Unlearning Circles

UWSA’s first Unlearning Circle in the winter of 2017 was created as a place for white people to do the work of reflection and community self-education. As we continue to gather to critically examine our own participation in cultures of dominance, we build our capacity to show up as individuals and as part of a city-wide community network for Black, Indigenous and people of color-led anti-racist efforts in a positive and accountable way.  The Unlearning Circles are an opportunity for white identifying people to explore white supremacy culture and our role and responsibilities in undoing racism. We welcome and recognize the gift of the presence of any People of Color who choose to join us.

September 2026 Unlearning Circle** – ON ZOOM (registration link below)

Saturday, September 12th
10am- 12pm CST

Your Engagement is Essential to Our Unlearning Racism Together!

Over the past few years, a small crew of folks have been holding the planning and facilitation of the Unlearning Circles (ULCs). Although we’ve extended invitations for more involvement from our organizers and community, we’ve struggled to fold more folks into these roles.

We deeply value the ULCs and the community of unlearning all of us (including you!) have created together… and this work isn’t sustainable if we don’t hold the space more collectively.

Starting this month, we plan to both simplify the ‘agenda’ for each meeting and to more directly invite y’all in to holding this space with us. We’ve seen the wisdom, care, and curiosity y’all have brought into this space over the years and are excited for you to join us in more active ways moving forward.

Please email Undoingwhitesupremacy@gmail.com if you’d like to volunteer to take responsibility for leading the group in a grounding or a self-kindness mantra, sharing events, or making a financial ask for a partner organization.

We look forward to gathering with you soon!

REGISTER HERE 

**Each ULC is a unique collaboration. We are always grateful for your participation, even if you can’t join all sessions in a series.

Please contact UWSA at undoingwhitesupremacy@gmail.com with your questions, ideas, comments and concerns. We’d love to hear from you as we work to grow and strengthen our community action and engagement.


Past UNLEARNING CIRCLES:

August 2026 Unlearning Circle:
Taking Care of Each Other is Revolutionary – Honoring Generations of Black Freedom Fighters Through Action
Saturday, August 8th, 2026 10am- 12pm CST (on Zoom)

Who gets to use the label Revolutionary? Who gets labeled a patriot fighting for freedom to be recognized, commemorated , and glorified… and who gets labelled a terrorist or threat to the state to be suppressed, incarcerated, and killed? Let’s learn together about the history of Black August and recognize the current need for antiracist revolutionary action. We will examine the parallels between the current targeting and vilifying of “antifa” organizers and the COINTELPRO takedown of the Black Panther Party. Join us as we unlearn the distorting and disempowering white supremacist narratives we have been taught, as we commit to take care of our communities through radical antiracist action in solidarity with generations of Black and Indigenous freedom fighters.


NO July 2026 Unlearning Circle (summer break)


June 2026 Unlearning Circle:
None of This is New: Learning Persistence and Perseverance from Pauli Murray and the Fight Against Erasure
Saturday, June 13, 2026 10am- 12pm CST (on Zoom)

What do you know about Black queer history? Join us as we celebrate Pride Month by learning from the persistence and perseverance of Reverend Pauli Murray. Fighting against the erasure of the histories and experiences of people of multiple marginalized identities is a necessary part of accountability for us as people dedicated to antiracist action. The recording, preservation, and dissemination of history is our collective responsibility. We’ll examine together why the faith leader, tormented poet, legal genius, and queer icon who helped put an end to school segregation… is someone we may have never heard of.

The erasure of the genius of Black, femme, queer, and gender-nonconfirming folks is just as pressing today as it was in Pauli’s youth. Back on Zoom after last month’s powerful in-person Unlearning Circle, join us Saturday, June 13 from 10am-12pm CT. We will explore how characteristics of white supremacy culture show up in us and in our communities, as we practice antiracist organizing through the lens of the Principles of The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond. We’re excited to learn/unlearn with you!


May 2026 Unlearning Circle:
Antiracist Practice Requires Growing Collective Action
Saturday, May 9, 2026 8:30-11:00 am (In person – the first time we’ve met in person since before the pandemic!)

Moving from individual activism to collective organizing is a requirement to be effective and strategic in our antiracist efforts.  Building a net that works and overcoming individuality are cornerstones of undoing white supremacy and also principles of PISAB (People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond).  We’re excited to learn from history together as we listen to and discuss Grace Lee Boggs’ story about her mutual interest in collective organizing for Black liberation!

And don’t miss the wonderful opportunity to channel you inner organizers during our Call to Action with the wisdom of Anne Braden.  Be brave enough to share your values with the people you care about and bring a friend or family member as we work to bring more white folks into the movement.


April 2026 Unlearning Circle:
Racism & Fascism: Learning From and Being Transformed by Toni Morisson’s Wisdom
Saturday, April 11, 2026 10 am to Noon (On Zoom)

Our last Unlearning Circle (ULC) focused on how we are accountable to creating the ULCs together. Based on the collective feedback and wisdom in the room, we are adjusting the format to foster more dialogue and participation from everyone. Join us this month as we watch and/or read a portion of Toni Morisson’s article “Racism and Fascism” together. Then we will unpack how the characteristics of white supremacy culture are showing up in us, followed by a discussion on how the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond (PISAB) Principles guide us toward accountable and transformative action.

March 2026 Unlearning Circle:
About Us, For Us, By Us: Creating Accountable Unlearning Circles Together
Saturday, March 14, 2026 10 am to Noon (On Zoom)

February 2026 Unlearning Circle
Community is a Verb: Undoing White Supremacy through the Practice of Courageous, Ferocious Love
Saturday, February 14, 2026 10 am to Noon (On Zoom)

January 2026 Unlearning Circle
Cultivating Discernment & Building Emotional Resilience for our Anti-racist Work
Saturday, January 10, 2026 10 am to Noon (On Zoom)

Reinforcing our resolve to maintain accountability, this month we are focusing on how we notice and respond when white supremacy culture distorts and weaponizes white people’s emotions, de-skilling us in our daily lives. White people’s willingness and ability to notice and respond appropriately (rather than react) to our own feelings is a crucial organizing skill. We will look at the gruesome history of lynching in the US, utilizing the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond (PISAB) Principle of learning from history, as an example of the harm caused by generations of white people’s emotions under systemic white supremacy being given life and death significance. Utilizing the PISAB Principles of sharing culture and identifying and analyzing the manifestations of racism, we’ll explore and interrogate how our own emotional responses have been shaped and influenced by these systemic injustices. We look forward to coming together as we hold ourselves accountable to our racial justice values!


December 2025 Unlearning Circle
The Ultra Naughty List: How White Christian Nationalism Corrupts Public Education in the U.S.
Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025 10 am to Noon (On Zoom)

As we continue our series on accountability for harm, and calling in ourselves and each other, our December ULC will focus on how we notice and respond when white supremacy culture shows up as Christian Nationalism in our daily lives. Christian Nationalism is a movement that has co-opted religion to pursue power for a very narrow group, in a way that hurts all of us. Because Christianity is so deeply and insidiously embedded in each power structure in the U.S., we are often unaware of the slippery slope into Christofacism and how it is infiltrating all our systems. In this ULC we will focus on the system of public education.

Utilizing the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond (PISAB) principle of “analyzing power,” we’ll explore the harm caused when religion is weaponized to oppress others and has the backing of the government and its systems to “uphold morality.” We will explore how this has arisen in our country utilizing the PISAB principle of “knowing our history,” and interrogate how our own beliefs have been shaped and influenced by it.

November 2025 Unlearning Circle
Accountability for Harm: Calling In Ourselves and Each Other
Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025, 10 am to Noon (On Zoom)

As we continue our series on accountability, we will focus on how we notice and respond when white supremacy culture shows up in ourselves and others. Prentis Hemphill reminds us that “Harm is part of being a relational being. It’s part of being in community.” Being in community presupposes that we have a set of shared values, but during this fraught time when racist harm seems to be an acceptable outcome to some, how do we respond in a way that is consistent with our values, that doesn’t write people off? How do we have constructive conversations about white supremacy culture when we are all socialized to punish and blame? How do we recognize when we are fixating on what others are or are not doing in their own anti-racist work, instead of looking at the areas in which we are behaving out of alignment with our own values?

At this Unlearning Circle we will introduce the practices of calling in, calling out, and calling on, using the wisdom of Loretta Ross and others. We will touch on what it means to be an accountable person in our relationships with each other, and how and who we allow to support us in holding ourselves accountable to our racial justice values.  

Unlearning Circle Resources:

• Loretta Ross TED Talk (under 15 minutes)

• Loan Tran’s original thoughts on disposability vs calling in

October 2025 Unlearning Circle
Accountability in Community: Beginning to be in Right Relations with our Indigenous Neighbors
Saturday, October 11, 2025, 10 am to Noon CT (On Zoom)

As we continue our series on accountability, we will focus on how we can move into right relations with our Indigenous neighbors by centering learning from the history and healing of Indigenous communities and their cultural revitalization to overcome historical oppression. We will lean heavily into the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond (PISAB) anti-racism organizing principles of learning from history, analyzing power, and maintaining accountability.

Through those principles, our unlearning circle will face the history of the more than “526 government-funded, and often church-run, Indian Boarding schools across the U.S. in the 19th and 20th centuries.” We will analyze the role these boarding schools played in the deliberate attempt our government made to eradicate the Indigenous peoples and cultures of the land we live on today.

We will explore the impact white supremacy culture has had in racializing us, shaping our understandings of the history and present day manifestations of white settler colonialism in the U.S, a project we are all complicit in. We will grapple together with the reactions that arise in us individually and collectively as we grow our ability to move into accountability and healing around our complicity. Our hope is that these learnings help us stay grounded and connected as we build relationships, practice skills, and take action towards accountability and healing.

September 2025 Unlearning Circle
Radical Imagining: How Do We Hold the Harm We’ve Caused? Building Skills for Self-Accountability – Part 3
Saturday, September 13, 2025, 10am to Noon CT (on Zoom)

Causing harm is a natural result of living in and interacting with the world around us, but white supremacy culture deliberately stunts our accountability skills, especially for white folks, which often means harm goes not only unrepaired, but also unrecognized. To counteract the continual rupture caused by white supremacy culture so that we can create and be in effective anti-racist relationships, we have to lean into our discomfort and grow our accountability skills. Accountability is an ongoing process that can only happen in relation to ourselves and in community with others. It requires a commitment to take individual responsibility for the impact of our actions, to continually put in the work to repair our relationships, and to foster community where we can move into collective accountability. Building these skills for accountability- both individually and collectively as white people living within white supremacy culture- requires radical imagining AND practice, so join us September 13 for an Unlearning Circle where we will begin this work together.

August 2025 Unlearning Circle
Radical Imagining: Uprooting Liberalism and How We Build the World We Want – Part 2
Saturday, August 9, 2025, 10 am to Noon CT (on Zoom)

Last month, we discussed the antidotes to liberalism through a framework developed by Anarchist Jew and Solidarity South Florida. We made space for the myriad of responses that arose as we grappled with the ways our racialization both ties us to the violence of the status quo and makes it hard to imagine beyond it.

This month, we will go deeper into conversation around several of the tenets of this framework, while honing our ability to notice and move with any activation that arises. We will collectively grow our capacity to imagine a world beyond the state and two party system, and empower ourselves to take action aligned with our values and goals of undoing white supremacy and building communities of care. Together, as we build the muscle of meeting our growing edge, and lean into the call from Kelly Hayes, Mariame Kaba, and the lineages of social justice and anti-racist organizers past, present, and future to ‘let this radicalize’ us.

Saturday, May 10, 2025 from 10am – noon CST – on Zoom

This year, we believe it is important to cultivate a community where curiosity is invited and each of us feels we can bring our full selves to explore ways to challenge and undo racism. In the first three months of 2025, we engaged in practices of collective sustainable resilience and noted its impact on our ability to show up in action together to undo racism. We will continue to include mindfulness practices in our ULCs to strengthen our sustainable resilience skills together. In April, we began a series with a focus on immigration policy and action, with the intention of creating opportunities to analyze the manifestations of racism and identify actions we can take to undo this particular form of white supremacy. With these tools, information, and support from our community committed to racial justice and practicing compassion for self and others, we are better equipped to show up for the anti-racist work that is ours to do.

Our May 10th Unlearning Circle (ULC) will focus again on the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond’s (PISAB) Principles of Analyzing Power, Learning from History, and Manifestations of Racism in immigration policy and state violence. We will examine how white supremacy culture erases European immigration stories in order to keep working class people from banding together against billionaires. Organizing against fascism is in everyone’s best interest, so we’ll use this gift of time in community to draw strength and inspiration from each of our idealistic inner children. The ULC will include an analysis of current examples of the dehumanization of our neighbors (and ourselves) through the lens of history. We will discuss both how we are responding and explore actions we can take individually and collectively to dismantle white supremacy.

April 2025 Unlearning Circle
Immigration Policy & Action (Part 1) 
Saturday, April 12, 2025 from 10am-noon CST – on Zoom

This year, the ULC planning team feel it is important to cultivate a community where curiosity is invited and each of us feels we can bring our full selves to explore ways to challenge and undo racism. In the first three months of 2025, we engaged in practices of collective sustainable resilience and noted its impact on our ability to show up in action together to undo racism. We will continue to include mindfulness practices in our ULCs to strengthen our sustainable resilience skills together. In April, we begin a series with a focus on immigration policy and action with the intention of creating opportunities to analyze the manifestations of racism and identify actions we can take to undo a particular form of white supremacy. With these tools, information, and support from our community committed to racial justice and practicing compassion for self and others, we are better equipped to show up for the anti-racist work that is ours to do.

Our April 12th ULC will focus on the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond’s (PISAB) Principles of Analyzing Power, Learning from History, and Manifestations of Racism in immigration policy and state violence. We will examine how white supremacy culture weaponizes ideas about crime and criminality to attack immigrants, students, and people openly opposing the ongoing genocide in Palestine. The increasing speed of the criminalization to detention to deportation “pipeline” is threatening so many of our community members in Texas and beyond. The ULC will include an analysis of current examples of this through the lens of history. We will discuss both how we are responding and explore actions we can take individually and collectively to dismantle white supremacy. Join us in community on Saturday, April 12th to lean into our power to challenge and undo racism.

March 2025 Unlearning Circle  
Saturday, March 8, 2025 from 10am-noon CST – on Zoom

Are you ready to hone more skills and gain more tools together in service of making our organizing to undo white supremacy sustainably resilient? Join us on March 8 as we tend to the seeds of intention we’ve been planting since December. Didn’t make the whole series? No problem! Each Unlearning Circle is a unique collaboration and we are always grateful for the gift of your time and attention.

This month we’ll be undoing white supremacy culture by diving into the third component of self-compassion: shared humanity. Just in time for the regeneration of Spring, we’ll come together to debunk racial capitalist and ableist myths of what working towards undoing racism “should” look like. Let’s build a better world together!

February 2025 Unlearning Circle  
Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025 from 10am-noon CST – on Zoom

While lots of folks have romantic love on the brain in February, we’re looking forward to exploring the idea of “loving accountability” together. Building a net that works requires us to hold ourselves and our communities to certain standards, and loving accountability is one way we can live into our values and support our collective growth. Part of being human is the inevitability of making mistakes… and sometimes unintentionally hurting or harming others. In order for this anti-racist work to continue, in order for us to build sustainable resilience, we as white people, who are unlearning White Supremacy Culture, are going to make mistakes, maybe even big ones, and the work won’t get done if we stop showing up because of we’re afraid to “get it wrong.”

Holding onto Perfectionism disincentivizes us to see accountability as a loving action in relationships with ourselves and each other. White supremacy culture encourages us to be defensive and protective of ourselves because we have been taught that making mistakes is the beginning of being punished, punished by ourselves, punished by others. That is the antithesis of community. Loving accountability is a commitment to our relationships with ourselves and each other. No one else can truly hold us accountable, only we can hold ourselves accountable while receiving support from community in our accountability practice. Join us this February as we work toward abolishing the “Cops in Our Heads and Hearts” so we can face our mistakes and potential harm we have caused with openness, compassion, community, and responsibility.

We’ll tend to these seeds of intention we’re planting again in March, too, as we dive into compassion for ourselves and others as a tool for combating white supremacy culture. Just in time for the regeneration of spring we’ll come together to debunk capitalist and ableist myths of what working towards social justice “should” look like.

January 2025 Unlearning Circle  
Saturday,  Jan, 11, 2024 from 10am-noon CST – on Zoom

Tools and Skills for Sustainable Resilience

For many people, a new year evokes feelings of a fresh start. Whether you set New Year’s Resolutions or not, we could all be more intentional about committing to antiracism. Just like starting a new wellness habit, taking antiracist action a little every day is not only more effective in the long run, it is easier to sustain for our continued wellbeing. We know that monthly Unlearning Circles are just one of the multitude of ways to practice antiracism, so let’s come together to explore options to be in community – on a daily basis – with other folks who are doing the work. Continuing to do antiracist work each day requires that we make both uncomfortable effort and joyful connections. Prioritizing them together is absolutely necessary for fundamental, lasting change. And when you make this part of your everyday life you can be better equipped to respond, not just out of more difficult emotions like anger and frustration, but also led by engagement, excitement, inspiration and joy!

In December we let our imaginations run wild and had a blast dreaming up the world we want, together! This month we’re excited to explore how we can “get our reps in” (to quote Dr. Resmaa Menakem) and build our antiracism muscles so that when daily opportunities to speak or act for social justice arise, not only do we notice them, we feel strong and empowered to take action! Join us as we hone our sustainable resilience tools by focusing on the skill of NOTICING/AWARENESS. Together we will notice what comes up for us around how White Supremacy Culture informs these themes of New Year’s resolutions, intention, responsibility, commitment, and perfectionism. We will practice being committed to daily antiracist work by shaking off the dust of perfectionism and daring to GET IT WRONG TOGETHER.

December 2024 Unlearning Circle  
Saturday, December 14, 2024 from 10am-noon CST – on Zoom

What if the Revolution Were Irresistible? *

The election is over and now we are reckoning with what it means. We worked hard to convince others to see things our way, canvassed, cajoled and pleaded and now we are anticipating the impact local, state and national policies and actions will have on folks already targeted and harmed by white supremacy and racial capitalism. Some of us may be frozen with fear and anxiety and uncertain of what organizing collectively to resist and undo white supremacy might look like.

But what if the way forward — the revolutionary change we seek — can’t happen without us making room for the power of creative visioning? What if what is called for in this moment is that we collectively imagine the world we want, moving from fear to longing? What if that were so irresistible that it would appeal to all of us? 

We hope you will join us on December 14th and help us build the muscle of imagining the world we want. In the words of Anne Braden, “The Other America,: where we choose to engage in the Community of white people organizing for racial justice. (Here’s an inspiring short video clip of Anne Braden https://vimeo.com/226902607).

*Toni Cade Bambara (a civil rights activist, writer, teacher, and filmmaker) wrote: “the role of the artist is to make revolution irresistible.”

November 2024 Unlearning Circle  
Saturday, November 9, 2024 from 10am-noon CST – on Zoom

Join us for our November 9 unlearning circle where we will hold space to be together with our myriad emotions following the local and national elections. We will also reflect on what supports we need to sustain our engagement in the lifelong work to undo white supremacy (no matter who is in office) and share ways to plug into community and collective action.

October 2024 Unlearning Circle – Local Politics and the Power of Collective Anti-Racism Organizing
Saturday, October 12, 2024 

This month, we hope you can join us in unpacking how racism shapes local politics and the power of collective anti-racism organizing during, and more importantly, beyond  election season.

Together, we will discuss our hopes and fears going into this local and national election season. We will identify ways we can plug into the powerful long term organizing work in our communities to build a world where everyone thrives and no one is disposable. This takes sustained action both to hold elected officials accountable and to grow and strengthen the networks we need to care for one another as we do this lifelong work together.

In our more open Unlearning Circle format, you are welcome to enter at any time prior to 10:15. You are welcome to leave the zoom room at any time in the 2 hours we will spend together.

Because we are navigating challenging topics and building community together, trust is essential to this work. In that spirit we ask everyone to be on camera. If that is not possible, we ask for transparency with the group around why you cannot be on camera.

September 2024 Unlearning Circle – Unpacking Project 2025  
Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024 –

Join us on September 14 as we  begin to look at Project 2025 and discuss together how racism and white supremacy culture shape the policies in its pages while also holding space for the myriad emotions and energies it evokes in us. These responses can inform and be transformed into individual and collective action when we feel connected, prepared, and well-resourced. In the ULC, we will be building relational and somatic skills to help us feel connected and prepared to take action. These actions must include conversations centering our new learnings with fellow white folks and folding more of our people into the work to undo white supremacy.

Project 2025 is a long document so we’ve included summaries for folks who want a brief overview as well as a link to the full document for those who would like to do a deeper dive.

In our more open Unlearning Circle format, you are welcome to enter at any time prior to 10:15. You are welcome to leave the zoom room at any time in the 2 hours we will spend together.

Because we are navigating challenging topics and building community together, trust is essential to this work. In that spirit we ask everyone to be on camera. If that is not possible, we ask for transparency with the group around why you cannot be on camera.

Resources:

From the shortest to the most comprehensive: 

Summary Video (5:55) – We will watch together at the ULC.

Project 2025 summary article

Project 2025 (full 887-page document) – only for reference

August 10, 2024 Unlearning Circle

In 2021, we made progress towards a more just process with the Reimagining Public Safety Task Force recommendations for a budget that divested from policing and invested in the community through funding things that support true safety and thriving across Austin (ex: affordable housing, harm reduction services, climate resilience, etc.). 

Equity Action and the ~50 organization collaborative that generated this year’s Community Investment Budget wrote last week, “We believe in the adage that ‘budgets are moral documents.’ In that light, how the City Council decides to use this $1.4 billion general fund represents not just their morals, but how and whether many people in our community will live next year… How and whether each of us use our voice to advocate for the use of these funds directly reflects our morals as well.’

Together we will look at how racism shapes the budget process and how our actions are crucial in holding the City accountable to funding the things that really make our communities safe.  Whether you live in Austin or another community, join us and contribute from where you are. 

In our more open Unlearning Circle format, you are welcome to enter at any time prior to 10:15. You are welcome to leave the zoom room at any time in the 2 hours we will spend together.

Because we are navigating challenging topics and building community together, trust is essential to this work. In that spirit we ask everyone to be on camera. If that is not possible, we ask for transparency with the group around why you cannot be on camera.

July 2024 Unlearning Circle
Saturday, July 13, 2024 – 10 am – 12 noon CT on Zoom

You and Gaza, Continued

Many of you joined us on June 22nd for a powerful teach-in on Anti-Semitism, Zionism, and Palestinian Solidarity  organized by Jewish Voice for Peace Austin,  Austin for Palestine Coalition and Undoing White Supremacy Austin. In July’s Unlearning Circle, we will continue to explore Israeli colonialism, its relationship to Texas, U. S., and global zionism, and why it matters locally. We will deepen our conversations about our collective organizing to undo local/global racism and white supremacy.

In our more open Unlearning Circle format, you are welcome to enter at any time prior to 10:15. You are welcome to leave the zoom room at any time in the 2 hours we will spend together.

Because we are navigating challenging topics and building community together, trust is essential to this work. In that spirit we ask everyone to be on camera. If that is not possible, we ask for transparency with the group around why you cannot be on camera.

June 2024 Unlearning Circle
Saturday, June 8, 2024 

UWSA is engaging in a 3-part series on the Israeli genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and beyond. The first and third events in the series will be our June and July Unlearning Circles. On Saturday, June 22, UWSA is co-hosting a teach-in on Anti-Semitism, Zionism, and Palestinian Solidarity with Jewish Voice for Peace – Austin and Austin for Palestine Coalition.  

In the June 8 Unlearning Circle, we will examine together our childhood and present-day influences that shape how we view, experience, understand, and organize together in response to the genocide in Gaza and occupation and violence across Palestine. To join our conversation, please register here.

In our more open Unlearning Circle format, you are welcome to enter at any time prior to 10:15. You are welcome to leave the zoom room at any time in the 2 hours we will spend together.

Because we are navigating challenging topics and building community together, trust is essential to this work. In that spirit we ask everyone to be on camera. If that is not possible, we ask for transparency with the group around why you cannot be on camera. 

 For feedback or questions contact us at Undoingwhitesupremacy@gmail.com.

May 2024 Unlearning Circle
Saturday, May 11, 2024

Experience, culture, history, racism and white supremacy all shape our relationship with power. Within that context, we often try to control what we can’t. Those of us racialized as white hold power we didn’t ask for. Furthermore, we fail to see and use the power we do have because we have been socialized to not see or understand it.

In our May Unlearning Circle, we will continue to analyze power. We will explore our individual and collective relationships with power and how, as predominantly white identified people, patterns around power show up in our lives in big and small ways. We will be curious together about the ways racism and white supremacy shape the power dynamics we are a part of as well as ways we can mobilize our power- individually and collectively- to undo racism.  

In our more open Unlearning Circle format, you are welcome to enter and leave the zoom room at any time in the 2 hours we will spend together. Because we are navigating challenging topics and building community together, trust is essential to this work. In that spirit we ask everyone to be on camera. If that is not possible, we ask for transparency with the group around why you cannot be on camera. 

April 2024 Unlearning Circle
Saturday, April 13, 2024 

For the April Unlearning Circle, we in the ULC work group thought we could start a series on analyzing power. Whew. That word ‘power’ can be activating by itself. Power can mean so many different things in so many different contexts. We all have experiences that deeply shape us around power: whether that is feeling powerless, being told we have power we didn’t want or ask for, trying to be empowered within circumstances that are out of our control, and the myriads of other ways we can find ourselves in some kind of relationship to power in our day to day lives. 

Here, in the Undoing White Supremacy Austin Unlearning Circles, we focus on racism, white supremacy culture, and how as predominantly white identified people, those show up in our lives in big and small ways. When we gather the morning of Saturday April 13th to start analyzing power, we will continue to hold that focus, as we get curious and explore together the ways racism and white supremacy culture show up in the power dynamics we are a part of.  

We will continue with a more open format where folks can enter and leave the zoom room at any time in the 2 hours we will spend together. Because we are navigating challenging topics and building community together, trust is essential to this work. In that spirit we have an expectation that we will all be on camera while together. We know that sometimes that is not possible, and in those instances we ask for transparency around that with the group. 

March 2024 Unlearning Circle
Saturday, March 9, 2024 

In February, the Unlearning Circle work group wanted to try a more conversational approach to our meeting. The discussion felt organic, authentic, and present. We practiced holding silence and speaking up all while centering our common goal, Undoing White Supremacy, through sharing our experiences with anti-racism and where we are in that journey. A common theme emerged around how to sustain ourselves and each other in the lifelong process of unlearning white supremacy culture.

For the March 9th Unlearning Circle, we will continue with a more open format where folks can enter and leave the zoom room at any time in the 2 hours we will spend together. If at some point we have more people in the space than can fit in a single gallery view, we will divide into two groups to support collective relationship building as much as possible. The Unlearning Circle work group proposes something slightly akin to a “choose your own adventure” where we hope folks can reflect before the meeting and come ready to share. 

If you are new or newer to the space: you could reflect on what kinds of things you were taught growing up about racism and anti-racism?  What led to your decision to attend an Unlearning Circle with us? Where are you right now in your own anti-racism journey? 

If you have been in and around this work for a while: you could ask yourself what helps you to sustain your anti-racism efforts in specific and broad ways? What do you need to stay engaged in the work? Are there things you already love doing that could take on an anti-racist purpose?

Or you can follow a pull to whichever of these questions feels most pertinent in the moment and share accordingly! 

February 2024 Unlearning Circle
Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024 – 10 am – 12 noon CST

The UWSA Unlearning Circle work group  misses you! We want to spend some time getting to better know each of the people who are showing up to our space, whether you are a long-time attendee of Unlearning Circles, or this is your first time. We want to know what feels heavy on your heart right now in regards to anti-racism and some of the joys you are currently experiencing in your racial justice work. We are curious about how you have come to be where you are in your anti-racism journey, and what you think and feel about how you have arrived here, in this moment,  gathered with us. 

For our February 10th Unlearning Circle, we are going to have a more open format where folks can enter and leave the zoom room at any point in the 2 hours we will spend together. The desire is to be in relation with one another around anti-racism values, actively building  deeper connections through a flowing, yet solidly centered, conversation where everyone can share with the whole group. We are so looking forward to spending time together! 

November 2023 Unlearning Circle

Relationship Building and Organizing  

Saturday, November 11, 2023 – 10 am – 12 noon CST

As we continue our series on organizing, we invite you to be a part of building a container for sharing, discovery and support for folks wherever they are on this journey. Last month we focused on relationship building as a key ingredient to organizing.  This month we’d like to extend our deep dive into anti-racism organizing by exploring what it is we need to sustain and grow our ability to engage in this work, which will extend beyond our lifetimes. 

Whether you’re testing the waters of organizing, or you’ve been organizing for years, join us as we ask ourselves, What are the skills and resources that I am needing? What is missing in my organizing tool kit? What do I need to continue to show up? If you are excited, intrigued or feeling challenged by these questions please consider sharing your story at the ULC. If you are curious or want to sharpen your anti racism lens we hope you will join us on Saturday November 11, from 10-12 on Zoom. 

This will be the last ULC of this year and we want your ideas about how to make them relevant for you in 2024.  What are you hoping the ULC will be for you – one that shares information, develops you skills, builds community, . . .?  Come and help us co-create this space.

October  2023 Unlearning Circle 

Relationship Building and Organizing  

Saturday, October 14, 2023 – 10 am – 12 noon CST

This month, we’d like to extend our deep dive into anti-racism organizing and the relationship building that makes it possible. Together, we’ll discuss what helps us build relationships as well as the struggles we’ve encountered in staying connected in community even amidst conflict. This can help us discern the resources, skills, and supports that help us stay connected. It also can lead us to identify what might be missing that we may need to learn or develop (individually or collectively) to build and sustain a “net that works” (that the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond teaches us about).

Socialization in white supremacy culture teaches us to pull away from or cut off relationships rather than to stay engaged amidst the discomfort that growing and maintaining relationships often requires. In anti-racism organizing, this can show up as folks leaving the work altogether to avoid conversations that may be difficult. These same situations though can be generative and deepen our connections to each other and the work as we live into our unlearning of white supremacy culture. 

Please join us as we reflect on how we can collectively grow our capacity to lean into each other as we do the lifelong work of organizing to undo racism.

September 2023 Unlearning Circle

Relationship Building and Organizing
Saturday, September 9, 2023 – 10 am – 12 noon CST

Being in relationship and building a sense of trust and mutual understanding is fundamental to successful anti-racist organizing.  As we come into a group, show up fully and speak authentically and then are seen and heard by others, we begin to feel a sense of belonging.  From that place we can contribute our gifts, have them be acknowledged and create a culture of accountability where we can be real and imperfect together. We can more equitably show up with our partners around key issues that are affecting them.  In this final ULC in our series of diving deep into organizing, we open space to hear your stories of organizing, to learn what ingredients in your experience build trust or that create mistrust and division and notice what we might want to shift in our organizing work.  

In this ULC, we’ll grapple together with the characteristics of white supremacy culture to better understand our socialization as white-identifying people and the impact on our organizing to undo racism.  

How do we address these characteristics when they show up in the contexts in which we organize?  How does some of what we learn from other participants about building relationships create antidotes to our “go to” strategies? These conversations will support us to intentionally practice showing up in different ways.  As we engage in this discussion we need to be mindful of how we have or might weaponize our awareness of the characteristics in ways that undermines our ability to build relationships and undo racism.  Join with us as we co-create mutual understanding together. 
** Register here. 

Although this is a series of three unlearning circles, each circle is independent. Join us, even if just for this one.

Resources:

Characteristics of White Supremacy Culture

*** UWSA also invites you to give us feedback about the ULCs – what you like about our format and focus and ideas you have for ways they could better meet your needs – things you’d like us to try out, explore more, what might be altered, . . ..  Please take a few minutes to email undoingwhitesupremacy@gmail.com with the subject line: feedback ULC. 

August 2023 Unlearning Circle

Take an Organizing Deep Dive:  Building Accountability
Saturday, August 12, 2023 – 10 am – 12 noon CST
** Register here. 

Ron Chisom, founder of the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond, says an organizer is anyone who brings people together for a purpose. That purpose might be deep canvassing, a rally, or speaking at city council. It might be planning a party. An outing for your child and their friends. Mom’s sixtieth birthday party. We are all organizers.

Our three ULCs on organizing explore how we become anti-racist organizers by focusing on developing leadership, building accountability, and analyzing power.

We continue our series on organizing by exploring how to build accountable communities. What does it mean to organize accountably? Who are we accountable to? Why is accountability important?

What does it mean to hold one another in “loving accountability?” What structure do we need to build to hold one another as we move forward together?

Our white-centered culture encourages punishment and ousting people rather than collectively taking responsibility for holding its members accountable. Rather than staying connected.

Join us on August 12 for our next Unlearning Circle, as we explore deepening our relationship with accountability with curiosity and compassion, for ourselves and one another.​

Although this is a series of three unlearning circles, each circle is independent. Join us, even if just for this one.

Resources:

Calling in with Love Ted talk by Loretta J. Ross https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xw_720iQDss 

Adrienne Marie Brown on Grace Lee Boggs – Murmurations: Returning to the Whole

https://www.yesmagazine.org/opinion/2022/06/29/murmurations-healing-inner-accountability

Building a Culture of Accountability
https://ssir.org/articles/entry/building_a_culture_of_accountability 

June 2023 Unlearning Circle

Take an Organizing Deep Dive:  Developing Leadership
Saturday, June 10, 2023 – 10 am – 12 noon CST
** Register here. 

Ron Chisom, founder of the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond, says an organizer is anyone who brings people together for a purpose. That purpose could be deep canvassing, a rally, or speaking at city council. It could be planning a party. An outing for your child and their friends. Mom’s sixtieth birthday party. We are all organizers. 

Our next three ULCs (we will be taking July off!) will explore how we become anti-racist organizers by developing leadership, deepening our accountability, and analyzing power. 

June’s Unlearning Circle will focus on developing leadership. What is your superpower? Are you the extrovert who easily picks up the phone to make a call? The quiet one who opens space for other voices? Do you love spreadsheets? Social media? Designing and painting banners? Belting out a song? 

Our superpowers are also a slippery slope to role lock. It feels so good to be seen as capable. It feels so good to be needed. Being locked into a role keeps us trapped in transactional belonging and inhibits the rest of us from meeting our growing edge. 

This Unlearning Circle will invite you to  identify your strengths and commit to mentoring those strengths in others. We will work together to nurture flexible, loving, strategic and powerful communities by developing leadership.  

Resources:

Decoded’s Talk about Racism

May 2023 Unlearning Circle

Showing Up for Racial Justice’s Value: Organizing Out of Mutual Interest
Saturday, May 13, 2023 – 10 am – 12 noon CST

As we move back into unlearning circles this year, we wanted to lean into our roots as a group committed to organizing to undo racism with grounding in organizing principles from both the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond (PISAB) and Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ). For the next three months, we will collectively engage with these principles and how they shape us as individuals and collectively inform our organizing to undo racism in all the communities we’re a part of.  

Join us on May 13 for the third circle  in this series.  We will dive into the nuance between activism and organizing and reflect on how we can divest from the individualism white supremacy culture teaches us and move into building collective power to undo racism.

Resource: 

https://adimagazine.com/articles/mariame-kaba-everything-worthwhile-is-done-with-other-people/

April 2023 Unlearning Circle

Showing Up for Racial Justice’s Value: Organizing Out of Mutual Interest
Saturday, April 8, 2023 – 10 am – 12 noon CST
** Register here. 

As we move back into unlearning circles this year, we wanted to lean into our roots as a group committed to organizing to undo racism with grounding in organizing principles from both the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond (PISAB) and Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ). For the next three months, we will collectively engage with these principles and how they shape us as individuals and collectively inform our organizing to undo racism in all the communities we’re a part of.  

Join us on April 8th for the second circle in this series.  We will focus on SURJ values particularly addressing  mutual interest and the need for us as white folks to get clear on how we have ‘skin in the game’ of undoing racism and creating communities where folks of all races can thrive.

Resources that share the SURJ Values: 

https://surj.org/about/our-values/

A 14+ minute video that is very powerful about our shared/mutual interest in ending racism – Heather McGhee:  https://www.ted.com/talks/heather_c_mcghee_racism_has_a_cost_for_everyone

March 2023 Unlearning Circle

As we move back into unlearning circles this year, we wanted to lean into our roots as a group committed to organizing to undo racism with grounding in organizing principles from both the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond (PISAB) and Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ). For the next three months, we will collectively engage with these principles and how they shape us as individuals and collectively inform our organizing to undo racism in all the communities we’re a part of.

The three month ULC series includes:

March: PISAB Principles with a focus on Analyzing Power which helps us see more clearly how racism is woven into our history, systems, and institutions. This profoundly shapes all our lived experiences and in turn how we organize.

April: SURJ values with a focus on mutual interest and the need for us as white folks to get clear on how we have ‘skin in the game’ of undoing racism and creating communities where folks of all races can thrive.

May: How do we define organizing? Do we see ourselves as organizers? And what skills and supports can we cultivate together to support moving into organizing and mobilizing collective power?

Join us on March 11 for the first part of this series on the PISAB anti racism organizing principles with a focus on Analyzing Power.

Resources:
People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond, Anti-racist Principles – https://www.pisab.org/our-principles

Building Power with Alicia Garza – 

https://www.findingourwaypodcast.com/individual-episodes/s3e6

*** UWSA also invites you to give us feedback about the ULCs – what you like about our format and focus and ideas you have for ways they could better meet your needs – things you’d like us to try out, explore more, what might be altered, . . ..  Please take a few minutes to email undoingwhitesupremacy@gmail.com with the subject line: feedback ULC. 

November 2022 Unlearning Circle
Saturday, November 12, 2022 – 10 am – 12 noon CST
** Register here. 

Please join us on zoom November 12th from 10am-12:00 for our Unlearning Circle Building Skills to Talk about Race. The Unlearning Circles for October through December will be designed to help us continue to build our skills to engage in difficult conversations with others about race.  Engaging in conversations about race can activate our fears around perfectionism and fear of conflict. We might believe that somehow, as individuals, we should know how to have these difficult conversations.  Without practice and reflection on the situation with others, the outcome of our conversations may fall short of our expectations or because we fear we will mess up, not be perfect, we may entirely avoid having the conversation.  

The Troika consulting process is one way of preparing to have these difficult conversations about race in community. This process will be the centerpiece of the remaining 2022 ULCs.  A Troika is something we can invite others into at any time to support us in thinking through the situations we are in and suggesting possible approaches.  It is one tool that we can utilize to support ourselves and others as we build vital relationships with each other to meet the challenges of anti-racist work.  James Baldwin said, Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.  Join us on October 8th with the gathered UWSA community to face the challenge of building the muscle to have difficult conversations about race.

Suggested resources:

*** UWSA also invites you to give us feedback about the ULCs – what you like about our format and focus and ideas you have for ways they could better meet your needs – things you’d like us to try out, explore more, what might be altered, . . ..  Please take a few minutes to email undoingwhitesupremacy@gmail.com with the subject line: feedback ULC. 

September 2022 
Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022 – 10 am – 12 noon CST

“To build community requires vigilant awareness of the work we must continually do to undermine all the socialization that leads us to behave in ways that perpetuate domination.” 
-bell hooks

We seek to have conversations about institutional racism,  unjust systems of oppression, and our accountability to BIPOC folks.  Our aim is to cultivate  accountable relationships in community and foster collective liberation. 

Imagine a scenario where:

There IS a collective sense of WE; each of our lives and lived experience is honored; shared truth is rooted in the collective and not the individual; and we “hold each other accountable (another word for supporting each other to be our best selves), [develop relationships and agreements,] set boundaries when people have not learned yet to take responsibility for themselves [and do harm], apologize and take responsibility ourselves when we cause harm, and continue to grow and learn how to be with each other even when we are getting on each other’s last nerve.” (Tema Okun)  

What holds us back from living this vision? Come along with us as we explore in Community the barriers that we experience in making this vision reality; fear, capacity,  and risk for example. What does it mean to be accountable to ourselves and one another? What steps are we willing to take to get there?

August 2022 Unlearning Circle: Our Role in Building Accountable Communities (part 3)
Saturday, August 13, 2022 – 10 am – 12 noon CST

In previous Unlearning Circles we have explored safety and policing, the policing that is (or is not) happening in our communities, its historical roots, and some alternatives to calling the police. As white people, we are conditioned to believe that the police can both protect us from unsafe situations and from having to see and engage with people’s suffering (e.g. homelessness, untreated mental illness, poverty, etc). We can be so deeply conditioned to avoid others’ suffering that we may not even realize the suffering that exists in our neighborhoods and the communities we are a part of. Addressing the root causes of suffering in our communities would involve building community and working together to address these uncomfortable, messy realities. Yet we are not taught how to build these relationships in our own communities, and are even encouraged to prioritize individualism, which in part is “a belief that you are responsible for and are qualified to solve problems on your own” (https://www.whitesupremacyculture.info/individualism.html).

In our August Unlearning Circle we will discuss our comfort levels with the idea of building and strengthening relationships within our various communities, what barriers exist to creating more belonging in those communities, and what opportunities lie in working through those barriers.

This Unlearning Circle is for anyone interested–you do not need to have come to prior Unlearning Circles in order to join us on August 13.

We encourage you to review these resources in advance:

White Supremacy Culture – Individualism

10 Ways to Build Community 

Recommendations for Building a Community-Based Public Safety and Health Ecosystem

July 2022 Unlearning Circle – cancelled. 

June 2022 Unlearning Circle: Our Role in Building Accountable Communities (part 2)

Register here.

The aftermath of the Uvalde School shooting is a hard moment to talk about police abolition. For all the times we’ve said that policing does not solve problems, in the face of horrific violence, those of us racialized as white cannot imagine what else could. Despite clear evidence in this case and thousands like it, that police not only don’t keep us safe, they make life more dangerous, our multi-generational socialization kicks in.

From Gunsmoke to the Wire, from Law & Order to the nightly news, we’ve been brainwashed to believe that, in violent situations, police are our only option. Conservative politicians already ruthlessly spin the Uvalde story in their arguments for more guns and policing.

In the face of white supremacy’s delusions around policing, we cannot stand silent. If there was ever a moment that calls for Unlearning, this one is it. In UWSA’s June Unlearning Circle, we will examine and peel back layers of socialization.

We know that well resourced communities, those with housing, health care, mental health resources, and community connections are safer. Communities of people that institutions recognize as fully human and worthy of protection are safer. We will look at where each of us sit in our own communities and in relation to the violence that keeps us relatively safe. We will ask what we can do, individually and collectively, to make communities and schools safer for us all.  

Suggested Resources:

• What “defund the police” really means (video) – Vox Media. Highlights reallocating police budgets https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9w841nrIBg
• Questions To Ask Before You Call Police https://dontcallthepolice.com/2020/08/15/questions-to-ask-before-you-call-police/
• Whose Security is it Anyway? A Toolkit to Address Institutional Violence in Nonprofit Organizations by Lara Brooks and Mariame Kaba  https://files.cargocollective.com/c1012822/Whose-Security.pdf

• May 2022 Unlearning Circle:  Our Role in Building Accountable Communities

May’s  UWSA Unlearning Circle will explore Our Role in Building Accountable Communities

We hope you will join us for May’s Unlearning Circle where we will explore our role in building accountable communities.  Historically, white folks relied heavily on police for everyday problems. But thanks to leadership and guidance from communities of color, the tides are turning: every day, more white people want to know how to abandon reliance on police.

We now recognize that policing does not solve our problems, and worse yet, is truly dangerous to all communities of color, poor and working class folks, disabled folks, queer folks, and more… We understand that policing is not only harmful today, but also has clear, traceable roots to horrific legacies of white supremacist violence: “catching” enslaved people running for freedom; forcing Indigenous peoples out of their lands, in favor of white settlements; protecting white folks’ wealth.

These days, many of us dream of a world without police and beyond policing. We know our communities thrive with more resources, not more policing.

How do we envision community safety beyond policing? Black racial and economic justice activist and abolitionist Zach Norris thoughtfully titled his book, “We keep us safe!” So, what is our role in creating secure and just communities? How do we link our anti-racist values to our everyday neighborhood behaviors? Join us for our May Unlearning Circle to explore how we, as white Austinites, might contribute to safer, more accountable communities.

• April 2022 Unlearning Circle:  Transformative Justice (Part 3)
  

April’s  UWSA Unlearning Circle will explore Transformative Justice (Part 3).

Join us as we wrap up our three-part series on Transformative Justice. We have explored what transformative justice is, the movement away from punishment as a solution to harm and a focus on the socialization of shame and blame which are embedded in us as individuals and in the oppressive systems we participate in.  We explored our need for comfort and our conflation of comfort and safety through the tool of theater of the oppressed in somatic exercises.

In April’s ULC, we will be looking at transformative justice through the lens of relational accountability. What does it feel like to be in accountable relationships? What is the intersection between accountability and transformative justice? What could it look like when we are a part of an intact culture outside a racist paradigm, grounded in ways of sustaining ourselves without the violence of racism, independent of oppressive systems. What if we choose to act out of a different paradigm and could imagine that we are in a community we can trust where accountability feels like a hug? Join us as we explore these questions and broaden our understanding through dialogue and self reflection.

The following resources can be helpful in preparing for the discussion. Please join us even if you haven’t had a chance to review these resources.

•  What is Transformative Justice? (11 minute video with adrienne marie brown and others)

• What is Accountability? (16:33 minute video with Mia Mingus and others)

February’s  UWSA Unlearning Circle will explore Transformative Justice.

Unlearning racism is necessarily vulnerable. It requires us to take accountability for the ways in which our behavior can cause harm. Yet many of us struggle to be vulnerable and take accountability out of fear that we will be punished and shamed if we get it “wrong.” So how can we create spaces in which we can be vulnerable and not punish ourselves or each other?

As we work together to undo racism and build a just society, we can often find ourselves falling into the same traps we are trying to dismantle. We can use shame and blame in an attempt to get people “on board” with the cause, oftentimes without even realizing what we are doing.

Join us for our February Unlearning Circle as we discuss what it means to apply transformative justice principles in our own lives. We’ll explore what we were taught about punishment and justice, and how punishment shows up in our own lives. We’ll take time to collectively imagine what a world would look like with accountability, but without punishment. We will conclude by identifying small actions we can take towards healing ourselves and making a better world for future generations.

The following resources can be helpful in preparing for the discussion. Please join us even if you haven’t had a chance to review these resources.

• What is Transformative Justice? (11 minute video with adrienne marie brown and others)
• The Peaceful Home X: Parenting, shame, and raising wholehearted + resilient children – A Beautiful Childhood (article)
• Brene Brown on Shame, Accountability, and Armoring Up (blog post by Christine Wong about Brene Brown’s podcast episode–if you want to listen to the full 1 hour podcast, you can do so here)
• Everyday Practices of Transformative Justice (video)
• Transformative Justice: A Brief Description (article)

• January 2022 Unlearning Circle:  Networking – “Building a Net that Works”
  

January’s  UWSA Unlearning Circle will explore the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond’s  principle – Networking:

We recognize that the growth of a movement for social transformation requires networking – “building a net that works.” Networking means building principled relationships based on humane values.

For some of us, the word “networking” may conjure images of settings where the goal is more important than the relationship, and the quantity of relationships matters more than the quality of those relationships. In January’s Unlearning Circle, we will discuss a different kind of networking–the kind of networking necessary for social change to happen. 

We cannot do this work alone, both because we need support to sustain ourselves and each other in this work, and because undoing white supremacy requires a multitude of skills and perspectives. While the number of meaningful relationships any one of us can sustain is limited when we combine our networks, connecting in coalitions, we are unstoppable in effecting change.

Please join us to explore what it means to be in “principled relationships based on humane values,” how we can build meaningful connections with one another, and how we center relationship-building in our work to create a more equitable world.

The following resources can be helpful in preparing for the discussion. Please join us even if you haven’t had a chance to review these resources.

• in case it helps / bell hooks asé

by adrienne maree brown on December 1th, 2021

https://adriennemareebrown.net/2021/12/15/in-case-it-helps-bell-hooks-ase/

• Building Effective Coalitions for Racial Equity

by Danielle Sherman on October 18th, 2017

https://healthyplacesbydesign.org/building-effective-coalitions-for-racial-equity/

• Lean on Me

by Bill Withers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOZgo8gMIoM

• in relationship with others

by adrienne maree brown on July 7, 2009

http://adriennemareebrown.net/2009/07/07/in-relationship-with-others/

• Let’s Replace Cancel Culture with Accountability

by Sonya Renee Taylor on January 22, 2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vCKwoee27c

• Relationships – Who Are You With?

by Fakequity on December 10, 2021

https://fakequity.com/2021/12/10/relationships-who-are-you-with/

• Why Coalition, Not Allyship, Is the Necessary Next Step in the Racial Justice Movement

by Suyin Haynes on June 22, 2021

https://time.com/6074507/emma-dabiri-what-white-people-can-do-next/

People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond – Antiracist Principles https://www.pisab.org/our-principles/

• December 2021 Unlearning Circle:  Undoing Racism – Tensions Experienced by People Who Identify as White in Racial Justice Work
  

We can all agree that racism is harmful and we must work to eradicate it from ourselves and our systems. Undoing racism will be our topic for the December Unlearning Circle. This simple statement for messy, complicated and intersectional work is broad and we will be focusing on working as self-identifying “white” people as we explore some of the tensions we commonly experience. While our intentions are good, we often start down a path only to realize that we are engaging in practices that perpetuate racism. Sometimes, we encounter seemingly contradictory messages that leave us unsure how to proceed, that tempt us to drop out or paralyze us with fear of “getting it wrong”. The People’s Institute reminds us Racism is the single most critical barrier to building effective coalitions for social change. How are we in accountable relationships when our actions and/or presence can be harmful in multi racial spaces? How do we balance compassion, care and universal love with holding each other accountable? How does the tension between our desire to act and not being sure about what to do, create a barrier to building effective coalitions?

Please join us this month to explore these confusing experiences and discuss what we can do to navigate these difficult situations so that we can be more effective co conspirators. The following resources can be helpful in preparing for the discussion.

December’s  UWSA Unlearning Circle will explore the People’s Institute principle: Undoing Racism:
Racism is the single most critical barrier to building effective coalitions for social change. Racism has been consciously and systematically erected, and it can be undone only if people understand what it is, where it comes from, how it functions, and why it is perpetuated.

Unlearning Circle Resources:

People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond:  Antiracist Principles
Contradictions for White People:  https://reneeroederer.com/2020/06/18/contradictions-for-white-people-in-racial-justice-work/amp/

Tema Okun’s website:https://www.whitesupremacyculture.info/
Direct link to “White Supremacy Culture – Still Here”: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XR_7M_9qa64zZ00_JyFVTAjmjVU-uSz8/view; 

• November 2021 Unlearning Circle:  Analyzing Power

November’s UWSA Unlearning Circle will explore the People’s Institute principle: Analyzing Power

As a society, we often believe that individuals and/or their communities are solely responsible for their conditions. Through the analysis of institutional power, we can identify and unpack the systems external to the community that create the internal realities many people experience daily.

We have been brainwashed to assign responsibility for what happens to people in our society solely to individual choices. Racism is ascribed to racist feelings and actions on the part of individuals, instead of the systems and institutions that were set up to create racism, and to re-create racism over and over again. Please join us in this month’s Unlearning Circle, where together we will look at how racism was, and is “done”, shining light on the power exercised by legal, economic, and social institutions to oppress BIPOC communities.  

Unlearning Circle Resources:

People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond – Antiracist Principles
The problem is white supremacy: ‘Systemic racism’ conveys the pervasiveness of racial oppression, but white supremacy goes further by indicating that there is a rigid nexus of power that protects and enforces it. By Barbara Smith Updated June 30, 2020, 12:01 p.m.
Definition of Systemic Racism in Sociology: Beyond Prejudice and Micro-Aggressions; Nicki Lisa Cole, Ph.D; Updated July 21, 2020
Opinion: Texas’ denial of systemic racism upholds white power By Kerry Sinanan; 10/13/21

• October 2021 Unlearning Circle:  Accountability

October’s UWSA Unlearning Circle will explore the People’s Institute principle: Maintaining Accountability.

Organizing with integrity requires that we be accountable to the communities struggling with racist oppression.

Conversations about accountability among white people usually begin and end with a focus on individual accountability. They center holding each other accountable. 

Taking a page from our Black elders at the People’s Institute, however, our conversation will focus on accountability within the framework of organizing. Together we will identify our organizing communities. We will explore how accountability demands that our organizing communities build principled relationships with those who share our anti-racist values. Relationships that uplift the humanity of all of us. We will share history, strategies, and challenges in being accountable, as a community, to communities who struggle with racist oppression. We will consider how accountable relationships have provided a foundation for community organizing power. 

Unlearning Circle Resources:

People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond – Antiracist Principles https://www.pisab.org/our-principles/

Accountability in a Time of Justice – Vivette Jeffries-Logan, Michelle Johnson, Tema Okum; https://www.dismantlingracism.org/uploads/4/3/5/7/43579015/accountability.jjo.drworks.pdf

• September 2021 Unlearning Circle:  Sharing Culture

Saturday, September 11, 2021 – 10 am – 12 noon CST

The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond (PISAB) describes the Undoing Racism principle of Sharing Culture as, “Culture is the life support system of a community. If a community’s culture is respected and nurtured, the community’s power will grow”.

What is culture, and what do we mean when we talk about white culture in the United States? What is your/your ancestors’ story regarding how they came to this land, and what was their experience in relationship to the dominant culture? What cultures, subcultures, and communities do you consider yourself a part of? Are there ways your communities reinforce dominant American power structures? Are there other ways your communities nurture resistance?

How can we generate a way of being with each other that honors and respects all cultures?

Please come to this Unlearning Circle ready to share a piece of your cultural identity (a song, a dance, a story, a family recipe, an heirloom, etc.) that gives you life. We will also do a short journaling exercise.

Unlearning Circle Resources –

People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond – Antiracist Principles
https://www.pisab.org/our-principles/

White Culture Handout   https://www.seattle.gov/Documents/Departments/RSJI/GRE/whiteculturehandout.pdf

‘White immigrants weren’t always considered white — and acceptable” Brando Starkey
https://theundefeated.com/features/white-immigrants-werent-always-considered-white-and-acceptable/

• August Unlearning Circle:  Gatekeeping and Accountability
• Saturday, August 14, 2021 – 10 am – 12 noon CST
  

The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond defines the anti-racist principle of gatekeeping as follows: 

Persons who work in institutions function as gatekeepers. Gatekeepers are expected to ensure that the institution perpetuates itself. The gatekeeper becomes an agent of institutional transformation by operating with anti-racist values and networking with those who share those values and maintain accountability in the community. Gatekeepers regulate the progress and speed of social change.

What do you see in your mind’s eye when you imagine a gate? What are the gates that you keep?

In some way, we are all gatekeepers. We control information flow. We interpret, define, measure, evaluate, translate, and speak for people-with or without their permission. We titrate the progress of social change. We manage the gate, but we don’t own the gate. 

We all have power. When we don’t understand, or fail to acknowledge our power, we are dangerous particularly to those who are most directly impacted by not having access to that power, those who are Black, indigenous and people of color and who have other marginalized identities.

In this Unlearning Circle, we will explore together our roles as gatekeepers. We will help each other discover how, in our gatekeeping roles, we can be accountable for the power we have to support racial justice.

Please join us for this juicy conversation.

Unlearning Circle Resources –

• People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond – Antiracist Principles

Accountability:

https://www.dismantlingracism.org/uploads/4/3/5/7/43579015/accountability.jjo.drworks.pdf – interesting article about accountability and power.

Gatekeeping:

https://healthyplacesbydesign.org/open-the-gates-you-keep/ – interesting blog on gatekeeping

https://medium.com/the-establishment/why-its-important-to-challenge-the-power-of-gatekeepers-a688572da8e8 – article on gatekeeping Toronto

• July Unlearning Circle:  Internalized White Superiority

The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond teaches us that in order to undo racism we who self-identify as white must analyze and explore our own internalized belief that we are superior to Black, Indigenous and People of Color. PISAB defines internalized racial superiority as:

The acceptance of and acting out of a superior definition is rooted in the historical designation of one’s race. Over many generations, this process of empowerment and access expresses itself as unearned privileges, access to institutional power, and invisible advantages based upon race.

While we may not consciously think this, our behaviors often expose our deep-seated bias. As such, our institutions and systems are also based on this belief of white supremacy. Our Declaration of Independence declares that “all men are created equal”, so it can be easy to assume this is how our country was founded and how it runs. This concept of internalized racial superiority is so abhorrent to us that we avoid thinking about it, deny it and distance ourselves from it with ideas such as “color blindness” and the “oneness of all humanity” — resulting in harm to our non-white neighbors and friends.

As white people, it is often hard to see internalized racial superiority play out in ourselves and our institutions; but working collectively in honest conversation and reflection allows us to dive deeper than we can on our own. Please join us for this important discussion at our Unlearning Circle on July 10, 2021.
*** We recommend you have a journal (or paper) and pen handy for a self-reflection exercise.

June 12, 2021 @ 10 am CDT
Unlearning Circle:  Developing Anti-racist Leadership
Register Here

The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond teaches us that in order to undo racism, we must develop “anti-racist leadership […] intentionally and systematically within local communities and organizations”. In order to develop anti-racist leadership, we must break down the myths we are taught in the United States about “leadership”, what makes good “leaders”, and what we expect our leaders to do on our behalf. In order to undo racism, it is important to develop anti-racist leadership in ourselves and in our organizing. This requires us to consider models of leadership other than those dictated by white supremacy culture.  We need each other to cultivate an accountable pathway to anti-racist leadership.

Unlearning Circle Resources: 

The Problem of the White Savior – Excerpt from Jordan Flaherty’s No More Heroes

KXAN – City funds pay for gift cards to increase participation at reimagining public safety listening session

Black Lives Matter is a case study in a new kind of leadership — here’s how the movement grew to international prominence in just 7 years

People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond – Antiracist Principles 

May 15, 2021 @ 10 am CDT
Unlearning Circle:  Learning from the History of Whiteness
Register Here

History is a tool for effective organizing. Understanding the lessons of history allows us to create a more humane future. – PISAB

The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond teaches us that in order to undo racism, we must learn from history. The history of racism in the United States is synonymous with the creation of whiteness. “White” as a racial category was conceived in the American colonies as the way to divide and conquer people in order to suppress interracial alliances with African slaves. Whiteness does exist without anti-blackness.

As we learn from history, what does it mean to be white? What does it mean to be a white anti-racist?

Unlearning Circle Resources:

• How America Invented Race (8m39s) (Pierce Freelon and Jon Halperin, from the series The History of Whiteness in America)

• Birth of a White Nation, Jacqueline Battalora

• Critical Resistance Policing Timeline

• People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond – Antiracist Principles 

April 17, 2021 @ 10 am CST
Unlearning Circle:  Homelessness and the Racialization of Space

The May 1, 2021 City of Austin special election ballot contains Prop B, which would recriminalize all  of the following:

• • “sitting or lying down on a public sidewalk or sleeping outdoors in and near the Downtown area around the University of Texas campus”

• • “solicitation, […], at specific hours and locations or for solicitation in a public area that is deemed aggressive in manner”

• • “for camping in any [unapproved] public area”

Recriminalization is an excuse for police to harass our unhoused neighbors and the violence of that policing lands disproportionally on those who are Black and People of Color. The $500 fine initiates a cascade of consequences: warrants, arrests, a criminal record and challenges to finding housing and work that ensure their problems continue. 

Alongside this ballot legalese, public debates and discourses around the issue of homelessness in Austin have exposed a harmful “us versus them” mentality against our neighbors experiencing homelessness. A frequent argument for Prop B suggests reinstating the camping ban will improve “public safety”. Public safety for whom?  Why is the emotional comfort of people in power given more value than the physical safety of unhoused folks in our city? What makes some properties worth “protecting” over others, and who makes those decisions? What designates other sites as acceptable for industrial development or camping, and who makes those decisions? 

In order to undo this harm, we must analyze the social structures that enable homelessness to exist in Austin and our society at-large. How are we complicit in upholding these systems?

Unlearning Circle Resources:

• noonpropB2021.org (Homes Not Handcuffs)
• Hostile/Defensive Design: Architecture to ensure only some people are comfortable in public spaces  https://www.texasobserver.org/how-hostile-design-hides-plain-sight-austin/ 
• Recent history of anti-homeless ordinances in Austin and across Texas https://www.texasobserver.org/austin-homeless-camping-texas/ 
• Gentrification in the East Chavez Neighborhood https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/austin-car-clubs-gentrification/
• City Council member responses to recent fires at homeless encampments https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/homeless/austin-homeless-camp-fires-city-leaders-proposition-b/269-1d6bfebd-9b53-479b-a4cc-9f9c58da383a
• Austin: A history project for the community dialogues on whiteness and racism (UWSA, May 2018)
• People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond – Antiracist Principles https://www.pisab.org/our-principles/
• Characteristics of White Supremacy Culture by Tema Okun https://collectiveliberation.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/White_Supremacy_Culture_Okun.pdf

March 13, 2021 @ 10 am CST
Unlearning Circle:  Anti-Blackness – White Innocence
Register: https://actionnetwork.org/events/unlearning-circle-anti-blackness/  

“The spatial politics of safety organizes the urban landscape. Bodies that arouse feelings of fear, disgust, rage, guilt, or even discomfort must be made disposable and targeted for removal in order to secure a sense of safety for whites. In other words, the space that white people occupy must be cleansed. The visibility of poor Black bodies (as well as certain non-Black POC, trans people, homeless people, differently-abled people, and so forth) induces anxiety, so these bodies must be contained, controlled, and removed. Prisons and urban ghettoes prevent Black and brown bodies from contaminating white space. Historically, appeals to the safety of women have sanctioned the expansion of the police and prison regimes while conjuring the racist image of the Black male rapist.”  ~ Jackie Wang in Against Innocence: Race, Gender, and the Politics of Safety.

This unlearning circle will explore the myth of white innocence as a manifestation of anti-blackness.

Unlearning Circle Resources:

• Against innocence: https://www.liesjournal.net/volume1-10-againstinnocence.html
• “We were eight years in power” interview with Ta-Nehisi Coates (clip from beginning)
• How “the taxpayer” and austerity politics have led to antidemocratic and paramilitary violence that seeks white supremacy: https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/the-austerity-politics-of-white-supremacy?fbclid=IwAR3VgiYmDg1lhl7CzZb2fcTqS-I-vQ4QCaiAeYdhOTQCEJ2aNpd3BF3_PCM
• Insurrection & election denial as a refusal to accept electoral power of Black and brown people 13th (documentary) Montage of Trump and Law and Order: https://twitter.com/13THFilm/status/786295040314253312
• People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond – Antiracist Principles https://www.pisab.org/our-principles/
  

February 13, 2021 @ 10 am CST
Unlearning Circle: White Supremacy Culture – Anti-Blackness 
Register: https://actionnetwork.org/events/unlearning-circle-anti-blackness/  

Anti-blackness is foundational to racism, particularly in the United States. We cannot dismantle white supremacy without uprooting anti-blackness. In February’s Unlearning Circle we will come together to explore what anti-blackness is and how it operates in our relationships and within us. Please join us in discussion as we work to unlearn and dismantle this pillar of white supremacy.  January 9, 2021 @ 10 am CST
Unlearning Circle: White Supremacy Culture – Either/Or Thinking 
Register: https://actionnetwork.org/events/ulc-either-or-thinking/

In a world that so often feels defined by extremes, it can be tempting to rely on the white supremacy culture characteristic of either/or thinking*, where we define events, ideas, and people as either all good or all bad . As we look towards Joe Biden’s inauguration and the political conflicts that exist both in Congress and in our communities, we can also see the looming trap of either/or thinking – that we can only be either in support of or in opposition to a politician or a policy platform, rather than allowing room for an approach that includes strong support for some positions and vocal critique of others. 

In our own lives, either/or thinking is frequently tied to perfectionism and a fear of making mistakes. For white folks striving to practice anti-racism, this can show up in the idea that there are “good white people” and “bad white people,” which can lead us to avoid taking risks or honestly examining how we enact white supremacy for fear of threatening our status as “good white people.” Outside of either/or thinking is space for nuance, growth, and a fuller embrace of our own and others’ humanity. 

Join us for an unlearning circle where we will explore the ways that either/or thinking shows up in our lives and ask: how can we recognize and release either/or thinking in service of dismantling white supremacy culture? 

*Credit to Tema Okun and Keneth Jones for their work naming and describing characteristics of white supremacy culture

ABOUT UNLEARNING CIRCLES: 

UWSA’s first Unlearning Circle in the winter of 2017 was created as a place for white people to do the work of reflection and community self-education. As we continue to gather to critically examine our own participation in cultures of dominance, we build our capacity to show up as individuals and as a city-wide community network for Black, Indigenous and people of color-led anti-racist efforts in a positive and accountable way.  The Unlearning Circles are an opportunity for white identifying people to explore white supremacy culture and our role and responsibilities in undoing racism. We welcome and recognize the gift of the presence of any People of Color who choose to join us. 

Resources:

Excommunicate Me from the Church of SJ
https://www.autostraddle.com/kin-aesthetics-excommunicate-me-from-the-church-of-social-justice-386640/ 

White Supremacy Culture PDF
https://www.dismantlingracism.org/uploads/4/3/5/7/43579015/okun_-_white_sup_culture.pdf

People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond – Antiracist Principles
https://www.pisab.org/our-principles/

December 19, 2020 @ 10 am CST
2020 Series: White Supremacy Culture
Unlearning Circle: Paternalism
Register: https://actionnetwork.org/events/unlearning-circle-paternalism/

As we move forward into the new year, President-elect Biden will take office and we look forward to the marked differences in the new administration. However, Biden has demonstrated characteristics of white supremacy, such as paternalism. In an interview before the election, he said that “you ain’t black” if you vote for President Trump. Biden apologized for the statement, but it will be important to continue to hold him accountable as he begins his presidency. Like Biden, white liberals often assume that they know what is best for BIPOC people and make decisions based on their assumptions. By doing so, white people maintain their power, instead of building power, and miss the solutions from those closest to the problems.  

Thus, we will be considering how paternalism appears in various contexts- including our President-elect, nonprofits and their funding sources, and our own giving during this time of year (is it charity or solidarity?). We will discuss these personal ways we define for others what they need and move into fixing instead of inquiring. 

Join us for an unlearning circle where we will delve into our paternalism in our lives and ask: how can we recognize and interrupt our paternalism in order to dismantle white supremacy culture and create lasting solutions?

ABOUT UNLEARNING CIRCLES: 

UWSA’s first Unlearning Circle in the winter of 2017 was created as a place for white people to do the work of reflection and community self-education. As we continue to gather to critically examine our own participation in cultures of dominance, we build our capacity to show up as individuals and as a city-wide community network for Black, Indigenous and people of color-led anti-racist efforts in a positive and accountable way.  The Unlearning Circles are an opportunity for white identifying people to explore white supremacy culture and our role and responsibilities in undoing racism. We welcome and recognize the gift of the presence of any People of Color who choose to join us. 

Resources:

Racism in America: From Trump’s Hate to Biden’s Paternalism 
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2019/09/18/racism-in-america-from-trumps-hate-to-bidens-paternalism

“Have Nonprofits Become the White Moderate Dr. King Warned Us About?”
https://nonprofitaf.com/2020/06/have-nonprofit-and-philanthropy-become-the-white-moderate-that-dr-king-warned-us-about/

“Holiday Adopt a Family-Does It Perpetuate White Supremacy?”
https://fakequity.com/

White Supremacy Culture PDF
https://www.dismantlingracism.org/uploads/4/3/5/7/43579015/okun_-_white_sup_culture.pdf

People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond – Antiracist Principles
https://www.pisab.org/our-principles/

November 14, 2020 @ 10 am CST
2020 Series: White Supremacy Culture
Unlearning Circle: Power Hoarding: Exploring Our Relationship with the Power We Hold
Register: https://actionnetwork.org/events/unlearning-circle-white-supremacy-culture-4 

The election is over and Joe Biden, who has been named the new President-Elect, is calling for unity and healing. Yet, we also have a President, supported by the majority of white voters, who is refusing to concede, and Democrats asserting that there is a paucity of nonwhite representation in the party leadership and that calls for racial justice cost house seats. While it is easy to see power hoarding in Donald Trump’s behavior, and it is somewhat less visible in the voices of Democrats celebrating a ‘centrist’ victory, it is hardest to acknowledge how power hoarding manifests in ourselves.

Join us for an unlearning circle where we will delve into our own personal hoarding of power as we ask:: how can we recognize and mobilize, share, and/or cede our power in service of dismantling white supremacy culture?

ABOUT UNLEARNING CIRCLES: UWSA’s first Unlearning Circle in the winter of 2017 was created as a place for white people to do the work of reflection and community self-education. As we continue to gather to critically examine our own participation in cultures of dominance, we build our capacity to show up as individuals and as a city-wide community network for Black, Indigenous and people of color-led anti-racist efforts in a positive and accountable way. The Unlearning Circles are an opportunity for white identifying people to explore white supremacy culture and our role and responsibilities in undoing racism. We welcome and recognize the gift of the presence of any People of Color who choose to join us.

Resources:

White Supremacy Cultural Characteristics:
https://www.dismantlingracism.org/uploads/4/3/5/7/43579015/okun_-_white_sup_culture.pdf

People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond – Antiracist Principles: https://www.pisab.org/our-principles/

https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/black-voters-win-election/

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/nov/08/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-ends-truce-by-warning-incompetent-democratic-party

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/11/what-if-trump-refuses-concede/616424/

____________________________

October 10, 2020 @ 10 am CST
2020 Series: White Supremacy Culture
Unlearning Circle: Fear of Open Conflict – Part II 
Register: https://actionnetwork.org/events/unlearning-circle-white-supremacy-culture-3

Please join us for a second month examining the fear of open conflict, as we move from an individual, personal lens to a collective, community lens. How does this conflict avoidance inform how we interpret the world, and how and what we consider to be unpleasant, uncomfortable or violent? And how does the fear of open conflict shape our politics and our approaches to social change and anti-racism? 

ABOUT UNLEARNING CIRCLES: UWSA’s first Unlearning Circle in the winter of 2017 was created as a place for white people to do the work of reflection and community self-education. As we continue to gather to critically examine our own participation in cultures of dominance, we build our capacity to show up as individuals and as a city-wide community network for Black, Indigenous and people of color-led anti-racist efforts in a positive and accountable way. The Unlearning Circles are an opportunity for white identifying people to explore white supremacy culture and our role and responsibilities in undoing racism. We welcome and recognize the gift of the presence of any People of Color who choose to join us.

RESOURCES: 

White Supremacy Culture PDF https://www.dismantlingracism.org/uploads/4/3/5/7/43579015/okun_-_white_sup_culture.pdf

https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2019/03/14/700897826/when-civility-is-used-as-a-cudgel-against-people-of-color

https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2020/06/riots-are-american-way-george-floyd-protests/612466/ 

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/11/what-if-trump-refuses-concede/616424/ 

____________________________

September 12, 2020 @ 10 am 
2020 Series: White Supremacy Culture
Unlearning Circle: Fear of Open Conflict
Register: https://actionnetwork.org/events/unlearning-circle-september2020/

“We cannot allow our fear of anger to deflect us nor seduce us into settling for anything less than the hard work of excavating honesty…” Audre Lorde 1981

UWSA’s September Unlearning Circle will focus on the characteristic of fear of open conflict in the continuation of our series on White Culture Characteristics. Come and explore how fear of open conflict is both a barrier for our engagement in anti-racism work and also upholds white supremacy culture. This topic will address issues such as our socialization to value politeness at the expense of important changes and how civility shuts down conversations on race. In our unlearning circles, we engage in large and small group discussions to address racism at individual, cultural and systemic levels.

ABOUT UNLEARNING CIRCLES: UWSA’s first Unlearning Circle in the winter of 2017 was created as a place for white people to do the work of reflection and community self-education. As we continue to gather to critically examine our own participation in cultures of dominance, we build our capacity to show up as individuals and as a city-wide community network for Black, Indigenous and people of color-led anti-racist efforts in a positive and accountable way. The Unlearning Circles are an opportunity for white identifying people to explore white supremacy culture and our role and responsibilities in undoing racism. We welcome and recognize the gift of the presence of any People of Color who choose to join us.

____________________________

Resources:

White Supremacy Culture PDF https://www.dismantlingracism.org/uploads/4/3/5/7/43579015/okun_-_white_sup_culture.pdf

People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond – Antiracist Principles: https://www.pisab.org/our-principles/

short summary from Robin DiAngelo on niceness and how it is an evasion to real anti racism work https://bigthink.com/videos/why-does-systemic-racism-exist –

A Conversation with White People on Race https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXow7olFyIM&t=234s

Martin Luther King and the ‘polite’ racism of white liberals https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/01/17/martin-luther-king-polite-racism-white-liberals

*********************

What too many white people still don’t understand about racism https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/06/09/magazine/what-too-many-white-people-still-dont-understand-about-racism/

____________________________

August 8, 2020 @ 10 am 
2020 Series: White Supremacy Culture
Unlearning Circle: Perfectionism 

UWSA’s first Unlearning Circle in the winter of 2017 was created as a place for white people to do the work of reflection and community self-education. As we continue to gather to critically examine our own participation in cultures of dominance, we build our capacity to show up as individuals and as a city-wide community network for Black, Indigenous and people of color-led anti-racist efforts in a positive and accountable way.

In July 2020, UWSA held the first in a multi-month Unlearning series that will explore how people, and white people in particular, have been racialized and socialized in white supremacy culture. We ground these circles in the work of Tema Okun and others, such as Kenneth Jones, and Daniel Buford of the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond, who have outlined these characteristics. Our discussion will focus on how these aspects shape our cultural norms: how we think and act, and how they show up in our institutions and our communities. 

We begin this series with a reflection of white folks’ internalized sense of urgency because, over the past month, many white people are “waking up to racism.” With so many white people urgently wanting to become “anti-racist”, how can we, as white folks, harness our energies to support the racial justice work led by communities of color who have been fighting white supremacy for generations?

____________________________

Saturday, June 27, 2020 @ 10 am
2020 Series: Violence Perpetuated by White Supremacy Culture
Liberal White Women and the Violence of White Supremacy

Register for the June 27 Unlearning Circle
Our Group Agreements
More About Undoing White Supremacy Austin

UWSA’s June Unlearning Circle will focus on liberal white women’s role in perpetuating the violence of White Supremacy, especially on Black bodies.  White people imagine danger into the bodies of Black people, when the inverse is actually true.  Resmaa Menakem, a cultural trauma navigator, has observed that “the myth of the fragility of white bodies and the corresponding fear of Black ones lives on.”

White people like Amy Cooper regularly call upon police to sustain their sense of white superiority and control over others. White supremacy still protects white bodies and inflicts violence on Black-bodied people.  White women have been both active participants and willing beneficiaries in upholding racial terror throughout our country’s history.  Liberal women’s voices speak out for all humanity whilepreserving their comfort under the mantle of “niceness”.  This gaslighting prevents bold, informed action to end the impact of the White Supremacy Culture.

This path is an opportunity for white identifying people to explore white supremacy culture and our role and responsibilities in undoing racism. We welcome and recognize the gift of the presence of any People of Color who choose to join us.
____________________________

Recommended reading, listening, and/or viewing to prepare for our conversation

NPR’s On the Media: The weaponization of white womanhood (Radio Show)

https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/episodes/on-the-media-boiling-point

Dame Magazine: White Women Aren’t Afraid: They Want Power over Black People

https://www.damemagazine.com/2018/07/30/white-women-arent-afraid-of-black-people-they-want-pretty-power/

New York Times: How White Women Use Themselves as Instruments of Terror

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/27/opinion/racism-white-women.html

White Noise Collective Interview: Definition of White Womanhood and Systems of Violence

White Womanhood & Systems of Violence

Vox: How Southern Socialites Rewrote Civil War History (7 min video)

Washington Post: Amy Cooper and George Floyd represent two versions of racism black Americans face every day. Central Park and Minneapolis are not isolated incidents.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/05/28/how-amy-cooper-george-floyd-represent-two-versions-racism-that-black-americans-face-every-day/

UWSA relies heavily on the Principles and steps of Undoing Racism promulgated by The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond (PISAB). As our nation is in upheaval because of the violence perpetrated by White Supremacy Culture, we will explore the role of white liberal women in this experience.

This series is based on the PISAB principle of Identifying and Analyzing the Manifestations of Racism:  Individual acts of racism are supported by institutions and are nurtured by the societal practices such as militarism and cultural racism, which enforce and perpetuate racism.

To help predominately white spaces and communities like churches, workplaces, civic organizations, schools, neighborhoods, and friend groups learn to grapple with race and whiteness in a constructive, helpful, and soul affirming way, we’re calling on the wider community to join us in forming citywide “un-learning circles” within existing community spaces.

We envision dozens or even hundreds of spaces full of people seeking to understand their own biases, structural racism and its effects, deepen their connection to their own capacity for empathy and compassion, and find tangible ways to be active collaborators in racial justice. More than a book club, different from an academic class, people gather with those they already know over brunch and have honest, brave, and authentic conversations about race in the effort of unlearning together. We think community is key to keeping each other accountable and staying in this work for the long term, building horizontal structures of support rooted in relationships rather than pyramids of dominant power. For these reasons, we are calling on folks to gather where they already find community, and do so as peers committed to the struggle rather than teachers and students.

Unlearning Circles can take many forms: from an ongoing environmental or reproductive justice lens, to a parenting focus or a faith-based foundation, they are all predominantly white spaces talking about internalized racism, white supremacy and structural racism through a praxis of thinking, feeling and doing.

*** A note about these spaces ***

The nature of our organization and the work we do means that this conversation is facilitated by white people, about whiteness and racism within predominantly white spaces. We understand these spaces as only one piece of a multiracial effort to dismantle racism. This work and these spaces are in response to the current and historical call from black leadership for white anti-racists to organize their own people, and provide material support to their organizing efforts.

While we recognize that the way we as a group navigate this work means that our audience is other white folks, we welcome all who wish to attend, this space is open to all. Our mission statement is included at the end of this document, for those who want to know more.