially since even one such act can trigger memories of accumulated

experiences with racism by those so targeted.

In the Etter case, a white judge called on a jury to assess if the reported

antiblack conduct would be considered severe by a "reasonable person of the



1360 INDIANA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 34:1313

Plaintiffs race." However, judging from the data in our focus groups and in

studies of whites we have cited, the pain and suffering most African Americans
endure because of continuing racism are likely not known to or understood by
most whites, be they white jurors or other white Americans. How then can
whites presume to answer the judge's critical question?

As we see it, such questions can be most meaningfully and reliably answered
when there are larger, or representative, numbers of African Americans in the
state and federal court systems. If we are to achieve the dream of a truly just
society, we must greatly expand the input into our justice systems by African
Americans and other Americans of color - at all levels, from policing, to
prosecution, to administration, to courts, and to prisons. It is past time for the

U.S. justice system to become much more democratic, multiracial, and
multivoiced in its management and everyday operation. And it is past time for
the pain, suffering, and anger that African Americans and other Americans of

color confront because of widespread discrimination to be truly heard in the

justice system.