Mediation And Race: Potential Barrierss Of Mediators

Mediation and Race:

Potential Barriers to Mediating with African American Participants

Mediation is defined as a process in which an outside party works with individuals in conflict to help them change the quality of their conflict interaction from negative and destructive to positive and constructive, as they explore and discuss issues and possibilities of resolution (Bush & Folger, 2010). Communication is essential to this process. In order to do this, the mediator must create an environment that is comfortable for the participants. Being race is a historically sensitive topic, especially concerning relations between the African American and Caucasian communities, it is important to be conscious of avoidable problems. Though most people

Many Americans view colorblindness as helpful to people of color by asserting that race does not matter (Tarca, 2005). But in America, most underrepresented minorities will explain that race does matter, as it affects opportunities, perceptions, income, and so much more. When race-related problems arise, colorblindness tends to individualize conflicts and shortcomings, rather than examining the larger picture with cultural differences, stereotypes, and values placed into context (Tarca,

A lack of awareness alone can cause unintentional tension. For example, let’s say the mediator is in a situation where one party does have privilege and the other party does not. The privileged party and the other are coworkers and both got caught drinking on the job at lunch, which there is a strict rule against. He was not fired but the other was. The privileged party suggests that his coworker was fired “simply” because he must have done something to cause it. The mediator could be innocently probing deeper, if following a model that allows such, by asking “Was there something you did?”. This could damage the rapport, as the non-privileged party may view this as