The White Anti-Racism Affinity & Accountability Parent/Guardian Group

So, what will this group look like?

It will be: a place to ask questions, process, and grow.

It will be: a place of collective action.

It will be: a place to create a road map to solidarity with parents of color at Oakwood.

It will be: a place to find joy and community while also digging deep.

It will be: a place to make mistakes and learn from them.

It will not be: a replacement for multiracial spaces and learning opportunities.

It will not be: a place for shame and guilt—this work is actually liberating.

It will not be: a place you need to have any experience before entering.

It will not be: a place you will be dictated to.

It will not be: a competition for who is most woke. This is lifelong work, there is always more to learn. We know this from all the mistakes we keep making.

Why a White Space?

1. To take up the work of educating ourselves, without leaning on people of color (POC) to answer our questions and do the work for us; there is a long history of racial-justice activists of color calling for Whites to do this
2. To speak plainly and honestly and bring our deepest confusions to light, without harming POC—if we don’t say it out loud, we can’t address it
3. Whites have a long history of dismissing information about racism when it’s coming from POC
4. White supremacy won’t fall without active White participation (ditto for all dominant groups and all -isms)
5. It’s a both/and—we educate ourselves and lean on each other so that we are more effective/less hesitant/less hurtful in multiracial spaces
6. We need to know our racial selves before we can participate fully in anti-racist work; we are exploring how to recognize long-invisible Whiteness and White privilege, identify and interrupt our internalized dominance, and collectively strategize for liberation and change (Dr. Craig Elliott)