"Being White in a Racist World" Workshop from Oct. 8 - Dec. 3

A free 8-week workshop on "Being White in a Racist World" will be held in Stow on Tuesday evenings from Oct. 8 through Dec. 3, with no class being held on Nov. 26. Sessions will be held from 7 to 9 p.m.

The workshop will focus on helping white people understand the racial component of their identity and how to live with authenticity and integrity in a society that by default was built by white people for white people.

The course develops an understanding of the structural foundation of racism, quite apart from the bigotry and discrimination that flows from some individuals. It leads to an understanding of how racism exists independently of individual racist people, independently of race itself. The goal is to raise awareness of the differing impact of this structure on white people and people of color; the differing impact of swimming in a white ocean, a white-supremacy-based society. The course is meant to help white people become aware of the water while swimming in a white ocean.

The course will be led by Ken Wagner, a white man who was one of the founding members of the Unitarian Universalist New England Region’s anti-racism/anti-oppression/multicultural transformation team called GRACE. He has served for the last nine years on the Executive Steering Committee of the Allies for Racial Equity and just completed a two-year term as its president.

Wagner frequently speaks at church and community events across the country, with a focus on the examination of race and the impact of white supremacy on our lives. Since 2014, he has been facilitating 8-week workshops focused on resistance to white supremacy at more than 20 congregations and community groups across New England.

Says Wagner, “Racism itself is the source of great confusion among white folks because there are so many different definitions and conceptions of what it is and what it is not. In this workshop we work through what the role of white people can or should be in racial justice movements, what our role in Black Lives Matter might be, and what it means to be in solidarity with people of color, what it looks like to exhibit ally behavior. We will discuss situations and responses; things we commonly hear but are sometimes frustrated in responding to in an effective manner.”

The workshop will be held at First Parish Church of Stow & Acton (FPC), 353 Great Rd., Stow (at the intersection of Routes 117 and 62). To register for the class, please contact Helen Ham at helenham@aol.com. Because each session builds on the one before it, attendees are asked to commit to participating each week. Wagner will send reading materials prior to each class. The class is open to people of color, with an understanding that the focus is on whiteness.

Sessions will be held in FPC's Community Room. Go through the main entrance (not the sanctuary entrance) and take a left. The Community Room is through the second door on the right.