So You Want to Talk About Race
LGBTQ+ Health Initiative’s Anti-racism Listening & Learning Series
After a few months hiatus in order to restructure, the LGBTQ+ Health Initiative started a Winter Anti-Racism Series the week of 1/18/21, and offered this Series again on 2/26/21. A description of this offering is below.
Series Information
Carolina Kroon (gender pronouns: she/her/hers) is a visual producer, educator and activist who collaborates with organizations and individuals working towards social justice. For more than two decades she has assisted in representing communities, conspiring with many of the countries’ most effective publications and non-profits. She has facilitated and taught visual literacy and production with many people ranging in age from 8-80 in both community and academic settings. Her organizing has been focused within the LGBTQ and Women’s communities. She is a fluent Spanish speaker.
The LGBTQ+ Health Initiative put together this Series in response to a recent technical assistance survey of Network organizations in which 45% reported they are interested in additional anti-racism training. Additionally, the events of 2020 have highlighted how urgent and crucial it is to understand the history of structural racism in the United States and to think about how structural racism impacts our lives and our work. We have made updates to the structure of this series based on feedback from the summer. Changes include having two BIPOC, two white facilitators and separate spaces for BIPOC and white participants to discuss the book and their learning and perspectives.
All meetings will be hosted on Zoom. The link will be sent after registration.
The winter Series is planned for 3-4pm on Fridays. Two groups will be held over a 4 week period, the first starting January 18th, and the second starting on February 26th. The meeting times have been chosen as they do not conflict with any of the Network committee meetings. Please see the planned dates and times in the calendar above.
We will be reading So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo for the winter 2021 Series. Previously, we listened to “Seeing White” from Scene On Radio in our Summer 2020 Series. Other materials we are considering for future Series include:
- The “1619” Podcast from New York Times
- White Fragilityby Robin DiAngelo
- How To Be An Antiracistby Ibram X. Kendi
We have purchased 15 copies of So You Want to Talk About Race from a local, woman owned bookstore, The Dog Eared Book. Network members can request copies of the books to be sent to their homes during registration (click here). We also encourage people to check out copies from their local libraries, or to order the book from local, LGBTQ+, and/or BIPOC owned bookstores. The Libby application allows you to connect with your local library virtually and download eBooks. Finally, if you are someone who prefers listening to reading, So You Want to Talk About Race is available on Audible and Audiobooks.
Emergent Strategy Group Agreements:
- Listen from the inside out, or listen from the bottom up (a feeling in your gut matters!);
- Engage Tension, Don’t Indulge Drama;
- W.A.I.T.—Why Am I Talking?
- Make Space, Take Space—a post-ableist adaptation of step up, step back – to help balance the verbose and the reticent
- Confidentiality—take the lessons, leave the details;
- Be open to learning;
- Be open to someone else speaking your truth;
- Building, not selling—when you speak, converse, don’t pitch;
- Yes/and, both/and;
- Value the process as much as, if not more than, you value the outcomes;
- Assume best intent; attend to impact;
- Self care and community care—pay attention to your bladder, pay attention to your neighbors;
- Trauma-Informed Care Guidelines.
* These agreements come from adrienne maree brown’s Emergent Strategy, published in 2017.
Using Gender Pronouns
Consider adding your pronouns in parenthesis after your name! This can be a helpful way to make sure you’re respecting everyone’s pronouns while making it easier for folks to declare theirs.
To add pronouns to your name:
- Tap the Settings icon.
- Choose Edit Profile.
- After your last name, write in your pronouns (e.g. “(she/her)”). Using parenthesis helps separate your pronouns from your name.
Customizing Skin Tone for Reactions
Zoom offers two reaction icons that you can use during a call: a hands’ clap and finger up. You can adjust the skin color on these reactions to better match your own.
To change the reaction skin tone:
- Tap the Settings icon in Zoom.
- Choose Meetings.
- Scroll down, tap Reactive Skin Tone.
- Change the reactive skin tone.
In a meeting:
- Click the ^ arrow next to Video (bottom left corner of screen).
- Select Video Settings.
- Select General.
- Choose reactive skin tone.
FAQ
For the winter book club series, we ask that you attend at least 3 of the 4 meetings in order to have the best experience and to create continuity for the group.
We are pleased that you have people in your life that may also be interested in these discussions. This project is funded by the NYS Department of Health’s AIDS Institute to support NYS organizations who are members of the Network to improve their organizational-level LGBTQ+ and racial equity. While we welcome anyone to join us, we want to prioritize our Network organizations.
We chose these days/times because they do not conflict with any of the Network’s committee meetings. If you can’t make any meeting, then please use our materials & agenda to make your own discussion group. And let us know about it!
That’s awesome! Please tag us @lgbtqplushealth
We have purchased 15 copies of So You Want to Talk About Race from a local, woman owned bookstore, The Dog Eared Book. Network members can request copies of the books to be sent to their homes during registration (click here). We also encourage people to check out copies from their local libraries, or to order the book from local, LGBTQ+, and/or BIPOC owned bookstores. The Libby application allows you to connect with your local library virtually and download eBooks. Finally, if you are someone who prefers listening to reading, So You Want to Talk About Race is available on Audible and Audiobooks.
We welcome people at all stages of their learning about how structural racism was built in our country and how it impacts black, indigenous, people of color today. We have a simple agenda for each meeting, which is outlined in the calendar events. Consider writing out your answers to the questions each week to be prepared. Also, we’re operating under shared agreements, so please see the Ground Rules (above in Series Information). We will do our best to be open to learning together, and we have 4 skilled co-facilitators to guide the conversations and help everyone in this process.
Yikes! Please drop us an email and we’ll get back to you.
Presentation from our Summer 2020 Series: antiracism_week1
We will post any PowerPoint presentations, links, or extra material here. If you can’t find something or if something is missing, please let us know!