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Point of View: Ethnicity and Family Dialogue

One usually does not think of ethnicity, unless one is of an ethnic group of color. When one is of color, there are constant reminders of being placed in a devalued position in terms of overall society. At the same time, those who are not of color have little experiences with racism and can go on their merry way, disregarding the processes that people of color have to deal with on an everyday basis. The ethnicity of individuals, and of groups, colors the dialogue of family communication to such an extent that it is assiduously avoided in everyday interactions of those not of color. Family members really prefer not to dwell on it. Discussions on racism, discriminatory practices, and negative stereotyping are avoided. There are elements of guilt, ignorance, distortions, and lack of actual experiences of most Americans with persons who are of color. Yet families are the places where attitudes and opinions are formed. On the other hand, people who are of color speak of race and ethnicity on an on-going basis. The communication within families rests on the overall responsibility of all for the positions that persons of ethnic groups find themselves within. Guilt exists over the manner in which problems have existed in the past and it has colored our perceptions of related concerns, issues, and difficulties. Using this framework, only certain Americans are seen as being able to define what it means to be “American.” All others will simply be forced to fit in. There is guilt in the overall mindset of proposing that the “problems” fall on the responsibility of the actions or individual persons of color (West, 1993). Persons of color are seen as the “problem people” (Du Bois, 1903). The conventional depiction of families of color in the social science literature and in the public media has been unbalanced (Billingsley, 1992; Hill, 1997; McAdoo, 1997). One major misconception has been that African American families began only within enTHE JOURNAL OF FAMILY COMMUNICATION, 1(1), 87–90 Copyright © 2001, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.