cpsylist: Naming the pain

[Ellen McWhirter]

Dear CPSY community,

Like so many of you, throughout the past 2 months I have often felt overwhelmed by all the intensity and loss-- preventable loss-- associated with the pandemic.
Working at home only increases my tendency to be in my head and not expressing out loud what deserves to be said, shouted even.
So I just want to name out loud a few things, not to you, but with you because these are shared griefs:

  *   How this current pandemic disproportionately affects Black and Latinx communities and elders
  *   How the detention, the family separations, the rejection of asylum and deportation of asylum seekers from Central America and Mexico has been going on for decades
  *   How the killing of Black people has been going on for far more than decades
  *   How some of us bear greater burdens of pain because these injustices are also personal

I want to be optimistic and positive and energizing about facing the challenges of our current situation(s); I can't do it without acknowledging our realities.
I am so grateful to be part of a community in which our practice and scholarship can grapple with these and other injustices.
We have so much to do and so many ways to do it. You are awesome people with whom to share this work.

Finally- this terribly poignant and powerful poem was just shared by Sam del Castillo on the listserv of the National Latinx Psychological Association.
To the extent that one poem can say it all, this does.
Ellen


Not an elegy for Mike Brown - Danez Smith

I am sick of writing this poem
but bring the boy. his new name
his same old body. ordinary, black
dead thing. bring him & we will mourn
until we forget what we are mourning
& isn't that what being black is about?
not the joy of it, but the feeling
you get when you are looking
at your child, turn your head,
then, poof, no more child.
that feeling. that's black.
\\
think: once, a white girl
was kidnapped & that's the Trojan war.
later, up the block, Troy got shot
& that was Tuesday. are we not worthy
of a city of ash? of 1000 ships
launched because we are missed?
always, something deserves to be burned.
it's never the right thing now a days.
I demand a war to bring the dead boy back
no matter what his name is this time.
I at least demand a song. a song will do just fine.
\\
look at what the lord has made.
above Missouri, sweet smoke.



*********************************************
Ellen Hawley McWhirter, Ph.D.
Ann Swindells Professor of Counseling Psychology
Director, Spanish Language Specialization
5251 University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403-5251
(541) 346-2443 (office)
(541) 346-6778 (fax)
https://education.uoregon.edu/people/faculty/ellenmcw

I support all students regardless of immigration status or country of origin. As a member of the UO Dreamers Working Group, I support Dreamer students and promote their sense of belonging and safety as they pursue their higher education goals. For more information and resources please visit our Dreamers page (https://blogs.uoregon.edu/dreamers/) and the Immigration FAQs page (http://international.uoregon.edu/immigration_faq ). Remember, when interacting with faculty, staff, and offices around campus you are never required to reveal your status.

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