Black and proud: Impact of intergenerational racism upon global majority family systems

Abstract

Racism is a pervasive force; its influence is felt in the lives of Global Majority people worldwide, and across generations. As Global Majority systemic psychotherapists in the UK, we take a position to stand against racism in all areas of systemic theory and practice. The ideas in this paper offer an opportunity for all systemic psychotherapists to join us in the decolonisation of theories, practices and knowledge, to step outside White Western structures that have kept Global Majority voices silenced for too long. This article reviews the damage of intergenerational racism upon the lives of Global Majority systemic psychotherapists and the Global Majority families we support. We invite systemic psychotherapy to begin drawing on the rich cacophony of Indigenous knowledge, from Africa and the Caribbean, and from East, West and South Asia to de-centre ‘White ways of knowing’.