Chapter Twelve Admission Ticket

“Because white culture is the dominant cultural norm in the United States, it acts as an invisible veil that limits many people from seeing it as a cultural system” ( Sue & Sue, 2013 pg 319). 

Just like the air around that is taken for granted, white culture is perceived in a similar manner. Whiteness is invisible because of its daily occurrence and the learning received by the whites they think of their lives as neutral average and ideal. To people of color, whiteness is visible because it does not fit into their normative qualities. Many at times whites can quickly identify and acknowledge the cultures of minority groups than accept their identity. This is because white culture is interwoven into the fabric of day to day activities and they cannot pause and identify how their values, beliefs, and behaviors create a distinct cultural group. In several instances, the inabilities to recognize own culture forms microaggression which is delivered without the awareness of the perpetrator. White therapists can use the invisible veil unintentionally and end up hurting the minority groups. Unintentional behavior by practitioners is a form of racism. The author is unaware of the consequences of their behavior. They are usually well intentioned and do not mean to hurt making it difficult for them to accept that they are racist. This means that white counselors can be unintentional racist. They are not aware of their prejudices, biases and discriminatory behavior often perceiving themselves as moral, good and decent individuals and cannot see themselves as racists. White therapists do not have a sense of what their culture means to them, and their approach to minority groups are likely to be harmful rather than helpful. White therapists/counselors are likely to reject the above because of defensiveness negative feelings of blame they hold. They should free themselves from past cultural conditioning and strive to develop a nonracist white identity ( Sue & Sue, 2013). 

Reference  

Sue, D. W., & Sue, D. (2013).  Counselling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice  (6th ed.). Hobroken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons