Race Dialogues

Donna Rich Kaplowitz is the co-director of the Program on Intergroup Relations at the University of Michigan. Shayla Reese Griffin is the equity, diversity, and school culture consultant for the Washtenaw Intermediate School District in Michigan. Sheri Seyka is a public education teacher in East Lansing, Michigan with 22 years of teaching experience.

“An extraordinary, timely, and unreservedly recommended addition to school district, college, and university library Teacher Education instructional reference collections.” —Midwest Book Review

• ContentsForeword Patricia Gurin ixAcknowledgments xiiiIntroduction 1Scope and Content 2Dialogue: A Tool for Creating a Participatory Democracy 3Note 41. Why Is There a Need for Race Dialogues? A Brief Primer on Race in The United States 5What Is Race? It’s Complicated 6Why Does Race Matter? Understanding Racism  9Racial Inequality in Education  11Conclusion 15Notes 152. What Is Intergroup Dialogue? 17Where Did Dialogue Come From? 20What the Research Shows 20Intergroup Dialogue Models 21Our Research Findings 22Conclusion 243. Setting Up an Inclusive Dialogue Space 25Dialogue Nuts and Bolts 25Preparing for Dialogue: Key Concepts and Activities 27Conclusion 36Note 374. Dialogue Facilitation: A Science and an Art 38Facilitating a Dialogue vs. Teaching: A Freirean Model of Education 39The Role of the Facilitator 40Facilitation Training and Facilitator Models 40What Good Facilitators Do 43What Good Facilitators Do Not Do 51Conclusion 525. The Power of Sharing Stories  54The Importance of Storytelling 54Vulnerability 54Multiple Ways of Knowing 55Expect and Name Emotion 55Find Learning Edges 57Connecting Personal Experiences with Structural Inequalities 57Conclusion 616. Asking Good Questions and Responding to Participant Comments  62Asking Better Questions 62Responding to Participant Comments 67Conclusion 717. Co-facilitation  73Selecting Co-facilitators 74Best Practices in Co-facilitation 76Debrief Prompts for Facilitators 79Conclusion 798. Encountering Conflict and Resistance  81Why Is There Resistance? 82Preparing for Pushback 86The Art of the Apology 91Conclusion 939. Responding to Conflict and Resistance  95Immediate Response  95Concrete Actions  101When There Is Disruptive Behavior 102Conclusion 10410.Managing Resistance Among Different Stakeholders—Our Story: A Case Study  106Program Development 106Resistance 107The Big Lesson Learned 11211. Race Dialogues Curriculum  113Dialogue Structure 114How to Structure a Dialogue Session 114Debriefing 117Participant Journal  118Grouping 118Time Constraints 119A Note for High School Educators 120Lesson 1: Why Are We Talking About Race? 121Lesson 2: How Do We Engage in Dialogues About Race? 124Lesson 3:Developing Group Norms 131Lesson 4:The History of Racism 136Lesson 5: Understanding Social Identities  140Lesson 6: Interpersonal Racism and Microaggressions 146Lesson 7: Individual Racism: Implicit Bias and Cycle of Socialization 151Lesson 8: Exploring Group Privilege and Oppression 156Lesson 9: Institutional Racism 161Lesson 10: Caucus Groups and Fishbowls 164Lesson 11: Hot Topics 167Lesson 12: Allyhood I—Interrupting Individual Racism 169Lesson 13: Allyhood II—How to Be an Aspiring Ally 175Lesson 14: Adjourning the Dialogue  177Conclusion 180Appendix A. Social Justice Concepts 183Appendix B. Icebreakers/Community Builders 187Appendix C. Closing Activities 190Appendix D. Values List 192Appendix E. Facilitator Feedback Form 193Appendix F. Privilege Walk Statements 194Appendix G. PASK: Facilitator Personal Assessment Chart 196Appendix H. The PALS Approach 198Appendix I. Videos 200References 203Index 212About the Authors 223