Español

A GEMSTONES IN THE SUN STATEMENT

ON POC RECOVERY FROM WHITE CULTURAL ADDICTION

Gemstones in the Sun (GITS) characterizes its recovery process as being one that helps People of Color [POC] in America to address their addiction, which results from the impact of oppression (described in detail below) and to resist and free themselves from cultural codependency. The dominant features of this malady for POC are an underdeveloped sense of themselves as individuals and an under-appreciation of their own collective value, inherent gifts, and powers.

GITS’s recovery meetings differ from usual codependency meetings in that their participants do not seek recovery from chemical or other forms of substance abuse. The principal addiction from which so many POC in America seek recovery is American made. It results primarily from White cultural norms being imposed upon POC in America as a condition for their acceptance and “success” in society. These norms reward White cultural abusers at the expense of POC, In America, POC sicken consciously and unconsciously when they overdose on lethal amounts of imposed cultural Whiteness because it too often stands in stark contrast to their own frames of reference and ways of being.

Whiteness manifests itself to many POC in America as a lethal form of cultural oppression that causes many POC almost unbelievably high degrees of physical, social, emotional, and economic distress that is a primary contributor to physical and mental illness and premature death. The U.S. culture of Whiteness has become far too authoritative and restrictive when it comes to its aggressive determinations of what POC in American society are “encouraged” and, in many instances required, to do and believe.

But what POC need as they seek survival with dignity in the U.S. is not the only issue with which GITS is concerned. Like other forms of addiction, cultural addictions pass from one generation to the next. For instance, when POC are subtly or pointily discouraged from feeling free to express their own thoughts, make their own pertinent observations, and openly embrace their own authentic culture-of-origin experiences, expressions, and values -- especially when these may contradict “mainstream” White cultural norms, practices, expectations, beliefs, expressions, and values -- they consciously and unconsciously suppress them to their own detriment. The result is that an unhealthy self-perception develops that requires replacement by healthier ones to avoid their becoming habitual.

Racism in America has never occurred in a vacuum and it continues to exact a high toll on POC and non-POC alike. There is a lethal relationship between dysfunctional White racist abuse of POC, and POC enablers of their dysfunction. It is a deadly relationship that exists between POC and their White racist abusers; violence is routinely aimed at POC as a norm of White privilege, while social stability and material gain are routinely denied them. White racist abusers include the comfortably lethargic peoples in society who allow if not encourage violence to persist by default by doing too little to curb it. Put simply, POC are now more than ever committed to participating in GITS’s recovery process in America because it supports their deep need to be truer to and more revealing of themselves as they become the predominant members of society who nonviolently oppose the spread of U.S. cultural racism while striving for equity. This is made more accessible as fear of retribution from the defenders in this country of White culture norms lessens. Sustaining the ability for POC to thrive under pressure while contributing to the wellness of America is a significant focus of GITS’s mission.

POC addiction to and co-dependency with White-imposed cultural dysfunction is an often denied, frequently ignored aspect of American life. It is a touchy subject often confused with blaming the victim, and therefore is denounced and deemed off-limits by both POC and non POC. But GITS is naming and addressing it frankly and without shaming by offering recovery programs to POC that focus on the roots of their problems with internalized oppression. POC bias is the effect rather than the cause of American racism. And effects and their consequences matter.

As POC free themselves from the burden of cultural Whiteness and its effects, they are faced with significant choices:

1. To forgo feeling obligated to participate in the formerly ‘sacrosanct’ racial games that are woven into the fabric of the American experiment and its social contracts of abuse.

2. To no longer harm themselves by imitating corrosive White racist addictions, harming others, or holding others solely responsible for all that ails them.

3. To forego playing the misaligned role of being either the designated “fixer” or “the agreed upon “scapegoat” by assuming the misplaced responsibility that comes with being tasked to heal racists or to devise all kinds of solutions to end racism in America.

GITS believes that miraculous levels of healing are still possible in America, even though racism was first inculcated into colonial American culture and is continually re-codified by American society-at-large to this day.

This is the ‘substance’ of the matter: POC are self-empowering to break away from their addictions to cultural Whiteness. Without further ado or apology, they are moving into very different ways of being in relationship to themselves and other people. They are resetting the terms of their socio-cultural and economic engagements and commitments by craving, and seeking, their own deeper knowings instead of reflexively accepting the impositions of others. From its core, the opportunity to heal, create and celebrate being in authentic relationships, is the essence of what Gemstones in the Sun provides.

Note: The full hyperlink to the White cultural norms referenced herein is: https://www.cacgrants.org/assets/ce/Documents/2019/WhiteDominantCulture.pdf