This week we are invited to reflect on our life journey through the lens of race, with particular attention to “turning points” and formative experiences.

We recommend reading the Prompts and Practices for Module 2 for reflection alongside or even before the materials below.

1) “My people:” heritage and stories

Where are you from? Where are you really from? This is a question often asked of people of color — sometimes in ways that connect, and other times far less so. In this module, we ask this question of ourselves, as white people. Below are some reflections from white people about where they are from and what kinds of racial conditioning they experienced. It’s possible that you will not relate to either story, and that’s ok! We share them simply to help spark our own reflection.

What was not said? Lessons my mother could not teach me - Chap 1 Excerpt from the book Waking Up White, and Finding Myself in the Story of Race by Debby Irving (2014). (4 pages).

What have you given up? an interview of Zen priest Greg Kosen Snyder on growing up Pennsylvania Dutch, assimilation, intimacy, and power, 2018. Source: White Awake.

(estimated time: 30-40 min)

2) Personal histories of race

What is your personal history of race? Exploring racial autobiographies and formative experience , below are some testimonials from white folks that might help spark reflection.

Race versus Class (ch. 3) and Optimism (ch. 4) from the book Waking Up White, and Finding Myself in the Story of Race by Debby Irving (2014). This is not a theoretical article. It’s a personal reflection within the authors’s memoire. (10 pages)

White Men: Time to Discover Your Cultural Blind Spots by Michael Welp. This is a talk by an experienced facilitator who works with groups of white men (17 min).

Memories and Turning Points: sharings from the team (video). Three members of the team offer personal reflections and stories about their racial conditioning. Watch as little or as much as you find helpful…

(estimated time: 45-75 min)

3) Talking about (our) race

We invite you to spend 10-15 min listening to white people taking about their racial identity and formative experiences of being white.

Note: These videos feature only US Americans, which of course limiting. These testimonials are nevertheless wide ranging in terms of people’s backgrounds, class, gender, sexualities, and views about race. Look for connection or consider them a jumping off point to your own personal reflection.

A Conversation With White People on Race - New York Times Docu Series, 2015 (video - 6 minutes)

Facing Whiteness - Each video interview on this page is 2-3 min long. We invite you to watch at least 4 different ones, randomly, and as many more as you might be inclined. This resource is the fruit of an interdisciplinary collaboration between the Interdisciplinary Center for Innovative Theory and Empirics (INCITE) at Columbia University and the documentarian Whitney Dow, creator of the “Whiteness Project.”

=> As you watch these videos, we invite you to notice sensations, gut reactions, emotions and thoughts. Remember these are human beings trying to do something most find awkward, if not quite hard: talking about their racial identity as white people. This is meant to stimulate your own personal reflection. You are not being asked to identify with any of them in any particular way.

(est. 15-20 min)