What to expect from the Whiteness Within

​​​​​​​This workshop uses a variety of activities, including pre-session prep (reading, writing, reflection), whole-room learning, small-group breakout discussions, theatre-based games with simple gestures and physical image creation, and quiet reflection.

For Teams.... 

Why is undoing racism urgent for my field or business? What can I do, and what can we do, to achieve anti-racist business practices?

​​The purpose of The Whiteness Within for Teams is to help individuals within an organization examine ways in which they personally uphold white supremacy culture without realizing it, and to set the organization on a path toward cultural competency where an authentic diversity of perspective can thrive within the business’s day-to-day operations.

Register for this workshop

• Approximately 1.5 hours pre-workshop planning sessions
• Approximately 1.5 hours individual preparation (homework)
• A six-hour workshop, divided over three days
• Post-workshop interviews (one-on-one, 20 minutes) with each staff and leadership team member who attended
• $3,000 for up to 25 attendees

When possible, we recommend that your team seek to take this workshop in partnership with other organizations in your field.

For individuals...​

How does white supremacy culture show up in my life? How can I confront and challenge those behaviors safely and constructively?

The purpose of The Whiteness Within for Individuals is to unearth and recognize our own conditioning and complicitness in perpetuating white supremacy culture, and to imagine new ways to move forward in our day-to-day interactions without it.

• A four-hour workshop, divided over two days
• Available to individuals who are not signing up as part of a workplace or organization
• $50 (sliding scale available)

All funds contributed for this workshop go directly toward (1) paying our BIPOC facilitators and administrators, (2) developing the workshop for future learners, and (3) supporting the work of Black Humboldt and the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde. White and white-passing facilitators willingly donate their time and energy to support this anti-racism work.

Sharing in a group setting.                   

     ​                The priority is to create a secure enough space to allow courageous sharing and growth.  Our breakout  rooms  are structured as affinity groups (meaning participants and facilitators share similar racial and ethnic backgrounds) to support safe, vulnerable and courageous self-reflection for all.

Why use movement and gestures in
workshops?

What we do with our bodies on a day-to-day basis becomes who we are. The converse is also true. If there's something in our lives we wish to change, we can use gesture and movement to help make that transformation.

What is white supremacy culture?

By "white supremacy culture," we mean the behaviors and attitudes that position "whiteness" as a default—the normal way to be—while dominating or disparaging other ways of being in so doing, whether on purpose or by accident. For more information follow this link:
https://www.whitesupremacyculture.info/?mc_cid=bf3b3d430c&mc_eid=1e1a8edde0

Theoretical Foundations

The Whiteness Within is based on the following work.

• “White Supremacy Culture” (Okun 2001)
• Culturally Responsive Teaching & The Brain (Hammond 2015)
• Courageous Conversations About Race (Singleton 2015)
• White Fragility (DiAngelo 2018)
• Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor (Saad 2020)
• Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents (Wilkerson 2020)
• “From Banks and Tanks to Cooperation and Caring” (Movement Generation Justice & Ecology Project 2016)
• Hip Hop Scholastics (Dr. Itoco Garcia)

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This workshop was created in early consultation with artist educator Dionná Fletcher Ndlovu.