Creating an Environment to Advance Racial Equity
Community of Practice
August 13, 2013

We may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; we may not look the same and we may not come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction-towards a better future for our children and grandchildren
- President Barack Obama

National Equity Project Mission
To dramatically improve educational experiences, outcomes and life options for students and families who have been historically underserved.

The Problem We Exist To Solve
To achieve educational equity for vulnerable children, there is a need to close the
Opportunity Gap not just its manifestation, the Achievement Gap.

Find someone and share . . .
Why are you here today? Why are we here?

Here’s what we are going for today . . .
 Get reconnected with each other and with our
RETOC work
 Talk, share, reflect and learn together as a
‘Community of Practice’
 Consider some ideas for practicing
‘transformative leadership’ in your context
 Practice having critical conversations for ARE

Technical
Relational
Adopted from Dalmau Network Group

Technical
Relational
Adopted from Dalmau Network Group

A Systems Truism
A system, any system, produces what it is designed to produce.
from “ Bridges, Tunnels, and School
Reform: It ’ s the System Stupid: by Thomas Kelly
Phi Delta Kappan,
October 2007

“ success is not a random act. it arises out of a predictable and powerful set of circumstances and opportunities ”
Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers

Leading for Racial Equity
“Leading for equity is about the choices you make to be aware, acknowledge the inequity you see, the dissonance you feel and make the decision to provide support anyway.”
LaShawn Route’ Chatmon
Executive Director, National Equity Project

Community Agreements
An invitation to try these on
• Show up (or choose to be present)
• Pay attention (to heart and meaning)
• Tell the truth (without blame or judgment)
• Be open to outcome (not attached to outcome)
• ADDITION . . . Maintain confidentiality

REFRESH . . . Racial Equity Theory of Change Map
At your tables . . . SHARE
 Thoughts or insights you have about any part of the map
 Questions about your own role in the work that is implied here
 What you are most excited to get started on (or continue) in your work and/or community?

DISCOURSE MATTERS
How we think about, name & frame a problem impacts whether, and how we choose to engage it.

What is DISCOURSE?
• How we talk … frame problems… define success or failure
CULTURAL
TECHNICAL
• How we organize our time and work
• Can either reproduce
OR transform …
OUTCOMES
MENTAL MODELS/BELIEFS

Discourse I
Dominant ways of seeing and engaging the work of education that maintain unquestioned existing beliefs, values, and practices and serve to reproduce social inequality.
Discourse II
Ways of seeing and engaging the work of education that challenge the status quo by naming uncomfortable and unequal conditions and dynamics while pushing for deeper inquiry and new thinking.

Interrupt Discourse, NOT People

Using a Lens of Racial Equity
…allows us to uncover the policies practices and behaviors that sustains unequal outcomes for children
Forms of Racism
• Individual
• Institutional
• Structural
Individual
Institutiona l
Structural

Structural Racism
Structural Racism : Refers to the ways in which history, ideology, public policies, institutional practices, and culture interact to maintain a racial hierarchy that allows the privileges associated with whiteness and the disadvantages associated with color to endure and adapt over time.
Systemic/Structural racism shifts attentions from the single, intra-institutional setting to inter-institutional arrangements and interactions.

Targeted Universalism
This approach supports the needs of the particular while reminding us that we are all part of the same social fabric
• universal, yet captures how people are differently situated
• inclusive , yet targets those who are most marginalized

Targeted Universalism
Equality isn’t the same as Equity

As a leader in your organization and community . . .

The Relationship between Implicit Bias and Structural Racialization

The Role of the Unconscious Mind the unconscious mind plays an influential role in controlling our actions
The human brain can take in 11 million pieces of information in any one moment
We’re only consciously aware of maybe 40 of these - at best.
Brooks, David. The Social Animal: A Story of How Success Happens. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/may/08/david-brooks-key-to-success-interview

People are meaning -making machines.
• Individual meaning
• Collective meaning
We unconsciously think about race even when we do not explicitly discuss it.
Only 2% of emotional cognition is available to us consciously
Racial bias tends to reside in the unconscious network messages can be ‘ framed ’ to speak to our unconscious

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrqrkihlw-s

Please state the color of the text
Blue
Green
Black
Green
Red
Red
Blue
Green
Green
Blue
Green
Black
Black
Black
Red
Blue
The Stroop Test

And now, in Greek
State the colour of the text
If you are a Greek speaker, this will show this works in any language.
If you are not – how much easier it is now! But why?
   












The Stroop Test

Neurological Origins of Prejudice
Limbic system – categorizes what we perceive
– The limbic system is a very old part of the brain; it can be found in animals.
– It is also very fast.
One part of the limbic system, the amygdala, is responsible for strong emotional responses (i.e., fight or flight)
The Art of Happiness in a Troubled World. By the Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler. (2009)

Reacting Before You Even Realize It
Neural pathways connect the amygdala/limbic system to the prefrontal cortex, which is where rational thought occurs.
Amygdala is fast ; the logical action of the prefrontal cortex is slow er.
By the time we are consciously aware of the person, and our stereotypes and beliefs about the person surface in our conscious mind, our emotional reaction has already occurred.

Counteracting Unconscious
Prejudice and Stereotypes
With adequate motivation, cognitive resources, and effort, people can learn to focus on the unique qualities of individuals, rather than the groups they belong to, in forming impressions and behavior

Counteracting Unconscious / Implicit Bias
- Normalize the Idea of Bias
- Make time for Affective and Cognitive Processing
- Make Time for Individual Story
- Recognize and Check Assumptions
Source: Burgess, Van Ryn, Dovidio, and Saha, J Gen Intern Med (2007);
Williams, 2012
41

Talking about these issues can feel socially threatening

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0
Ti-gkJiXc
How to Tell Someone they are a Racist

What are the implications of unconscious bias for your own self-awareness and for your work with others?
What is your responsibility as a leader?

WHY WORK TOGETHER?
We are all caught up in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.
Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Linked Fates…
Transformative Change
Our fates are linked, yet our fates have been socially constructed as disconnected (especially through the categories of class, race, gender, etc.).
We are the same and different. Because we are the same, dialogue is possible . Because we are different, dialogue is necessary.

A New Paradigm
Shared Fate
– This has been interpreted by some to be synonymous with self-interest
– This is too narrow -- as institutions shift, so will individual or group interests
– Need an overarching collective vision of shared fate not predicated on personal or group-base interests

Targeted Universalism
Equality isn’t the same as Equity

Next Steps
Now that we have a framework of connectedness and shared fate, and targeted universalism where do we go from here?
Need to separately consider:
– internal analysis
– communication strategy
– programmatic approach

Next
• Framing is how a message is intended to stimulate implicit and explicit references in the audience’s mind.
• Frames appeal to both conscious and “unconscious” attitudes.
• Labels are important; for example:
“Affirmative Action”
“Equal Opportunity”

Next Steps
• Must be explicit about both internal AND external communications strategy- these are not always the same
• Need to explore ways not only of “ talking about race ” but also “ doing around race ”

Next
• Understand your audience & their dominant frames
– Different symbols animate different associates with different groups
• Need to first understand what that frame means to different groups
– Example
• freedom

Next Steps: Communication Strategy
• Don ’ t rely on highlighting disparities or structures alone
– May work best with some groups but not others
• Must connect the individual with the structures- tell stories that use the personal to lift up the structural
– Grapes of Wrath

Next Steps: Communication Strategy
This story must activate the correct frame for your audience
– Priming - how an individual process information depends on the frame that is activated
– Can be explicit or implicit
– Example: “ illegal alien ”

Next Steps: Programmatic Approach
– Develop and implement solutions that benefit
ALL members of society
• Linked fate
• Targeted Universalism
– Action- Linked intervention
• Focus on “ Turning Points ”
• Multiracial and multiethnic coalitions
• Shared communications strategy

ACTION . . . What’s your next MOVE?
57

A structured process designed to help an individual/team think more expansively about a particular concrete problem or dilemma.

Let’s Practice
Getting Ready for a Helping Trio
Option #1 Framing Messages with a positive prime
Think about a message you want to communicate within your organization and / or community.
 What are you trying to do/make happen/influence at your work?
 Why is this important to you?
 What is challenging for you?
 What would be most helpful for you right now?

Let’s Practice
Getting Ready for a Helping Trio
Option #2 Consultancy
Think about a challenge, dilemma, question, or worry you have about taking leadership in your context.
 What are you trying to do/make happen/influence at your work?
 Why is this important to you?
 What is challenging for you?
 What would be most helpful for you right now?

HELPING TRIOS
Round 1 Partner ‘A’ (15 minutes)
4 minutes ‘A’ shares dilemma while ‘B’ & ‘C’ listen and take notes
2 minutes ‘B’ & ‘C’ ask clarifying questions
6 minutes ‘B’ & ‘C’ conversation- B & C talk about what they heard raise questions on behalf of their colleague, ‘A’ listens and takes notes
3 minutes ‘A’ responds to what he/she heard as desired— “What was helpful?” Then have an open conversation.
Round 2 & 3 Repeat for Partner ‘B’ & “C”

If it were as simple as just telling……

Between stimulus and response there is a space.
In that space is our power to choose our response.
In our response lies our growth and our freedom.
- Viktor Frankl