[Peace-discuss] AWAREcare

[Joan Nelshoppen]

re:  10.  white privilege

There is a six week session on white privilege happening in our community
very soon.  The Unitarian Universalists are repeating their white privilege
study group, which was very successful last fall.  Anyone who is interested
would be very welcome to be a part of it.  The Unitarian Universalists are
very open and welcoming of all people  - of different religions and no
religions.  Here are the details:

Study group on whiteness, white privilege, and white racial attitudes

The enduring effects of slavery and racism continue to be one of the most
saddening and complex problems we face in our society. Based on studies in
psychology, it appears that a subtle form of prejudice is inherent in
everyone, and can be more positively characterized as attachment to the
family/tribe into which you are born. This attachment to your family
ultimately results in learning to favor and accept those people whom your
family accepts and disfavor those who are different. These attitudes are
effortlessly learned very early in life. In contrast, to unlearn this
prejudice takes a lot of effort, because it is almost invisible to those of
us in the in-group. Using current language, this in-group advantage for
Euro-Americans in US society is called "white privilege".

We would like to explore white privilege, the concept of "whiteness", and to
look at how white people may unintentionally participate in and almost
always benefit from the hidden racial structure of society. This would be a
reading and discussion group combined with guest speakers and video tape
presentations. We will meet on six consecutive Tuesday evenings at the
church (Children's Chapel) from 7:30-9pm, starting on February 8. If you
would like to be included, please email either Jim Hannum
(jwhannum at uiuc.edu ) or Elaine Gehrmann (gehrmanns at aol.com )

I hope some of you might join in or at least get more information.   I heard
a lot of good things about the person running it last time (and this time as
well) and about the study session in general.  For more info, the person to
contact is Jim Hannum, address above.

Peace, Joan


   -----Original Message-----
  From: peace-discuss-bounces at lists.chambana.net
[mailto:peace-discuss-bounces at lists.chambana.net]On Behalf Of Al Kagan
  Sent: Sunday, January 23, 2005 9:43 PM
  To: Peace-Discuss
  Subject: [Peace-discuss] AWAREcare


  Thanks for all for a good discussion on these guidelines. I have made all
the changes and clarifications discussed by the AWAREcare group and the
larger AWARE meeting.


  AWARE Care Notes, Jan. 11, 2005, rev. Jan. 23, 2005

  The group included Carol, Al, Durl, Jan, Bob I., Janet, Randall, Rob, Dave
Berliner (briefly)


  1. Try new agenda order: News of the week, introductions, new ideas,
working group reports. Invite new people (only) to say why they have come
during their introductions, and see if they have possible agenda items.

  2. Develop handout and post card for new people giving basic info on AWARE
and how meetings work. New people can send the post card back with their
contact information and comments. Carol, Rob and Bob will work on this.

  3. Do educational segments about once a month or as needed. These replace
the new ideas section of the agenda for those meetings. Topics will be
approved at AWARE meetings.

  4. Bring snacks to meetings. A sign-up sheet was sent around at the Jan.
23rd meeting.

  5. Working groups are encouraged to post their updates to the listserv.

  6. Develop handout for facilitators giving the ground rules and
information that Durl provided at a recent meeting. Durl has already done
this and it was distributed for comments at the Jan. 23rd meeting.

  7. Develop a list of rotating pool of facilitators that either have
experience or want to get the experience. If no meeting facilitator
volunteers come forward for upcoming meetings, use the rotating list. We
began the list with names in the following order: Carol, Al, Randall, Bob,
and Durl. A sign-up sheet was sent around at the Jan. 23rd meeting.

  8. If at any time the facilitator should feel uncomfortable or wish to
withdraw, simply ask for a back-up facilitator to step forward. At that
point, the facilitation would be passed to the next person in the rotating
pool.

  9. Have once a month social events outside of meetings, such as pot lucks
or lunches. This can foster a sense of community and provide inspiration.
Jan and Durl will do the first one on February 25th.

  10. Set up an educational session on white privilege. Ask Cliff Thornton
from the group Efficacy, who will be in town for the Forgiveness Weekend,
Feb. 18-19. Danielle will schedule. If this does not work out, ask David
Roediger.







  Al Kagan
  Africana Unit, Room 328
  University of Illinois Library
  1408 W. Gregory Drive
  Urbana, IL 61820
  USA

  tel. 217-333-6519
  fax 217-333-2214
  akagan at uiuc.edu
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