The Invisible Lives of Chaplains of Color

ABSTRACT

Chaplains of color take care of their own spiritual, emotional, and physical wellbeing while caring for others, who are experiencing pain, anguish, and suffering. In many ways, these chaplains struggle with a triple whammy as they provide caregiving in uncharted water: being a person of color and a caregiver during a time of heightened racial tension and violence, feeling invisible, and disrespected. The toll on chaplains of color may not be visible, but it is there. They hold embodied trauma from implicit bias. Being present to others, is more than just showing up. It requires an ability to manage one’s own vulnerability as life continues to unfold. Often this means getting unhooked from the emotional patterns that we have developed and those that control us.

KEYWORDS:

• Implicit bias
• health care disparities
• invisibility of chaplains of color
• hidden bias
• unconscious bias
• inequality
• erasure

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 McVean, “Years of Human Experimentation in America” (40). Led by the Public Health Service in 1932 and in cooperation with the Tuskegee Institute, the ‘Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in Negro Male’ set out to record Syphilis in Black men to justify developing treatment programs for them. The study involved 600 black men – 399 with syphilis and 201 who did not have the disease. Men who participated in the study were told being treated for ‘bad blood,’ but they did not receive the treatment they needed to cure the disease. The researchers did not receive informed consent, but offered the men free medical exams, meals, and burial insurance. The study which was projected to last 6 months continued for 40 years.

2 Hutt, “A Manifesto,” 187.

3 Buhuro, “Spiritual Care in an Age of #BLACKLIVESMATTER,” 187.

4 FitzGerald and Hurst, “Implicit Bias in Healthcare Professionals”.

5 Mental Health America, “BIPOC Communities and COVID-19”. Mental Health America, “BIPOC Communities and COVID-19.” Accessed April 7, 2021.

6 Hill et al. “How George Floyd Was Killed in Custody”.

7 Oppel Jr, Taylor, and Burroughs, “What to Know About Breonna Taylor’s Death”.

8 Browne et al. “How Rayshard Brooks Was Fatally Shot by Atlanta Police”.

9 Gold and Closson, “Daniel Prude’s Case and Death”.

10 Washington Post PR, “The Attack”.

11 Bogel-Burroughs et al. “Suspect Charged With 10 Counts of Murder in Boulder, Colo, Shooting”.

12 The Chaplaincy Innovation Lab (CIL), based at Brandeis University, launched in October 2018 to bring chaplains, theological educators, clinical educators, and social scientists into conversation about the work of chaplaincy and spiritual care. As religious and spiritual life continues to change, the CIL sparks practical innovations that enable chaplains to nurture the spirits of those they serve and reduce human suffering. Our work is shaped by four central commitments maintained by all who are connected to CIL. Learn more at https://chaplaincyinnovation.org.

Additional information

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Cheryl Giles

Cheryl Giles is the Francis Greenwood Peabody Senior Lecturer on Pastoral Care and Counseling at Harvard Divinity School and a licensed clinical psychologist. She teaches courses on spiritual care, trauma, and contemplative care of the dying. Cheryl is co-editor (with Willa Miller) of The Arts of Contemplative Care: Pioneering Voices in Buddhist Chaplaincy and Pastoral Work (Wisdom Press, 2012). Her most recent book is Black and Buddhist: What Buddhism Can Teach Us About Race, Resilience, Transformation, and Freedom (Shambhala Publication, 2020) co-edited with Pamela Ayo Yetunde.