Read Full Text: Occupation, injustice, and anti-Black racism in the United States of America
Journal: Journal of Occupational Science
Year Published: 2020
CEU Podcast: #51: Racism and Occupation with Ryan Lavalley and Khalilah R. Johnson (CE Course)
This week’s article challenges us to look critically at occupation—specifically how it can be used as a tool for either justice or injustice.
Many of us have a narrow view of occupation, and this view is based on the medicalized and individualized categories of ADLs.
Yet, research and lived experience have shown us that occupation is much more complex, interconnected, and powerful than what we learn in school.
The authors of this article outline how occupation has played a role in systemic racism within the United States.
As OT practitioners, we hold a shared value of justice. Thus, we must understand and confront both our nation’s history of inequities and the injustices that continue to this day. Only by doing this, can we move toward true antiracist transformation.
Next week, the authors of this paper, Ryan Lavalley, PhD, MOT, OTR/L and Khalilah R. Johnson, PhD, MS, OTR/L, will join us on the podcast to discuss the practical implications of these findings on your occupational therapy practice.
Let’s dive in.
Introduction to occupation and racism
The benefits of occupation have been well explored. And, as occupational therapy practitioners, we are accustomed to linking occupation with health, wellbeing, and justice.
However, very little research has been done to explore the role of occupation in the formation and perpetuation of injustice.
The United States has a long and atrocious history of racism. And, in this paper, the authors argue that everyday occupation is situated in—and inseparable from—this racialized reality.
Building on the politicization of occupation
In the past 10 years, there has been a movement within occupational science to understand occupation at a societal level. Such writings include those on:
- Occupational justice
- The transactional perspective of occupation
- The capabilities approach (This was explored in this podcast course!)
- Critical theory of occupational science
These theoretical perspectives have informed the authors’ investigation of race and occupation. Such views also fueled the authors’ belief that occupation is inherently political, which sets the stage for this paper…
What was the intent of this paper?
The intent of this paper was to unearth the social formation of anti-Black racism in the US. By doing so, the authors wished to examine the role occupation played in the creation of such fundamentally racist structures.
The authors present a sobering picture of instances when occupation was the very vehicle through which racist practices were constructed.
The authors also underscore the real, and often unacknowledged, history of racism in the US. Such racism must be recognized and confronted—especially by White Americans—in order to move toward reconciliation, healing, and social transformation.
An occupational perspective on the history of racism
In this section, the authors share how race was constructed to create a false power hierarchy between those who were “superior” and “inferior.” (This is horrific to even type.) The institution of slavery was then built to support this hierarchy, despite having absolutely no biological basis.
In this paper, racism is defined as “the deployment—intentionally or unintentionally, individually or structurally—of a categorization based on skin tone to place humans in a false hierarchy.”
Racist ideas and policies are those that support this false hierarchy.
For their examination of this history of occupation and racism, the authors examine four main eras:
- Associating dark skin with slavery and inferiority
- The development of occupational apartheid for Black Amerians
- Continued occupational apartheid in the era of Jim Crow
- Civil rights and reconstruction through everyday living
There is so much information shared about each era, and I encourage you to read the article in its entirety. I’m going to share two examples from this section that highlight the role of occupation:
1. Example of occupation as a vehicle for racism
In the section on the development of occupational apartheid for Black Americans, the authors share that in the American colonies, those who were enslaved were designated as “chattel” property. This differed from most forms of slavery outside of the US, where those who were enslaved were considered “freehold” property.
“Freehold” meant that only the actual services and occupations provided by enslaved people were considered property of the enslavers. On the other hand, “chattel” meant that the enslaved people themselves were considered the personal property of the enslavers. Not only were their services under control of the enslavers, but also their bodies—and the bodies of their descendents.
Slave codes and policies were also created to ensure total control of the lives of those enslaved remained in the hands of the enslavers.
These codes restricted Black people from the everyday occupations of:
- Gathering in public
- Reading or writing
- Traveling without permits (slave patrols violently enforced this)
- Participating in any education (and barred White people from providing this education)
- Possessing (loosely defined) inflammatory literature
- Testifying against a White person
- Many other activities
(Codes of this nature continued long after the abolition of slavery, and they eventually evolved to become based on skin color rather than slave status.)
2. Example of occupation as a vehicle for justice
During the time period of Civil Rights and Reconstruction, the authors highlight that many Black people were not allowed access to formal political power. Thus, the occupations of everyday life became tools to exert resilience and create change.
Participation in daily occupations became a way to resist segregation and racism. These daring actions included:
- Sitting on buses
- Waiting in train depots
- Sitting at lunch counters
- Hosting White visitors overnight
- Marrying interracially
- Wearing natural hair
- Creating music and art
- Dancing
- Having sex
- Simply thriving
The struggle for justice continues
The civil rights movement was an incredible example of social change that leveraged everyday occupation. But, the reality is that the US is still not free from the remnants of slavery and racism.
New policies and cultural norms continue to police, monitor, and control the lives of Black Americans. These include:
- The war on drugs
- The prison industrial complex
- Voting restrictions
Dehumanization of, and violence against, Black people continues to plague the US—as seen in the unjust deaths of:
- George Floyd
- Breonna Taylor
- Ahmaud Arbery
- Trayvon Martin
- Monika Diamond
- Countless others, seen and unseen
And, the following statistics can only begin to underscore how attitudes and systems continue to unfairly impact Black Americans.
- US residents often assume higher crime rates are directly correlated with communities of color—even though there is no such correlation.
- Black communities are regularly displaced for White real estate needs.
- Black students are disproportionately disciplined, compared to white peers who commit similar infractions.
- Black Americans disproportionately receive inappropriate diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorders.
- Black Americans have a lower survival rate of breast cancer than white peers.
- A resurgence of White nationalist movements was seen following the 2016 presidential election.
Racism is still alive in the United States, and it is a public health crisis.
Minoritization within occupational therapy
When last surveyed in 2014, only 4% of occupational therapists were Black. This is especially concerning when you consider that Black Americans compose 13% of the population.
Within occupational science, the authors are only aware of two Black graduates who have earned PhDs in the US.
Implications for occupation
This paper clearly challenges the long-standing assumption within the OT community that occupation is always beneficial.
In reality, occupation can be infused with racist ideals and used to actively reinforce structural racism.
This critical examination of occupation aligns with other recent writings that have called into question long-held assumptions about occupation. Such assumptions, which were born out of a North American/European perspective, include:
- Individualism (Listen to our podcast Beyond Individualism for more on this!)
- Choice agency and meaning
Conclusion
The potential for occupation to contribute to injustice is a wakeup call. We clearly need a more informed and conscientious practice of occupational therapy.
And, while this paper has emphasized how occupation has served as a vehicle for injustice, it also showcased the opposite: the potential of occupation to liberate, empower, and promote health.
Takeaways for OT practitioners
(Please note: These are my personal takeaways. They are not mentioned specifically in the article.)
1. When we expand our understanding of “occupation,” we expand what it means to be an occupational therapy professional.
This article did such a good job of showcasing the power of occupation—and how it can be used as a tool for justice or injustice.
I’m guessing that not enough of us show up to our jobs as OTs and think of ourselves as doing justice work. I hope that this article encourages you to do so.
2. This article showcased how inequities can be social determinants of health—and why our work and profession needs to address unfairness at all levels.
We learned last week how social determinants of health have a 4x greater impact on your health than healthcare. And, underlying all 5 categories of social determinants of health is the concept of fairness.
This week’s article was a poignant picture of how unfair and racist conditions have an insidious reach, down to individual health metrics.
If we truly want to promote health, we need to ensure that our work and our workforce focus on addressing social determinants of health, including how systemic racism comes into play.
I know this will take a reimagining of occupational therapy. But, papers like this give me hope that we are already on our way. And, thankfully, we have thought leaders to move us in the right direction.
3. The need for anti-racist OT practices.
The construction of racist conditions in the US was done with intention. And, it will take intentional work to build a more just future. This work is best understood as antiracist work.
Antiracist work is needed at all levels of our society, and within our profession. There is certainly enough work to go around, and I hope this article helps you reflect on some ways you can create a meaningful impact.
To get your wheels turning, we’ll begin discussing this on our upcoming podcast. Then we will dive even deeper into this topic in two weeks, when we look at this article on anti-racist OT praxis.
Here’s the full APA citation for this article:
Lavalley, R., &; Johnson, K. R. (2020). Occupation, injustice, and anti-black racism in the United States of America. Journal of Occupational Science, 29(4), 487–499.
Earn one hour of continuing education by listening to the podcast on this article!!
In this podcast episode, we dive even deeper into this topic, with OT (and Club members!), Ryan Lavalley and Khalilah R. Johnson. You may be eligible for continuing education credit for listening to this podcast. Please read our course page for more details!
