Dear colleagues:

One year ago we had not heard of COVID-19, and there is reason to believe that one year from now, for most of us on this list, this crisis will have passed. For now, though, everything related to COVID-19 seems to fall squarely in the Urgent AND Important box. It will be a difficult year.

But we’ve known about racism forever and, while current events place anti-racism in Urgent AND Important, history tells us that there is a good chance we will make limited progress and then our attention will move on. 

There’s an opportunity in this moment to do something different. 

In an attempt to contribute to sustainable anti-racism work, we are piloting an anti-racism study group. Our goals are to create a learning community where people who identify as white can:

• further explore both the nation’s and their own history regarding race,

• increase competency and comfort engaging in conversations about race, and 

• commit to anti-racist practices.

We are each at different places in our journey and this study group is a way for each of us to learn more and push ourselves forward.

We will take advantage of the wealth of multi-media resources available to further our education and as prompts for self-reflection and challenging conversation. 

Participation:  We are expressly inviting people who identify as white as we believe we have particular work to do. Participants will be asked to commit to attending six sessions and pre-work will be required for each session. The group will be filled first-come, first-served, up to a maximum of nine participants. 

Application: Those interested are invited to complete an application by July 21 letting us know about your interests and prior experience. 

Schedule: The group will meet via Zoom, 11-12:30pm EDT for six sessions every other Thursday beginning Aug 6.

Fee: We will not charge a fee for this study group. However, we will ask participants to make what they consider an appropriate contribution to one of the anti-racism organizations listed on the application.

Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions. We look forward to engaging in this learning process with you.

Sincerely,
Francine and Kande