United to End Racism (UER) at a Conference for Educators of Color and Allies
UER was invited to train affinity group leaders and offer workshops at the People of Color Conference of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) in the US, in December of 2004. This is an annual conference of teachers and administrators who work in independent (private) schools. There were about fifteen hundred adults in attendance - about 1150 people of color and about 350 white people.
The UER team was a multi-racial group composed of four professional educators.
Two days before the conference began, sixty-five affinity group leaders (fifty-eight people of color, a majority of whom were African American, and seven white people) attended a day-long training. UER provided the first four hours of training, which included information about UER and our perspectives on racism, and practice with mini-sessions.
Affinity groups met twice on the first day of the conference, organized primarily along racial lines. UER leaders played key roles in planning and leading the affinity groups, and in supporting other leaders.
The UER team also led a major presentation to the 350 white people at the conference. Most participants returned for the afternoon groups for white people that were to be an extension of our work. Finally, UER led a workshop for forty people of various backgrounds, on using Re-Evaluation Counseling to heal the hurts of racism.