The Race Debate -- Colorblindness v. Racial Justice (Room C204) The notion of "colorblindness" – ignoring race and racism – is increasingly used to discredit and dismantle race-conscious remedies for persistent social problems. Meanwhile, new efforts are afoot to popularize an alternative — racial justice. Come learn how the core principles of racial justice acknowledge and challenge systemic racism to produce equitable outcomes
Terry Keleher, Applied Research Center
Saket Soni, New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice
Notes:
The workshop split people into four groups, to prepare arguments over:
1. Security checks have nothing to do with race
2. Hurricane Katrina didn't discriminate; had nothing to do with race
Each group prepared their message; decided how to reveal or conceal racism; identified key issues, values, and principles; and prepared counter-arguments.
Debrief:
-You have a choice to conceal or reveal race/racism
How done:
Conceal: denying and deflecting; coding and confusing; personalizing and scapegoating; exceptionalizing and decontextualizing; lying and mythologizing
Reveal: Naming it; framing it; explaining it
Resources:
Thank you for this fun, interactive, and informative session on looking at issues of race and racism in our country. This workshop has given me great ideas about how to talk to about race differently than we have been doing with students on campus.