New ‘Witnessing Whiteness’ Discussion Group Forming for Faculty and Staff

This discussion group is sponsored by the Office of Diversity and Community Engagement and will be coordinated through the YWCA.

Witnessing Whiteness groups are for those who identify and experience the world as white. These groups meet twice a month, read the book Witnessing Whiteness: The Need to Talk About Race and How to Do It (second edition) by Shelly Tochluk, learn to speak about race and racism, explore white privilege and discuss ways of being better allies with people of color in a supportive and non-threatening environment.

Witnessing Whiteness groups strive to:

• Create spaces where individuals who identify and experience the world as white gain information, scholarship, and insight into creating a more just and equitable world;
• Invite participants into a community of other white people committed to positive change in their lives, workplaces and region;
  Encourage advocacy, collaboration and strategies for change and increased knowledge;
• “Build knowledge, skills, capacities and communities that support anti-racism practices” (Tochluk);
• Understand and practice interrupting racism;
• Practice skills to act as agents of change and sharing in the region.

The group will begin meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 28. The group will meet from 3 to 5 p.m. on the second and fourth Wednesday afternoons of the month for five months.

For additional information and to register for the group, contact Laurie Shornick, Ph.D., Department of Biology, at lshornic@slu.edu.