Chapter 6 in Kauffman and News book was focused on Hurts

from oppression. A recurring motif of oppression being an inheritable

hurt passed down from generation to generation, it has been
mentioned several times throughout the last chapters. The definition
given for oppression is the systematic mistreatment of a group of
people by society and/or by another group of people who serve as
agents of the society; with the mistreatment encouraged or enforced
by the society and its culture. Having that stated, I wondered how can
oppression be a subject within co-counseling when you have
individuals from the entire spectrum of oppression (sexism, racism,
classism) all exchanging their innermost experiences with each other?
In situations where the oppressor and the oppressed are face to face?
The answer lied in the fact that the only way for RC to work on
oppression is if it is understood that oppression can arise and operate
only on the basis of distress recordings. With that clarification it
becomes easier to reach discharge from oppression. Understanding
that we are products of distress recording and chronic patterns
removes the veneer of oppressor/oppressed. In class we discussed the
notion of the patterns are not the person. Juliana had a comment
considering convicted felons who did Shakespeare plays in prison and
said embracing the person not the crime. In the same way cocounselors embrace the person not the oppressor, not the white-collar
working force, not the sexist man.