Social Justice Lecture with Dr. Janet E. Helms
Dr. Janet E. Helms—a Professor Emeritus at Boston College—will give a public lecture on Thursday, Feb. 29 from 4-6 p.m. EST titled, "WHMP" Lash: A Model for Revealing How Power and Privilege Contributes to Racial Injustice. The event is hosted by the Counseling Psychology Program, and co-sponsored by the Department of Counseling, Higher Education, and Special Education in the College of Education and the Department of Psychology in the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences.
Talk Summary: What do racism, sexism, and fear of Immigrants of Color have in common? They are all weapons used to protect a system of power and privilege implicit in the U.S. Constitution, which was written by White heterosexual men with power and privilege (WHMP). Use of such weapons maintains the power structure by focusing on the harm done to survivors while ignoring the benefits to weapons users. Reducing injustice requires making visible the core ideology underlying the ways in which the weapons function in contemporary society. In this presentation, Helms’s WHMP model is used to illustrate how we might begin to rethink the causes of injustice in society, treat the causes as well as the symptoms, and thereby make society more just for everyone.
Speaker Bio: Janet E. Helms, PhD, is an esteemed social scientist, professor, psychologist, and trailblazer who has made invaluable contributions to psychology and society. Dr. Helms is currently a Professor Emeritus at Boston College, where she also previously held prestigious positions as the Augustus Long Professor in the Department of Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology and Director of the Institute for the Study and Promotion of Race and Culture. Her groundbreaking contributions have encompassed a wide range of scientific areas, including racial identity theories, racially conscious practice, womanist identity, and the examination of racial biases in cognitive ability tests and measurement.