I experienced something today for the first time ever...guess I had to wait til after retirement. I was training educators from 3 schools (on a planet far, far away). The topic was classroom management and school/district supports. I always tell stories of times when a strategy worked with a student I had. The audience was about 1/2 white, 1/2 people of color. One of my stories involved young African American men. I guess on break a couple of the AA attendees went to the woman who organized it and told them my comments offended them. She told me, so I brought it up when we reconvened and said my intention was not to offend. I mentioned that I had done training with Glenn Singleton over the years (Beyond Diversity & Courageous Conversations) and that I was open about bringing issues of race to the forefront. The woman who had complained then stood up and loudly announced how offended she was and how racist I was and that she was leaving. I PARAPHRASED her (actually modeling one of the diffusing strategies I was teaching) and apologized as that was not my intention. I went on to explain and used the term whiteness and white privilege and THEN a white man loudly pronounced that he didnt like me using those terms either. Any of you who know me or have been in diversity training know what I was trying to say. After the session, several came up and said...well..I guess that tells us what we really need training on...being able to talk about racism and diversity and becoming culturally responsive. The leader later had a conversation with the woman I offended and explained what white privilege was because she was mad about that too. I think it was eye-opening for everyone. I dont regret that it all came up. I tracked down Singletons Agreements for having courageous conversations. Its a good place for all of us to start. Tough, but very needed conversations. An enlightened day!!
Posted on: Wed, 06 Aug 2014 21:21:15 +0000
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