Dialogue:Racism-CANCELLED

“Men hate each other because they fear each other, and they fear each other because they don’t know each other, and they don’t know each other because they are often separated from each other.” – Dr. Martin Luther King

TUESDAY EVENINGS APRIL 14 TH -JUNE 2ND, 2020
BAHA’I CENTER
2419 FANNIN STREET HOUSTON 77004

The Center for the Healing of Racism offers Dialogue: Racism, over eight evenings, which provides a safe, respectful, and loving atmosphere for individuals to learn new information, share their experiences, dispel the fears and guilt, get to know each other.  Attendance at the first session is mandatory to create the safe space; please register for a different Dialogue:Racism if you can’t attend the first session.  If you need to miss other sessions, please contact us before attending subsequent sessions.

Defining Prejudice and Racism and How Racism is Perpetuated. Childhood experiences, misinformation,
and separation. The Eye of the Storm DVD chronicles Jane Elliott’s now famous exercise where she divides her class
based upon the color of their eyes and bestows upon one group privileges and on the other group impediments.

Unaware Racism (Implicit Bias) and White Privilege: Unaware racism arises out of racial conditioning that
everyone imbibes, often without being aware of it. Far from the overt hatred of racist groups, unaware racism
shows up in daily contact among groups. White privilege arises from the systemic advantage of one group over
others.

Stereotypes and How They Affect Us: The awarding-winning documentary, Ethnic Notions, shows the deep-
rooted stereotypes and dehumanizing caricatures that have fueled anti-Black prejudice.

Cultural Racism: Culture is transmitted through language and traditions, both verbally and non-verbally. When
one culture is regarded as standard, even superior, other cultures and their cultural forms are denigrated. When a
group’s culture is held to be inferior, cultural genocide can result. The film Healing the Hurts depicts the effects of
residential schools on Native Americans.

Internalized Racism: When the anger, hurt, and frustration turn inward. The short film Shadeism explores the
discrimination that exists between the lighter-skinned and darker-skinned members of the same community and
how it affects young women within the African, Caribbean, and South Asian Diasporas.

Institutionalized Racism: Exploring the systems that affect us daily: the media, justice, educational, health care
and economic systems. Viewing the DVD of the keynote address by Michelle Alexander on her book The New Jim
Crow, we will hear her finding, “There are more African Americans under correctional control today—in prison or
jail, on probation or parole—than were enslaved in 1850, a decade before the Civil War began.”

Oneness of Humanity and The Next Steps: Race is a human invention. We will view the DVD Race: The Power
of an Illusion, one of the most honest and compelling documentary series on race and its impact on this nation’s culture and politics, as well as on economic status. Once we see our oneness, we’ll explore some of the ways to put this knowledge into action.

The sessions are free and open to the public. 

The Mission: to facilitate the healing of racism through education and dialogue in a safe and supportive environment in order to empower individuals and transform communities.