Eliminating White Racism in the U.S. Midwest
The Chicago (Illinois, USA) RC Region and the Wisconsin (USA) RC Region have a lot in common. In both, people enjoy the snow in winter and have a special love for the Great Lakes. Both are led by Black women. And the work on eliminating white racism is going well in both!
About two years ago, Cindy, from Chicago, told me, Marian, from Wisconsin, about the Chicago support group to discharge about racism.
Cindy’s group meets weekly, as a drop-in meeting, from 8:00 to 9:00 a.m. The timing and format have been convenient for parents and people who commute to work.
We (in Wisconsin) decided to try it. We now meet on Thursdays, at 7:30 a.m., for series that last eight to ten weeks. We use Zoom, and Chicago uses the phone.
We have “news and goods” and a little RC theory. I often ask people for a thought, question, or insight. Then we have sessions. People discharge well during their short turns. We have appreciations at the end.
We have worked on the following: noticing that we are good; noticing that we have one another; our mistakes with Global Majority and Indigenous (GMI)* people; reaching for GMI people, inside and outside of RC; supporting our GMI leaders; our separation from each other; hopelessness; and refusing to accept divisions. [* The peoples of Africa, Asia, the Pacific Islands, the Caribbean, and Latin America, and those descended from them, and Indigenous people, are over eighty percent of the global population. These people also occupy most of the global land mass. Using the term “Global Majority and Indigenous (GMI)” for these people acknowledges their majority status in the world and interrupts how the dominant (U.S. and European) culture assigns them a minority status. Many Global Majority and Indigenous people living in dominant-culture countries have been assimilated into the dominant culture—by force, in order to survive, in seeking a better life for themselves and their families, or in pursuing the economic, political, or other inclusion of their communities. Calling these people “Global Majority and Indigenous” contradicts the assimilation.]
We have built safety with each other and gotten closer. Putting our attention on racism every week has helped us keep eliminating racism at the forefront of our minds. And the routine and our persistence have helped the distresses to move.
Even though it is a drop-in group, most people attend regularly. Several don’t want to take a break, saying it is a “great way to start the day.” More people have been joining.
An important outcome has been Cindy’s and my growing connection. It’s been increasingly easy to work with each other on our hardest distresses about leadership and racism, and of course on our earliest hurts. We rarely miss a week of Co-Counseling together.
For me (Cindy) the best part of this project has been getting closer to Marian. She is my steady, solid buddy in this work. Knowing that I have her support makes all the difference for me in taking leadership in my Region.
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Reprinted from the RC e-mail discussion list for white allies ending racism
(Present Time 208, July 2022)