course description

This course is based on developing three interrelated skills that will get you started on the path of being not just an ally in the fight against racism, but an accomplice in dismantling the system of white supremacy that perpetuates racial inequality. The three skills are:

1. Listen Up: Learn to listen with the intent of understanding rather than the intent to respond. The very first step to becoming an anti-racist accomplice is to listen to Black, Indigenous, and other people of color. Their experiences of racial identity are different from White people’s. It is crucial to find ways to expand the circle of people you listen to, and then to purposefully contemplate what they have to say about race. If you catch yourself thinking, “well, that’s not how I see it” or “that’s not my experience!” then you need to STOP, LISTEN AGAIN, and RECOGNIZE that their experience is fundamentally different than that of White people. We need to develop the skill of listening to Black, Indigenous, and other people of color and believing their experience, especially when it differs from our own.

2. Speak Up: Learn to use your voice within your spheres of influence. We all have many different spheres over which we exert some amount of influence. It is our responsibility as White accomplices in the fight against racism to speak up against racism within our spheres. Speaking up includes challenging racist jokes or comments when you hear or see them, providing connections to diverse materials to friends, family members, and students, making proactive anti-racist statements, and verbally challenging policies, systems, and structures that perpetuate racial inequality. What this does not necessarily mean is taking on trolls on social media; what it does mean is having difficult conversations with your parents, aunts, uncles, friends, colleagues, and others about our ongoing responsibility to dismantle white supremacy.

3. Act Up: Learn to put the things that matter most to you—your body, your money, your time—on the line for anti-racism. Speaking out is good, of course, but it means little without action to back it up. While not everyone can take to the streets and protest, each of us can do something. Educate yourself in local politics and vote in every election—especially smaller, local elections. Volunteer for a local organization that is working on getting out the vote. Spend your money at Black- and Indigenous-owned businesses. Call your political representatives and demand they take action against racial inequality. There are multiple ways to match your actions to your words; we will learn how to begin that work.

By necessity, this class is only a jumping-off point. The work it takes to become anti-racist is ongoing and lifelong—we cannot be born, raised, and live in what scholar Christina Sharpe calls the “weather” of anti-blackness and expect to unlearn that training in a month. Also by necessity, this class leaves out many excellent books, articles, films, podcasts, novels, poems, and other works of art that I would have loved to include. My dearest hope is that this class will inspire you to continue the hard work of becoming antiracist by continuing to listen to BIPOC voices, speaking in your spheres of influence, and committing to the everyday actions of anti-racism that will bring real change. This class will give you some tools to do this, but the real work is on you.

books to purchase (REQUIRED)

If buying hard copies, order them from a Black-owned bookstore, if possible. Find a list of Black-owned bookstores HERE.

• Layla F. Saad, Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor

• Jesmyn Ward, ed. The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks about Race

books to purchase (SUGGESTED)

• Coming soon

Course links

• Course Schedule

• Discussion Forums (Google Groups - link coming soon)

WEEKLY SCHEDULE and MANAGING YOUR TIME COMMITMENT

We will follow the same basic schedule from week to week, and you will need to dedicate time to the class DAILY in order to get the most out of it. If you simply cannot do everything in the syllabus, I recommend you read and complete the class assignments during this month, and then work on Me and White Supremacy next month. The most beneficial, however, will be to work on both during this month. Each week you will do the following:

1. Read/watch/listen to the assigned materials;

2. Write responses to the journaling prompts for Me and White Supremacy;

3. Answer the discussion questions (you will be assigned a small group for these discussions); and 

4. Complete the Listen Up, Speak Up, and Act Up assignments for the week.

I understand that this is a big time commitment--thank you for making it. There are not specific due dates; just complete the tasks by the end each week. Ideally, these actions will prompt additional conversation within your discussion groups and provide you a space for learning and growth. 

optional zoom meetings

I will conduct an optional Zoom meeting on Thursday nights from 8-9pm EDT (7-8pmCDT; 6-7pm MDT; 5-6pm PDT). These are not required, but will give students a chance to further connect with one another and discuss class materials. 

shared agreements

White people have been trained from when we were young to not talk about race - it’s not polite, it causes friction, or we haven’t even thought about it. But our silence leads to violence against Black, Indigenous and other people of color. It is past time that we learn to talk about race in ways that are direct and productive, and that talk cannot be polite or gentle or nice. It must be bold and committed. The following “agreements” will provide a structure for our conversations and allow us to begin the difficult work of dismantling white supremacy by learning to talk to one another about race.

SHARED AGREEMENTS

(from whiteawake.org):

• Create a nonjudgmental space.
  Judgment can shut people down, distort the truth, and even serve as an escape from uncomfortable realities. We commit ourselves to refraining from judgment and turn instead to descriptive language when speaking about our personal experience, the effects of particular actions, and our personal or collective values. It is amazing how powerful simply speaking the truth can be.
  Taking a nonjudgmental attitude also means “not judging ourselves for judging”. When we notice judgment, we commit ourselves to simply acknowledging it and turning back to descriptive language.

• Share from personal experience.
  While some cross talk and discussion can be helpful, White Awake encourages people engaged in anti-racist group work to prioritize speaking from personal experience. This means refraining from offering unsolicited advice or criticism and instead speaking directly about our own emotions, experiences, and values.

• Respect time limitations.
  Anytime we come together to work as a group there is a limit to the time we have. Beginning and ending on time is an important way to show respect for one another’s commitments, and it helps participants relax and show up for the work at hand. During the process of group sharing, it is important for each individual to respect the amount of time they have to speak. Talking longer than is allowed for takes away from other participants’ ability to share and decreases the diversity of voices heard in a group space.

• Acknowledge that “we are all learning”.
  When coming together as a group, there will always be some people with more racial experience or awareness than others. Furthermore, your group may turn to White Awake for consulting or bring in a trainer or some other “expert” to supplement your work. It is important to acknowledge, from the very beginning, that regardless of experience or expertise, everybody is learning. No one has a monopoly on the truth. Everyone has valuable experience and wisdom to share.

• Acknowledge that “our experience is complex” without denying the reality of racism or its effects on our lives
  Our identities and our experiences are complex. We have come together to look at how we relate to race as white people, but we can never completely separate our racial experience from other pieces of our identity (such as gender, sexual orientation, educational background, and economic class). While working together at this time, we will attempt to honor this complexity without being distracted from the fact that race is a social phenomena that has very specific implications for us as members of the racial category defined as “white”.

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