Discussing Whiteness

Meeting Times

Starting February 1, 2024, this online meeting will gather on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays every month from 12:05 to 12:55.  There is no cost to participate.

Register today!

All are welcome, though it is specifically designed for white people. In these practice sessions we will:

• examine and learn together about how whiteness shows up in ourselves, in our relationships, and in the structures we navigate from day to day.
• challenge our own white positionality.
• support each other to take action to address whiteness and white supremacy.

White people have been socialized to repeat behaviors that favor white people and harm Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). Because of this, it will take regular practice to turn learning and understanding into habit change and action that will cause less harm to BIPOC community members.

This practice group is different from training or a workshop.  A workshop or training has a beginning and end and delivers new ideas or approaches. The focus of this group is to engage and actively apply that learning in an ongoing way in your life. You can attend whenever and as often as you are able. The facilitators will prepare a flexible structure for each meeting to engage participants in personal reflection, practice, and accountability.

In the Whiteness Accountability Space, we invite vulnerability, self-reflection, and confidentiality for the purpose of taking courageous personal action to confront racism.

As we practice, you can expect to experience discomfort. This will not just be an intellectual exercise; we also focus on deepening awareness of our feelings as we practice. Getting used to the discomfort of talking about whiteness as we notice it in ourselves, relationships, and systems is central to the process.

We value and will learn from all the intersections of identity, ancestry, and culture you bring. However, the focus during our time together will be on how whiteness shows up in our lives.
The skills we will practice to deconstruct and confront whiteness will also help in efforts to confront all other forms of oppression, exclusion, and supremacy (such as ableism, capitalism, cis-heteropatriarchy, and classism, etc.)

The facilitators are: Loren Collins (loren.collins@humboldt.edu), Tim Miller (tim.miller@humboldt.edu), Rachel Montgomery (rachelm@hafoundation.org), Meridith Oram (meridith.oram@humboldt.edu), Chuck Powell (chuckjpowell@gmail.com), Sarah Peters Gonzalez (sarahpg@humboldt.edu), and Len Wolff (riverwolf1951@gmail.com). If you have questions, please feel free to reach out to any of us directly.

Dr. Tema Okun’s webpage is a resource that we reference to support our practice. To get an idea of topics we address in the group, please refer to White Supremacy Culture.

Below is a list of resources that have been shared and/or used during the Whiteness Accountability Space sessions. Familiarity of these is not required for people to attend future sessions.

Ally vs. Co-Conspirator: What it means to be an Abolitionist Teacher

Dr. Bettina Love

Discussion Prompts

Small Groups

• What does this stir up in you? What are you feeling?
• What parts of this are new to you?

Whole Group

• What does Dr. Love's idea of 'using your privilege' look like?
• Provide an example of Ally vs Co-conspirator

Self Reflection

• Find a concrete thing that you will do.
• Are you being an ally or co-conspirator? What are you risking?

Resources

How to be an Antiracist

Ibram X. Kendi

Definitions

Racist

One who is supporting a racist policy through their actions or inaction or expressing a racist idea.

Antiracist

One who is supporting an antiracist policy through their actions or expressing an antiracist idea.

Discussion Prompts

• What comes up for you when considering the framing of anti-racism vs ‘not being racist’?
• How might you pursue anti-racist work as an ally? As a co-conspirator?

Self Reflection

• In what ways are you anti-racist?
• What does this look like - what do you do or not do?
• As an ally? As a co-conspirator?

Resources

Is Our Anti-Racist Work in Systems?

Ijeoma Oluo (author of So You Want to Talk about Race)

Resources

How anti-racism is a treatment for the ‘cancer’ of racism

PBS News Hour interview with Ibram X Kendi (How to be an Antiracist) and Robin DiAngelo (White Fragility).

Resources

The Invention of Whiteness

with john a. powell, Professor of Law, UC Berkeley

Discussion Prompts

What resonated with you?

What did you hear that was new to you?

What are the implications of your understanding of the function of whiteness?

How does this impact your perception of who benefits from the existence of racial categories?

Resources

The Fall 2020 Big Read was held in Humboldt County (virtually) during October and November of 2020.

"The National Endowment for the Arts Big Read is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest. The main feature of the NEA Big Read is a grants program, managed by Arts Midwest, which annually supports community reading programs, each designed around a single NEA Big Read book."

Several events occurred during the Big Read around Claudia Rankine's book, Citizen: an American lyric.

Resources