4th Anniversary of Juneteenth as a “recognized federal Holiday” AND starting my 61st cycle around the sun.

It's been a few months since I’ve written for my own blog, and believe me, Troi McKenzie is a tough act to follow. As I get ready to turn 61, there is much to look back on and much to look forward to. Believe it or not, my birthday is on Juneteenth, a fact that I am positive my parents were unaware of. I wasn’t even aware of the history of Juneteenth or that it even existed until several years ago.  I could blame the education system for not teaching me, but I choose to play the victim no longer. It has been too easy to place the blame on “those people” and “that system.” I take accountability for my inactions. Indeed, we were never taught about a lot of things in school, AND it's a very white, privileged sense of entitlement to expect things to be spoon-fed directly to you. Why should I seek anything out? It's a sense of entitlement to believe that I should expect things to fall on my lap or at my doorstep, and if they don’t, they can’t possibly be important or of worth. There are a lot of things they didn’t teach us in school. Some of that was/is intentional, and some is probably due to a total lack of awareness, because of the intentional eraser of any history that is not white centric. There are so many amazing ideas, beliefs, histories, theories, and studies that are out there, but it means getting out of our comfort zones, out of our cocoons of privilege, and out of our intentionally segregated lives to find them.  As Robin DiAngelo says, “most white people go cradle to grave in segregation without any sense that we have missed something valuable by this. The message is that there is no value in an integrated life.”

Wow, I didn't know where this was going when I started writing. I am feeling a deep connection to accountability in my heart. I have been looking at my life and taking account of what is important to me and who I want to be. It's been a challenging year. Last August, my body was diagnosed with a neuromuscular disease. I had to decide who I wanted to be and how I wanted to live my life. I have found that I don’t have time for the bullshit anymore. No more someday, it's today. I am practicing every day to be the person I want to be; to be awake, aware, and intentional. I am not a quitter, and I believe in the power of healing. As one of my mentors, Oliver Nunez, says, “Heal yourself, heal others, and heal  the world.”  Let's go, folks, we have a lot of healing to do!

Below are some resources (articles, books, and workshops) that I hope you will find supportive as you continue on this journey.

See you on the road,

Robin
 

Resources:

  • Arc of White Womanhood, Part 2: Robin Alpern and Robin Schlenger are working on building a second part to their original workshop with more time to process and practice.

  • If your organization or group is looking to form a white affinity space for white people to unpack and examine our social conditioning? If so, we are available for facilitation. Contact me at: robin.schlenger@gmail.com. 

Dr. Alana Tappin and I just finished another one of our workshops. This is what folks had to say...

“I really appreciated the deconstruction of racism historically, it was important to review. I also really liked expanding our understanding of shame, how it shows up, what we feel in our bodies, how it affects our behaviors. Since the training I have been using some of my takeaways to analyze my interactions with others and just notice how I feel in my body. I also have been making parallels to notice possible shame responses in other people, or defensiveness. I feel very motivated to push through and not let shame disable me from following through in my values.”

“Being a part of a white affinity group co-facilitated by both a white person and person of color was a wonderful opportunity to deepen my personal/professional efforts to increase anti-racist stance and to explore the unique qualities of power and privilege for a white person and how shame distorts those dynamics and impacts fight/flight/freeze reactions. The opportunity to connect interpersonally with the content to extend the learning both through breakout discussions and through accountability partners was extremely critical to this process. Without those elements, the content would be meaningful - but it would just remain another training! It was the examination, exploration and communication that occurred through reflective dialogue that really elevated the learning and for me, increased level of personal insight.”

“I think there is a lot to digest, so I liked having the week in between to think about it. The initial readings were helpful, and I never really thought about this particular area of focus in mental health practice, but now I recognize how necessary it is. I wonder, could I ever do this work? What would I bring, and what would I need from others to be able to make it a worthwhile service? I am very impressed by all that the two of you have done to create this content and make it palatable and understandable to an array of White women.”

“I felt it was very relatable and offered in ways that were easy to digest i.e., bullets, scales, etc. It was both challenging and validating- much of the content was familiar but seeing and hearing it in this context was a new opportunity for understanding and applying concepts. I liked that there were two facilitators and each could take up different parts and also contribute to points being made by the other. I can tell that you have spent a lot of time together picking out the most salient discussion points and how to make the most use of the limited time together. It felt very fluent.”

“I felt that the course was facilitated with professionalism, sensitivity, and authenticity. The facilitators were able to hold the tensions of conversation and feelings without rushing in to resolve or "fix" them, which led to greater participants' sense of personal/collective agency. Storytelling and examples were well selected and relevant.”

“My work towards combating my own biases and to contributing more authentically and meaningfully to the work of racial equity and social justice is life work. This experience both validated the knowledge and progress I have made over many years in this regard while opening my mind and heart to areas that I still needed to be aware of. The different concepts around white shame and how they operationalize were very meaningful.”

If you are interested in having us do a workshop for your community or organization, please contact me.

The People’s Institute of Survival and Beyond:  Undoing Racism/Community Organizing Workshop

Upcoming Workshops: 

Robin Schlenger