CCAR Challenge
After attending Courageous Conversations about Race Exploration your journey has just begun. The district is working on creating more and more spaces for us all to grow and collaborate in this journey. This site will be updated as we go with opportunities for collaboration and personal growth.
Below you will find an additional journey through Courageous Conversations you can go through and experience yourself or join with colleagues, and continue the journey together. It is recommended to go through the Six Conditions in order as outlined in Courageous Conversations Exploration. Below you will find a variety of activities to engage with to deepen your understanding and continue your journey.
You are encouraged to track your activities and next steps using this Google Sheets template. (Please make a copy into your Google Drive)
You can also use this template for your reflections listed below. (please make a copy into your Google Drive)
Cult of Pedagogy- How one district learned to talk about race (with Glenn Singleton)- transcript
Activities below will be in one of the categories of:
Read- an article to read on specific topics
Listen- podcast series or specific episodes
Watch- TED Talks, webinars, Youtube videos, or documentaries
Notice- words, actions, societal structures to observe as you navigate the spaces you are in
Reflect- You can choose to create a Google Doc, a notebook, voice memos, or some other way to reflect as you continue your journey. Specific reflection questions to consider are provided.
Connect- Links to other sites and organizations with further resources or connections.
Act- specific steps you can take within your locus of control
Four Agreements
Read
Nothing to add: a challenge to White silence in racial discussions
'A harsh wake-up' here's how White people can broach difficult conversations about race
The 10 R's of talking about race: how to have meaningful conversations
Watch
Listen
Brenew Brown with Austin Channing Brown- I'm still Here: Black dignity in a world made for Whiteness
Reflect
During a conversation about race, have you ever experienced disengagement from the conversation? How did it impact the dialogue?
Have you ever felt discomfort during a conversation on race? If so, did you work through the discomfort successfully, or was it left unresolved?
Which emotions prevent you from speaking your truth during interracial conversations about race? Which conditions can make it safer for you to deal with your racial fears and speak your truth?
Why is it necessary to expect and accept non-closure when dealing with race?
Connect
Follow on social meida: Celeste Malone, Austin Channing Brown, EmbracingEquity, Uprooting Inequity, Black Lives Matter, Center for Antiracist Research, Dena Simmons, Abolitionist Teaching Network, Ibram X Kendi, Bettina Love, Emmanuel Acho, Baratunde, Frederick Joseph, Conscious Kid, World Central Kitchen, White People for Black Lives,
Act
Find an article or current event and have a 10 minute conversation with someone centering yourself in the four agreements.
Monitor specifically how:
You stay engaged in the conversation
How you work to keep them engaged
Are you able to speak your truth?
Do you encourage them to speak their truth?
Are you stepping out of you comfort zone?
How do you end the conversation in a manner to keep the conversation going later and accepting nonclosure?
Courageous Conversations Compass
Courageous Conversations Compass and explanation PDF
Courageous Conversations Compass Jamboard (please make a copy to your Google Drive)
Courageous Conversations Compass Image
Find any article on race and while reading find yourself on the Compass. Reflect on what it would be if you were at a different location on the Compass.
Find any video on race and while watching find yourself on the Compass. Reflect on what it would be if you were at a different location on the Compass.
Condition 1: Focus on the personal, local and immediate
Read
Here are concrete actions White people can take to fight racial injustice
Anti-racist work in schools: Are you in it for the long haul?
Advice for the newly woke White teachers on teaching Black children
Listen
Silence is not an option (CNN- Don Lemon)
Miseducation (NY High School student personal stories about race in school)
Watch
"This is My Story" 6 part series by LaVar Burton
The first time I knew I was Black (series of short videos)
CNN: United Shades of America- episode #livingwhileblack (available on Hulu, HBO Max or on Google Play)
Notice
Notice in your daily life when you feel bias in your interactions
When do you notice your race throughout the day?
Ibram X Kendi says we need to move beyond saying “racist” and “not racist.” Instead, some white people are practicing anti-racism by (1) divesting themselves of white fragility and defensiveness and choosing to continue to learn and listen to Black folks and (2) dismantling white supremacy in the institutions around them. White supremacy is not just targeted murder of Black men by police. White supremacy pervades every institution — places of work, education, criminal justice, healthcare, government, banks, places of worship, etc. It is our work to dismantle white supremacy in all of these institutions, not just the police. Those who are not practicing anti-racism are perpetuating white supremacy. And we cannot do the external work without doing the internal work.
Reflect
How do you benefit or suffer from the racial hieracrchy in society?
What are ways you specifically wield privilege and work to maintain the racial status quo?
How have you responded when you've witnessed racist words or actions from individuals in your life?
Connect
Find school or district data by race. Have a discussion with a colleague about what you notice. Focus on the personal, local and immediate.
Act
Take Project Implicit from Harvard (select race)
Cultural competence self-assessment checklist (www.rapworkers.com)
Diversify classroom library, bulletin boards, and other racial respresentations to match student diversity
Twitter video discussing his experience seeing a White woman record an encounter he had with police
Talk to the white people you know who aren’t clearly upset by white supremacy. Use “I” statements and “I care” messages (“I feel [feeling] when you [behavior]”). They need to know you see a problem.
Condition 2: Isolate Race
Read
How choosing a school made me realise my daughter is not white
Were all your teachers white? I've often been the only one who looks like my students
Report: Metro Milwaukee's Black students are the most hypersegregated in the nation
Richard Sherman: 'Thug' is accepted way of calling someone N-word
Black newborns 3 times more likely to die when looked after by White doctors
Discussing anti-Asian history and its societal effects today
Listen
By Every Measure (88Nine Radio Milwaukee Podcast with Reggie Jackson)
Who We Are: a chronicle of Racism in America (additional resources)
Watch
Notice
"The Talk"
Go through Jamboard of examples of systemic racism/bias and notice the role of race
As you watch commericals, tv, news, movies, etc how is race portrayed? How do these portrayals influence our biases and uphold systemic racism/ White supremacy?
Reflect
Have you ever thought "I don't see race or color"?
Have you ever wondered that the world would be better if we didn't concentrate on race and eveyrone was just treated equal?
What would you say to someone who argues "there is only one race- the human race"?
Connect
Act
Addressing microaggressions in the classroom (University of Washington module )
Understanding Microaggressions module (WI DPI/ Dr. Newell)
Complete "How diverse is my universe?" activity (by yourself or with others)
Condition 3: Normalize Social Construction and Multiple Perspectives
Read
Confronting racism is not about the needs and feelings of white people
Were all your teachers white? I've often been the only one who looks like my students
How choosing a school made me realise my daughter is not white
The problem with that new equity vs. equality cartoon you're sharing
Why some people live where they do, in segregated metropolitan Milwaukee
Why we need more close interracial friendships (and why we're bad at them)
Listen
Intersectionality matters- looking at intersectionality and critical race theory
Watch
Kalief Browder Story (Netflix mini series)
One Night in Miami (Amazon Prime)
Soul of a Nation (ABC)- a unique window into the realities of Black life
Disrupt & Dismantle (BET- exploring the inequalities Black communities face and actions need to be taken)
Notice
How are diverse voices provided space in team meetings at your school?
How often do you engage in conversations with individuals with different viewpoints from yourself?
Reflect
What aspects of your students, their families, and the greater community are you aware of? What do you need to learn more about?
What would happen if someone only told one part of the story related to your life experience? How would it impact you?
Connect
Act
Find an article or current event and have a 10 minute conversation with someone centering yourself in the four agreements.
Create an activity or opportunity for students and/or families to share about themselves, specifically aspects of themselves that might not be as well known.
Step out of your comfort zone and visit other areas of the city that you might not visit as often. Might include shopping at a different grocery store, getting food from a new restaurant, attending religious services somewhere new, or other opportunities across the city otherthan your usual neighborhood.
Racing towards equality: why talking to your kids about race is good for everyone (25 minute module)
Condition 4: Monitoring Agreements and Conditions and Establish Parameters
Read
Banning White Supremacy Isn't Censorship, It's Accountability
I'm an angry Black woman. This is what I want White people to know
How social media helps and hurts when it comes to Black exhaustion
How not to be an ally: a list of rules for anti-racist advocacy
Listen
Watch
Notice
What strategies, language or actions do you see from individuals to avoid conversations about race?
How do you observe aspects of "White Talk" compared to "Color Commentary" within your work or social conversations?
How do staff members arrange themselves for meetings and PD? Who sits with whom and where?
How much time is spent on topics of race?
Reflect
What strategies, language or actions do you see yourself using to avoid conversations about race?
Have you found yourself apathetic to racism (or "looking the other way")?
Leadership: How do you find time for conversations about race? Where on the agenda do these conversations occur?
Connect
Let's Talk (From Teaching Tolerance)
Sesame Street: coming together- talking to children about race and identity
Act
Create time and space to discuss an article, video, current event with a group of individuals within your locus of control. Monitor your use of the Four Agreements and what parameters are created for the conversation.
Have all staff, colleagues or family have a conversation utilziing the Courageous Conversation Compass, identifying which quadrant of the compass they find themselves.
Condition 5: Use a Working Definition of Race
Read
Claudette Colvin: the woman who refused to give up her bus seat- nine months before Rosa Parks
New study finds black teens face racial discrimination 5 times a day on average
What's lost when black children are socialized into a white world (The Atlantic)
Honoring the unforgivable: the horrific acts behind the names on America's infamous monuments
If we're going to tackle systemic racism, we need to rethink how we teach history
Jim Crow in the United States: a brief guide to the racial segregation laws
Listen
1619- 6 part podcast observing the 400th anniversary of the beginning of American slavery.
Scene on Radio Season 4- the land that never has been yet
Who We Are: a chronicle of Racism in America (additional resources)
Watch
Notice
Notice any historical aspects of racism that are still present today in our school system or society as a whole.
When do you notice your race and your life impacted by your race?
When do you notice your privileges? (White privilege or any other privilege you might have).
When do you notice you do not have a specific privilege? (White privilege or any other privilege)
Reflect
How do you define race?
What were you taught about the history of race in the country? How has what you know changed over time?
What can you do to continue to grow in your understanding of the historical and current realities of race in the country, state, and city of Milwaukee?
What percentage of your life is affected by your race? When do you more notice your race over other times?
Connect
Act
Take time to learn about an aspect of history involving race and racism that you did not know about.
Find ways to incorporate aspects of our racial histories into your teaching or your conversations with peers.
Take "How to tell if you have White Fragility" assessment
Condition 6: Examine the Presence and Role of Whiteness
Read
What happened when my school started to dismantly White supremacy culture
Paying attention to White culture and privilege: a missing link to advancing racial equity
Got internalized White superiority? The danger of denial and the promise of another way
How to talk to White family members and friends who just don't understand their privilege
Listen
Nice White Parents (This American Life)
Brenew Brown with Austin Channing Brown- I'm still Here: Black dignity in a world made for Whiteness
Scene on Radio Season 2- seeing white
Teaching While White: Racial Identity for White People with Dr. Janet Helms
Watch
Daily Show- a broad look at how white supremacy shaped America
White Like Me (Time Wise) (or on Vialogues)
Notice
Characteristics of White Supremacy Culture (from Dismantling Racism by Jones and Okun)
How do you see Whiteness centered as "the norm" in school or as you navigate the world around you?
Reflect
How is your world view centered in Whiteness?
If you identify as White, how have you centered yourself as a White person in non-White conversations?
What racist beliefs have you internalized?
How can you work to de-center Whiteness in your work and social life?
What privileges are you willing to put on the line?
What percentage of your life is impacted by race? Has your answer changed over time? Why?
Connect
Act
Take a virtual privilege walk or find space to take with a diverse group of individuals. (many others available online)
Learn more about White racial identity development (McClean Group)
Journal prompts to help engage self-reflection & check your White privilege
Stage of White Identity Identity Development (identify where you are and areas of growth)
Racial Equity Leadership
Read
Got internalized White superiority? The danger of denial and the promise of another way
Report: Metro Milwaukee's Black students are the most hypersegregated in the nation
Nothing to add: a challenge to White silence in racial discussions
How to make this moment the turning point for real change (By Barack Obama)
Paying attention to White culture and privilege: a missing link to advancing racial equity
Five ways to sustain school change through pushback, struggle and fatigue
Belonging: a conversation about equity, diversity and inclusion
Talking about racial inequality at work is difficult- here are tips to do it thoughtfully
A framework for the Stamford Public Schools to eliminate racism and cultural bias
Demos' Racial Equity Transformation: key components, process, & lessons
Watch
Black self/ White world- lessons on internalized racism (TED Talk)
Racism has a cost for everyone (Heather McGhee Ted Talk)
How to deconstruct racism, one headline at a time (Ted Talk- Baratunde Thurston)
Unnatural Causes.... is inequality making us sick? (7 part series)
Listen
School Colors- a podcast about how race, class, and power shape American cities and schools
The Ezra Klein Show- Heather McGhee- what drained pool politics costs America
Work Life with Adam Grant: building an anti-racist workplace
Notice
Review the 4 resources below and notice the hypersegration of Milwaukee and the historical context that has created and maintains this over time. What connections do you see across all four resources?
Do you notice stereotype threat manifesting itself at school? In what ways?
Reflect
Have you ever felt racially invisible or hyper-visible?
What motivates you to engage in Courageous Convesations work in your personal and professional spheres of influence?
What motivates you to rise above any fears in your quest for racial equity in the future?
How have you been personally affected by stereotype threat?
Connect
Talking about race: National Museum of African American History & Culture
Let's Talk (From Teaching Tolerance)
Opening Doors- strategies for advancing racial diversity in Wisconsin's teacerh workforce
Teaching race: pedagogy and practice (Vanderbilt University)
Act
Author Frederick Joseph created a 5-day challenge focusing on actionable steps to be a better ally to marginalized or disenfranchised groups with Yahoo! Each day featured a short video with Frederick, personal reflections and actionable next steps.