Engaging in Conversations on Racism
Workshop number:
10
Vanessa
Julye
Janice
Domanik
Short Description:
Talk about racism and get an opportunity to practice assisting others in talking about it. We will spend time defining and talking about racism, structural racism, and white privilege. Our work will be done in small, large and racial affinity groups.
Long Description:
Our expectations and objectives are for Friends to talk about racism and give members of the workshop an opportunity to practice facilitating exercises; discussions on racism so that they can conduct them in their own meetings. We will also spend time during the week individually and as a group exploring and addressing our personal experiences with racism.
Some of the topics we will cover are defining and discussing structural racism, and white privilege. Increase our awareness of racism and introduce ways we can heal from racism. Identify and discuss structural changes that need to be made within the Religious Society of Friends to help us move beyond the structure of racism.
Our format will include: Entering the room in worship. Beginning and ending each day with worship. Large group exercise of various lengths daily. View one DVD that demonstrates having a conversation on racism. Spending time in both small and large group discussions (including racial affinity groups) Experience small and large group practice sessions. Daily minute breaks.
Some of the books we recommend Friends review prior to our time together are:
Fit for Freedom, Not for Friendship: Quakers, African Americans and the Myth of Racial Justice – Donna McDaniel & Vanessa Julye
Sarah Mapps Douglass, Faithful Attender of Quaker Meeting – Margaret Hope Bacon
No One Is Illegal: Fighting Racism And State Violence On The U.S.-Mexico Borders – Justin Akers Chacon, Mike Davis
Lifting the White Veil: An exploration of White American Culture in a multiracial context – Jeff Hitchcock
The Heart of Whiteness: Confronting Race, Racism and White Privilege – Robert Jensen
Colorblind: The Rise of Post-Racial Politics and the Retreat from Racial Equality – Tim Wise
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness Michelle Alexander
Slavery By Another Name: The Re-enslavement Of Black Americans From The Civil War To World War 2 – Douglas A. Blackmon
We do not anticipate handing out any reading assignments that will need to be read during the week of the Gathering. We would like participants to bring a journal to write in along with something that represents your work against racism.
