July 6 & 7: Social Identity, Social Bias, and Social Justice I & II

Pre-Work:

Please use this link to complete the survey by Friday, June 25, 2021

Preparing for Constructive Engagement

1. What - So What - Now What Method of Analysis

Please note your responses to the reading in the following categories. We’ll spend some time at the start of the workshop sharing our responses.

1. What – what were the authors’ primary purposes and primary messages regarding responding to microaggressions?

2. So What – What did you find relevant (learned something, reinforced something you already know, etc.) regarding your interest – and regarding your social identities (plural!)

3. Now What – How might you translate the content from this material to your anti-bias practices?

4. Willing Ready & On Belay

5. Potholes

6. The Parable of the Elephant & the Giraffe

7. The Parable of the Downstreamers

8. Please Bear in Mind

9. Irreconcilable Differences? Please see below for details

Best Practices in Inclusive Pedagogy

1. Social Identity Prism

2. DEI Ally Pact

3. How to Respond to Microaggressions & accompanying guide. - use this guide in workshop with activity

4. Race-Equity-Social Justice Resonance Check

In preparation for the workshop, please consider this question:

• How do the people who make up your school community feel about the race & equity, DEI, and social identity-social bias-and social justice concepts, principles, and practices that are at the center of our commitment and efforts to teach and care for the students and staff? Please think here about concepts such as antiracist, white privilege, social justice, white supremacy, Black Live Matter, the big lie, and other such terms that, while they represent incontrovertible truths

  • How does it all resonate with students?

  • How does it all resonate with faculty?

  • How does it all resonate with the range of parents who send their children to your school – parents of different races, parents who are part of law enforcement, parents who are avowedly “liberal,” parents who are proudly “conservative,” and so on?

  • How are issues related to these terms|concepts|principles|movements portrayed in the local media?

• If you are unsure how any of the constituencies or media in your community and locality perceives these too often controversial issues, how might you find out? And why does it matter that you know?

Social Identity Social Bias & Social Justice

1. The Cycle of Socialization

2. The Pedagogy of the Meaning of Racism

3. Empathy in the Service of Inter- and Interpersonal Peace

4. Reader Idea | Creating an Inclusive Classroom by Offering Pronoun Choice

5. Pigments of Our Imagination: The Racialization of the Hispanic-Latino Category

6. Race: The Power of an Illusion – Episode Three: The House We Live In (available at https://vimeo.com/ondemand/race - $2.00 rental fee)

Irreconcilable Differences? Pre-workshop Exercise

The words and images in the Irreconcilable Differences graphic below are meant to depict the tension (if not opposition) that almost arises between the disposition and needs of those bestowed with unearned social advantage and those burdened with unfair social disadvantage when both parties gather to collaboratively engage in DEI work.

To put it bluntly, white-identified people hope to gain invaluable first-person narrative and insight from folks of color so that they can know what they cannot know on their own or even from study – and folks of color hope to not have to be in the position to be the teachers and means by which white-identified folks are now choosing to learn.

This tension is unavoidable but it is not unmanageable. Keeping it as healthy as possible requires two things:

1. A willingness on the part of those who have had to develop a double-consciousness – insight into how it is to be socially advantaged and personal knowledge of what it means to be socially disadvantaged – to share what they feel is crucial about being socially disadvantaged not merely to enrich their socially disadvantaged counterparts but to equip them to act as allies – and to thereafter hold them accountable. This is in fact an act of giving and teaching, but it can be seen as enlightened altruism, not merely a burden or expenditure for nothing in return.

2. A discipline on the part of those who have the simple and uncomplicated single consciousness of the socially privileged to be respectful, and grateful when socially disadvantaged folks provide information and insight – and especially to use the gift of information and insight to become more effective allies.

The tension becomes unmanageable if either party is not willing to fulfil its condition.

DEI work among folks from different sides of the social identity advantage-disadvantage divide simply requires that both parties are aware of this tension and committed to keeping it as healthy as possible.

To prime optimal conditions for keeping this tension healthy during our workshop, we’ll conduct a two-part activity that will involve (1) pre-workshop individual reflection and (2) discussion during the workshop.

The first part of the activity involves completing this survey. The survey has one question for members of each party.

The question for the socially advantaged group is:

What do you wish you could learn about the life, circumstances, experiences, challenges, joys, perspectives, etc. of folks burdened with unfair social disadvantage, whether due to racialization status, gender, ability, sexual orientation, social status, worldview, or another social identity group categorization?

The question for the socially disadvantaged group is:

What do wish the folks with unearned social advantage knew about the life, circumstances, experiences, joys, perspectives, etc. of folks of color so that they would not have to rely on you to convey it?

The input you provide (strictly anonymously) will be summarized and shared and discussed at the workshop.

Please use this link to complete the survey by Friday, June 25, 2021

NYT Videos

A Conversation About Growing Up Black

A Conversation with Police on Race

A Conversation with White People on Race

A Conversation with Native Americans on Race

A Conversation with Asian Americans on Race

A Conversation with Latinos on Race

A Conversation with Black Women on Race