Symposium Workbook

Symposium Workbook Purpose & Praxis

We hope you utilize this workbook for work towards dismantling and combating anti-Blackness, racism, etc. in your own life, your spheres of influence, and beyond. Committing anti-racism is a consistent and continuous process. You must actively learn, unlearn and relearn throughout this process.

The guides, reflections and resources provided in this workbook are only a starting point for self and outer work needed to commit to the process of anti-racism. This requires time, energy, and work. Following this workbook does not make you anti-racist but it does support the work of anti-racism and will increase your understanding.

We hope that this workbook is just one step of a much longer journey, one that culminates in action.

Land Acknowledgement: We would like to acknowledge the land across Turtle Island/North America, on which we gather, as the traditional land of Indigenous peoples. We believe that historical awareness of Indigenous exclusion and erasure is critically important. Please take a moment to honor the ancestral grounds you are inhabiting now and celebrate the resilience and strength that all Indigenous people have shown worldwide. As a community, we are committed to working to overcome the effects of exclusion and erasure in our own educational institutions.

Language Acknowledgement: Language is constantly changing and evolving. The information provided throughout the symposium and in this guidebook is utilized under the present understanding, but that doesn’t mean we won’t see change or evolution in language usage in the future.

A special thanks to the symposium workbook creators: Beatriz Barron (ACPA LN Advocacy Co-Chair), Theresa Hernandez (ACPA LN Mentoring Co-Chair), Francarlo Resto (ACPA LN Mentoring Co-Chair), and Hugo Yepez (ACPA LN Advocacy Co-Chair).

Symposium Program Praxis

Symposium Program Praxis:

Inward Reflection (Part 1) → Outward Expression (Part 2) → Applied Learning (Part 3)

Inward Reflection (Part 1): Participants will have the opportunity during the first part of the symposium to internalize, understand, take in information, and reckon with what is being presented and facilitated in their sessions, breakouts, and speaker presentations.

Outward Expression (Part 2): In the second part of the symposium participants will then be provided with the opportunities to “show & tell.” This will allow them the chance to discuss and further process what they have taken away from part I and what they look and plan to do for part III.

Applied Learning (Part 3): For the final part of the symposium participants will partake in building and co-creating how and what accountability they will take to address dismantling and combating Anti-Blackness and Racism in their personal & professional lives.

Symposium Frameworks & Theories

Critical Race Theory: Applying CRT to examination of the mental health and toll/tax for communities of color, specifically Black People. Scholars have noted that perceptions of oppression and racial inequity does in fact contribute to the creation of poor psychological health along with emotional distress among Black People (Bailey, Chung, Williams, Singh, & Terrell, 2011; Cokley, 2002).

Book: Delgado, R., & Stefancic, J. (2017). Critical race theory: An introduction. NYU Press. (available online through Brown) Full text PDF: https://uniteyouthdublin.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/richard_delgado_jean_stefancic_critical_race_thbookfi-org-1.pdf

Bell, D. (1995) Who’s afraid of critical race theory? University of Illinois Law Review, 1995, 893–910. https://sph.umd.edu/sites/default/files/files/Bell_Whos%20Afraid%20of%20CRT_1995UIllLRev893.pdf

Queer Theory: Provides the opportunity in building session themes to allow for a look, explanation and reflections of complex and intersecting experiences within the margins; the application of Queer Theory is what will inform and allow us to understand complexity of QTTIPOC individuals’ identities and contexts (Jagose, 1996; Watson, 2005).

Afro-Pessimism (Framework): This critical framework is an evolving and expanding towards paradigmatic critique of the reckoning that non-Black Peoples’ perverse and parasitic relation to the hydraulics of anti-Blackness and anti-Black violence (Wilderson, 2015).

Book: https://libcom.org/files/Afro-Pessimism2.pdf

Intersectionality (Framework): Is based in the historical context and contemporary context wherein social identities and inequality are reliant on one another and are not exclusive notions (Crenshaw, 1991).

Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford law review, 1241-1299. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1229039

Restorative Praxis (Framework): A restorative approach to interpersonal racial conflict - - this creates conditions for mutual understanding and collaborative action instead of seeking to exclude and ostracize folx involved in conflict, dialogue and shared space.

Race-based traumatic stress (RBTS) (Framework): Informs and highlights racial encounters that are emotional, painful, swift, sudden, and is an uncontrolled result of the victim’s reactions. This can overlap with PTSD symptoms (i.e. white-vigilance acts, intrusion on ones space, exclusion, and/or avoidance) while also including other criteria not related to PTSD (i.e. understanding race, racism, and anti-Blackness) , all of which can result in RBTS (Cater, 2006).

Inward Introspection

Identity

Identity can be defined as the “the collective aspect of the set of characteristics by which a thing or person is definitively recognized or known,” or as “the set of behavioral or personal characteristics by which an individual is recognizable as a member of a group.”

Source: tolerance.org

LN Symposium Idenity Profile.docx

Identity - Moment to Pause

Activity: Complete the identity profile for your own understanding of your identities and positionality as it is situated in power, privilege and oppression.

- When and how did you become aware of your racial identities?
- Describe a moment when your racial identities were important to, or took on particular meaning for, you.
- Describe a moment when your racial identities were important to, or took on particular meaning for, others.
- How do you benefit from your racial identities?
- How do you suffer or “miss out” because of your racial identities?

Presumptions

Along with your identities, we are born into an established system that perpetuates injustice. One of the ways that oppression is perpetuated is with a foundational set of presumptions. These ideals permeate our culture, institutions and our relationships. We are born into a society based on these presumptions, which include:

(see table below)

Presumptions - Moment to Pause

What insights do you have from filling out the identity profile?
Which identities most influence your participation in the community? How?
How were the societal presumptions enacted or rejected in your upbringing/community – what situation were you born into?

Source: Anti-Racist Packet by Carolyn Griffeth and Jenny Truax

Race & Racism

For many people, it comes as a surprise that racial categorization schemes were invented by scientists to support worldviews that viewed some groups of people as superior and some as inferior. There are three important concepts linked to this fact:

Race is a made-up social construct, and not an actual biological fact
Race designations have changed over time. Some groups that are considered “white” in the United States today were considered “non-white” in previous eras, in U.S. Census data and in mass media and popular culture (for example, Irish, Italian and Jewish people).
The way in which racial categorizations are enforced (the shape of racism) has also changed over time. For example, the racial designation of Asian American and Pacific Islander changed four times in the 19th century. That is, they were defined at times as white and at other times as not white. Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, as designated groups, have been used by whites at different times in history to compete with African American labor.

Source: PBS, Race: Power of an Illusion

Racism is different from racial prejudice, hatred, or discrimination. Racism involves one group having the power to carry out systematic discrimination through the institutional policies and practices of the society and by shaping the cultural beliefs and values that support those racist policies and practices

Racism = race prejudice + social and institutional power

Racism = a system of advantage based on race

Racism = a system of oppression based on race

Racism = a white supremacy system

Source: Dismantling Racism Works Web Workbook

Race & Racism - Moment to Pause:

How do you perceive your own race, and how is your race perceived by others?

Scan your relationships with people who have been socialized into a different racial group than yourself. Thinking back to your childhood, what has been the nature of these relationships (i.e. friends, family, teachers, service providers, mentors/coaches, charity recipients)? Have the types changed over time? What do you notice about the relationships in your life today?

Have I spent some time reflecting on my own childhood and upbringing and analyzing where, how, and when I was receiving racist messages?
Have I spent some time recently looking at my own attitudes and behaviors as an adult to determine how I am contributing to or combating racism?

Internalized Racism & Distancing Behaviors

Internalized racism is the situation that occurs in a racist system when a racial group oppressed by racism supports the supremacy and dominance of the dominating group by maintaining or participating in the set of attitudes, behaviors, social structures and ideologies that undergird the dominating group's power. It involves four essential and interconnected elements:

Decision-making - Due to racism, people of color do not have the ultimate decision-making power over the decisions that control our lives and resources. As a result, on a personal level, we may think white people know more about what needs to be done for us than we do. On an interpersonal level, we may not support each other's authority and power - especially if it is in opposition to the dominating racial group. Structurally, there is a system in place that rewards people of color who support white supremacy and power and coerces or punishes those who do not.

Resources - Resources, broadly defined (e.g. money, time, etc), are unequally in the hands and under the control of white people. Internalized racism is the system in place that makes it difficult for people of color to get access to resources for our own communities and to control the resources of our community. We learn to believe that serving and using resources for ourselves and our particular community is not serving "everybody."

Standards - With internalized racism, the standards for what is appropriate or "normal" that people of color accept are white people's or Eurocentric standards. We have difficulty naming, communicating and living up to our deepest standards and values, and holding ourselves and each other accountable to them.

Naming the problem - There is a system in place that misnames the problem of racism as a problem of or caused by people of color and blames the disease - emotional, economic, political, etc. - on people of color. With internalized racism, people of color might, for example, believe we are more violent than white people and not consider state-sanctioned political violence or the hidden or privatized violence of white people and the systems they put in place and support.

Source: Internalized Racism: A Definition, Donna Bivens, Women's Theological Center. 1995

ACPA LN Symposium Internalized Racism Activity.docx

Internalized Racism Activity - Moment to Pause

Which of these tendencies resonate with you?

Have you witnessed any of these tendencies?

Have you been able to relate them to the larger workings of a racial society?
How does this play out within yourself when thinking of anti-blackness?

ACPA LN Symposium - Distancing Behaviors.docx

Distancing Behaviors - Moment to Pause

Many of us use distancing behaviors - things that separate us from the issues at hand, in an effort to avoid dealing with a very painful subject such as racism. This sheet includes some of those behaviors that we often use against each other to the detriment of dealing with racism.

What situations bring up these distancing tactics for you?
Have you seen the distancing tactics used in your community? How did people respond?

What strategies do non-black POC people use to distance themselves from structural racism?

How can you better respond to some of these distancing behaviors?

Source: Anti-Racist Packet by Carolyn Griffeth and Jenny Truax

Outward Processing

Whiteness & White Supremacy

The term white, referring to people, was created by Virginia slave owners and colonial rules in the 17th century. It replaced terms like Christian and Englishman to distinguish European colonists from Africans and indigenous peoples. European colonial powers established whiteness as a legal concept after Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676, during which indentured servants of European and African descent had united against the colonial elite. The legal distinction of white separated the servant class on the basis of skin color and continental origin. The creation of ‘whiteness’ meant giving privileges to some, while denying them to others with the justification of biological and social inferiority.

Whiteness itself refers to the specific dimensions of racism that serve to elevate white people over people of color. This definition counters the dominant representation of racism in mainstream education as isolated in discrete behaviors that some individuals may or may not demonstrate, and goes beyond naming specific privileges (McIntosh, 1988). Whites are theorized as actively shaped, affected, defined, and elevated through their racialization and the individual and collective consciousness formed within it (Whiteness is thus conceptualized as a constellation of processes and practices rather than as a discrete entity (i.e. skin color alone). Whiteness is dynamic, relational, and operating at all times and on myriad levels. These processes and practices include basic rights, values, beliefs, perspectives and experiences purported to be commonly shared by all but which are actually only consistently afforded to white people.

Sources: Race: The Power of an Illusion, PBS, White Fragility, Robin DiAngelo

White Supremacy is the idea (ideology) that white people and the ideas, thoughts, beliefs, and actions of white people are superior to People of Color and their ideas, thoughts, beliefs, and actions. While most people associate white supremacy with extremist groups like the Ku Klux Klan and the neo-Nazis, white supremacy is ever present in our institutional and cultural assumptions that assign value, morality, goodness, and humanity to the white group while casting people and communities of color as worthless (worth less), immoral, bad, and inhuman and "undeserving." Drawing from critical race theory, the term "white supremacy" also refers to a political or socio-economic system where white people enjoy structural advantage and rights that other racial and ethnic groups do not, both at a collective and an individual level.

Source: Dismantling Racism Works Web Workbook

White Privilege refers to the unquestioned and unearned set of advantages, entitlements, benefits and choices bestowed on people solely because they are white. Generally white people who experience such privilege do so without being conscious of it.

Structural White Privilege: A system of white domination that creates and maintains belief systems that make current racial advantages and disadvantages seem normal. The system includes powerful incentives for maintaining white privilege and its consequences, and powerful negative consequences for trying to interrupt white privilege or reduce its consequences in meaningful ways. The system includes internal and external manifestations at the individual, interpersonal, cultural and institutional levels.

The accumulated and interrelated advantages and disadvantages of white privilege that are reflected in racial/ethnic inequities in life-expectancy and other health outcomes, income and wealth and other outcomes, in part through different access to opportunities and resources. These differences are maintained in part by denying that these advantages and disadvantages exist at the structural, institutional, cultural, interpersonal and individual levels and by refusing to redress them or eliminate the systems, policies, practices, cultural norms and other behaviors and assumptions that maintain them.

Interpersonal White Privilege: Behavior between people that consciously or unconsciously reflects white superiority or entitlement.

Cultural White Privilege: A set of dominant cultural assumptions about what is good, normal or appropriate that reflects Western European white world views and dismisses or demonizes other world-views.

Institutional White Privilege: Policies, practices and behaviors of institutions -- such as schools, banks, non-profits or the Supreme Court -- that have the effect of maintaining or increasing accumulated advantages for those groups currently defined as white, and maintaining or increasing disadvantages for those racial or ethnic groups not defined as white. The ability of institutions to survive and thrive even when their policies, practices and behaviors maintain, expand or fail to redress accumulated disadvantages and/or inequitable outcomes for people of color.

Sources: White Privilege and Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming to See Correspondences Through Work in Women Studies. Peggy McIntosh. 1988; Transforming White Privilege: A 21st Century Leadership Capacity, CAPD, MP Associates, World Trust Educational Services, 2012.

ACPA LN Symposium Whiteness Activity.docx

Whiteness & White Supremacy - Moment to Pause:

Are any of these surprising to you?

Can you think of other examples you’ve seen white privilege portrayed?

How do you talk to others about white privilege?

Source: Anti-Racist Packet by Carolyn Griffeth and Jenny Truax

Fellow White Latinx/a/o - Moment to Pause:

Fellow White/‘White passing’ Latinx/a/o folx take responsibility for your whiteness. Even if your ancestral roots are Indigenous or African or both, if we do not present (as such by the color of our skin) we must take a closer look at our proximity to whiteness. If not, we will remain complicit in the oppression of Black and Indigenous Lives.

Owning our whiteness cannot make us any less Latinx/a/o. Owning our whiteness will, however, give better insight as to what role we have played in White Supremacy. If we stay in denial about our whiteness, we cannot sustainably show up for Black Liberation.

How can we be part of Liberation when we’re’ unwilling to take a look at how we have been oppressors?

Non-Black Latinx/a/o folx are complicit in benefiting from our proximity to whiteness. What does this mean?

Latin American governments have historically worked towards the erasure of Blackness and the silencing of Indigeneity. We benefit from that. In Latinx culture, having one drop of ‘white’ in your blood elevates your status because it brings you one step closer to whiteness. This means that any non-Black folx, regardless of their complexion, are seen as ‘better’.

What is your proximity to whiteness?

Think about the following statement: Understanding our proximity to whiteness, and realizing that not all of us Latinx people are people of Color, does not mean we have to strip away the value of our culture. What feelings came up for you when digesting the statement? Why?

What are the protections of whiteness that you see in our society?

How do you as an individual implicitly or complicity protect whiteness?

Sources: @priscillagarciajacquier, @blso98, Carolina Rosario Mozee, Cueponi Cihuatl Espinoza, Jose J. Arce

Anti-Blackness & Anti-Racism

The Council for Democratizing Education defines anti-Blackness as being a two-part formation that both voids Blackness of value, while systematically marginalizing Black people and their issues. The first form of anti-Blackness is overt racism. Beneath this anti-Black racism is the covert structural and systemic racism which categorically predetermines the socioeconomic status of Blacks in this country. The structure is held in place by anti-Black policies, institutions, and ideologies.

The second form of anti-Blackness is the unethical disregard for anti-Black institutions and policies. This disregard is the product of class, race, and/or gender privilege certain individuals experience due to anti-Black institutions and policies. This form of anti-Blackness is protected by the first form of overt racism.

Source: Movement for Black Lives

Anti-Racism is defined as the work of actively opposing racism by advocating for changes in political, economic, and social life. Anti-racism tends to be an individualized approach, and set up in opposition to individual racist behaviors and impacts.

Source: Race Forward

An anti-racist is someone who is supporting an antiracist policy through their actions or expressing antiracist ideas. This includes the expression or ideas that racial groups are equals and do not need developing, and supporting policies that reduce racial inequity.

Source: Ibram X Kendi, How to be an Antiracist, Random House, 2019

Anti-Racist - Moment to Pause

Moment to Pause:

What is your prior experience with anti-Blackness?

What is your prior experience with anti-racism?

Think about the way colonization still impacts us today. How does this show up?

What experiences in your life have shaped your relationships to anti-Blackness?
What experiences in your life have shaped your relationships to anti-racism?

How do your various identities intersect and inform your relationship to anti-Blackness?

How do your various identities intersect and inform your relationship to anti-racism?

Campus' well-meaning resources contribute to Anti-Blackness and Anti-Indigeneity, how does your campus do this?

How do we restore justice for Black lives lost within our community?

Sources: Dr. Adrienne Keene, Carolina Rosario Mozee, Cueponi Cihuatl Espinoza, Jose J. Arce

Anti-Racist Tool Kit - Activity

Activity: Anti-Racist & Liberatory Introspective Toolkit

Anti-Racist Tool Kit - Moment to Pause

An antiracist idea is any idea that suggests the racial groups are equal in all of their apparent differences and that there is nothing wrong with any racial group. Antiracists argue that racist policies are the cause of racial injustices.

Source: Ibram X Kendi, How to be an Antiracist, Random House, 2019

Moment to Pause:

What is your reaction to the anti-racist attitudes?

What are your individual strengths and areas of growth in regards to these attitudes?

Have you seen these actions put into action in your community/spheres of influence? If so, how?

If not, what are some obstacles and ways to overcome them?

Source: Anti-Racist Packet by Carolyn Griffeth and Jenny Truax

Addressing & Applying

Raising Awareness/Race-Consciousness Activity

Write down all the book titles, movies, blogs, documentaries, workshops, podcasts, etc. that you can think of that you have engaged your education on racism:

Books:

Movies:

Podcasts:

Documentaries:

Social Media Campaigns/Users/etc.:

Workshops/Conferences:

TED Talks:

Music:

Spoken Word/Poetry:

Keynote speakers:

Book Clubs:

Activism:

Politics:

Mentors/Educators:

Religion:
Other:

Awareness Activity - Moment to Pause:

What are your thoughts?

Was this challenging?

What are areas you would like to find resources to support your continued education in?

Source: Anti-Racism Resource Guide by Callahan, K

Action - Ally/Allies Activity

Ally is someone who makes the commitment and effort to recognize their privilege (based on gender, class, race, sexual identity, etc.) and work in solidarity with oppressed groups in the struggle for justice. Allies understand that it is in their own interest to end all forms of oppression, even those from which they may benefit in concrete ways.

Allies commit to reducing their own complicity or collusion in oppression of those groups and invest in strengthening their own knowledge and awareness of oppression.

Taking Action as an Ally

Activity: Think about a time you have taken action or seen others take action to turn your beliefs or principles into reality. Consider what was positive and what was challenging about taking action.

Action can take many different shapes and help accomplish many different kinds of goals. If we think of action only in terms of major fights or struggles, it can feel inaccessible. On the other hand, if we think of action only as the little things we do each day, we can lose track of a big picture. The following list includes macro and micro approaches to taking action. Think about the significance of each example and how it might make a difference or help achieve a goal.

Bringing some cans to a canned food drive
Explaining BLM to parents and colleagues
Making a change in your curriculum
Marching for a cause
Participating in a community mural
Signing an online petition
Speaking up at a meeting
Speaking up when you hear someone making a racist joke
Talking with a group of children about racial justice
Voting on election day
Writing a letter to a member of Congress

Ally/Allies Activity - Moment to Pause:

Moment to Pause:

What comes to mind about these different examples?

Which examples resonate with you and why?

What do you think is challenging, empowering or important about taking action?

How might the answers to these questions be different for someone with an identity different than your own?

Source: Anti-Racist Packet by Carolyn Griffeth and Jenny Truax

Taking Action Activity

Activity: Let’s consider the challenges and benefits of taking action. You will read a series of statements designed to help you think about your own relationship to action. For each statement, provide an answer that reflects your own experience. As you work, consider what aspects of your own identity and history might contribute to your responses. Don’t worry about giving right or wrong answers.

I took action when…

I was impressed by the action someone else took when…

Taking action feels good because…

Taking action is hard because…

An ally/accomplice is someone who…

Taking Action Activity - Moment to Pause:

Moment to Pause:

Read back over the statements you wrote about action. What do these statements reveal about your own relationship to action?

Do you value some types of action over others?

Are you more or less likely than other people you know to take action?

What types of action do you find most meaningful?

How does your relationship to action impact your role in your classroom and school community?

Source: tolerance.org

Am I Doing Enough? Reflection Activity

Reflection:

Is the action supportive of the overarching values that I prioritize in my life?

Source: @AndreaRanaeJ's workshop, "The Task of Culture Shifting"

Am I ready to personally take ownership AND tend to the responsibility I have to the consequences of my actions?

Am I doing the most that I can sustainably do while gently pushing myself to build endurance for this work?

Is this an action that Black individuals, communities and organizations are calling for in response to the rampant anti-Blackness in our society?

Source: @dobetter_consulting

Moment to Pause: Questions to Encourage us to Action

Moment to Pause: Questions to Encourage us to Action

How do I amplify Black peoples experiences without centering myself as a non-Black person?

How do we keep learning from each other and within ourselves?

Who are the Black folx I am actively learning from and being challenged?

How does my anti-Blackness show up when I witness Black grief?

How do I show up without being defensive?

What steps am I missing and what important work am I avoiding when I automatically appoint myself an ally?

Have I overlooked the diversity of Black identity and experiences in order to avoid feeling uncomfortable? How has this been convenient for me?

How do I uplift the Black community without culturally appropriating Black culture?

How do we hold ourselves and others accountable without being destructive?

Why did it take me so long to consider Afrolatinos as both Black and Latinx?
How have I benefited from the labor of Black womxn?

How do I show up for Black womxn and Black transgender folx?

How am I actively supporting Black joy, Black pleasure, and Black wellness?

How can I lighten the load for Black folx without expecting appraisal?

How can I make my relationships with Black folx non-transactional?

How have I used my privileges to protect Black folx?

What will my actions against anti-Blackness look like in 6-12 months?

How do we keep adapting to the demands of radical changes?

Sources: @nalgonapositivitypride, @chiara.acu

LN Action Plan

Community & Self-Care Reflection Activity

Reflection:

How am I holding myself accountable for managing my well-being?

Am I actively doing the work offline once I learn something, or am I just liking and commenting on a post?

In what ways can my self-care practices attribute to community activism?

What biases am I holding in my heart and what resources do I need to help me unlearn them?

Source: @minaa_b

For additional resources from the symposium speakers, facilitators, and more visit our ACPA Latinx Network Advocacy and Action Resource Guide: bit.ly/LNAdvocacyGuide, which highlights articles, anti-racist resources, podcasts, webinars, and much more. Resources are curated routinely by the LN Advocacy Co-Chairs. For questions, suggestions, and additions to this resource guide email Beatriz Barron (beatrizbarron92@gmail.com), Theresa Hernandez (tmariehernandez91@gmail.com) or Hugo Yepez (hugoayepez@gmail.com) .

We hope you continue learning, unlearning, and relearning.

END OF WORKBOOK

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