Research Guides: Racial Justice Resources for Activists, Advocates &amp; Allies: Facilitating conversations about race

How to use this guide: Facilitating conversations about race

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Discussions on race are very difficult to facilitate for educators, activists and allies alike These resources help to explain how to have respectful, constructive conversations about the topic of race and how to identify and manage common roadblocks.

"Constructive dialogues on race have been proposed as a means to heal racial and ethnic divides, reduce prejudice and misinformation, increase racial literacy, and foster improved race relations. Studies on the psychology of racial dialogues indicate social and academic norms that dictate against race talk between White Americans and persons of color: (a) the politeness protocol, (b) the academic protocol, and (c) the color-blind protocol. These protocols discourage race talk and allow society to enter into a conspiracy of silence regarding the detrimental impact oppression plays on persons of color. Facilitating difficult dialogues on race requires educators to recognize what makes such discussions difficult. For people of color, engaging in race talk exposes them to microaggressions that invalidate and assail their racial/ethnic identities. For Whites, honest discussions are impeded by fears of appearing racist, of realizing their racism, of acknowledging White privilege, and of taking responsibility to combat racism." - Derald Wing Sue

Facilitating conversations about race web resources

9 Ways We Can Make Social Justice Movements Less Elitist and More Accessible
In my first year of college, I stopped calling myself an activist. It took attending just a few meetings of the campus queer group for me to realize that I didn’t fit in with everyone else. Despite that the fact that I was definitely queer – a pre-transition trans woman at the time – I could tell immediately that I wasn’t “queer enough” to fight for social justice alongside these university-educated revolutionaries who spoke with such confidence and rolled their eyes every time I opened my mouth. Six years, two degrees, one gender transition, and a bunch of published Internet rants later, I’m able to see that my feelings about those early forays into social justice weren’t so much about my personal capacity or value as they were about exclusion and accessibility.
10 Ways Your Social Justice Work Might Be Inaccessible and Elitist — And Why That’s a Problem
It’s comforting not to have to constantly explain yourself and your work. It’s beautiful to learn from and be around folks who understand ideas like microaggressions, gaslighting, white fragility, and all the other odd terms that describe the myriad, important, and insidious ways oppression operates. But some of those ways are too insidious to recognize even within these spaces. Some are, in fact, unique to these spaces. Some oppressions are fostered by the very things supposedly set up to help justice spaces thrive. Inadvertently, they create power structures mirroring those they’re working to address.
Beginning Courageous Conversations about Race (book excerpt)
This essay offers educators guidelines for more successful interracial dialogue about crucial issues with both students and colleagues. We call these
guidelines the "Four Agreements of Courageous Conversation," which help create the conditions for safe exploration and profound learning for all.
Building Racial Awareness and Insight through Dialogue and Education (BRIDGE)
Meet the female faculty members at UC working to challenge racist behaviors and build friendships: 'I'm opening up my mind and my heart and my pain'
Communication Tools: Using "I- Statements" When Making Requests in Relationships
By using “I-statements”, you take responsibility for how you feel, think and need. These statements require that you understand your needs and preferences, confidently explain the situation from your perspective, and make an action-oriented request. As a receiver, hearing “I-Statements” sheds light on the ways in which one’s actions have impacted the speaker. “I-Statements” provides insights into the speaker’s feelings and thoughts, invites the receiver to empathize with the speaker, and opens the possibility for dialogue.
Disarming racial microaggressions: Microintervention strategies for targets, White allies, and bystanders.
This article introduces a new strategic framework developed for addressing microaggressions that moves beyond coping and survival to concrete action steps and dialogues that targets, allies, and bystanders can perform (microinterventions).

Facilitating Difficult Race Discussions: Five Ineffective Strategies and Five Successful Strategies (Derald Wing Sue)

Studies indicate that instructors who have not developed a good sense of who they are as racial and cultural beings tend to use ineffective race talk strategies. These behaviors generally lead to negative outcomes in race talk but are of value in demonstrating what not to do and revealing possible solutions

1. Understand your racial/cultural identity
2. Acknowledge and be open to admitting your racial biases
3. Validate and facilitate discussion of feelings
4. Control the process, not the content, of race talk
5. Validate, encourage, and express admiration and appreciation to participants who speak when it feels unsafe to do so

Guide to Respectful Conversations
The first step to eliminating racism and inequality is to talk about it openly and honestly, which you’re about to do. Yet, talking about racial inequality can be challenging. People will have different reactions to the difficult conversations you’ll be facilitating. Know that being uncomfortable isn’t always a bad thing, especially if you’re used to feeling comfortable. Your goal as the host should be to create a space in which individuals can express and listen to each other's lived experiences and where both their experience and someone else's are incorporated into a larger communal narrative. Here are some suggestions about how to create that space.
A Guide to Responding to Microaggressions (Kevin L. Nadal)
The purpose of this article is twofold: (1) to discuss how different types of microaggressions affect people’s lives, and (2) to provide a hands-on guide to strategies, approaches, and intervention
List of Courageous Conversations Agreements and Conditions
This exercise is a review of the four agreements, and six conditions of Courageous Conversations
Race Talk: The Psychology of Racial Dialogues
Facilitating difficult dialogues on race requires educators to recognize what makes such discussions difficult. For people of color, engaging in race talk exposes them to microaggressions that invalidate and assail their racial/ethnic identities. For Whites, honest discussions are impeded by fears of appearing racist, of realizing their racism, of acknowledging White privilege, and of taking responsibility to combat racism.
Racial Trauma: Theory, Research, and Healing (Special Issue of the American Psychologist:)
Racial trauma, a form of race-based stress, refers to People of Color and Indigenous individuals’ (POCI) reactions to dangerous events and real or perceived experiences of racial discrimination. Such experiences may include threats of harm and injury, humiliating and shaming events, and witnessing racial discrimination toward other POCI. Although similar to posttraumatic stress disorder, racial trauma is unique in that it involves ongoing individual and collective injuries due to exposure and reexposure to race-based stress. The articles in this special issue introduce new conceptual approaches, research, and healing models to challenge racial trauma. The authors encourage psychologists to develop culturally informed healing modalities and methodologically sophisticated research and urge the inclusion of public policy interventions in the area of racial trauma.
Talking about racial inequality at work is difficult—here are tips to do it thoughtfully
Be prepared to understand how your own experience, because of your race and background, will shape what you bring to and take from the conversation. Li says individuals have their own responses to racial trauma, which can range from not knowing what to do to exhibiting defensiveness and entitlement.

Cultural competence for allies

Bias
Bias is a preference in favor of, or against a person, group of people, or thing. These initial human reactions, which are often unconscious, are rooted in inaccurate information or reason and are potentially harmful. Biases are also part of being human. Once we know and accept we have bias, we can begin to recognize our own patterns of thinking. With awareness and a conscious effort, we have the power to change how we think and to challenge the negative or harmful biases within ourselves.(SI)
How Tone Policing Is Used to Silence Black Women
Tone policing often relies on an argument that a person must be able to address issues in a calm, rational, detached way. Of course, if you are not personally affected by a particular topic, it is much easier to be levelheaded about it. Demanding that others who are personally affected be just as calm as you are is a way to shut down conversation. Being aware of tone policing is the first step in ending this tactic of oppression. You can then speak out against it when you see it — and be conscious to not use it in your own life.
Microaggressions & Racial Gaslighting
Resources to help understand, identify and reduce the harm inflicted by these behaviors.
-"Microaggressions are the everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target persons based solely upon their marginalized group membership. In many cases, these hidden messages may invalidate the group identity or experiential reality of target persons, demean them on a personal or group level, communicate they are lesser human beings, suggest they do not belong with the majority group, threaten and intimidate, or relegate them to inferior status and treatment." (Derald Wing Sue)
-Racial gaslighting (v) The political, social, economic and cultural process that perpetuates and normalizes a white supremacist reality through pathologizing those who resist. Racial spectacle (n) Narratives that obfuscate the existence of a white supremacist state power structure. (Davis & Ernst)
Righteous Anger VS Entitled Anger
Righteous anger is an anger that is rooted in love. It comes to heal, correct, and release anything that is not love. It comes to inform. It is disruptive and direct without apology. It does not seek to take. Heeding your righteous anger is an important initiation that will allow you to discover what was always within you. It will bring you this gift, and then it will ask you to protect it. Righteous anger is a lifelong friend and teacher. It will transform you if you let it.

Facilitating conversations about race books

The conversation : how seeking and speaking the truth about racism can radically transform individuals and organizations : a science-based approach by Robert Livingston
Call Number: LANGSAM Stacks HT1521 .L58 2021
ISBN: 9780593238561
Publication Date: 2021-02-02
In The Conversation, Livingston distills this knowledge and experience into an eye-opening immersion in the science of racism and bias. Drawing on examples from pop culture and his own life experience, Livingston, with clarity and wit, explores the root causes of racism, the factors that explain why some people care about it and others do not, and the most promising paths toward profound and sustainable progress, all while inviting readers to challenge their assumptions. Social change requires social exchange. Founded on principles of psychology, sociology, management, and behavioral economics, The Conversation is a road map for uprooting entrenched biases and sharing candid, fact-based perspectives on race that will lead to increased awareness, empathy, and action.
Courageous Conversations about Race by Curtis W. Linton (Editor); Glenn E. Singleton (Editor)
Call Number: LANGSAM Stacks LC213.2 .S58 2006
ISBN: 0761988777
Publication Date: 2005-11-18
This work, while exploring how race affects all educators, declares that we need to have engaged, sustained, and deep conversations about race in order to understand students and the achievement gap. Singleton calls this process "courageous conversations." Through these "courageous conversations," educators can learn how to redesign curriculum and create community and true equity. Action steps to close the achievement gap include creating an equity team and collaborative action research. The final chapter presents a systemwide plan for transforming schools and districts, including activities, exercises, and checklists for central office administrators, principals, and teachers.
The Emperor Has No Clothes by Tema Okun
Call Number: OhioLINK
ISBN: 9781617351044
Publication Date: 2010-08-01
offers theoretical grounding and practical approaches for leaders and teachers interested in effectively addressing racism and other oppressive constructs. The book draws both on the author's extensive experience teaching about race and racism in classroom and community settings and from the theory and practice of a wide range of educators, activists, and researchers committed to social justice.
Not Light, but Fire by Matthew R. Kay
ISBN: 9781625310996
Publication Date: 2018-07-09
Do you feel prepared to initiate and facilitate meaningful, productive dialogues about race in your classroom? Are you looking for practical strategies to engage with your students? Inspired by Frederick Douglass's abolitionist call to action, “it is not light that is needed, but fire”
Race matters by Cornel West.
Call Number: Connect to resource EBSCOhost (OhioLINK access limited to 1 user at a time. Try again later if not working.)
ISBN: 9780807009048
Publication Date: 1993
Cornel West is at the forefront of thinking about race. In Race Matters he addresses a range of issues, from the crisis in black leadership and the myths surrounding black sexuality to affirmative action, the new black conservatism, and the strained relations between Jews and African Americans. He never hesitates to confront the prejudices of all his readers or wavers in his insistence that they share a common destiny.
Race talk and the conspiracy of silence : understanding and facilitating difficult dialogues on race by Derald Wing Sue
Call Number: OhioLINK
ISBN: 9781119241980
Publication Date: 2016-02-01
Turn Uncomfortable Conversations into Meaningful Dialogue If you believe that talking about race is impolite, or that "colorblindness" is the preferred approach, you must read this book. Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence debunks the most pervasive myths using evidence, easy-to-understand examples, and practical tools. This significant work answers all your questions about discussing race by covering: Characteristics of typical, unproductive conversations on race Tacit and explicit social rules related to talking about racial issues Race-specific difficulties and misconceptions regarding race talk Concrete advice for educators and parents on approaching race in a new way "His insistence on the need to press through resistance to have difficult conversations about race is a helpful corrective for a society that prefers to remain silent about these issues
So You Want to Talk about Race by Ijeoma Oluo
Call Number: LANGSAM Cohen E184.A1 O454 2018
ISBN: 9781580056779
Publication Date: 2018-01-16
A current, constructive, and actionable exploration of today's racial landscape, offering straightforward clarity that readers of all races need to contribute to the dismantling of the racial divide. In So You Want to Talk About Race, Editor at Large of The Establishment, Ijeoma Oluo offers a contemporary, accessible take on the racial landscape in America, addressing head-on such issues as privilege, police brutality, intersectionality, micro-aggressions, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the "N" word. Perfectly positioned to bridge the gap between people of color and white Americans struggling with race complexities, Oluo answers the questions readers don't dare ask, and explains the concepts that continue to elude everyday Americans.
Speaking of Race by Patricia Roberts-Miller
Call Number: LANGSAM Cohen HT1521 .R6255 2021
ISBN: 9781615197323
Publication Date: 2021-01-12
The author explains why the subject is a "third rail" and how we can do better: We can acknowledge that, in a racist society, racism is not the sole provenance of "bad people." We can focus on the harm it causes rather than the intent of offenders. And, when someone illuminates our own racist blind spots, we can take it not as a criticism, but as a kindness--and an opportunity to learn and to become less racist ourselves.
Towards the "other America" : anti-racist resources for White people taking action for Black Lives Matter by Chris Crass
Call Number: OhioLINK
ISBN: 9780827237094
Publication Date: 2015-12-01
As the Black Lives Matter movement has taken to the streets and courageous Black activists around the country have shaken the racist foundations of the country, there has been a groundswell of anti-racist action in white communities. With millions of white people questioning their assumptions about race, longtime and new white anti-racists have mobilized to declare "White Silence = Consent." Towards the "Other America": Anti-Racist Resources for White People Taking Action for Black Lives Matter is a call to action to end white silence and a manual on how to do it
What Truth Sounds Like by Michael Eric Dyson
Call Number: LANGSAM Cohen E185.61 .D996 2018
ISBN: 9781250199416
Publication Date: 2018-06-05
Kennedy walked away from the nearly three-hour meeting angry--that the black folk assembled didn't understand politics, that they weren't as easy to talk to as Martin Luther King, that they were more interested in witness than policy. Every big argument about race that persists to this day got a hearing in that room. Dyson believes we need a return to that discussion, talking across the chasm of color, with hope as our guide
Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? by Beverly Daniel Tatum
ISBN: 9780465003969
Publication Date: 2003-01-17
Walk into any racially mixed high school and you will see Black, White, and Latino youth clustered in their own groups. Is this self-segregation a problem to address or a coping strategy? Beverly Daniel Tatum, a renowned authority on the psychology of racism, argues that straight talk about our racial identities is essential if we are serious about enabling communication across racial and ethnic divides.
These topics have only become more urgent as the national conversation about race is increasingly acrimonious. This fully revised edition is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the dynamics of race in America.