Anti Racism and White Allyship Discussion start 10/14

Anti-Racism and White Allyship Group (ARWAG) weekly meetings are beginning this Wednesday evening 10/14, 5:15 PM, in Room 116. We meet for roughly an hour and a half but please come late/leave early as needed. (Every week thereafter we will meet at 5:00pm in Research Commons 2/3.)

ARWAG aims to provide support and challenge for white-identifying folks to address white privilege, to do personal and collective emotional and skill-building work in order to strengthen our possibilities to be meaningful agents against racism and to make classroom space more productive for all. For more information or details for the 2015-2016 school year, contact kdunphy@uw.edu.
Each session offers opportunity to both discuss a topic (examples described below) AND to provide ample time for participants to bring up emerging questions, concerns and issues related to racism and allyship. Come because you’re interested in the topics and/or because you want to share and explore with others experiences in your life related to racism and allyship.

Example ARWAG topics:

• Institutional and structural racism:  Let’s illuminate some of the institutional and structural elements of racism that benefit white people, and generate anti-racist interventions that can be effective on institutional rather than interpersonal levels.

• Moving through white shame and guilt:  This session is a space for sharing thoughts and feelings of shame and guilt about white privilege and racism with a goal of strengthening capacity for allyship.

• What are appropriate roles for white persons in addressing white privilege and racism?  How does anti-racism work benefit all members of society? Discussion of Coalition of Anti-Racist Whites model.

• Exploring racial identity development:  This session is open to all persons who want a keener understanding of their current racial identity developmental phase and who wish to map out the next steps in their developmental process.

• Winter break is just around the corner. Many of us will be seeing family for the first time since we started the program.  How can we talk with family and other non-social workers about racism and white privilege?  Bring your hopes and fears, and we’ll share strategies for connection and conversation.

• Interrupting microaggressions:  We’ll watch a powerful videoclip from Cracking the Codes in which Dr. Joy DeGruy describes a powerful example of white allyship behavior, and we’ll explore situations where we can act to interrupt racism.  How do we respond effectively with compassion?  Bring your real life experiences of racism, share strategies to counter silencing internal dialogues and generate effective interventions.

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