Joce Ryder
Listening to Racism
​Create the Anti-Racist Team You Want To See in the World
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Are you a white person who wants to do more to end racism? Have you taken classes, read books and feel as though there must be more you can do? Have you ever noticed a white person treating a Black, Indigenous, Person of Color or other marginalized person in a way that made you cringe, yet you didn’t quite understand why or what you were witnessing?
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The Listening to Racism Workshop provides a community in which to practice noticing and stopping your racist thoughts, assumptions, attitudes, and actions. Becoming aware of our participation in white supremacy can be scary and painful. Yet, when we bring these thoughts to the light of empathetic community support, we can open up and change, maintaining our enthusiasm and stamina together.
​Empathy and Equity: The New Must-Have Work-Community Skills
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What is a business or organization if not a community of people with shared goals?
Because our culture is steeped in the inequities of white supremacy, so, too, are our communication habits. Unlearning the subtle, and not-so-subtle, superiorities of white supremacist communication builds equity across all communication channels, and leads to greater understanding and team efficacy. We do this by building empathy.
Empathy building supports equity, and leads to discussions where everyone shares information and experience—where no one is wrong in a discussion, but simply learning. This is how empathy builds equity: when everyone feels the psychological safety of supported self-expression, they feel freer to experiment, and can confidently expand their contributions to business and organizational goals, and a peak-functioning community.
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Accountability: Bolstering Esteem, Creativity and Productivity
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Most people, when they realize they have been doing harm, want to stop harming and change their assumptions, attitudes and actions. That’s why the accountability piece of Listening to Racism is such an important aspect of noticing and stopping white-supremacist behavior. It’s also why this work reaches beyond the goals of an equitable, inclusive workplace.
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Being accountable to one’s community is often a point of pride, of taking responsibility for harms done and making change. Haven’t you felt better about yourself when you’ve taken such action? You know you’ve done the right thing, that you’ve made your corner or the world a better place. Feeling good about oneself bolsters esteem, which in turn bolsters creativity and productivity.
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Community Learning: This is a No-Shame Zone!
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Because we've been non-consensually inculcated into an oppressive system we didn't create, we won't be spending any time shaming ourselves. Instead, we’ll focus on our collective decision to take new anti-racist, anti-white supremacist action.
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Details
Program Creator Facilitator: Jocelyn Ryder
Workshop size: Maximum 16 people. We will add workshops to accommodate more than 16 participants.
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**Zoom classes are recorded so the facilitator can receive feedback from other anti-racism, anti-white supremacy facilitators and education partners. By participating in this online workshop, you acknowledge and agree to being recorded.**
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To schedule classes and get more information, please email listeningtoracism@gmail.com or use the contact form below.
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