Undoing Racism
Perhaps you are thinking, “This girl is delusional. You can’t undo racism.” Of course, you can’t. No one can. The title is kind of ironic: Whoever named it that knew what they were doing.
The Undoing Racism Workshop is facilitated by the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond. It’s a three-day workshop (Yes. Three days.) that investigates the origins of oppression and how we, as community organizers, can investigate our own systems of oppression and begin to dismantle them.
The first day of the workshop was treated as an introduction and a snippet of what the next two days were going to look like. We were in a large classroom in Engleman Hall on SCSU’s campus. Immediately, I saw people I didn’t expect to see. It was comforting, but nerve-wracking at the same time, because some of the participants were faculty members. I didn’t want to say the wrong thing and accidentally vocalize the problems of the organizations they work for. I didn’t want to lose my job that weekend.
After everyone got a few slices of pizza, we all sat down in a circle. The circle was big enough for all of us to see each other while we told and heard stories about where we came from. We spent most of our time creating a covenant, which is a word for ground rules. One of the presenters, Addys, mentioned creating a “liberating space” rather than a “safe space.” I really liked this concept because safe spaces are usually created to coddle the oppressors, which we surely did not do during that weekend. On this first day, we were only together for three hours, so the presenters didn’t want to dive deep into a topic with the short amount of time given.
For the next two days, the workshop took place in a seminar room in Connecticut Hall, the SCSU dining hall. In those two days, we were given so much knowledge that I wondered if I was ready to hear what I was being told. The presenters emphasized the importance in knowing the history of racism and systems of oppression. One thing about me is that I am not a history person. At ALL. Education spoiled history for me: I had to learn about the country’s great white leaders and how much the country despised Black people enough to enslave them. I learned the same information every year until I graduated high school. I wasn’t trying to hear any history. However, I learned the hard truth that history is important when it comes to trying to dismantle systems of oppression. It’s important to know how the systems were created in the first place.
In all my years of organizing, I didn’t take the time to reflect on why I organized and participated in rallies, forums, and protests. It wasn’t like I acted for no reason. I just didn’t have a lot of guidance when it came to figuring out the root of my frustration and naming the outcome I wanted.
Who was my audience going to be? What is the HISTORY behind this? What do you want the outcome to be? How can this be resolved? Who is this affecting? What are the alternatives?
These are all questions that I should’ve asked myself in my early years of organizing and social justice. I can say that I have accomplished a little bit. However, I could’ve accomplished more and made a bigger impact if I moved with more purpose.
Currently, these are the questions I ask myself when working on SHAWN. After this workshop, I have different motives for my role in the project. Before, I just knew that I wanted to help women who were affected by systems, like corrections, that they can’t control. The workshop helped me gain clarity (a word that was frequently used that weekend) about why I organize and why I fight to create a just society. The workshop helped me realize how specific my goals and motives should be for SHAWN. For example, I want to create a liberated space for women who were incarcerated to communicate their stories and make sure they are being heard. It’s important to create a space where women do not feel judged or feel like they must censor themselves to please an audience. In all my organizing and social justice projects, my main goal has been to uplift the voices of others. I was never the “star” or “leader” of my own events. The power came from the people.
Not only has the Undoing Racism workshop inspired me to reflect on my organizing for SHAWN, but it made me ponder about how I can start movements in other aspects of my life. Along with that, I was reassured by the other members of the workshop that I wouldn’t be alone if I were to start another movement.
I would recommend this workshop to everyone. This changed my life in so many ways and changed the way I go about life. Hopefully, this workshop is implemented into trainings for SCSU faculty, staff, and students. The information from the workshop is vital and is needed for anyone who considers organizing in their lifetime.
