Race and racism are legacies—un-asked-for but nevertheless received legacies—and as white-identified folks it is our work to cultivate awareness, skills, and resilience to be accountable to the impacts of our actions (and sometimes just our presence) in the context of these legacies.

This workshop is designed to support those who identify as white (or as having white or light-skinned privilege) in understanding the ways we have benefited from white privilege while also experiencing other forms of oppression (i.e. based on gender, class, citizenship, sexuality, disability, etc). 

It can be confusing to know when and how to “move up” or “move back” as racial justice allies and accomplices. Internalized messages from white privilege often “tell” us to take up space, that our ideas matter and are worthy, that we are right and entitled to time, leadership, attention and energy. Internalized messages from marginalization or oppression often tell us to become invisible, that our ideas are invalid or worthless, and that we are wrong and undeserving of time, leadership, attention and energy. As we become politicized and develop counter voices to these internalized voices of systemic privilege and oppression, how do we learn to navigate the sometimes seeming contradictions of what it means to simultaneously share space and move back (to subvert white supremacy) and move up and assert ourselves (to subvert patriarchy or other oppressions we experience). 

Concepts will be introduced to support us in having some shared understandings, but our primary goal will be to be in relationship with each other, to ask questions, share insights, and to turn with curiosity towards the discomfort of acknowledging the ways systems of oppression operate in all of our lives.

Depending on timing and the desires of the participants, we will integrate writing, art and group discussion to support each of us in a deeper exploration of the complexities of our intersecting and unique layers of socialization, current and historical survival strategies, costs of maintaining the system as it is, and ways we can commit to interrupting systems of oppression and subverting the ways we have been conditioned to behave.