Dignity Washington’s Board of Directors held a series of conversations associated with race, bias, and ally-ship. These sessions were a first step in challenging us to shift the practice of being “non-racist” to a position of “anti-racist” in our community. In these sessions, Board members were asked questions related to how we, as individuals and as a community, can become stronger voices in ending “white privilege” and in so doing, create a more equitable community and society for our Black and brown friends and neighbors.
Throughout these sessions, there was an opportunity for education and discussion of the ways we consciously and unconsciously enforce and reinforce white privilege within Dignity Washington and in our personal lives. The goal of these sessions was to equip us with tools necessary to participate in self-reflection, personal discernment, and growth toward proactively addressing and rectifying (often unrealized) bias in ourselves, our peers, and our community using restorative practices.
While the Board further discerns our next steps, we encourage all community members to view the recordings of past sessions (links below) and to join the Board for any upcoming sessions where we will discuss how we can be the community we have always aimed to be for our members, our community, and our city.
Session One Recording:
Resources:
- White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, Peggy McIntosh
- Goodness is not a Miracle Cure For Racism, Jessica DeBruin
Additional Things to Watch:
How Microaggressions Are Like Mosquito Bites
Whiteness: White Privilege and the Invisible Race
Race in America: Corporate Leadership (presented by the Washington Post)
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