My objective in this chapter, therefore, is to wrestle with the problem of whiteness from my unique vantage point as a pastoral theologian and a licensed psychologist. I will not attempt to provide a history of the construction of whiteness, nor will I spend time trying to prove the existence and impact of “White privilege.” Instead, as someone trained in the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness and dysfunctional family systems, I want to explore the notion of whiteness as a sociocultural system, indeed as a condition of moral injury, into which all White Americans—regardless of their
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