BUILDING THE WORLD WE DREAM ABOUT
A Tapestry of Faith Program for Adults
WORKSHOP 12: GROWING AND HEALING WITHIN ETHNIC/RACIAL GROUPS
BY MARK HICKS. GAIL FORSYTH-VAIL, DEVELOPMENTAL EDITOR.
© Copyright 2010 Unitarian Universalist Association.
Published to the Web on 9/29/2014 10:38:02 PM PST.
This program and additional resources are available on the UUA.org web site at
www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith.
WORKSHOP OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of monocultural community is two-fold: (1) to find identity and self-esteem as a group; and (2) to do homework together before encountering other cultural communities. — Eric H. F. Law, educator and author, in The Wolf Shall Dwell with the Lamb
This workshop introduces racial identity group dialogues or caucusing. Up to this point in the program, participants have had many opportunities to share their stories across racial/ethnic groups. In this workshop, participants have a chance to talk in a structured format with persons from their own ethnic/racial group, an opportunity that is rare, even for those who regularly participate in multicultural dialogues. This kind of within-group talk more often than not generates a different type of conversation, both in tone and content, than does multicultural dialogue. In racial affinity groups, White-identified people are able to ask questions and raise issues without the fear of offending People of Color and other ethnically or racially marginalized people. People socialized in ethnically or racially oppressed groups find that they can talk about issues without the burden of rationalizing and proving the validity of their experience to White people.
In this workshop, the racial identity group in which an individual participates is based on how they self-identify. Neither you nor other workshop participants assign anyone a racial/ethnic category. Invite and encourage each person to speak from their individual experience and to note both common and unique experiences living in a race-based society.
Before leading this workshop, review the accessibility guidelines in the program Introduction under Integrating All Participants.
GOALS
This workshop will:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
WORKSHOP-AT-A-GLANCE
Activity | Minutes |
Welcoming and Entering | 0 |
Opening | 10 |
Activity 1: Race-based Reflection Groups | 100 |
Closing | 10 |
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
Read and reflect on this passage from Derald Wing Sue, author of What Must People of Color Do to Overcome Racism and Overcoming Our Racism: The Journey to Liberation:
In light of the historical and continuing experiences of oppression, even I marvel at our ability to continue our lives in such a normative fashion. . . . It is ironic that overcoming adversity has led us to develop an ability to understand the minds of our oppressors with astounding clarity.
If you are a Person of Color or someone from a racially or ethnically marginalized group, what in Sue's statement reflects your own experience? In what ways does it not?
If you are a person who identifies as White or of European ancestry, consider what Sue has to say. Does it change or deepen your understanding of Whiteness or White privilege?
Take time to journal about your responses or share them with your co-facilitator or another trusted conversation partner.
WORKSHOP PLAN
WELCOMING AND ENTERING
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Greet participants as they arrive.
OPENING (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Light the chalice or invite a participant to light it while you read Leader Resource 1 aloud.
Share feedback from the previous workshop evaluations. Acknowledge shared patterns and observations to give participants a sense of how people in the group are thinking and feeling about the program. Be conscientious about maintaining confidentiality. One technique is to say, "Some people felt... ." rather than saying, "One of you felt... ." If time allows, invite participants to share one-minute observations or new insights they may have gained since the last workshop.
Remind participants of the spirit of their covenant.
Share the goals of this workshop.
ACTIVITY 1: RACE-BASED REFLECTION GROUPS (100 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Explain race-based reflection groups, or caucuses, using information in Leader Resource 2. Invite each participant to choose one of three groups: people who are White or of European ancestry, People of Color and from racially or ethnically marginalized groups, and biracial/multiracial people or people who find they are not able to identify with the White or People of Color groups. Indicate where each group will meet.
Give copies of the corresponding reflection group handout to each group. Invite members of each group to read through the instructions, and then to select a facilitator. Give each group a copy or two of Workshop 2, Handout 2; a sheet of newsprint; and markers. Invite small groups to follow the process on the handout. Remind them to speak from their individual experience, making note of common as well as unique experiences living in a race-based society.
CLOSING (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Invite participants to spend five minutes writing feedback in response to the question you have posted on newsprint.
Distribute Taking It Home and invite participants to do the suggested activities before the next meeting. Read the instructions aloud and invite participants to ask questions.
Offer Leader Resource 3 or Hymn 194 from Singing the Living Tradition as a closing. Extinguish the chalice.
Gather participants' written feedback.
Including All Participants
Prepare a large-print version of Taking It Home.
LEADER REFLECTION AND PLANNING
Take a few moments right after the workshop to ask each other:
TAKING IT HOME
The purpose of monocultural community is two-fold: (1) to find identity and self-esteem as a group; and (2) to do homework together before encountering other cultural communities. — Eric H. F. Law, educator and author, in The Wolf Shall Dwell with the Lamb
At our next workshop, we will hold a worship service for reconciliation and healing. The worship service will offer you an opportunity to share insights you have gained and questions or challenges you identify or recognize. Take some time before the workshop to compose and practice reading aloud a short reflection (a page or less, double-spaced) about your experiences in the program so far. Questions/ideas to consider include:
Bring your reflection with you to the next workshop.
BUILDING THE WORLD WE DREAM ABOUT: WORKSHOP 12:
HANDOUT 1: REFLECTION GROUP FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE WHITE OR OF EUROPEAN ANCESTRY
Select a facilitator from the group to read questions and monitor time. Use the Serial Testimony Protocol (Workshop 2, Leader Resource 2) to talk about as many of these questions as possible. Note that there are more questions below than your group will have time to fully explore. The facilitator should choose questions that will engage and challenge the group. Be sure to save ten minutes at the end for recording group reflections and closing.
About the program:
About being White:
Spiritual questions:
Closing the Exercise (10 minutes)
Prior to your closing, invite the group to prepare a list of statements they want People of Color and people from racially/ethnically marginalized groups to know about their experience and lessons learned so far. The list should begin with these words: What I want People of Color and those from racially and ethnically marginalized groups to know about my experience here is... .
BUILDING THE WORLD WE DREAM ABOUT: WORKSHOP 12:
HANDOUT 2: REFLECTION GROUP FOR PEOPLE OF COLOR AND FROM RACIALLY OR ETHNICALLY MARGINALIZED GROUPS
The experience of racially or ethnically marginalized groups in the United States context is nothing short of tragic: the loss of identity, dignity, property and cultural communities, assignment to second-class citizenship... not to mention the violent crimes against the (brown) body over time. Yet still, People of Color and from racially and ethnically marginalized groups have found enormous strength through adversity. The reflection group for People of Color and from racially or ethnically marginalized groups will work to affirm and heal the spirit of those with marginalized racial and ethnic identities by first naming the landscape of their experience. They will also consider how to create healthy relationships alongside White people who are committed to dismantling structures of systematic domination.
Select a facilitator who will ask questions and keep track of time. Use the Serial Testimony Protocol (Workshop 2, Leader Resource 2) to discuss the questions that follow. Note that there are more questions below than your group will have time to fully explore. The facilitator should choose questions that will engage and challenge the group. Be sure to save ten minutes at the end for recording group reflections and closing.
About the program:
Identity questions:
Spiritual questions:
Closing the Exercise (10 minutes)
Prior to closing, invite the group to prepare a list of statements they want White people and "mixed race/biracial people" to know about their experience and lessons learned so far. The list should begin with these words: What I want White people and mixed race/biracial people to know about my experience here is... .
BUILDING THE WORLD WE DREAM ABOUT: WORKSHOP 12:
HANDOUT 3: REFLECTION GROUP FOR BIRACIAL/MULTIRACIAL PEOPLE
Participants in the Biracial/Multiracial Reflection Group will work to explore, affirm, and heal their spirit by first naming the landscape of their experience. They will also consider how to create healthy relationships alongside White people and People of Color and from racially or ethnically marginalized groups who are committed to dismantling structures of systematic domination.
Select a facilitator who will ask questions and keep track of time. Use the Serial Testimony Protocol (Workshop 2, Leader Resource 2) to discuss the questions that follow. Note that there are more questions below than your group will have time to fully explore. The facilitator should choose questions that will engage and challenge the group. Be sure to save ten minutes at the end for recording group reflections and closing.
About the program:
Identity questions:
Spiritual questions:
Closing the Exercise (10 minutes)
Prior to your closing, ask participants to prepare a list of statements they want White people and People of Color and from racially or ethnically marginalized groups to know about their experience and lessons learned so far. The list should being with these words: What I want White people and People of Color and from racially or ethnically marginalized groups to know about my experience here is... .
BUILDING THE WORLD WE DREAM ABOUT: WORKSHOP 12:
LEADER RESOURCE 1: CHRYSALIS
By Alla Bozarth, Julia Barkley, and Terri Hawthorne, from Stars in your Bones: Emerging Signposts on Our Spiritual Journeys (St. Cloud, Minnesota: North Star Press, 1990). Used with permission.
I am pregnant with myself.
Do you realize what this means?
It means that every part of me must die,
all my cells and organs open and dissolve,
for I need their juicy substances
to nurture my new blood:
let teeth become eyes,
gullet become brain,
grey become bright red,
and hair turn into wings.
This is the truth of me —
I was, am, and shall be
my Self, forever new,
forever changing by changing,
creature blessed by consciousness,
Alive.
And this is not
a voiceless act, but a process
resounding inside death
with lusty shouts and whoops,
irregular and visible below
the carcass veil.
And death grows thinner,
giving way to God-know-What —
diminishing like gauze
Of spun sugar melting in the sun.
Soon, I will be full-ripe
with my Self,
able to nurse on sweet nectar,
free and light as living rain.
Soon, I will fly.
BUILDING THE WORLD WE DREAM ABOUT: WORKSHOP 12:
LEADER RESOURCE 2: ABOUT RACE-BASED REFLECTION GROUPS
Race-based identity groups, or caucuses, provide a chance for people to talk in a structured format with others from their own ethnic/racial group, an opportunity that is rare, even for those who regularly participate in multicultural dialogues. This kind of within-group talk more often than not surfaces a different type of conversation, both in tone and content, than does multicultural dialogue. In racial affinity groups, people who identify as White or of European ancestry are able to ask questions and raise issues without the fear of offending People of Color and people from racially or ethnically marginalized groups. People socialized in racially or ethnically oppressed groups find that they can talk about issues without the burden of rationalizing and proving the validity of their experience to White people.
There may be discomfort among some who believe this sort of exercise is divisive or unnecessarily painful. Some may resist moving into such groups. This may be true (for different reasons) for both White people and people from marginalized racial and ethnic identities. White people, for example, might say, "I want to hear/learn from People of Color." People of Color and from racially or ethnically marginalized groups may have a need to affirm their universal humanity and say, "I prefer not to wear a racial hat." Biracial and multiracial people may find it difficult to "make a choice about which group to join." Other issues and concerns may be voiced.
Acknowledge concerns and explain that the intent of the exercise is to deepen and broaden the perspectives of participants to produce new ways of thinking, because creating a different type of group can create a different kind of conversational outcome. In addition, emphasize that the purpose of racial identity group dialogues is to support multicultural community by helping groups "do homework together before encountering other cultural communities." (Eric Law) This exercise is intended to further encourage the development of spiritual practices that support the doing of antiracist/multicultural work. Note that all the other workshops have offered conversations across racial lines and that there will be more opportunity for multicultural and multiracial dialogue in future workshops.
When participants divide into racial identity groups, emphasize that the decision about which group to join is up to the individual. Congregations in which there are no racially/ethnically marginalized groups should still participate in this activity. There will be opportunities in later sessions to explore issues related to this particular project. Although there may be a variety of different racial/ethnic identities among those who identify as People of Color and from racially or ethnically marginalized groups, suggest that they form one "racially or ethnically marginalized identity" group. In some cases, participants may choose to form a fourth group for people of a particular ethnic or racial identity.
BUILDING THE WORLD WE DREAM ABOUT: WORKSHOP 12:
LEADER RESOURCE 3: GOD BEYOND BORDERS
By Kathy Galloway, in Maker's Blessing (Wild Goose Publications, 2000). Permission pending.
The spirit of this poem speaks to the spirit of this workshop, albeit in theist language. Use of this poem may spark dialogue, which in turn may surface interesting conversation about issues of racial/ethnic identity and theological journeys.
God beyond borders
we bless you for strange places
and different dreams
for the demands and diversity
of a wider world
for the distance
that lets us look back and re-evaluate
for new ground
where the broken stems can take root,
grow and blossom.
We bless you
for the friendship of strangers
the richness of other cultures
and the painful gift of freedom
Blessed are you,
God beyond borders.
But if we have overlooked
the exiles in our midst
heightened their exclusion
by our indifference
given our permission
for a climate of fear
and tolerated a culture of violence
Have mercy on us,
God who takes side with justice,
confront our prejudice
stretch our narrowness
sift out our laws and our lives
with the penetrating insight
of your spirit
until generosity is our only measure.
FIND OUT MORE
The UUA Multicultural Growth & Witness staff group offers resources, curricula, trainings, and tools to help Unitarian Universalist congregations and leaders engage in the work of antiracism, antioppression, and multiculturalism. Visit www.uua.org/multicultural (at www.uua.org/multicultural) or email multicultural @ uua.org (at mailto:multicultural@uua.org) to learn more.