Activity 1: Reflections and Commitments

Activity time: 45 minutes

Materials for Activity

Preparation for Activity

  • Write the following questions on newsprint and post them where all participants can see them:

    • What questions or puzzlements do I still have?
    • What am I wrestling with?
    • What will be my next step in strengthening my own multicultural competency and/or my ability to resist racism and systems of privilege?
    • What actions do I need to take to move my work forward? What is my first step? What comes next?
    • How can I sustain my commitment to doing antiracist, anti-oppressive, multicultural work?
    • What support do I need, and from whom?
  • Review Workshop 3, Leader Resource 3, Serial Testimony Protocol and Workshop 5, Leader Resource 1, About Race-based Reflection Groups.
  • Decide which spaces the groups will use. Groups should meet in separate rooms so they cannot hear each other's discussions.

Description of Activity

Call attention to the posted questions and invite participants to journal in response to one or more of them. Explain that there will be opportunities both in small groups and in worship to name out loud the commitments each person will make to continuing the work of building the world we dream about. Allow 15 minutes for journaling and personal reflection.

Review the rationale for race-based reflection groups or caucuses, using the information in Workshop 5, Leader Resource 1. Invite each participant to choose one of three groups:

People who are White

People of Color and those from racially or ethnically marginalized groups

Biracial or multiracial people or people who find they are not able to identify with the White or People of Color groups

Note: If you chose not to use racial or ethnic identity-based reflection groups, invite participants to move into the small reflection groups established in Workshop 3.

Indicate where each group will meet. Review the serial testimony protocol. Explain that each participant will have up to five minutes to share some reflections on the posted questions. Participants should use the serial testimony protocol to keep the group on track.