Accountable: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed

Dashka Slater, Discussant Lani Chow, PsyD

Friday Apr 12, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM

Dashka Slater brings us into the fragile world of a high school and its community after it was split apart by racist and sexist social media posts. Sensitively writing from multiple subjective positions, Slater raises questions about how the community is both impacted by and protective of those involved in the harmful acts. Efforts were made to mitigate the impact of the bubbling dangers and to help recover from traumatic events, however painful reverberations persisted leaving a sense of smoldering volatility in its wake. Linking to the concept of accountability, Slater describes how interventions made by the families, the school, and the police failed to provide a process of reparation and only exacerbated the toxic environment. Join us as we use a psychoanalytic lens that considers the social unconscious and group dynamics to investigate the question, where does accountability end for online speech that harms? And, what community interventions inspire tolerance of difference, and promote reparation and healing?

CE Credits offered: 2

Course Objectives

After completing this course participants will be able to:

1. Delineate ways in which the social unconscious and group dynamics give rise to racist enactments particularly in school settings.
2. List three ways in which teenagers are vulnerable to potential dangers from on-line exposures.

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The Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California (PINC) is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. PINC maintains responsibility for this program and its content. Visit db.pincsf.org/policies for policies and disclaimers.