Introduction: Special Issue on Race, Ethnicity, and Group Therapy

I am pleased to introduce this special issue of the International Journal of Group Psychotherapy on race and ethnicity as part of the national discussion of these topics in journal literature, professional conferences, and the media. Clearly this is a hot-button topic today, and we received a large number of submissions and proposals for submissions, many of which we could not accept without violating our contractual page boundaries. (This editorial must therefore be brief.) An understanding of the psychology of groups and realistic appraisal of our own tormented history provide a valuable foundation for group therapists to prepare themselves for work with culturally diverse populations, some of which have been traumatized. I wish there were enough space to elaborate on the special perspective of each article. This must be the task of the reader. I wish also that we had received an article on the role of language in transmitting unconscious ideas about “dark” and “light” as potential sources of cultural bias—Neoplatonic and Christian imagery being two major cases in point. The ability to inflict suffering and reinforce alienation via cultural commonplace is neatly illustrated by the 18th-century English poet, William Blake (1789/1993); he uses “soul” where we might use Self:

My mother bore me in the southern wild

And I am black, but O my soul is white;

White as an angel is the English child:

But I am black as if bereaved of light.

The Little Black Boy

This is my last issue; it has been a privilege to serve as journal editor. I am grateful to the associate editor, Dr. John Caffaro, and to the editorial board for their valuable assistance and hard work during the last five years. My best wishes to the incoming editor, Dr. Jill Paquin.