Dr. Laura Is Not a Psychologist

Before Dr. Laura is permitted to go any further, somebody over her requests to require that she seek out continuing teaching on diversity and the new cultural movement among academics and aspiring mental health professionals today. Her work should be postponed until she meets the criteria of cultural competence. When she may not be a psychological health professional, she is in the forefront as if she is and this needs the suitable training.

Rather than concentrate on the caller’s query, Dr. Laura takes protective and starts spewing her frustration. She states that it’s “hilarious” that “we’ve got a Black man as president and we have more complaining about racism than ever.” It is mostly in answer to her deeming the caller hypersensitive. So rather than calmly explain to the caller, Jade, that in her view, her husband’s friends were not being racist, Dr. Laura minimizes and invalidates the woman’s experience.

It’s unfortunate that we have to continue to remind people that the act of one man unluckily does not erase the racial disparities that persist. Black little ones did not miraculously stop dying at higher rates compared to White babies the day Obama was inaugurated. Trends such as infant mortality rates are one example of the myriad of troubles that Obama being in office did not remedy. Individual acts of racial triumph do not result in the amelioration of institutional racism.

As the call continues, Dr. Laura appears to imply that if someone asks “Do Black people really think?” or “Why do Black people do?” the caller should be willing to engage in the discussion. Despite an empty caveat that one does not exist, she continues to assert that there is a “Black think.” She instructs Jade to simply refer to a poll of Black people while answering such questions. Seriously? I’m not sure where to start with this one, except for that counseling 101 would remind Dr. Laura to listen to her caller. We don’t get enough information from Jade to know the true nature of these questions. Dr. Laura appears to assume they coming from a place of pure curiosity. Yet Jade is clearly experiencing them as antagonistic.

Dr. Laura treats Jade as if she is certain Jade is misinterpreting the interactions. She extrapolates this misinterpretation and maps it onto what she sees as Black people being hypersensitive. And she continues her messy tirade by accusing Jade of taking her out of context: “Don’t naacp me.” At this point, it is clear that Dr. Laura is not only talking to Jade, but she is bringing into the “room” all of her own “stuff” about race.

These excerpts sums up why the difficulty with Dr. Laura is beyond the words she is using. After the call ends, Dr. Laura is ranting and declares “we have to be able to talk about these things. Discuss the issue.” Well, she surely did not serve as an exemplar nor did she facilitate a conversation about the issue. She shut the conversation down by being defensive, condescending and off-topic.

Cultural competence is not only a main aspect of psychology, but it is becoming a requirement for navigating our increasingly diverse society. Knowing our blind spots is key while it arrives to sensitive subjects such as race. And Dr. Laura seems to have some baggage to process before she is quick to invalidate another person’s experience of racial discrimination.

I’m uncertain where the bit about favored groups or obsessing about the past comes from. It might have just as easily been about someone being dismissive of a associate of a number of “groups.” It’s more generally about respecting the various identity communities that make up who we are rather than one specific group.