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ANTIRACIST COUNSELING in Schools and Communities
edited by
Cheryl Holcomb-McCoy
American Counseling Association
2461 Eisenhower Avenue • Alexandria, VA 22331
Copyright © 2022 by the American Counseling Association. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
American Counseling Association
2461 Eisenhower Avenue • Alexandria, VA 22331
Associate Publisher • Carolyn C. Baker
Digital and Print Development Editor • Nancy Driver
Senior Production Manager • Bonny E. Gaston
Copy Editor • Beth Ciha
Cover and text design by Bonny E. Gaston
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Holcomb-McCoy, Cheryl, editor. | American Counseling Association.
Title: Antiracist counseling in schools and communities / Cheryl Holcomb-McCoy, editor.
Description: Alexandria, VA : American Counseling Association, 2022. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2021033771 | ISBN 9781556204098 (paperback)
Subjects: LCSH: Cross-cultural counseling—United States. | Anti-racism—United States. | Social justice—United States. | Racism—United States—Psychological aspects.
Classification: LCC BF636.7.C76 A55 2022 | DDC 158.3—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021033771
Dedication
I want to acknowledge and thank my father, Fred Holcomb, and my family, Alvin (husband), Niles (son), and Nia (daughter), for their endless love and support. I am because of them.
Preface
For there is always light,
if only we’re brave enough to see it.
If only we’re brave enough to be it.
—Amanda Gorman, “The Hill We Climb”
The Inspiration
I watched and cried as 22-year-old Amanda Gorman recited the words above at the inauguration of the 46th president of the United States, Joseph Biden, and the first Black/Asian woman vice president, Kamala Harris. Ms. Gorman’s poem, “The Hill We Climb,” resonated with me as a middle-aged Black woman and self-pro-claimed social justice advocate. After 4 years of an administration that had stoked racial unrest, initiated sweeping anti-immigration policies, and openly devalued women, Amanda Gorman’s words summoned both pride and relief. Maybe, just maybe, we are now embarking on an era of harmony in which we can reckon with our country’s legacy of racism, sexism, and xenophobia and embrace the greatness of our collective good.
In so many ways, Amanda Gorman’s words also reflect our counseling profession’s long-standing promise to endear a more inclusive, equitable, and just society. I have always believed professional counselors play an essential role in our nation’s quest to be a more perfect union. My decision to become a counselor was based on this belief. For it is counselors who have the skills, awareness, and knowledge to produce social change, solve complex problems, and bring diverse people together; however, as Amanda Gorman implies, counselors have this power only if they are brave enough to act on it.
Although Amanda Gorman’s words inspired me, this book was conceptualized long before I knew who she was. The impetus for this book was the series of events that led up to the 2021 presidential inauguration. I could recount hundreds of years of racism and oppression placed on Black and Brown people, but it was the more recent angry white supremacist mob in