To offer culturally relevant services to individuals, families, or communities of color, it is important to know their immigration story.  How long have they been in the United States?  How did they get here?  Was this group oppressed ... or did the members prosper?  Did the people experience discrimination ... or were they welcomed with open arms?

Note that not all immigrants came to America in search of financial opportunity or to build a better life for their children.  In fact, some weren’t immigrants at all.  Slavery brought a million or more Africans to the New World against their will, in chains.  Mexicans living on land annexed by the U.S. government became U.S. residents without ever leaving their homes.  Policies such as the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and the Indian Relocation Act of 1954 forcibly removed Native Americans from their ancestral lands onto reservations and into cities.  Since the fall of Saigon in 1975, some 800,000 Indochinese refugees have fled to the United States – an experience markedly different from the immigration of our nation’s European transplants.

It’s important to face up to the reality that the group you are serving may have a reason to fear or mistrust American systems.  Remember that unethical medical experiments (such as the Tuskegee Syphilis Study), ethnocentric social policies (such as the unwarranted removal of Indian children from their families and tribes), and well-documented disparities in hiring, housing, and healthcare are all part of recent American history.  It comes as no surprise that some people view government systems with suspicion and fear.  For practitioners who weren’t even born at the time of these painful incidents, it may seem unfair to have to bear the brunt of them.  But the reality is that healthcare providers and social workers must earn the trust of their patient/clients in order to treat them effectively.  To do so may mean taking steps to overcome historic mistrust.

Patient/clients who have felt oppressed by the dominant culture may view the helping professional as an agent of the larger society and may hesitate to share problems for fear it might be used against them.  Keep in mind:

▶ Historic mistrust is a reality in many cross-cultural situations.

▶ Historic mistrust is best handled when the helping professional anticipates it, acknowledges it, and doesn’t take it personally.

▶  Acknowledging and accepting the reality of mistrust – without feelings of guilt or personal responsibility on the part of the practitioner -- can enhance the helping relationship.

In the video, some of the steps you can take to learn about the culture of the community you wish to serve were described as follows:

1. 1. Do your homework.
   2. Build relationships.
   3. Gain appropriate entrée into the community.
   4. Be aware that there are differences within a cultural group.
   5. Ask questions.