Dr. Howard C. Stevenson’s Racial Literacy Training at UPENN
“When people are threatened in a racial moment, they are overwhelmed and unable to access their own abilities, their own competencies and are unable to access the very things we think of what involves teaching and policing our society.”
This past August, I had the very good fortune of attending a three-day Racial Empower Collaborative (REC) workshop led by Dr. Howard C. Stevenson the Constance Clayton Professor of Urban Education, Professor of Africana Studies, at the University of Pennsylvania.
Stevenson is the author of several books including, Promoting Racial Literacy in Schools: Difference That Makes a Difference; and PLAAY: Preventing Long-Term Anger and Aggression in Youth. His research publications and clinical work involve developing culturally relevant “in-the-moment” strengths-based measures and therapeutic interventions that teach emotional and racial literacy skills to families and youth. Dr. Stevenson was joined by two of his post-doctoral students, Kelsey Jones, Ph.D. and Jason Javier-Watson, Ed.D. co-led the training. There were ten participants, mostly K-12 educators primarily from the Philadelphia area and others from New Jersey and New England including two licensed social workers from New Orleans, LA.
Dr. Howard C. Stevenson has developed a concept called RECAST theory (Racial Encounter Coping Appraisal and Socialization Theory). Stevenson’s research indicates that racial stress can be reduced by improving racial coping skills or racial literacy. He skillfully argues that the phrase “the elephant in the room” is a common image about difficult topics or dynamics that happen between people. He unpacks this overused and commonly misunderstood phrase, saying that the elephant is not symbolic of race or racism; it more accurately reflects how we as human beings manage and respond to racial stress. He says that human beings take two approaches: avoidance or overreaction. In fact, racial stress leaves us awkward in thinking, voice and behavior. While Stevenson did not coin the term racial literacy, he defines racial literacy as “the ability to read, recast, and resolve a racially stressful encounter.” Dr. Stevenson recommends that to become racially literate, individuals must practice these skills to become racially literate.
He says that all people, not just people of color need to engage/practice three racial stress reduction strategies to racial storytelling, racial journaling of one’s life experiences and racial stress management (practicing calculating, locating, communicating and alleviating racial stress).
During the workshop, attendees participated in exercises to develop their racial literacy skills that were very intense and emotional but, allowed participants to practice these skills. Each person was asked to write down their first memory they heard about race and paired with someone of a different race/gender to describe this episode. After the exercise, Dr. Stevenson and his team shared with us how to manage “in-the-moment” racial stress. We should: Calculate (How are we feeling and what level of stress are we at from one (lowest) to ten (highest); Locate (Where on my body do I feel the stress?); Communicate (What statements am I saying to myself?) and finally, Breathe and Exhale.
The role playing exercises with each participant were very intense but liberating because it gave people the knowledge, skill and ability to begin to manage a racially stressful moment. For more information check out about Dr. Howard C. Stevenson’s at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ylliLeNP-w.