Managing the Mosaic
Addressing Cultural and Ethnic Diversity in the Workplace

Infrastructure Threatened

If you look at Great Britain, it is now a second-class world power. It was the United Kingdom—that’s what we call it now. When I was growing up, we were taught that the sun never sat on the British Empire. The sun now sets on it in about an hour—from London to Wales. That’s about the extent of the “British Empire.” The question in a society like that is, How do people make money? If you take those “exports,” you cannot finance a country’s needs. So the question is, How do the ultra-rich in Great Britain remain ultra-rich? An answer is that that nation has the most foreign capital invested in the United States!

Great Britain, Canada, Japan, and the Netherlands. Now if you look at those four in that order, you can begin to understand that’s why the British don't invest in their own country. It’s because they don’t have a work force sufficiently educated enough to meet the challenges of today. And therefore they put people on the dole, which is welfare, and just maintain a country that is sort of going pace-to-pace in order to glean as much money as they can from the lower classes. They go into costing things like water. In this country we’ve always had water that you could just drink directly from the tap. In many countries you have to drink bottled water or you’ll die. And guess what we’re now developing as a new industry in this country? Did you ever think that you’d have to drink bottled water in the United States? It’s now an industry here. These are the things that you have to have to survive.

So what happens is: infrastructures collapse; and then these newly created needs are the requisites to survival. What I’m sharing with you is that there is then a greater “gap” because you have to spend too much money just to survive.

Did we ever think that we would have to pay more than a dollar for a gallon of gasoline? But as the ultra-rich begin to visit Europe where people pay two or three dollars for a gallon of gasoline, or four or five, then say, why can’t they do it in the United States, where people said it would never work, it would never go? Well, they tried it, and it worked, so they keep it going.

There’s no need for those costs. Gasoline—crude oil—has not changed its price. It’s constantly going down. There’s plenty of crude oil, if that’s what you want to use. So what I’m suggesting to you is that you have to begin to think in terms of where are we going as a nation? We have always been a nation where there was a spread of wealth. But what’s happening is, there’s a vast gap between wealth, and we have to be cognizant of how that’s going on.

Now, if you examine the speeches of Eisenhower in the past, he always warned us about the industrial-military complex and the cost of that to a society. If we cut all of the programs that we say we are going to cut in this present administration then that means that many of your agencies will be dysfunctional. But when we cut all of those and add all of that money together, it will still not be the equivalent of the cost of one Stealth bomber. Yet we continue to produce things that have no value in this new society—because at whom are we going to direct our rockets and missiles? Who is going to be in retaliation against us? Who constitutes the enemy?

Now, if you do not begin to think clearly about these issues, then things will overwhelm you and we will end up without the capacity to provide services and care for those who are needy. There are always things that are thrown in your path that are sort of scare tactics, scapegoats, or short-term expectations of what is operating within society. Then people respond to them and are very concerned. So let’s look to see what has happened most recently explicates the behavior.

Alienation and "Betrayal"

For the first time in forty years something occurred in the U.S. House of Representatives. And what was that? Republicans took the power. This was in line with what you were saying yesterday, a demand for...what?—change. Now, the political analyst analyzed to see who voted to do that and why did they make that change. The answer was angry...what? —Angry white males. Now who are the angry white males and why are they angry? OK, let’s take a look and see what’s going on.

Historically, if you were white male, high school graduate, you would have the opportunity to have a job that was 12 months—that is, you could work a full year. The income level would be the lowest level of middle class, but you would be the beginning of the middle class. That would entitle you to have a home, a new car, and an annual vacation. And that has been the existentiality for three—in some cases—four generations of white males working in factories with a high school diploma. Is that a reality today? What’s your answer? No—it is not! Many of those jobs have gone...where? Overseas. And many others are completely obsolete; they are dysfunctional. So what was given to white males, high school graduates—and particularly if you’d served in the military. You had a veterans' “patron.” That is no longer real. So what had been given as a “psychological contract” to this group of young men has been broken, and they are very, very angry. They feel betrayed.

Let’s go now to Oklahoma. The alledged person to cross the bounty was...what? A young white male, high school graduate. He served in the military—even in a time of war; and he was without a job. Not the reality of his father's or grandfather's experience. But this group of white males—they don’t vote. So we have to ask ourselves, what is the other group of white males, what is their experience? What was their psychological contract, and how was it destroyed?

How many of you of European descent have relatives who came to this country after the War Between the States? I must be very careful with terms here. Alright.

Those of you of European decent that have these relatives who came at that time frame—because that is after 1865—came from European nations who did not have universal primary education at that time. Those individuals came here with “zero” education, at best third grade, but most had no formal education. They entered into the factories and they worked with their hands.

Now how many of you of European descent have relatives that were in this country before the War Between the States? Alright.

Even in the most rural conditions they would have had the advantage of an eighth grade education—in a one-room or a two-room schoolhouse, because we had normal school. And young girls would go to normal school and then teach in these rural settings until they married and then they had to leave—quit teaching. So the people who had the advantage of that education went to the same factories and they worked with their heads as payroll clerks, timekeepers, bookkeepers, and so forth, because they could read and write; they could do the writing and arithmetic that was necessary to send correspondence, and so on.

For the first time, now, in the United States, we began to develop two classes of people that, even though in an adversarial relationship, had not been in our country prior to that time.

Class Duality

So, let’s examine it. It says that the people who worked with their heads had the advantage of working twelve months a year. They had twelve months of work; they were paid a salary; and eventually had a one-week paid vacation. The people who worked with their hands, how were they paid? Hourly or piece work. Some don’t even remember that terminology any more. Did they work 12 months? Could they be assured of 12 months? No. So what happens is you have two classes of people: One class feels they are privileged and entitled to the better life because they have education; and the other says someone has to come and save us, help us. So now you have two classes fighting each other, OK.

What was the first building publicly built by the people who worked with their hands when they came here? They built a...what? —A church. What was the second building they built? A school...when they realized that education was an important factor. To what level? To...what? —The eighth grade.

Now if you are going to maintain power and control then you have to change the roles. So it is now time to do...what? —Change the rule. So, it is interesting that since you have succeeded in getting an eighth grade education that now in order to have the upper positions you will be required to have at least a high school diploma.

So we continue to develop two classes of people. We now have the supervisors and we have the workers. But while supervisors are equal—and some are more equal than others—we have supervisors who specialize in the supervison of supervisors—those who supervise those who supervise those who supervise the workers.

World War II is over and we have the reality of a nation that recognizes that, in order to maintain the competive world edge, we have to have a work force that is better educated. So we have the GI Bill, and those people who served become a whole new class of managers who specialize in the management of managers who manage managers who manage the supervisors who manage the workers. Now, when you have that many managers it becomes very clear that someone must be responsible for those managers. And now we develop, after the 1970’s, vice president positions—and those positions will generally require an MBA, a Master of Business Administration degree.

Now, while vice presidents are equal, some are more equal than others. We have a Junior Vice President, who is not as great as the Vice President, who is not as great as the Senior Vice President, who is not as great as the Executive Vice President, who is not as great as the Senior Executive Vice President. Now at this point it’s time to change...what? Yes, we’re going to change the rule!

We now have a group of people who are administrative executives. Nothing is written out here because they deserve to be here. These are the “good ol’ boys!” And way up on top reigning supreme is the CEO God.

"Contract" and Commitment

What we are saying is that there is a psychological contract which says the more education the more money you earn—and you have greater power control and privilege. But in order to ascend this, you must prove that you “love” us. And the way that you prove that you love us is that we ask you to relocate your family every three years. Now if you relocate your family every three years how rooted are you in the community? Then your loyalty has to be to whom? You see? That’s your loyalty. Now, at this point the husband comes in and says “We’re relocating.” The wife locks her lower jaw, the lower lip quivers, and she says, “We are not moving; the children and I are staying here.” That’s because your daughter is...what? A senior in high school. And has to go to her senior prom. What happens is, the boss says, “I understand fully your situation, but you must understand that your promotion will be held in abeyance until such time that you can relocate.” So what they are doing is putting in front of you a barrier saying, “If you refuse to cooperate, this is the extent to which your career is going to go.” And if they were really upset, they would demote you, which says you have six months to leave our organization without a negative letter of reference.

So this is a psychological contract. If you are educated, if you are loyal, you will earn money, have prestige, power and control. That was the contract. Now, what went with that, which is difficult to see, was that we always thought that in this country you would continue to go up, up, up. The reason being we always experienced western expansion which you could always go further and further...what? West. It was always the idea that things were “endless” in the United States. Always plenty.

You took physics. And you put this superstructure on top of this one, and what’s going to happen? It’s going to... what? It’s going to collapse, isn’t it? Some businesses in New England specifically began to collapse. Others knew their organizations were going to collapse and they had to get out. So let’s talk about the process and then you go back and look at literature in the past. Articles, newspapers, journals, and you will see that this is corroborated. So I just want you to kind of take a look at this first.

What we have here is that American industry was not willing to invest in new capital goods because other countries were producing the same things more cheaply. And they began to think in terms of relocating some of their plants rather than to invest here. The rational was these people were earning too much...what? Yes. And the reason was, they had joined a...what? Union. Yes. So the union has destroyed the American economy. If you’re up here, it’s the union that’s discouraging western civilization.

If you’re down here, it’s the thing that gave you some equity. You see the difference between the two mind sets? And what we have in our country then is two groups of people doing what to each other? Fighting each other rather than to know of the enemy that lies outside! And as long as we fight each other, we’re divided and we can’t win, because the enemy is always present outside and (he) will devour (us).

If I’m sitting, talking about this (CEO) group right up here—this very top group. These are the ones I’m discussing. They recognized that their companies were going to fold. But if the company collapses all of the privileges that they have through stock in the this company are lost and they will be penniless. So they’ve got to devise a method where they can get their money, get out before the whole thing falls apart. But they’re not producing sufficient produces to make it profitable, so they have a dilemma. If you walked to Wall Street on Monday morning and took all your stock as the CEO at 9:00 o’clock and put it on the block to sell, but 9:01 your stock would be...what? Worthless. You can’t do it that way. Now, what can you do? Well, you have to sell it in small blocks on a quarterly basis for at least four quarters and then you can get out. How do you accomplish this task when the production here is not posting a profit? Who’s going to buy stock when you don’t post a profit on Wall Street? Now here’s what happens. The easiest way to do that is that you fire 1,000 workers. If you fire 1,000 workers, times three months salary, you have turned a...what? “Profit.” Yes, you have. It’s nothing personal. Now let’s examine it.

Downsizing

I have one, two, three workers right here. I fire this one; these two will work 1 ¹/₂ times as hard. So it means that the salary of two does the work of three. It also means that I have two quarters in which the money is there. By the end of six months, from the psychological literature we know that they will burn out. I still need two more quarters; they are of no avail to me; they can’t produce; they’re burnt out. So what I do then is what you will see six to nine months later; that is, they fire...what? Another 1,000 workers.

At that time, they’re able to get out. Now. If you were to jump from way up here all the way down here you would hurt yourself seriously and have... what kind? Yes. Because none of my stock is in this company..."diversified." Go back, look, see process and understand what has happened. Now other companies recognized that this was going to go on. They panicked and as a stop-gap measure they began to do what to their organization?

Downsize. But downsizing, reengineering—whatever you want to call it is only a stop-gap measure. Because the whole process of manufacturing and the whole process of services and producing wealth is going to change from a vertical organizational structure to a horizonal organizational structure.

This is the new structure. The new structure says “The CEO is not very far away from the people who do the work.” So, we will have different projects; they will not be the same. These are projects. This is project A, project B, project C and D. The CEO’s function is to hustle contracts and bring them in. Our hope is that this CEO will be able to bring in project E. We don’t know. There’s nothing to assure us that that reality is there. But that’s the hope.

Transformational Shift in Progress

How are people going to manage these organizations? Management will do it through oversight. There will be a person that will be responsible for oversight. In addition to administrative skills for oversight, they will have specific skills, that’s skills a,b, and c, but you will have a vast reservoir of unemployed people who also have skills a,b, and c. What is the function of this coordinator? Well, this oversight person must make sure that when Project A begins on Monday morning at seven o’clock, every need that they have is there. When Tuesday or Wednesday comes and they need something else, they will make sure that it’s there.

So this says that this person will be very trained in monitoring electronically with computers and having products come in at exactly the right time. Very much like the Japanese do today. Now this is the difference and these are the places that those of you that deal with mental health issues must be cognizant, the people who work in this capacity are different. We are caught in the change between this system and this one. We are not in either place yet. And that’s the confusion. Let me show you what’s going to happen.

We now need skilled q on Project D. We won’t get people from here who will bring this person here. Previously that kind of movement was called a demotion. But today it means you have a...? A job. We need skilled q on Project A. That previously was called a lateral move. Today it means you continue to have a...what? Yes. You must remember that within this whole concept these were devastating events because someone had always been going up the ladder. You see? Today it doesn’t have the same symbolism. But if people think that way, they become very depressed, angry, and dysfunctional. You will have an increased number of people coming into your caseload that will have that as reality. Because they assume because I was here, I (will) remain here and continue to go up. These things in the Matrix System are meaning that you “flow” from one place to another. You don’t stay fixed.

Unrewarded Loyalty?

Now what about the concept of loyalty? Be loyal to the company—where the young people of today are not loyal. Be very efficient and work hard! Otherwise they wouldn’t keep their position on the team.

Loyalty says you can promise me something. Can you promise that they will have a position on Team E? If you get Team E. Of course not. You can’t promise that you’ll have a job. How can you demand anything of them? So our concept of loyalty is antiquated. What people demand now is efficiency and competence to stay in a position. Then you can move from one place to another.

Sometimes when the project is over these people will return to the pool of the unemployed. Until such time as they can be re-hired on a new project. Now that’s the reality of today. And if you don’t understand it, you will lose.

Now let’s see how that works in terms of who’s going to be on these teams to work with you. How many...? I want white males age 45 and older to please stand. Raise your hand if in the last year your immediate supervisor has been a woman. Alright. Six. Thank you. Raise your hand if in the last year your supervisor has been a minority. Thank you very much. The majority of 45 and older have not had supervision from...what? Women or minority. The reason being, our system was built on seniority and hierachy and those “others” had not been included in the mix at the start.

Now, how many of you graduated from a university before 1985? When you went to school your parents gave you a portable typewriter, carbon paper and an eraser. Some of you had a slide rule. All of those things are totally...what? Obsolete. Yes. So much of what you learned in that four-year period of time is also.... Obsolete. Who then is going to have the most current information in terms of how things work? New graduates and people who are technically filled. Now, if you are 45 and older, some of those people are young enough to be your what? That’s a nightmare to be fulfilled! OK.

What I’m sharing with you is that this is the new future. This is the way it’s going to be. We are caught between the two, and therefore you can see... Let’s go back now to this group of men who were managers and vice presidents. They had privilege. They had $500,000 homes. That means $5,000 a month mortgage. This is in Massachusetts. Connecticut, upstate New York. What’s the first thing that happens to their homes? They lost it because no one in the community could what? Buy it. They were all out there in the same place. None of them had a job. They have set money aside, private education for their child, the best of the private schools, what happend to that money? Yes.

Now, that meant their children would have to go where to school? With whom? And how did they get there? You see how we’re beginning to see... Your target then becomes Affirmative Action, Equal Employment Opportunity... You see the negative realitieis there that are coming. Alright.

Let’s go on with that. For those of you that deal with issues of mental health, these people were very angry. When anger is turned upon itself, it is...what? Yes. In Massachucetts, significant numbers of white males did what? They committed suicide. You see these are things that you have to be vigilant about in mental health in these transitions and changes.

Now the reason I share that with you is because it’s eight years they’ve been in that state. Now they’ve stopped. This is what you have to be mindful of in your agency. They have now come back—the vice president and the upper level of senior management have combined themselves for a new function. They are now called “administrative consultants.” OK? And as administrative consultants they come into agencies with a specialization of “privatization” of the agency or privatization of functions within agencies and government bureau. They assure everyone they can do it more cheaply, more efficiently, and more effectively. They generally start out in a building with janitorial services because they aren’t “invested” in janitors. Then it goes to the cafeteria, which is privatized. And finally they get to a point they say, “Human Resources and Finance can be privatized.” You see?

Now how can they say that it’s going to be done more cheaply when they “work for profit”? Well, I will take 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 workers; I will fire three of you. I will keep the other four. I will not hire you in my company; I will hire you as a consultant to my company, because I don’t want to pay you any...what? Benefits. Yes. Now, existentually, this is the reality. If you are going to compete against this type of behavior, you have to do “accounting” like you’ve never done before. And you have to be able to demonstrate that when they come in...if they’re going to make a profit, some services will be jeopardized; and if you can’t do it...if you don’t cut your budget tightly—get yourself balanced out, then the winds of change will destroy you.

Competitiveness

Are there any questions on these concepts? OK? Can you see now why people feel their job has been taken away from them by someone who was unworthy? See the emotional impact of that?

The reality is if you took Affirmative Action, Equal Employee Opportunity and ridded the country of it tomorrow morning, would these people have a job? No. Because they don’t have the skills necessary to be competitive in the new world market. We have to be mindful of how people will manipulate emotions and destroy it.

The reality is, industrial manufacturing will not be done in this country to any degree in the future. The reason being, after 1997 the Bank of Hong Kong becomes the Bank of China. You have hundreds of millions of Chinese who are skilled workers. You have hundreds of thousands of Chinese professionals. What they have not had in the past was money! Now our racism says “Well, they’re not as good as we are; they only do things; they’re not as competent.” That’s what we said about the Japanese, remember? That they could only copy. Well, we found something different. They have not had money. Now they are going to have money and we have to understand that they are going to be productive and they are going to produce more cheaply than we can here.

So we have to prepare our young people for “high tech” as the place to get a job—not in industrial manufacturing. If you look at what you bought Christmas and the last purchases that you’ve made, just turn it to the reverse side, you’ll see a little gold sticker and it says “Made in China or Taiwan,” and that’s just the beginning.

Our young people are not being given the education that they need to be competitive. The way you find out if you’re competitive is one question: How many of you took calculus and passed it? You will have a job. Others will be unemployed. Why calculus? We think in this track; calculus forces us to think in a separate mind set. And all of the electronic thinking and the computerization is in this mind set. If you don’t have it. You won’t be able to do it. Now, why are I telling you that. I’m telling you that because it’s real. Some of you will say, I could never do that. And we know from the mental health Diagnostic Statistical Manual, Roman numeral 4, some women “cannot do it” because they have “math phobias.” Well, all that is just simple projection. The reality is that we have used math as “a weed out” in this country, and we consistently and systematically weed people out through math. Let me demonstrate to you how this is done.

Culturation

The little girls in the first grade are in the class room with little boys. Women teachers will simply say, “All right class, 2 + 2 is...” And the little girls will all be waving their hands. But the teacher will call upon a little boy. The little boy may say something like, “3”. Now teachers are very mindful of “self-concept.” They will not say anything that will upset his self concept, so they say, “ That’s an interesting answer. Who has a different one.” She will call on another little boy and he will say, “4” and the answer is that’s right because that would be judgmental. They say “thank you.”

Now the little girls have been waving their hands; they have never been called on, so very soon they begin to realize that this is something that is not for them—for which we should have thought: half of the competitive work force can’t do work if they can’t do mathematics. Therefore, young girls have to think then, What can they do? They can be beautiful.

How do we define beauty in this country? Well, to be beautiful you cannot have one of gram of fat over. You must be perfectly balanced. Now, to demonstrate on the concept of beauty, any woman that is in this room that is not one gram of fat over or has one little bulge at the wrong place, please stand. You see, now, the woman that stood one time was a German woman and she was very buxom and she said, “Here Edwin, I’m standing here.” Because they have a different concept of beauty. But in this country you can never be too thin, so we get young people from the mental health perfective, young women becoming, what? Bulemic and anorexic, you see?

Maximizing Human Potential

Let’s go on. We’re in the ninth grade. Algebra, very good. Algebra; ninth grade. If you can’t learn everything about Algebra in eight months, you are too dumb to ever take another course in mathematics for the rest of your life. Can you see that message that’s being said? You’re successful with Algebra, you’re now going to geometry. In eight months you have to learn all the axioms, theorems, postulates, everything... and how they interact. If you can’t, you’re too dumb to ever to do any other math course for the rest of your life. That’s a horrible statement to make. When must all these things be done in eight months? Because we have to plow; everyone knows—how many of you plowers are here? Our responsibility is that we must re-think the educational system. When you look at other countries it’s very unfair to compare American children with the Japanese and Germans who spend many more hours in school and have core curricular and have to take the courses. And they do—they take calculus because calculus is expected of you as a core course. And they don’t give you the fear that you can’t do it.

People can teach us so it can be done, but we teach math as a weed-out. This is my engineering class. I should be exalted because I’ve just been in engineering. Freshman engineering. What do I do with this professor? I say, “Look to your right, look to your right. The people to your left and right will not be here next year—will you be here?” How do you handle this seering fact? And then of course calculus kills you dead and then that ends engineering school. What a waste of human resource potential.

We must re-think. Everyone in this country is capable of producing work and products and we have to begin to think of having our children meet their maximum potential. If you are Downs Syndrome, then you can learn to clean tables in cafeterias and you see a large number of them now working in the fast food places. That’s a reality. Because you are reaching their maximum potential. Our children don’t reach their maximum potential. Many of you have children who went to high school where calculus was offered as an elective. Your children elected not to take it. And after they finished college, you have elected to let them come back and live with whom? We have to re-think what is necessary for our society to survive. The weaponry for the industrial-military complex is out moded. But if we closed it, it would put a lot of people who have extreme wealth out of business. But we must make choices. Because if all of the social agencies closed tomorrow, we still would have a national debt that is terrific. Re-think what is being done and don’t become victimized in terms of one fighting against the other. But we have to pull together as one nation and make our mark. Are there any questions?

Socialization

“Part II.” You have a handout and I want you to take the handout and go to page two, “ Socialization” These are tools that you are going to need to understand how we are, how we think and behave as we do. And particularly in a multi-ethnic and holistic society. Socialization is concepts, principles and ideas in society that has been reinforced to become the status quo. If you take an idea and you put it on television and you play it over and over again, it becomes for the society the status quo— that is socialization. Let us examine some concepts of socialization.

Here’s one. If you picked up your morning newspaper and you saw the picture of a young black male, a very positive story under the picture, what section of the newspaper would you be most likely reading? Sports. Very good. Same picture, young black male, negative story, where are you reading? (Crime.) How could you give me that information so readily? All right. It’s because you have been thoroughly...? Socialized. What is the concept in our society about young black males that has been reinforced over such a long time to become the status quo. Young black males are athletes or ...? Criminals. Very good.

Now whenever you have a socialization there’s a ramification on the society. One of the ramifications: If you’re a woman on an elevator going down to get your car out of the garage, before you get there the elevator stops, the door opens, and there stands a young black male who steps onto the elevator with you. What do you do? How do you feel? How do you think? What happens to you, based on the socialization as a ramification?

Now there’s also an addition to ramifications and effects. What effect does this socialization have on young black males? Well, for some it’s a prediction and a self-fulfilling prophesy. For others they say, “I’m not like that, I work hard, I do everything that I can to make a go of it.” Fine. Young males coming out of college—young black males—work very hard for the down payment on a new car because they can’t afford any second-class role power, the down payment on a home. You see, for our generation, when you came out of college, you could buy a home and a car before you were thirty—on a single income. You can’t do that today! That’s why many of our young children live in open sin. The ramification. Huh? Huh? OK.

Now, the young black male is riding down the highway in his brand new car. What is likely to occur? Police will stop him. Why would the police stop him? For goodness sake! Because the police have been socialized with what is euphemistically been called “profiling”—that for a young black male to have this car, how did he get it? Well? He stole it or he got his money through drugs. You see? Now in the parameters of their socialization, you have duty and function as a police officer. The duty of the police officer is to prevent crime. The function is to apprehend the criminal. So, if you perform duty and function in the parameters of your socialization for a line order, you feel responsible.

But if you have a young black male, he feels indignant. How do police respond to acts of indignation? Very interesting, isn’t it? Alright. Now, is socialization only negative? No, it’s the tool for change. You were talking about change yesterday. This is how you change things, through socialization. Give some examples of positive socialization?

Less than three years ago at a training room you would have had glass disks (ash trays) at every other place, and the room would be filled with...what? Smoke. Yes. But we have been socialized not to smoke.

You get in a car, you get ready to pitch something out of the window. Your children call you a...what? Litterer. Yes. You get ready to turn on the motor, your children demand that you...what? Buckle up. Yes. Those are socializations on a national scale. It is a tool. It can be used negatively or positively. It is a tool. But it is the tool of change.

Cultural Biases

Now things that get in the way sometimes are our cultural biases. What are examples of cultural bias. Cultural bias is the formation of ideas that are imprinted and shaped to form the self. When we are first born our families very selectively take specific ideas. They take those ideas, they imprint them into us, and shape us to be who we are. Is essence we are all born without glasses. But by the time we are 3 ¹/₂ years of age our families have permanently fitted us with sets of lenses through which we see the world for the rest of our lives. So that no matter where we look, when we look, we’re always looking through the lenses of our cultural bias. These lenses are thickened with socialization. So if you have thick lenses it means that your vision is “impaired.”

My vision is impaired; I wear trifocals. How many of you wear trifocals? Raise you hand. Alright, sir, what is your name?. Alright, Danny, can you see Edwin? Edwin, can you see, Danny? Yes, of course. Do you see each other clearly? Of course, we do. Now there are those of you who don’t wear glasses at all and you’re trying to ascertain how on earth is it possible for Edwin and Danny to see each other clearly with trifocals? How on earth is it possible that anyone could see clearly with trifocals? Danny, how do we accomplish this? Clear, clearer, clearest. So we are viewing the world through great, greater, greatest layers of distortion, yet we claim clarity. You see?

So with interpersonal relationships when you come into a work place, we assume that we see the world clearly but it’s only through the lenses of our cultural bias and the thickening through socialization, that we see each other. What are then some examples of cultural bias? There’s nothing wrong with cultural bias as long as it is not dysfunctional. Let’s look and see some examples. Those of you that are Lutheran or Episcopalian, please raise you hand. You certainly have been told about the Catholics, haven’t you? How many of you are Catholic? You know about the protestants, don’t you? Are there any Baptists here in the hall? Any Baptists? You’re is true salvation. Others will be on a long line waiting; you’ll be inside rejoicing. OK.

Now all of these are cultural biases. OK? That have been thickened with socialization. Now as long as we, as a society, do not let the socialization be an impediment in the work place, then there are no problems. But a cultural bias that is dysfunctional in the work place must be transcended and we must move beyond it. It’s very important that we understand that, because there are things that happen where we are dysfunctional. We have one cultural bias that makes us dysfunctional in the work place. Not with this group perhaps, but with many other groups.

I get mail from time to time; people say, “Well, Nichols, you talked about everyone but you didn’t talk enough about us.” And it’s letters that are coming from gays and lesbians, and they say, you have to say something about us. So I tried in Texas and I was almost stoned to death. So I’m very careful about it. So I’m going to talk to you in terms of what I’ve tried as a new method. What is the problem? Some people say, “My religion says that homosexuality is an abomination, and I cannot be around those kinds of things. Well, the problem is...the issue is the issue of sin. Well, now, that’s the problem that we have to deal with sin. Here’s the issue. What is the issue? The issue is that people are saying, “I can not work with sinners.” My question then to you is “with whom are you working?” We do “transcend,” and we need to be cognizant of it. Because you see what happens is we change rules. If you would read the rest of the passage of scripture, it says fornicators and adulterers. And people say, "Now wait a minute, you’ve gone too far, Nichols."

Personal Bias

We want to be able to work with people and if there is a cultural bias, our own personal cultural bias, that could be dysfunctional in the work place. We must transcend beyond it, because we do it on a daily basis. We must be cognizant of that and move beyond. What I want to do now is, I want to go to the last page (of the handout), which is the philosophical aspects of cultural difference. When we talk about the philosophical aspects of cultural difference I’m talking about a method that I have developed that helps me to see myself and others in some form of a relationship that’s intelligible and understandable. Nichols, you are a psychologist, why are you using philosophy instead of psychology? Because when we stay within our narrow disciplines we stereotype others and our vision is too narrowly focused. Let me show you what I’m talking about.

You see the philosophy is the “mother science.” Psychology is the lesser science. I am a psychologist. I’m a clinical psychologist. I’m a psychoanalyst, with advanced training at Zurich. Makes my vision very narrowly focused. Now because I am the analyst, what does that make all of you? Patient. Yes, you see, “pathology.” So what happens is, when we are too narrowly focused in our perception we stereotype. I become the “good,” and you’re the aberration, the “problem.”

Let’s try something less threatening. Alright. Accountant/auditor/tax auditor for the IRS. You’re all guilty of ...what? Tax evasion, fraud. That’s right. Tax evasion, fraud, etc. Because I am the “good” and you are the aberration, the “problem”—and that’s how we stereotype. So we must go beyond our narrowly focused disciplines to the “mother science.” Now what (does) mother science enable us to do? It enables us to see effigies (?)/efficacies(?) in purity.

This is a silly game I’ve developed to show how that works. It has three steps. Step one, you’re to close your eyes; step two, I ask you to envision a specific noun; step three, we discuss it; and you open your eyes. Alright Step one, close your eyes. Now if your eyes are open, you’re paranoid. Alright. Step two, envision a chair—your favorite chair. Step three, open your eyes. I’m sure you saw grandmother rocking in the red shawl, in your favorite chair.

If I had taken a polaroid snapshot of what each person had seen, the pictures would all be what? Different. Yet if I collected all of them and asked any of you to tell me what you had seen, you would be able to identify each of them as a) how was that possible with such deviation. It’s because you’ve understood the essence of karma, and you will never confuse it with the essence of what? ... Exactly. That’s what the mother science does. Those are the things we are going to examine.

Ethnicity

In the United States we have ethnic groups that are different. Those that come from Europe, Africa, Asia, and native American. We also have a set which is called people who share a common world view. People who share a common world view have an historical event that changed the destiny of their group of people forever. They were forced to speak a new language, and forced to convert to a specific religion. “Hispanic” meets the concept of world view. People that were Inca, Mayan, Aztec were subjected to colonial Spain, forced to speak Spanish, forced to convert to Catholicism. So you see, people with those experiences—even though they come from other countries— when they get to this country, we give them that label. Hispanic.

Now, let’s look at something else. Also because to be Hispanic is not race-specific. See? You can be white and be Hispanic, black and be Hispanic, native American and be Hispanic. You can be Jose Yong, and still be Hispanic.

Epistomology (How we "know knowledge")

Now if we take people that share ethnic groups and world views, how then can we look at them in such a way as to have the discipline and philosophy to help us understand each other—self and others’ differences? Axiology, epistomology, and logic are three disciplines in classical philosophy. Axiology is the study of values. Epistomology is how you know knowledge. And logic is how you “read” them. So we’ll talk about them and how they affect you in the work environment and how we come to know them as reality.

European Values

If the highest value for European society is in the object, then we want to talk about how the highest value comes to be in the object. First of all, is there any epidemiographic data that might corroborate that concept that the highest value is in the object? In 1929, there was a “crash” (in the stock market); many people lost “everything.” But significant numbers of white males did...what? Committed suicide. Yes, because they had lost what for them was the object of highest value. 1970, the automotive industry said, “If you'll work for us for thirty years of more (which makes men 50 years of age or a little older)....” They were forced to retire. Forced retirement. They had other objects. They had health/retirement benefits, hospital benefits, union benefits, all kinds of benefits, but for the first time in their lives they would not have a...? Job. Within six months of forced retirement, significant numbers of white males simply began to do ...what? To die. We didn't know why. I was with the National Institute of Mental Health at the time and my boss came in and said, “Do something!” We said, “Yes, of course.” So we immediately formed a...? Task force. Exactly. To under take a...? Study? We came up with findings and made a...? Recommendations. Yes, you know exactly, don't you?.

Our findings were that these white males, for the first time in their lives, had leisure time and were not using their leisure time to any degree of creativity. The recommendations were: Use your leisure time creatively. Now when you are a government agency and the Congress does not appropriate a large sum of money to go with the program, you dump it onto some one else. So we said, “After examining the problem, we do not find that it is a mental health issue. This problem could best be served by Parks and Recreation.” Well, what I'm sharing with you that here's now something that's more serious. We did have divisions that were called Rural Mental Health. During this same time frame, many farmers who were second, third, fourth, fifth generation on the farm were losing their...what? Their land. Because the bank had told them last year this land is worth $15 million dollars, and youcan borrow all the money you want! So they bought new equipment to be more efficient. Then the bank said the next year, “Oh, your land is really only worth....” So they lost. Now if you're a rural mental health worker—and we had many prima donnas who went to do rural mental—and they opened the centers Mondays through Fridays, 9:00 through 4:30. But the reality was that the auctions were held on Saturdays, and the auctions were over by Saturday noon. And by Saturday at 1:00 many of those men had gone into the barn and done...what? Comitted suicide. Yes, so what I'm telling you is that if the highest value for your patient is in the object, where do you need to be if you're that mental health worker? Working Monday through Friday to take the report? Or in the field doing the work on Saturday at noon? So there are many things that we need to understand.

If we understand the axiology (values) of groups of people we can better perform services for them. Now why then is axiology so important? Why is “object” so important in Europe? In Europe twelve thousand years ago, resources were very ...what? Very scarce, very limited. I have this resource that you need to survive the winter. If you cannot physically take it from me how must you act toward me to have access to this resource? Subservient. So what we have developed in Europe is a system of hierarchy. Therefore, one will outrank the other, and that's what we have to be cognizant of in this model.

Black and Hispanic Values

Now let's very quickly go and see what happens when we deal with Blacks and Hispanics. With Blacks and Hispanics, the highest value is in the relationship. If the highest value is in the relationship, it says that people in this culture see themselves to be what to each other? Equal. If you do something to treat me as something less than equal, you treat me with...what? Disrespect. And you have destroyed the relationship. That's the most powerful thing that I can share with you in terms of Blacks’ and Whites’ relationships. In Black culture and Hispanic culture, people see themselves to be equal to each other. If you treat me as less than equal, you have treated me with disrespect and you have destroyed the relationship.

Now let’s look at the two and see what happens. Let's look at the highest value as the object and let's go to Germany. Alright, I have a Ph.D. Do you have a Ph.D.? No, alright then, I outrank you. That's the German system. We have Hans and Fritz. In Germany, if I needed a different marker, I would say to Hans, “Hans!, get up and get me another piece of chalk.” What would Hans do? He would go get it, or he would turn to Fritz, whom he outranks, and tell Fritz, “Fritz!, didn't you hear what the professor said? Get up and go get it!” And Fritz would go bounding out of here because in German culture rank has... what? Its privilege. Yes, that's how it works. That's because the highest value is in the...what? Object. And I have to power. “Object” isn't always in materialism, it's power, control, authority. You see the difference?

Now let's see what happens when I go back here. Your name is? Ken. Alright, Ken is black, Nichols is black. Ken do you have a Ph.D.? No. I outrank you. ... See, he's already giving me some static here. Now that's because the axiology has changed from member-object to member-member. So, his belief system is that we are...what? Equals. But I outrank him. Does habit matter? No. Because his belief system is that we are equals. Now suppose that I respond to him like I did Hans or Fritz, then his perception is that I did... what? Treated him with disrespect. And destroyed the relationship. So if I were to say to him, “Ken, get up off your ... and go out there and...” He'd say, “Wait a minute, man, I don’t play that.” Because the perception is that the axiology has been violated.

Now let's look at some phenomena that has happened in black communities and it will be clearer about what is said here. If you are a young black male between seventeen and thirty-four, your highest cause of death is to be killed by another young black male. If you are 15-24, the probability that you will be killed by another young black male is 1 chance in 23! To be killed on the front in Vietnam was 1 in 55 chances. Now, what happens here is that as blacks—and Hispanics—we keep a “barrier ”out here. And most things hit the barrier and bounce off. There are some things that will go through, such as racial epithets and so on. That will destroy a relationship. Now, where in relationship to this barrier are the people that are killed?

First, we’ve got to ask, “Who are they?” Sixty percent of the murders that are committed are against “friends” and sixteen percent are against relatives—for a total of 76%! Cousin, brother, best friend. Now go back to this model. Where are cousin, brother, best friend in relationship to the confrontational barrier, the barrier that wards off confrontation? Inside. So there's nothing to “protect” you in this relationship. When you go to the prison you ask the young black man, “Why did you kill brother, cousin, best friend?” They say, “Man, he ‘dissed’ me.” That's black English for...? Disrespect. How then do you work in an office where this is the existentialistic reality. If you have finally worked, year after year after year, to be in the position “here where your lips are all brown from the effort,” you deserve to have respect. And you see the idea is that this behavior is disrespectful. One person thinks, “You don't take the orders I give you, you're being disrespectful.” The other person says, “You are treating me with disrespect by not treating me as equal.” You see the potential for conflict in the two cultures.? Now let's see what needs to happen in order for me to work with Ken . I have to work with him on such a basis that he always knows that we are...what? Equals. Yes, even though that I...what? Outrank him. So when I give directions with Hans and Fritz they are what? They are orders and they are told what to do. They are told, and no one gets upset about it because that's the way we do it. Now what happens in Europe is that you are told what to do. But in black culture you are what? Asked. That's the big difference. You must ask.

Now let's see what happens. If we have a relationship and Ken wants the relationship to remain intact and build on it, he will do things without being told. He will anticipate my needs and meet them. And if I am a black boss I will expect that of him because I want to keep the relationship intact. Now that creates other problems when I go back to Fritz. Say he thought his was a very good model and that he so attended to Hans’ need. But remember that in European culture resources are very...what ? Very scarce and very limited. So what is being said here is that Fritz has taken it upon himself without being...what? Told. To risk a resource. If he messes up, it will cost Fritz his...what. His head. Yes, but who's head will go first? Yes, you see what's going on? It's the idea that you have risked resources without being directed to do it. So what happens is that Fritz will say, “Yes, but I did it because I thought...” And what is Hans’ response? “Don't think.” We all know the answer to that one: What makes you think you can think?

Now what are some of the differences that will come when you have a black who heads an agency with whites on his staff? Well, his anticipation is that his staff will...what? Meet his needs. Very often without having been...what? Being asked. But they will wait to be...what? Told. And very often that's where you get the frustration. You think, “Ah, they're undercutting me. They're doing all these different things.” And that's not the reality. Or you will have the white boss with black staff , they'll be trying to meet his needs and he will say, “ Who told you to do that? I didn't tell you to do that. Why did you do that?” They will say, “Well, I just thought that you wanted me to help you.” And he says, “Well, don’t think. Just do what I tell you!”

Then you get passive-aggressive behavior, which means the boss is about to walk off a pier and die, and what do they do? They'll undercut you. Their passive-aggressive behavior will cause them to wait until something happens and their response to you will be, “Well, you didn't tell, so I didn't do it.” Those are very negative behaviors, so we end up fighting each other, fighting each other for negative reasons. If we understand the axiology of the two groups we can function closely together with a purer understanding and great comfort.

Asian Values

Now what I would like to do is, I would like to show you how people will come to think that way. I would like to give you quickly a view of the Asian system. The Asian system is very important. How many of you have taken in your agency “high performance teams,” “total quality management” (TQM)? Alright. Why do the Asians do so well and the rest of us do so poorly? Here's the answer to that. They have an axiology, that is a value system, that enables them to take Deming’ s information and work with it more successfully than we. Let me show you how that works.

The highest value lies in the cohesiveness of the group. In order to be culturally competent, you have to know the other side. You see, what we do so often is just to know our side of things. Oh, we know that there are differences, but we don't know what the differences are. And that's what makes you culturally competent.

Does the word group within Asian culture mean the same thing as it does to me in English culture? Well, I will look the word up in the dictionary. Who's name is on the dictionary? Webster. How many trips did Webster make across the Mississippi? He never got to Asia. He didn't make it. So they may think about it differently. I'll share a secret with you.

If you take the word group and you write it in Chinese then you have the way they know the word. Then you must do the etymology of the term. These two characters that make up the word “group”—the first one is king and the second one is sheep. So in order to be a “group” you have a leader and followers. But it's different than our perspective. Because in monarchy there is hierarchy—the king is higher than the queen, higher than the duke, higher than the duchess, and so on. We see sheep as “stupid, dumb” animals; they see sheep as “conformist” animals. So the essence of group-ness within Asian culture is to be a conformist within hierarchy. And that's what Deming required in order to keep the group cohesive.

Now, how are decisions made to keep groups cohesive? How many of you are taller than 6'-3". Who is taller than 6'-4"? 6'-5"? 6'-6"? (Eventually, the tallest person, Winston, remains.) Now, suppose he says we are going north for water. Whom among you will argue with this man? But if we get there and there is no water, how long, Winston, will you be in charge? Not very long. The reason being, unilateral decisions do not keep groups cohesive.

Now let's see what happens when we use what the Greeks taught us—majority rule. Alright, all those in favor of going north for water, please raise your hands. This one wants to go north, this one south. You, sir, tell us which way we are going. North. North? Damn Yankee! You see what happens. Groups...what? Split. Because we cannot come with majority rule. That won't keep coups together. So unilateral decisions, majority rule don't keep groups cohesive.

Within Asian culture decisions are made that will keep the group cohesive. And you have to come to a what to do that? Consensus. How do you like consensus in classical Chinese? “Dislexia” in one language is transferable from one language to another. Don't worry about it. Alright, this word in Chinese as a single word is the Chinese word for heart. The word above it is the single Chinese word for voice. So, in order to come to a consensus, your heart and your voice have to say the same...what? The same thing. How many times have you said something with your voice you did not mean with your heart? That's called passive-aggressive behavior! It's listed in the diagnostic statistical manual Roman numeral number four for neurotic behaviors!

Now, if your heart and your voice do indeed say the same thing—and I write it as a single word, I have a new Chinese word. This is intense. So if I know how you think and feel, you assent and your intellect, then I know you're what? Intense. So if we all have the same intent and work seven days a week, twelve hours a day to produce a thousand five hundred widgets, do you have to wake me up to get me to work on time? Does anyone need to be awakened to get to work on time? Because they said (they would) with their...? Heart. And their...? Voice. Which gives their intent that they will do it.

Now we use the last part of the caligraphy. We can now all “come together”—that's how the Chinese write come together...and speak with one mouth. That's how the Chinese write consensus.

This is why Deming was able to go into Asia, Japan specifically, and change their whole process so quickly. Because they were already prepared for it. It was like the hand was there and you only needed to fit the glove over it. For us it's conflictual. One of the reasons it's conflictual is because we're individualists. And each of us aspires for ...what? Leaderhip. Success. Dominance. Individuality. Yet, we are told we should aspire for group consensus. That's a conflict. But what we do is we reward—we “demand” group behavior, but we reward individuality!

The group has come together to work on a project. This man gives a very good idea, but he's not the team leader. The team leader takes the idea, he develops the project. Tonight is “award night.” Who gets the cash award? The team leader. Who gets the plaque of honorable mention? See, we're not rewarding what we say we want. That's the difference.

Epistomology: "Knowing"

Within structures, people note things differently. So let's look at the epistomology.

In European culture, we know through counting and measuring “the object.” And we assemble things as a series of parts that become a whole. When you are working with Blacks and Hispanics, the highest value is in the relationship. We see things symbolicly—symbolic images—and the concept of “rhythm” means function. If your heart is out of rhythm it is not... what? Functioning properly. And conceptualization is holistic. When you're talking to Blacks and Hispanics, you always want to know the big...what? Picture. Yes, and that's the confusion. They want to see a whole—and we will only give them a...? Part.

Now if you are constantly given parts—you think they’re wholes, how much longer are you working on “the task?” You see? You’re developing it in ten pages; everyone else is doing it in two pages. It looks like you are too dumb to do the work properly. So when you turn your paper in there’s always this comment, “Well, I didn't ask for all that.” The response under the breath of the Black is, “Well, why then did you give it to me?”See what's going on? These are conflictual.

Now, in our culture we will give you a part in which you will count and measure. We do things in a linear and sequential way.That's how things are done. But when people think holistically that's confusing because we want to know, How did you get there? Which is, How did you get to your place on the round ball? Do they think of a ball? Well, very often when you ask blacks things they will give you what is called “critical path analysis.” They will go directly to the answer rather than going through the steps of 1,2,3; A,B,C. In other words, in European culture, how do we write reports? Well, we say, “The report will have Part A, Part B, and Part C. Would you please give me explication on how you would develop Part B? Part B will have 1.0, 1.1, 1.11, and 1.111” You see? Is that how we do it? Yes. Now when we are dealing with others, others may not think that way. How do we work when we have Asians on our staff? Asians will think in terms of the whole, and all of the parts will be seen simultaneously. Wholes and parts are seen simultaneously. What does that mean, Nichols? Well, their whole culture demands that you must see the whole and all the parts simultaneously, or you can’t read! How can you read Chinese? You must see the...what? The whole character and each stroke—all the parts—and how? Simultaneously. You cannot read Chinese linearly and sequentially. You can’say, “Oh, that’s interesting; oh, look, that’s a nice one; oh, there are two of them, aren’t they cute.” You won’t make it past Chinese 101!

The man who printed this representation could not read Chinese, and he left this stroke out. So, when I have an audience that includes some Chinese, they're puzzled because they know something's missing. Because they can perceive the whole and all of the parts simultaneously!

So when we are working together in offices it's not what is “good” and what is “bad,” it's just that we are...what? Different. We are more alike than we are different, and we will discuss that and celebrate that.

Dichotomous Logic and "Isms"

The last thing that I want to share with you is what happens when we form “isms.” Isms separate us and destroy us. So let's look at these two concepts very quickly and see them. The way you form an ism is you use dichotomous logic. Now there's nothing wrong with dichotomous logic. Dichotomous logic says, Yes-No, Plus-Or, A-Or. Those are all things that are part of dichotomous logic.

Now when you form an ism there are three steps that are used to form it, and these are they: The first step, you have to say what characteristics are “good” and what characteristics are “bad.” You have to say, step two, who is “good”, who is “bad. ” And, step three, you must socialize everyone to believe what you said is true. That's what you have to do.

OK, I'm going to form an ism and I want you to tell me which one it is. Alright, step one. I’m going to use dichotomous logic, but I’m going to corrupt it by using my cultural...what? Bias. Good and bad. I’m telling you that to be “good” is to be assertive; to be submissive is “bad.” But you see, in many cultures to be submissive is...? Good. So, I’m using my cultural bias. I’ve corrupted a valid form of logic by using my cultural bias. Alright, aggressive (over) passive; powerful (over) powerless; strong (over) weak; fearless (over) timid; intelligent (over) ignorant; independent (over) dependent. Now, I’ve done step one. I’ve told you what is “good,” what is “bad.” Step two. I must tell you what? Who is “good,” who is “bad.” Through the grace of the gods, we find that.... Yes, men are “good.” We are assertive, aggressive, powerful, strong, fearless, intelligent, and independent. Through the lower forms of nature we find that women are.... Go ahead, ladies, you can read (the list of what's “bad”). There you are. Now, I wouldn’t be so crass as to say that women are ignorant, but you must admit that you have poor math skills.

What is the ism we formed? Sexism. Now my task as “gatekeeper” is to socialize you. The gatekeeper’s function is to maintain the status quo. Nothing changes. What I’m going to do as gatekeeper is to socialize you so that everyone believes that what I have said is true—and acts on the belief system! That's what makes it dangerous.

Alright, I start with little girls. I say, “Don't try to do that, my dear. You are not...? Strong enough. Get whom to help you? A boy/your father/a man. Don’t go in that dark room, something will...? Get you. Yes, we want you to be very timid. Ninth grade: Oh, don’t take Algebra because Algebra is too...? Hard for you. (I’m really saying,“You’re too dumb to learn it!”)

Now there are some of you sitting here close enough that I can see into your eyes and I know that you would take it and get an A just to spite me, wouldn’t you? So when too many people do contrary to what you say, the cognitive dissonance is too great, and the idea will not hold. So what I have to do as a gatekeeper is, I have to start a new front. I have to begin to attack you very early to condition you to act as I want you to act.

Now, none of these things have anything to do with ...what? With God—capital G—they only have to do with manipulation of things to maintain the...what. The status quo. So don't be confused by that.

Labeling

Alright, so there's a group of women to say, “Listen, this meeting is is over. We’re going to change that. We’re not going to put up with this crap.” Well, what we will do is take the leader of that group and we will label her. The function of labeling is to put you back in your place or to warn others that you are dangerous and then you cannot develop a constituency. Loudly and clearly now, what is the label that we put on the aggressive woman? We call her an aggressive...? Bitch. Yes. There it is. Unrehearsed. Once labled, if we’re all standing, having coffee, and that person comes up, we all move away. See, you can’t develop a constituency. That's what labling does.

Developing Prejudices

OK, let's look at the final step. There are some women who say, “Nichols, that noun has been applied to me on numerous occasions. On some occasions, there have been adjectives to precede the noun, and on very special occasions there have been adverbs that preceded adjectives. So I’ve been called it all. That doesn’t distress me.” Well, what happens then is that that group of women says, “We want scientific proof and scientific data. That's what we have to have.” Well, you see, that says that this gatekeeper has to move out of the way and I will call in one of the “big guns”—someone who has written many books/journals/articles; a very erudite, patronizing, condescending “old fart:”

Now just stop for a moment because I want you to see the progression of this. Because what we have taken is the person who was oppressed and and we are turning them into the villain. You see what I am doing systemically? Where do you find the term "penis envy"? Where is it listed? Well it's in the Diagnostic Statistical Manual, Roman numeral 4, which is used by psychiatry in the classification of mental illness. So now this woman has become...what? Mentally ill. Yes, she’s crazy.

Now let's look at her progression and demise. As a little girl, she acted like a ...what? Tomboy. Which was not very...? Acceptable. So she was punished and (she) turned into a...? Bitch. Yes, but what kind? Crazy bitch. Yes, of course. Now you see what people are asking us as males to do is to work in close proximity with the “chronically mentally ill.” That could be a very frightening experience. Think of a man in Virginia who had to be in close proximity to a woman who was declared to be only temporarily insane. He was changed from Bobbit to “Bobbetta.”

Either/Or ("Dichotomous") Thinking

Alright, now racism or any ism that you want to do is done by exactly the same methodology. I'll show you methods so you see how these things work. If you’re going to do racism, these (Dichotomous Logic:   Either/Or ) characteristics are “good,” these characteristics are “bad.” Then, who is good and who is bad in our country? In our country, to be white is “good,” to be black is “bad.” Now, if you combine sexism and racism then you come up with an existentialistic reality that the ultimate good in our society is the...what? White male. And the ultimate bad is the...what? Black female. Yes.

Now, if your belief system is this way, if you have been socialized "to see" these as the characteristics of white males, these as the characteristics of black females, then your hiring practices, your “risks” for promoting people and so on will be conditioned by that reasoning process. Because logic is reasoning. And then you will have epidemiologic data that will corroborate that reasoning.

Ramifications of Prejudice

These charts depict high school graduates. This is the “ultimate good”—white males, $26,000 for a high school diploma. This is the black female—the “ultimate bad”, $16,000 for the same high school diploma. Can you see now what I was talking about? With the white male: a high school diploma, you could live middle class. Here's a black woman: same diploma, $10,000 less! Now when you are black, earning $10,000 less, then you must take out of this what we call “black tax.” That is, your life insurance is going to cost you, as a black, more. Health insurance is going to cost more. Insurance for your car is going to cost more. Your house insurance is going to cost more. And you are making $10,000 less. Can you see? Where is the motivation then?

Now let's look at other ramifications here—racist-sexist thinking in high school diplomas. The white woman earns $2,000 more than the black woman. The white male earns $6,000 more than the black male.

Now let's look at gender bias. The black woman is $4,000 less than the black male. The white woman is $8,000 less than the white male. And now we have many more white families that are going to be headed by ...what? Single parents. Women. See what that means. See how people are going to be in poverty. And you even have gender being more important than race in employment—the black males earning $2,000 more than the white females. So what I'm sharing with you is that these are the ramifications of sexist-racist thinking in the sense that “the ultimate good” is to be the white male and the “ultimate bad” is to be the black female. Now what happens in this is that we all pay the price.

What price does the white male pay to be “the ultimate good?” Who has the highest incidence of coronary heart disease in the United States and who has the highest incidence of colon cancer? So white males are under chronic stress to be “the ultimate good.” What is it we demand of white males to be “the ultimate good?” In all places, at all times, in all things, white males must always be assertive, aggressive, powerful, strong, fearless, intelligent, and independent. If you're not all these things, you're a “wimp.” If you are all these things all the time, you're wives divorce you because you're insensitive.

If you're white and male and you're not rich, something's wrong. What could be wrong with the white male who has had all the opportunities and he is not rich? Well, he has not been as industrious and thrifty as he should be; he’s not been prompt, he's been late several times. At this point, white males should be willing to “give it up.” But because gatekeepers want to maintain the status quo we give you a “secondary compensation,” by permitting you to live in clean, beautiful, valuable, segregated housing, paid for by oil depletion allowances, farm subdizies, and tax shelters.

Because we are an “alcohol culture,” then your wives must bring you cocktails in the evening—or a can of beer, contingent on your socio-economic taste.

Stereotyping

Now let's see what happens in the reasoning when a person comes to an agency, a social agency—and you have been socialized in sexist-racist thinking. How will you see the black woman that comes before you? Well, in order for them to get anything from the system they must act in a submissive, passive, powerless, weak, ignorant, timid, dependent way. Why do black women live in poverty?

How many times have you heard that litany? And many of us, unfortunately, when we see the client believe the “reality that we see.” Now, is it possible to change it with reason? No, we can only change it with socialization!

Prove it, Nichols, that you can't change it with pure reasoning. Well, let's see. People constantly change the rules. That's why it doesn't work, so let me show you what I'm talking about. Whenever you do research work, you must have empirical data. Alright, I'm going to rely on this audience for empirical data. Any woman in this room that has had a baby, please stand. Now look at these women. Look around These women have empirical data.. And based on the empirical data that none of the rest of us have, please remain standing if you will have another baby just to get ADC checks. A check every month for eighteen years. Isn't that interesting. They all sat down. Now if you did research work and you came up with those tremendous findings, you could take a Nobel Prize. But what happens is, that is contrary to what we want to believe, so we change the rules.

Ah, Nichols, the difference between these women and those women: these women are educated and those are not. So what we've changed is the dependent variable. Therefore, I want to ask any woman in this room that has had a baby and has at least a Bachelor's degree—or more—please stand. Alright, how many of you have Masters? Raise your hand. Thank you. How many of you have a Doctorate? So we have Bachelors, Masters, and Doctorates. Therefore, if that is the dependent variable, there must be some privilege accorded with this dependent variable that will color your thinking and behavior. Alright, because you have the Bachelors, the Masters, and the Doctorate degrees, when you went to the labor room did the head nurse make query about your academic standing? Did she promise you something special because you were more educated than the others? No, that wasn't your experience at all, was it? I thank you very much.

Now what happens is that people become crass because they want to maintain...what? The status quo.

Ah, Nichols, we're not talking about these women. We're talking about those dumb black women down in the ghetto who just lay up and have babies because they're too dumb to do anything else. That's a very crass statement, but people make them. And sometimes in your interaction crassness must be used with crassness. So at this point I say, “Well, gentlemen, are you not aware that there is a procedure that preceded pregnancy. If you are so dumb that the only thing you know to do is this, why don't you just do the procedure that precedes pregnancy once a month with a good client and they would certainly make more than the state pays, at $40 a month.”

"Socializing" Change

But you can't reason people away from isms. You must first socialize the society to change. So if every time you turned on television and radio, instead of seeing the black women on ADC—“shiftless, lazy, worthless”—you begin to see people who are trying to move from that position. Or looked at the majority of women who are not on ADC but are working two jobs trying to take care of a family. If you socialize people to see us as “one yet many” as a nation, rather than separated and divided, we would beat the global economy that is threatening our whole nation.

We Are "One Yet Many"

We are more alike than we are different. And I want to prove that to you. How many of you have visited or traveled overseas at some time or another? To have had this many people this close in a room this long—this much heat, what would have overwhelmed you by now wherever you were? Odor. Armpits and feet would have staggered you by now, wouldn't they? Alright, do you smell anybody in this room? Sniff around. Don't be bashful. You don't smell anyone in this room because the United States of America is the only totally odorless society in the world. Others may be clean, but we're the only one that is odor-free. Now how on earth did all of us get to be odor-free? Because we have been socialized to be odor-free. We don't care what your opinions are, what your private thoughts are, what organizations you belong to, but we demand that you be odor-free. You can be a member of the Ku Klux Klan, but under the sheets you must be...what? Odor free. Yes. So, you see, more alike than we are different.

Now, when you change a society through socialization, is it a permanent change? Well, is “odor-free-ness” permanent in the United States? Well, let's examine that. Anthropoligists will tell you if a belief system is in the psyche of a group of people, it is in their mythology. Is odorless-ness in the mythology of America? Yes. Prove it? Alright. Unfortunately—hopefully no one in this room, some poor fool got up this morning and put on the same underwear they had been in all day yesterday. By this point in the morning, that underwear is terribly “ripe.” That foolish soul is going to trip and fall and have a serious need to be taken to...? The hospital. The head nurse will see the...? Dirty underwear. Would your own mother come to claim your body? No! We are more alike than we are different. We are “one yet many. ”

Thank you for inviting me to be with you.

Dr. Nichols is a clinical industrial psychologist, working in organizational development. He is a director of Nichols and Associates, Inc. an applied behavioral science firm which is located in Washington, D.C. He has provided services to major corporations, governments and government agencies, aristotle, national associations and health and mental health associations.

Starting in 1969, until retirement in 1989, Dr. Nichols has held various positions as the National Institute of Mental Health. He has been the guest of and provided consultation to the countries of both Guinea and Nigeria. He has served as the Associate Director of the Cleveland Job Corps Center for Women, and taught at the Psychiatry at Mayharry Medical College. He also worked as clinical psychologist at the Kansas Neurologist Institute an affiliate of the Minier Foundation of Topeka, Kansas.

Dr. Nichols was educated at Assumption College in Windsor, Canada; Eberhart College University in Germany; and Leopalin Francesca University in Insbrook, Austria, where he received his Doctorate of Philosophy, in Psychology and Psychiatry Cum Laude. His awards include being a Fellow of Austrian Minister of Education and a Visiting Scholar of the Rockerfeller Center and the IGO Study Center in Italy.

He has received public service awards from the United States General Service Administration, the Department of Justice and the Social Security Administration. Dr. Nichols served in the army during the Korean War and is the father of two children.

Presented July 25, 1995 at the Blue Ridge Institute for Southern Community Service Executives, Blue Ridge YMCA Assembly, Black Mountain, North Carolina.    HIS INTRODUCTORY REMARKS: Thank you for inviting me. And I thank Mr. Weekley for gently letting me know more things about you...so I could be prepared for what has finally occured to see your President in the red shawl. Had I not been prepared for it, I'm not sure I would have understood it! Coming over, there was a man he didn't have a name tag—but he was your Harold Weekley from Tennessee, who's been a member of this organization for many years. He sorta gave me some data and information about the red shawl. So I'm more appreciative of it, and now I won't refer to it as cross-dressing.

It's very kind of you to invite me to be a part of your group, and I'm glad to have the levity to enjoy yourself when you're here because I know the work that you do, the commitment that you've made to the kind of work that you do is very, very stressful. I have been a psychotherapist for the past 35 years and an analyst. Thirty-five years as a therapist and 30 years as an analyst. So I know what it is to receive tons and tons of problems every single day, hour after hour, and to have to carry that weight all by yourself. It's a very stressful thing. To be able to get away and to have a time frame where you can meet old friends and just sort of be yourself it's like being refueled, so you can go back and take on those problems again.

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