WORKSHOP 16--PUTTING INTO ACTION OUR CULTURAL COMPETENCY

 

IN THIS SESSION WE FOCUSED ON HOW TO LIVE MULTICULTURALLY, CREATING POLICIES WITHIN THE FELLOWSHIP, AND BEING OPEN TO CHANGE.  

PARTICIPANTS GAVE THE FOLLOWING INSIGHTFUL FEEDBACK:                  

• I have learned that there are various forms of integration, such as whether the group is more like a soup or a salad.

• There are many levels of cultural competency within our group that I think is most likely a result of our life experiences.  I am curious about almost everything and love learning.

• I am developing more awareness & sensitivity to other traits, customs, traditions that may surprise me.

• I am learning how to prepare for the unexpected such as a food that includes items not previously considered, personal qualities such as tattoos, clothing that seems extreme or “inappropriate.”

• The startle response is involuntary, or so it seems, so how do we behave after being startled?

• I’m learning that asking questions of newcomers can be off putting. Reading the “Multicultural Welcome: A Resource for Greeters in Unitarian Universalist Congregations” for ideas on how to be truly welcoming to all would be helpful.  I think this resource might be helpful to our membership teams.

• Ideas that I find creative: ways of engaging others to bring multiculturalism to the congregation.

• I’m curious about engaging multicultural communities.  How do you express interest or curiosity without stepping over the line to being nosy?

• How does one step into or stop a conversation that is socially insensitive?

• I am learning that we are earnest about taking action steps, but we are in different learning places that I find exciting.

• I want the facilitators to know that you are doing a really great job distilling this curriculum in usable ways.

• I am learning and developing a love of cultural diversity, it takes time and I need to take personal responsibility for this.

• How do we get more people involved in this quest?

• How do we get people to take personal responsibility towards healing from racism?

• I’m learning that developing multicultural competency is an ongoing, lifelong process.

• I’m curious about how well we can share this info with the congregation and how receptive they will be.                                                                                                                                                  

WORKSHOP 15--HISTORICAL AND CURRENT ISSUES AROUND RACIAL INCLUSION AND EXCLUSION

Workshop 15 is really about Unitarian Universalism in general and how the history of several encounters and disagreements was addressed.  We discussed the early history of the big split between white and non-white Unitarian Universalists in the 60s and 70s which resulted in large numbers of resignations on the part of people of color.  It was a tragic!  The second incident was at the 2005 Fort Worth General Assembly when young black people were mistaken for waiters and/or bell hops by other Unitarian Universalists.  One group discussed the historical lessons and another group discussed the more recent event. We asked participants to structure their discussion around three questions: 1) what’s your assessment of how these incidents were handled?  2) How would you have handled the incidents?  3) Could something like that happen at our Fellowship? The general consensus was that the Fort Worth incident should have been discussed immediately because it would have been a wonderful learning opportunity.  It was addressed shortly thereafter and precautions have been put in place to prevent such happenings again.  Further, in discussing if such things could happen at our Fellowship, many agreed that it has already happened; particularly in the way we greet newcomers who are non-white.  We hope to work with the Membership committee in order to facilitate training for Greeters and others interested in visitors to our Fellowship.

Summary of feedback to the session:

1.  One person thought that we should not be rehashing old stuff.

2.  Several people liked the idea that we were finally addressing these issues at our Fellowship.

3.  One person liked the fact that the time constraints were somewhat relaxed.

4.  One person thought the leadership was good but too unstructured.

WORKSHOP 14-YEAR TWO-MULTICULTURAL COMPETENCE

Our first session since the summer break and Beginning Year two of Building the World We Dream About

After sharing what our first year of workshops has meant to each of us, we discussed thoughts that have come to us about this work over the summer break.  Focusing on Multicultural Competence we shared in small groups the differences and similarities among us using our own personal identity maps.  At the end of our two hours together members gave thoughtful feedback:

What did you find compelling from today's workshop?

• I liked the fact that the group makeup has continuity from last year.
• I liked the identity map sharing, it is a helpful communication tool for teaching listening and learning.  I felt that it might have worked at the beginning of our time together, too.
• I felt the definitions of cultural competency and the skills associated with it were important and the reading for today by Kat Liu was compelling and inciteful.
• What do we as Unitarian Universalists need to do to help ourselves and our congregation to embrace multicultural openness?
• It was compelling to observe the key questions asked today, such as "What do we do to address people on the margins?"

Do you have any concerns or puzzlements from today?

• How will we involve the folks from the Long Range Planning committee & the Growth Initiative group and the Board in the ideas that we are learning?
• How will we put ourselves in situations this week that push us outside our comfort zone?
• I am thinking about the various ways that Unitarian Universalists might be viewed by a variety of types of people, we may be "off-putting" to some.
• We may not appeal to diverse groups.  We need to develop competencies in different cultures and learn how they may veiw us before we can embrace them.
• Some religions may appeal more to young people than others, I find that fascinating.

Do you have any suggestions for our group and coming workshop sessions?

• No, this is well done just like last year, thank you!
• The more people in the congregation we can get "on board" the better we will do.
• I would like us to facilitate events for the wider congregation, such as maybe showing the Tim Wise video with discussion afterward and other events such as this.
• I would like us to learn more about the demographics of the local area, about Latinos and African Americans.

Workshop 11: The Experience of Whiteness from Others Point of View

March 26, 2011

This workshop introduced perspectives on "Whiteness" from people who belong to marginalized racial/ethnic identity groups.

***
We obviously have to talk about racism, White privilege and the topics we covered within the “greater congregation;” having it out in the open will give us the opportunity to become more compassionate in our dealings with each other.

***
The big question that came from our group today was, again, where do we go from here in communicating with the congregation what we have learned this year. Today we grappled with the idea that Whites still do not see the privilege they have.

***
Today was interesting but I wish there was more time for discussion about how to proceed in the congregation. Acknowledging with all humility that, we who are white, have within us some degree of racism—it is impossible to grow up in this society without absorbing some racist ideology. But, we fight against it, knowing how it hurts us as well as people of color, so I say to the congregation, JOIN THIS STRUGGLE.

***
Developing one’s own identity can be a challenge for anyone. Society impresses its concepts on individuals and groups.  It is the right of each person to create or develop his/her own self identity.  All of us need to learn to respect this right in others even as we desire and expect respect for ourselves.

***
This session was especially worthwhile and the study materials were excellent. The group discussion was also helpful.

***
The four articles have a common thread of personal and group struggle with identity and race. It was surprising to me how much I have had experiences in my life with people dealing with similar issues.  It was helpful that one group member reminded me that “one does what you can in your own sphere of influence—and hopefully see results.

***
This was a good session—I think folks are beginning to open up more.

***
In this session we allowed more time for discussion which may have led to a greater depth and resulting in more questions than answers. Comparing the concept of the melting pot with the concept of stone soup—that is relishing differences rather than fearing them and wanting to make those differences go away.

***
We had thoughtful discussions on the readings that challenged our usual assumptions. We are learning how important self-identity is in terms of race and culture, it is a key learning.

Workshop 9--Whiteness

Workshop 9 Feedback—March 12 

WHAT WE FOCUSSED ON TODAY: WHITENESS

Why do most White people not see themselves as having a race?  In part, race obliviousness is the natural consequence of being in the driver’s seat.  For most Whites, race—or more precisely, their own race—is simply part of the unseen, unproblematic background.

Here is the feedback from our workshop focused on Whiteness:

The concept of whiteness and its qualities and consequences is still more complicated and harder to grasp than might have been expected at this late stage.  It’s not so easy.

Excellent workshop—pace and different exercises generated deeper discussions, I felt.  I think we are grasping whiteness and its impact on everyone’s life in America.

Today stressed out.  I feel we do a lot of speaking for others when we should speak for ourselves—I speak for me.  We can focus on one aspect to come up with a desired discussion and comments of another aspect when we could be focused upon getting to a different aspect.  I wondered about having guests, the use of the sound system and the use of mikes.  I felt lacking. 

I think that we dug deeper into whiteness but people are still resistant to facing it.  The PowerPoint and film clip were effective except for the difficulty with the sound. 

I get some sort of insight from every one of these sessions, and this was no exception.

SESSION EIGHT--POWER AT WORK IN OUR CONGREGATION

In this workshop we worked to develop our skills in identifying visible and invisible ways congregational norms, culture, policies, and practices intentionally or unintentionally reinforce White privilege and dominant White culture while marginalizing People of Color and others marginalized by race or ethnicity.

Here is the feedback from our participants to this session:

Activity #1 : Effective in eliciting recognition of implicit racial attitudes & their deleterious impact on the in-group

Activity #2: I found it to be a bit “stacked” & constraining

Years of conscious addressing of race issues nevertheless did not dislodge stereotypes, fears, assumptions of privilege in some who spoke about their experiences. Suggests the hold prejudicial thoughts have on people.

It is always good to share personal stories and particularly useful to focus on experience we have had with “other” – those of color – experiences that help us recognize our early teachings and primal biases.

It is becoming clearer how being in a position of power cuts us off from relating in the here and now, relating to & understanding those who have grown up w/experiences vastly different from our own

Interesting. Confession good for the soul.

In our small group, we recognized the influence of parents, extended family, movies and TV on our early and often stereotypical impressions of people of color and how those messages affected our behavior as we grew up.

Enjoyed the casting game – a light way to recognize our ingrained stereotypes.

Thought provoking.

The e-mailed handout was really thought provoking. In class groups, we learned how some people had been insulated from other races growing up. The exercise about casting was illuminating.

The casting director exercise was quick and quite revealing.

It was pleasant to have plenty of time to have the discussion exercise. Naming the emotion associated with a painful racial experience provides another step towards healing.

Today’s session was helpful in bringing to light our unconscious prejudice.

Very enlightening to see ourselves in this light, hopefully to understand why we behave as we do.  Excellent !!

SESSION SEVEN--GOING DEEPER

COMMENTS FROM SESSION 7 BtWWDA

January 29, 2011- In this session, we chose to look at white privilege in our congregation and how institutional racism might exist, even if we aren't aware of it.   

FEEDBACK FROM PARTICIPANTS

My favorite part was to sing and move.  Should we consider beginning this way?  I do appreciate the use of the projection screen so visuals are presented… very helpful!  Looking at our own congregation is a challenge and quite interesting!  Thank you Sue and Bob!

An excellent session.  We’ve turned a corner to a place of more openness in our questions and sharing.  We’re feeling some important bonding.  It’s becoming the “training we dream about.”  Looking forward to more.

I am pleased to be a part of serious discussions that allow naming and reframing racism in a way that allow healing.

I felt we moved closer to the name it and deal with it.  Much closer to the core of the issues.

We defined issues and then dealt with it and then reframed it.  All four groups came up with “real” issues, issues that exist in real life and proposed very practical ways of dealing with them.  This session was truly pertinent to the circumstances of my life.

I felt handicapped and at a loss reading the assumptions because I missed a session and misunderstood where they came from.  Many are not assumptions I made.

These sessions may really help this congregation to do better re race relations.  However, I really believe that UUFCC does a pretty good job already.  At least in comparison to many groups.  I wasn’t originally convinced that all this would change much or be very valuable.  Fortunately, I think it is both.

All people are precious – white people lose their humanity when they act out racism.  Undoing racism is not easy but a most worthy goal.  Let’s begin the work with honesty and without rancor.  We are off to a great start.

Empathy!  Loved the song.  Ted spoke of connections and where we go from here.

Good session.  Seemed to go a little deeper.  More openness.

I feel that this session really helped us go deeper into the concept of white privilege and how it is manifested in our congregation.

We moved from behaving more purely intellectually engaged to being more emotionally involved.

I wonder if our black members get sick and tired of being the example continually used. How would I feel if I were 1 of 3 whites in a black dominated fellowship and whites were the focus all the time.

Navigating Unearned Privilege

SESSION SIX—UNEARNED PRIVILEGE

In preparation for this session and being Martin Luther King’s birth weekend, we decided to send by email, before this session, the Letter from the Birmingham Jail, which he wrote in 1963.  This brilliant and powerful letter is quite relevant to the current discussion of white privilege.  We began our session with a check-in following the song: You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught, from South Pacific.  Then we continued with our modified session six curriculum by showing a video compiled from YouTube videos discussing white privilege.  Using multi-media brought a vibrant energy to our experience together.  We designed the assignment for our activity and asked each group to come up with a short skit supporting the continuation of white privilege.   The reactions to this activity were powerful.  Here is the feedback from this session from the members of the class.

It is too easy to argue for patience.  [Those in power say] “things are changing, just wait, we’re making progress, don’t rock the boat.”  But why should anyone be patient when it is their humanness that is being denied.

A very stimulating and eye popping discussion and realization of the faults that exist, without being aware of the hurt that they cause.

Frustrating, but inspiring.  Makes me realize that we have come a long way.

COMPLICATED.  A useful exercise in introspection, trying to gain insight into the various perspectives to the problem.

I liked the exercise and thought it was thought provoking for the participants.  I wished we’d had some time to discuss the Letter from Birmingham Jail at greater length.  I also liked the video presentation.

This is all like peeling an onion.  We have to persist in peeling away the layers.  It is important that participants not feel any personal guilt or shame.  When we can just put it out there we can then move on.

The subtle unreasonableness of ostensibly reasonable arguments to justify the status quo and to deny forward movement in reducing racism, and prejudices and discrimination is striking once it is revealed for what it is.

I was reminded about how far we have come but also how far we have to go.  Pressure must be constant to ever get to equality.

Examples from our history of how white privilege was used to maintain the status quo.  I had forgotten how reasonable some of those arguments used to sound.  Somebody used the term “insidious.”  Good call.

Through our groups discussion I moved to a somewhat middle ground after learning previously in US history we have already done the very thing I was, fairly vehemently, opposed to.  I feel our current US situation is somewhat different from the past, but I left the session unsettled and thoughtful.

The exercises and presentations addressed important issues and showed the insidiousness of white privilege—again, I would have liked another 15-20 minutes of reflective talk in the whole group.  How do we effectively combat these ideas?

An inspiring and fruitful session.  I loved the small-group discussion.  All in all, thought, I am thrilled and delighted by this opportunity to come together with others to make conscious and to address racial issues in our lives.  A wonderful group of people.

The skits were challenging and the results were scary in some ways.  It seemed much easier to justify and condemn privilege than to figure out how to dismantle it.

Today’s discussion left me feeling frustrated.  It was hard to pretend to act out situations/scenarios for which I STILL have negative feelings.  Sometimes I suppose I have just chosen to ignore much. 

There’s a lot to continue to think about.  I found it awkward to voice things that I knew were definitely wrong.  I’m not black, but I know that I’ve been a part of it in the past out of ignorance.  I’ll take these thoughts home to ponder.