Black Leader : Psychiatrist Says Racism Thrives Today

As a UCLA medical student 27 years ago, Alvin Poussaint could not find housing within walking distance of the campus. He tried to impress prospective landlords by wearing his white coat and stethoscope but no luck. The only place he was accepted eventually--the only place that would allow blacks--was in an apartment house for foreign students.

Though more subtle, racism thrives in America today, said Poussaint, now considered the nation’s most prominent black psychiatrist, in a speech Wednesday in Santa Ana.

Blacks must be vigilant, bold and aggressive in fighting persistent stereotypes in the workplace, in the media and in themselves, said Poussaint, a consultant to “The Cosby Show.” A social activist, magazine contributor and television guest who specializes in the problems of the black family, he is on a month’s leave from Harvard Medical School where he is associate professor of psychiatry and associate dean of student affairs.

His talk, “Roadblocks to Black Unity,” was sponsored by the Rancho Santiago College Community Services, the college’s Black Student Union, the Black Studies Advisory Committee and the City of Santa Ana as part of Black History Month.

Gloria Bailey, an English instructor and black studies curriculum coordinator at Rancho Santiago College who helped arrange Poussaint’s appearance, said, “There seems to be a myth that blacks do not have strong family ties. One of his main thrusts is the family. That is one of the top issues facing the black community.”

Forms of Racism

In his talk, Poussaint said racism may appear on a restaurant menu in the form of South African lobster tail, in television shows choosing to portray the overweight “mammy” instead of the svelte black woman or in “microaggressive” compliments by white “friends” such as the man who told him: “It’s blacks like you who should have a lot of children.”

“The biggest roadblock to black unity is the feeling that we can’t succeed at something,” a feeling engendered by white definitions of race that blacks have internalized, he told the audience of 75 men and women.

“Minority thinking” produces students who are timid and filled with self-doubt, he said. But the system rewards only those who act as if they are in charge, he said. “If we don’t get activist and bold, it’ll get worse.”

The most critical problems facing black families are socioeconomic, Poussaint said. The average net worth of a U.S. black family is $3,400 contrasted with $39,000 for a white family, he said.

One-third of black American, four-member families earn $11,000 or less--the official poverty line, he said. Only 56% of adult black males are employed, and 55% of black children are born out of wedlock, he said.

But documentaries on the deteriorating black family situation such as Bill Moyers’ “The Vanishing Family--Crisis in Black America,” aired last year on “CBS Reports,” only make blacks feel depressed and guilty, he said. “We get bombarded by so much negative things about blacks, it’s depressing and overwhelming. We get stressed from it.”

In contrast to the grim reality facing many black families, the happy, upper-class professional family portrayed on “The Cosby Show” is a realistic depiction of many black families today, he said.

And its positive images of a strong, loving, successful father may provide role models for others in the 80% of black homes that watch the show, he said.

Though whites and blacks have equally criticized the black sitcom as not being “black enough,” he said such realistic problems as suicide, murder or racism do not belong in a comedy. “You need a black drama show to deal with the hard, dramatic issues.”

As a consultant, he injects educational messages into “The Cosby Show” scripts to raise black pride and consciousness in the white community. If a script refers to Stanford University, for example, he said he changes it to a black college such as Morehouse College in Atlanta. In one script, a character mentioned Central State University, a black college. In the script, Bill Cosby goes on to ask, “Is that in Wilberforce, Ohio? That’s a good school.”

Administrators at the school said student screams and shouts of delight could be heard from all the dormitories at that moment, Poussaint said. That sort of publicity may increase the number of applications and donations the college receives, he said.

Similarly, if Cosby is to buy a painting in a script, he’ll choose one by black artist Ellis Wilson; if his son, Theo, is to read a book, it will be “Invisible Man” by black author Ralph Ellison, and the cover will be shown to the camera, Poussaint said.

Those attending seemed unanimous in their approval of Poussaint’s remarks.

“I think he’s excellent,” said Janice Macon, a resource specialist from Garden Grove who said she used “Black Child Care,” a book Poussaint co-authored, to raise her three children.

“The subtleties are very much alive that we didn’t establish,” said her husband, Randy, a pricing analyst, as their youngest daughter, Madisa, 3, slept on his shoulder. “He concentrated on children and the future. We’re involved with that, making sure our family doesn’t have to face what we did.”

“He brought a lot of things to the surface that we knew but were not able to verbally acknowledge,” said Tanya Ratcliff, 25, a modeling director from Westminster.

Tom Parham, a UCI psychologist and director of the Career Planning and Placement Center, called Poussaint a “living legend” among black mental health professionals.

In Orange County, there are now approximately three dozen black mental health workers. Parham hopes to organize them into a chapter of the Washington-based National Assn. of Black Psychologists. Next semester, he said, he will teach a class in Afro-American Psychology and Horace Mitchell, a psychologist and vice chancellor of student affairs, will teach a course on the black family. Both said they plan to use Poussaint’s books.

It matters less how black Americans get involved in black issues than that they get involved at all, Poussaint told the group. “Remember,” he said, “a handful of young black students started the black-consciousness movement. They ignited the country.

“We’re going to have to do that on behalf of our children.

“The real issue is not doing anything.”