Prepare 

The focus of the forum is informed conversation, not education.  

In this way it is different than a workshop where you show up to be taught.

It is your responsibility to do the depth of education you need to engage in an

 informed and compassionate conversation about this type of inclusion.   

Educating ourselves ensures that those experiencing exclusion do not need

 to educate those with privilege or endure expressions of ignorance.   

1. What is Systemic Racism?

3. Learn the difference between Equity and Equality and other important definitions.

5. Assumptions the CUC makes as we approach dismantling racism and colonialism.  Video 

   Assumptions Donovan Hayden created to make Q & A sessions safer for BIPOC folks.

1. Consider these words and then reflect: In what ways does UU culture reinforce the approaches of the  "White moderate" and/or  "White progressive"? What could be done to change that?

I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.

Martin Luther King Jr. (1963), Letter from Birmingham Jail

I believe that white progressives cause the most daily damage to people of color. I define a white progressive as any white person who thinks he or she is not racist, or is less racist, or in the “choir,” or already “gets it.” White progressives can be the most difficult for people of color because, to the degree that we think we have arrived, we will put our energy into making sure that others see us as having arrived. None of our energy will go into what we need to be doing for the rest of our lives: engaging in ongoing self-awareness, continuing education, relationship building, and actual antiracist practice. White progressives do indeed uphold and perpetrate racism, but our defensiveness and certitude make it virtually impossible to explain to us how we do so.

― Robin DiAngelo, White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism

3. Which of these apply to you? Write or share a specific example of how one the statements applied to you.

I have at some point in my life:

____1. locked my car doors after seeing a black person on the sidewalk near me?

____2. gripped my bag or checked my wallet after seeing a black person?

____3. wondered why black people behave in ways that make/keep them poor?

____4. assumed a black person was working at, instead of attending an event?

____5. been scared of a black person (especially a woman) who was agitated?

____6. thought that black people are over-sexual?

____7. have gotten excited when a black person attended your church or other community 

            group and thought “we should ask them  to be involved in some capacity to increase 

            diversity”?

____8. been nervous about a dark-skinned person getting onto your plane or other form of 

            transit?

____9. been surprised that a black person lived in a wealthy neighborhood?

____10. had the fleeting thought that a wealthy black person driving a nice car was 

             dealing drugs?

____11. thought that black people don’t value education?

____12. chosen seats away from black people (in a theater, on a bus, or other place) because

              you thought they would be loud and/or possibly dangerous?

____13. thought black people are better athletes?

____14. been surprised that a black person was smart/articulate?

____15. expected a black mom to be particularly harsh with her child(ren)?

____16. been surprised to get friendly customer service from a black person?

____17. have had difficulty telling one black person from another?

____18. have expected a black person to speak for all black people on an issue?

____19. have wondered (or asked) where a black person was from?