Taking It Home: Discerning Race/Discerning Power

Although race has become such an obvious source of conflict, identity, and debate in almost every arena of our lives, few attempts are made to clarify what we mean by the term "race." Immeasurable confusion develops wherever peoples talk about racial issues because they are not speaking the same language. — Julio Noboa, Contemporary Educator and Author, Member of Latino/a Unitarian Universalist Networking Association (LUUNA)

Read Handout 2, Not Somewhere Else, But Here. Reflect on your own life experiences:

  • When and how did you learn about race?
  • If you are a Person of Color, when and how did you learn about what it means to be a Person of Color? What early messages did you receive?
  • If you are a person from another racially or ethnically marginalized group, when did you learn about what it means to be from that group? What early messages did you receive?
  • If you are a White person, when and how did you learn what it means to be White? What early messages did you receive?

Write or draw in your journal, compose a prayer, or create a piece of art or music that captures your earliest memories of learning about race.