# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
michelle obama's dnc speech: full video - cnn video

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Michelle Obama's DNC speech: Full video - CNN Video

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
During her speech at the 2020 Democratic National Convention, former first lady Michelle Obama argued that Joe Biden's character, compassion and competency makes him a better choice than President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election.

# data[].attributes.headline
One min video about the definitions of race, ethnicity, culture...

# data[].attributes.subject
One min video about the definitions of race, ethnicity, culture...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Kidsinthehouse.com - Are there differences between culture, ethnicity and race?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Watch Beth Hall's video on Are there differences between culture, ethnicity and race?...

# data[].attributes.headline
Video describing the 4 levels of racism and illuminating the ways that the media perpetuates the myth that racism is an individual (not a systemic) issue.

# data[].attributes.subject
Video describing the 4 levels of racism and illuminating the ways that the media perpetuates the myth that racism is an individual (not a systemic) issue.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Moving the Race Conversation Forward | Race Forward

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
“Moving the Race Conversation Forward” is a report by Race Forward: The Center for Racial Justice Innovation that aims to reshape and reform the way we talk about race and racism in our country.

# data[].attributes.body
An incredibly powerful racial autobiography.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"Powerful . . . Brown calls on readers to live their professed ideals rather than simply state them." -Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Takes readers on a journey through the racial divide in a way we've truly never seen before. Powerful, haunting, and absolutely impossible to put down, [Brown's] account of what it's like to grow up black, middle-class, and female in modern America is not to be missed."

"A deeply personal celebration of blackness that simultaneously sheds new light on racial injustice and inequality while offering hope for a better future."
"Moves the race conversation forward . . . Brown offers a powerful perspective on race with her first-hand account."
"I read Austin Channing Brown's incredible book in one sitting. This is one that every black woman needs to read to be validated and every white person needs to read to receive some perspective . . . Brown has concisely articulated the burdens, questions, and frustrations that I find myself experiencing daily as a black woman." -Sojourners

"What a stunning debut from a seasoned racial justice leader. Austin does double duty by fiercely affirming blackness while simultaneously unveiling and demystifying the subtle effects of white supremacy among Christians. I trust Austin, I listen to Austin and I learn from Austin. I hope you will too." -Christena Cleveland, professor at Duke University and author of Disunity in Christ

"Austin Channing Brown introduces herself as a master memoirist, delivering a manifesto on racism in America that will live on shelves besides Ta-Nehisi Coates and Michelle Alexander. This book will break open hearts and minds. It's an example of how one woman can change the world by telling the truth about her life with unflinching, relentless courage." -Glennon Doyle, bestselling author of Love Warrior and Carry On, Warrior, and president of Together Rising

"I have laughed, I have held back tears, I have reflected with joy, hope, and hurt while reading. Austin captures perfectly the sentiment of many black people in America. She's not only telling her story, she's telling our story. Austin is a gift to the body and the culture." -Lecrae, Grammy award-winning artist and bestselling author of Unashamed

"Austin is one of my most important teachers. I'm Still Here is devastating, beautiful, and haunting and it leaves no room for a tepid reaction. Her crystal clear voice will move you, push you, and break your heart. Prophetic and tender, I plan to put this book in every pair of hands I know and join her in the dismantling of white supremacy. She's still here and I'm with her." -Jen Hatmaker, New York Times bestselling author of Of Mess and Moxie and For the Love

"The movement toward diversity and forgiveness, [Brown] points out, too often involves white people seeking credit for recognizing the crimes of the past even as they do nothing to fix things today, and black people being required to provide endless absolution and information while calmly enduring dignity-eroding and rage-inducing injustices." -Library Journal (starred review)

"Brown passionately rejects facile reliance on 'hope,' stating that 'in order for me to stay in this work, hope must die' and 'the death of hope gives way to a sadness that heals, to anger that inspires, to a wisdom that empowers me.' An eloquent argument for meaningful reconciliation focused on racial injustice rather than white feelings."

Get the latest updates about Austin Channing Brown

And go from well-read to best read with book recs, deals and more in your inbox every week.

And go from well-read to best read with book recs, deals and more in your inbox every week.

Become a Member

Start earning points for buying books! Just for joining you'll get personalized recommendations on your dashboard daily and features only for members.

Success!

Your account has been created. Upload book purchases, access your personalized book recommendations, and more from here. GOT IT

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
I'm Still Here by Austin Channing Brown: 9781524760854 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK * From a leading voice on racial justice, an eye-opening account of growing up Black, Christian, and female that exposes how white...

# data[].attributes.body
Daily live anti-racism events and discussions through PBS.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Educate Yourself: Online Racial Equity Workshops | Eventbrite

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Let's be better, together, by standing for an equitable society and with those fighting for justice for the Black community. Use this time for learning, listening, engaging in the discourse, and doing better as individuals and as a country. Donate to organizations fighting for racial equality, participate in protests or rallies, and educate yourself on systemic and learned racism.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We are in a time where we are starting to question what we don't know about black history and the black experience. My personal experience as a biracial woman, teetering between two worlds, has drawn me into a personal quest to find and understand the lessons missing from my high school and college curriculum. Black Study Hall is a space where we ask questions, discuss experiences and learn out loud together. It may be uncomfortable, but that's where the growth happens right?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We are in a time where we are starting to question what we don't know about black history and the black experience. My personal experience as a biracial woman, teetering between two worlds, has drawn me into a personal quest to find and understand the less...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Foreword by Terrence J. Roberts, PhD.

A Letter to Readers

Acknowledgments

An Introduction to Social Comprehension and Strategies to Prepare You for the Work Ahead
Chapter 1: Exploring Our Identities
Lesson: Affirming Our Identities: Identity Webs
We introduce the elements of our own identities (such as sister, athlete, bilingual, reader) and look for connections to or wonders about the identities of others.

Lesson: Placing Ourselves in the World: Stories of Our Names
Using a mentor text, we write the stories of how we got our names, how our names make us feel, and our experiences with our names.

Lesson: Journeying into Our Family Histories: "Where I'm From" Poems
We use the structure of a "Where I'm From" poem to share our family histories, storied objects, and moments.

Synthesis: Making Thinking Visible
Chapter 2: Listening with Love
Synthesis: Making Thinking Visible
Chapter 3: Being Candid
Lesson: Seeing Our Own Bias: Drawing Activity
We learn about how bias works, and we use an activity to help us see some of our own bias and brainstorm how we can confront it.

Lesson: Understanding Microaggressions: Poem Analysis
We analyze examples of microaggressions to understand what they are and how they affect people, and we look for microaggressions in our own lives.

Lesson: Refusing to Let Others' Biases Define Us: Identity Statements
We assert who we are with confidence. We recall labels others have tried to put on us, reject those labels, and choose how we define who we are.

Synthesis: Making Thinking Visible
Chapter 4: Becoming Better Informed
Lesson: Understanding How Our Identity Affects Us: Our News
We identify what is happening in our world-personal events, news stories, media-and consider how our identity shapes what we give our attention to.

Lesson: Moving Beyond Our Initial Thinking: Mini-Inquiries
We use a mini-inquiry to learn more about a topic and examine how new information changes our perspective.

Synthesis: Making Thinking Visible
Chapter 5: Finding Humanity in Ourselves and in Others
Lesson: Broadening Our Ideas About Who We Are Responsible To and For: Our Universe of Obligation
We consider who we feel responsibility to and why. We also consider how that responsibility can change in certain situations.

Lesson: Understanding Others' Perspectives: Intent Versus Impact
We work to understand two sides of a divisive issue by listening to both perspectives.
Chapter 6: Facing Crisis Together
Suggested Resource Stacks

References and Inspiration

This book is based on the idea that we can develop skills and habits to help us comprehend social issues and participate in relevant, transparent conversations. Social comprehension, like academic comprehension, is how we make meaning from and mediate our relationship with the world. We understand that the meaning making, or socialization, is learned, not inherited. Each chapter in this book includes lessons and/or practical help for students to learn and engage in a targeted social comprehension concept. Our thinking will change often as we practice being more socially literate citizens of the world, so we allow for and model the same for our students as we construct comprehension and cultivate our empathy together. The "At First I Thought . . . Now I Think" journal page in this introduction gives you and your students a tool to reflect on how the experiences in the lessons are affecting your outlook. In the work of social comprehension, we want to be as transparent as possible and make our thinking visible.

The final chapter of the book addresses how we, as educators, can continually refine our own approach to this work. If we are going to be on the front lines of helping children make sense of the news they bring to school and the curriculum the world keeps handing them, we must have a strong foundation of social comprehension in place. If we can commit to approaching this work as the lead learner, teaching with curiosity and modeling vulnerability rather than rigid certainty, we can build habitats of trust where kids (and adults) participate in a learning discussion, and where expression, identity, and social literacy matter.

- Introduction

A sense of urgency for pedagogy rooted in empathy and humanity is palpable in communities around the world. But how can teachers actualize such instruction and make it accessible to students? Where is the professional development teachers yearn for to facilitate important, and at times, challenging conversations? Being the Change is the resource every educator needs right now! Against a socio-politically charged backdrop where tensions run high, Sara is a beacon of light who offers practical, compassionate guidance that makes it possible to do the work of social comprehension. The journey to accomplishing this isn't linear; it is messy, tangled, circuitous. But Sara provides a pathway for teachers and our students. She offers a sustained, clear voice that reminds us of why this work is necessary and how it can look in our classrooms. Being the Change is invaluable to all educators as we work to empower our students as change-makers who positively influence the world.

- Sonja Cherry-Paul

****

Sara Ahmed is the ultimate upstander; she cares enough to confront. Her gentle and wise voice is a model for how to be in this tumultuous age. She shares text sets that ask big questions and resist simplistic answers. She invites teachers and students to address tensions in today's classrooms and examine bias in their thinking. Being the Change offers practical tools for building a classroom community that is inclusive, candid, and caring. This book is a treasure.

- Penny Kittle

****

What an incredibly powerful, practical, beautiful book. As I read I could not help but think how this book has the potential to radically change conversations in classrooms (and larger communities) around compassion, listening, empathy, and knowing. It is books like these that heal. It is hope and possibility and humanity within these covers.

Perhaps the greatest compliment I could give is that as I read, the teacher in me itched to get out of this room and into the presence of kids- to experience these lessons in real time, to hear children's stories, to dig into this work because for the first time I feel capable. This book is a roadmap with an entry point all of us can access and guidance through the most challenging places we could go. I don't feel afraid of what could happen, I feel energized about what Sara has taught me I can help happen.

I could not help but think of the million and one ways I could use Sara's thinking and teaching, to engage in this work whole heartedly from the moment children step through the doors.

- Kristi Mraz

****

In her book, Being the Change, Sara K. Ahmed offers us not only the roadmap of how to create and maintain components of meaningful social change within our instruction but also the necessary tools for us to navigate the hard conversations we invite in and those we have not had the courage to have...yet. By centering her book on developing the identity of the very children we teach, she gives us invaluable tools to navigate the hard topics that are constantly surrounding our learning community. While she writes in her book that there is no magical formula for making the world a better place, within the pages of this book and in her willingness to help us grow not just as educators but as human beings with her impactful lesson ideas, she has given us something near magic. A resource to be used in every school, this book will leave a trail of change for a better world in its wake if we let it.

- Pernille Ripp

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Being the Change is based on the idea that people can develop skills and habits to serve them in the comprehension of social issues. Sara K. Ahmed identifies

# data[].attributes.headline
Resources from the CCSD Office of Inclusive Excellence

# data[].attributes.subject
Resources from the CCSD Office of Inclusive Excellence

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Juneteenth is celebrated annually on June 19th. It commemorates the day, in1865 , that enslaved African Americans, living in Texas, learned slavery was outlawed in the United States. Two years earlier, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation declared an end to the inhumane practice of slavery. Juneteenth has previously been called African American Freedom Day and Emancipation Day. Although it is only recognized as a legal holiday in the state of Texas, millions of African Americans honor the significance of this important day in history.

Resource on the History & Significance of Juneteenth

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Inclusive Excellence / Events, Access, and Opportunities in the Community

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Juneteenth is celebrated annually on June 19th. It commemorates the day, in1865 , that enslaved African Americans, living in Texas, learned slavery was outlawed in the United States. Two years earlier, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation declared an end to the inhumane practice of slavery.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Take our quiz to find out if you exhibit white fragility traits!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This quiz will help you identify underlying assumptions that you hold about race that engender these feelings, behaviors, and claims you make when confronted. Take it now!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We are a country founded on the genocide of one people and the enslavement of another. We have yet to reconcile the impact of this inheritance on us all.

The experiment of America is 240 years old. In these 240 years, systems were designed that isolate and separate us, that empower a chosen few with the privilege of invention, innovation, and creativity, that lay the groundwork for misunderstanding, fear, and ultimately hate.

Racism and inequity are products of design. They can be redesigned.

We believe that in community, with thoughtful and deliberate action, we can design the obsolescence of those systems. We offer equityXdesign, a practice that organizations, teams, and individuals can use to mitigate the impact of racism and inequity in design practices.

As a collaborative, this work is our voice - an offering to the legacy of liberation, truth, and democracy. We collectively leverage the magic of relationships across difference to design right-fit solutions. Christine empowers people to reimagine themselves as school designers and founders. Michelle helps people find their own voices as anti racist leaders for equity. Caroline activates the voices of the marginalized to strengthen relationships, particularly those across lines of difference. Given who we are and what we know, we feel uniquely positioned to contribute to this fight, in this way - at the intersection of equity and design. We know it is not the only thing that needs to be done. It is no silver bullet, but it is where we think our energy has the greatest return.

As leaders from the racial equity and design and innovation spaces, we offer equityXdesign - a new way to think about and approach achieving equity. equityXdesign creates the conditions and relationships for inclusive innovation. A process for anti-racist and equitable design, it is guided by three central beliefs: innovation's need for inclusion and intentional design, the indistinguishable relationship between the past and the present, and our moral imperative to live in the future we desire to create.

equityXdesign is a practice that merges the consciousness of racial equity work with the methodology of design thinking. We believe that designing for the most affected and marginalized, letting their voices and experiences lead, and acknowledging the barriers to engagement are critical for this new process. Most importantly, we believe this design work must happen across racial difference. All people have the capacity for innovation. We believe it is this multiplicity of entry points that will create the conditions for new invention and innovations for equity. This practice is for teams of educators, designers, advocates, and agitators committed to building internal capacity and confidence designing for equity. It is reserved for those who believe we are stronger together and have the bold imagination to cultivate new ideas, invent equitable institutions, and reform biased policies.

American history has created a segregated world where white people are rarely in community with others. The isolation creates myths, stories, and beliefs that go unchallenged, and people of color are not immune. The work of acknowledgement, the telling of truths, and the opportunities for community and reflection are necessary before we can move forward. If we remain unwilling to do serious individual, institutional, and structural work as a people, our path toward a truly equitable future will stagnate.
Helping us see and understand our history, bringing us in community with one another in ways that allow us to hear each other, the raising of voices traditionally lost in the white noise of hegemonic discourse - this is the power of equity work.
From large government agencies to schools, tech startups, nonprofits, and philanthropic groups, the education ecosystem has a very narrow definition of inequity and how it manifests, often focusing only on explicit and intentional racism. But racism today looks different than it did in our Jim Crow past. Overwhelmingly, individuals no longer believe in the biological inferiority of black and brown people; however, while we may all claim egalitarian values, and while it is no longer socially acceptable to treat others differently because of the color of their skin, most of us hold implicit biases that impact our behavior and allow for structural and systemic inequity to remain.

We are living in a "colorblind" society that often recognizes racism as anomalous, individual acts of aggression or the mere acknowledgment of difference, not the silent structures that continue to divide. The victories of the civil rights movement, and now the Obama presidency, have reinforced the notion that we are a post-racial society. However, the lived experiences of millions of people of color reveal otherwise. Racism and other forms of discrimination have simply shifted from explicit and interpersonal to structural and less overt manifestations. The rise of identity-based aggression cannot distract us from recognizing anchoring systems of oppression and how they manifest in the lives of people.

Most of us hold implicit biases that impact our behavior and allow for structural and systemic inequity to remain.
Our individual actions can cumulatively serve to maintain existing forms of inequity - or they can serve to dismantle systems of oppression.
Historically, we have put the expectations of this change entirely on individuals, requiring each of us to maintain a fully developed relationship with our own racial identity, an intimate knowledge of the history of oppression and current manifestations of inequity, and the personal comfort and initiative to see, call out, and actively fight hegemonic systems. The focus of equity work for most organizations leans toward the having of courageous conversations about race and power and on individual racial identity development work. While this approach is necessary, it will not, alone, end individual, institutional, and systemic inequity.

Identity development work takes time and is never complete. Individuals can engage in such work without ever taking action to dismantle systems of oppression - particularly those that benefit from status quo systems or from being seen having such courageous conversations. Additionally, personal work can only progress when individuals first understand and then commit to doing deeper and often painful work. For many this personal work is often seen as unnecessary.
We must start with individuals, but we cannot stop there.
Institutions are the sum of the people within them, and they create the systems and structures we live in. The work of racial equity is to create safe spaces for people, to connect them, and then to move from merely understanding the role of the individual to understanding the role individuals play in institutions and systems. Only then can we move to action.

Our current paradigms and tools for truth, reconciliation, and anti-racist action are insufficient for the magnitude of the challenge we face. Racial equity work engages people in meaningful and authentic conversation, sparking individual transformation but not preparing people to create long-term systemic change. Organizations that engage in racial equity work may create space for individuals to find themselves personally awakened to their role and identity in society, ready to change their institutions for the better, but without the tools to take such action. Consultancies and protocols are not equipped for the complexities of racism's manifestations within individuals, institutions, and societal structures.

Some say talk is cheap. We disagree. Talk is deeply important, but it is simply not enough. We need to move toward new designs. For many, talking about racism and our long history of oppression feels paralyzing. The complexity of racism on individual, institutional, and structural levels feels insurmountable. Equity work helps us understand where we are and how we got here, but it is missing the tools for building a different reality. It is here that design thinking can lead the way.

In recent years, design thinking has left its roots as a tool used for product design and emerged as a powerful problem-solving methodology across fields and sectors. This shift in how design thinking is used has come in concert with a societal shift in the way we identify problems and understand solutions.

Our current charge is to solve problems where there is no one solution, where more data and information doesn't necessarily make things more clear, where the problem is hard to even define. For instance, we know that solving issues of terrorism is less about building better weapons and more about interrupting radical group recruitment strategies. We know that issues of environmental degradation are no longer about technologies for clean energy; they are about incentivizing corporate and consumer behavior changes. We know how the brain learns, but we can't figure out how to create school environments that are socioeconomically and racially integrated.

Problem-solving is no longer about inventing things; it is about recreating systems. And in a world that continues to increase in complexity and technology, design thinking can simplify, humanize, and order this chaos.

Traditional Design Thinking Process

This shift in the way we define problems necessitates a shift in the tools and mindsets we use to solve them. Design thinking provides a framework for complex, iterative, and targeted solutions: It emphasizes the need to define the problem well and build sooner to get better feedback, and it has fundamentally changed the relationship between designers and those they are designing for. This focus on the end user is so central that design thinking is often simply referred to as user- or human-centered design.

While elevating the user in the design process has been the key to its success, it is also the reason why our current approach to design thinking needs to be retrofitted. If we believe design thinking is the right tool to use to redesign products, systems, and institutions to be more equitable, then we must redesign the design thinking process, mindsets and tools themselves to ensure they mitigate for the causes of inequity - the prejudices of the human designers in the process, both their explicit and implicit personal biases, and the power of mostly invisible status quo systems of oppression.

The role of implicit bias is particularly distressing as we consider the design thinking process. In its current state, it may be doing as much harm as it is good. While engaging with end users, many forms of design thinking still see the designer as separate from the user and grant the designer the power in the relationship - the power to decide with whom to do empathy work, the power to interpret the results, the power to decide the framing of the problem, and the power to pick the best solution.

It stands to reason that any problem definition or solution created by biased individuals - which we all are - will perpetuate inequity if the process does not actively acknowledge and combat bias. A process that is itself colorblind will be blind to the effects of color in both problem and solution.

We see this regularly in our work facilitating design challenges with organizations. An example: The well-intentioned, usually white, educated, and middle- to upper-middle-class designers working with low-income urban (code for black and brown) schools to help design new programs know it is important to engage in empathy work, so they ask the principal to give them access to some parents to interview. The principal emails the PTA for volunteers, who are often not representative of the general student body. After a few interviews, the designers go back to their conference room to decide what the parents and students need. They brainstorm options, narrowing to those that fit within the existing structure of the school. In the best-case scenario, the program is something the school community can in fact benefit from - but it is unlikely to be designed to serve students and families most in need or to question status quo systems or structures. But these are essential when designing for equity.

There are many failings in this illustration, some of which can be attributed to a lack of rigor in using true design methodologies. However, even when pure design is applied, issues of power and bias have powerful sway. We can do better.

Two of the greatest hindrances to fighting inequity are literally hiding in plain sight: our implicit biases and the prevalent narrative of "colorblindness." If we don't even know we're doing something wrong, how can we be expected to change it?

We can enhance the design thinking process with tools frameworks that account for and make visible our individual biases; push us past the individual to the institutional, systemic, and historic inequity at play; and fight against hegemonic ideologies.

Instead of asking individuals to think their way into a new way of behaving, relying on their individual levels of awareness around issues of inequity, we can provide them with a framework that embeds that awareness. We can make design thinking, an already widely accepted and valued process for innovation and problem-solving, into a process that provides individuals with experiences that elevate their understanding of inequity while also providing tools to dismantle systems of inequity.

This is equityXdesign: an additional layer of checks, tools, and activities that, when laid on top of traditional design thinking methodologies, will illuminate racism and inequity - individual, structural, and institutional - that exists in the individuals involved in the design team and potentially shapes the way problems are framed and solutions are proposed.

Design thinking is an ideal starting point. When merged with the power of equity work, we believe it can be used to tackle our most urgent equity-based problems.

equityXdesign intentionally convenes people across difference and builds a common language for system-wide change. It is a framework that reimagines all of us as designers, adjusts for our implicit biases, and minimizes the scale and amplification of a dominant identity throughout. It creates guardrails and checkpoints that nudge design teams to identify problems through a lens of equity, brainstorm transformative possibilities, and prototype and test these possibilities in low-cost, low-resolution, inclusive, and participatory environments.

Pastored by the spirit of inclusive invention, the process engages designers in their own identities and the identities and experiences of their co-designers to seed collaborative, inclusive innovation and invention. The centering ethos - see, be seen, and foresee - overlays the three beliefs we believe are preconditions for equitable design. These beliefs lead us to the five design principles that guide our actions.

BELIEF #1

LEARNING TO SEE: HISTORICAL CONTEXT MATTERS

Evolutionary science tells us that the most beneficial traits survive; we are the recipients of the genetic legacy of our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. And social inheritance mimics this genetic inheritance: We inherit the traits and characteristics of legacies of privilege and oppression. We must see both who we were (our historical selves) and who we are (our current selves). To understand the present time and space we occupy, we must understand the inherited legacy surrounding the thing we are designing, the place we are designing in, and the community we are designing with.

BELIEF #2

BE SEEN: RADICAL INCLUSION

equityXdesign is intentional about bringing diverse stakeholders together across race, role, gender, and socioeconomic status to build relationships and lay the groundwork for community. Inclusion is not merely the absence of exclusion: Radical inclusion requires going further - identifying barriers that exclude and eliminating them; welcoming different people, stories, and experiences to the innovation conversation; creating spaces where everyone can bring their full selves and be equally valued. Radical inclusion is not simply about reducing hate or respecting difference; it is about truly loving others.

BELIEF # 3

FORESEE: PROCESS AS PRODUCT

Process dictates product. To design for equity, we must design equitably. The practice of equitable design requires that we are mindful how we achieve equity. Inclusive design practices raise the voices of the marginalized, strengthen relationships across difference, shift positions, and recharge our democracy. Because exclusion feeds inequity, we can no longer argue that there is not enough time to include the community. We must make time for the magic of human connection, especially across difference.
These core beliefs, and the manifestations thereof, lead us to the following design principles:
DESIGN PRINCIPLE 1: DESIGN AT THE MARGINS

Our current innovation conversation is exclusive, accessible only to the powerful and privileged. This erodes the innate creative agency and leadership in the marginalized, reduces the experience of incredibly complex people, and often leads to the allocation of resources to symptoms while neglecting the existence, permanence, and resilience of root causes.

The current social order blames the marginalized for their experience without acknowledging or attempting to redesign oppressive historical structures. equityXdesign expects the privileged to trust and listen to the voices on the margins to identify the root causes of inequity and the ways they manifest. It positions the marginalized as leaders in the design process and experts in their experience, arming them with a process to solve their own problems.

Designing at the margin means that those in privileged positions do not solve for those experiencing oppression; rather, in true community, both the privileged and marginalized build collective responsibility and innovative solutions for our most intractable problems. Even the use of the word marginalized linguistically parallels the exclusion of individuals. The definition of a group simply by their relationship to the dominant culture is a problem that continues to persist.

DESIGN PRINCIPLE 2: START WITH YOUR SELF

Our identities (race, gender, upbringing, social status, home language, etc.) create our lens for the world and how we make sense of it. We must be aware of this lens when engaging in design. When we design for people without understanding the impact of their historical stories, our understanding slips into paternalism. When we design for people without accounting for our own biases, our understanding slips into stereotypes. We must raise our awareness of our own identities and how bias impacts our thoughts, choices, conclusions, and assumptions to truly co-create with others.

DESIGN PRINCIPLE 3: CEDE POWER

Equity requires a nonviolent, action-oriented spirit of co-creation and co-invention, necessitating an inversion of legacy power structures. Expertise cannot be quantified in degrees, and the designer/end-user dichotomy is no longer useful. We must acknowledge the power dynamics that allow some votes to count more than others. Equitable design demands that practices change and evolve - that we redefine roles, revalue ways of knowing, and reassess the ways we reach decision. We recognize the potential for cede power to reinforce the hegemonic view of power as a zero-sum game - more for you must mean less for me. This is not the case. We believe that shared power is in the interest of everyone and does not require a growth in the ranks of the powerless. And yet, this work still requires each of us, who hold power in some ways, to deeply question its inheritance and its locus and to cede it when necessary.

DESIGN PRINCIPLE 4: MAKE THE INVISIBLE VISIBLE

The relationships between people and problems are often governed by sets of heuristics - techniques that allow problems to be solved with speed, agility, and economy. However, these preexisting schemas can perpetuate exclusionary assumptions and biased practices, manifesting as implicit bias, power dynamics, and hegemonic practices that govern relationships with people in our organizations, schools, and governments. By making them visible, we can assess their impact and create a space for reflection and repair.

DESIGN PRINCIPLE 5 : SPEAK TO THE FUTURE

Because an equitable reality has never existed, we cannot look to our past to learn how to create an equitable future. With no guide, we must speak this reality into existence. In order to write a different story, we have to use different language. We must replace our current discourse.

Eugene Eubanks, Ralph Parish and Dianne Smith, in "Changing the Discourse in Schools" in Race, Ethnicity, and Multiculturalism: Policy and Practice introduced a framework (Discourse 1 vs Discourse 2) we use to guide our work. Discourse 1 is our current and hegemonic, discourse - the language typically used to talk about, question, and plan the work of reform. This dialogue supports and maintains the status quo without appearing unresponsive to outside demands for improvement. Discourse 2, the discourse of transformation, is the language that tends to be about uncomfortable, unequal, ineffective, prejudicial conditions and relationships. This discourse creates space for ambiguity, change, and the opportunity to be a part of a purposeful structure.

There is an often-overlooked power in language and discourse to influence and control ideas, beliefs, actions, and ultimately culture. When we notice how hegemony dominates our conceptual understanding of problems and how they impact others who are different, we have a powerful opportunity to see the end-users' historical selves and how those selves manifests in the present.

When we take control of our language, when we speak to the future, we lay the groundwork to create something new - together.

We believe change will come from the intersection of equity, design, and collaboration. We harbor no false beliefs that any exclusive group of individuals is capable of creating the tools society needs to dismantle systemic inequity. Our hope is to create a network of collaborators, inventors, and designers who prioritize equity. At the connections, nodes of opportunity create space where radical inclusion strengthens our individual and collective humanities.

The following modes and adaptations to the design process represent some of the latest retrofits for the stages of the invention practice. They are currently in the pilot phase of development.

Transformational Empathy

Mode 1: Meta-Empathy Maps

The design thinking process begins with empathy to build an understanding of another's experience. equityXdesign transforms empathy into a tool that helps people recognize how implicit bias and identity can impact their understanding of others. At the center of transformative empathy is listening to understand while also understanding how we listen. Through the use of a modified empathy map and three essential empathy questions, we facilitate this awareness and support the synthesis of the empathy experience.

* Individual: How does my identity impact how I understand my user's experiences?

* Institutional: What are the important customs and practices at play in my user's experience?

* Structural: What are the ways customs and practices work together to include or exclude my user?

Mode 2: Notice and Reflect

Adding additional modes to the design thinking process revealed more ways of connecting with others during the empathy stage - notice and reflect. The essence of these modes is captured in a pre-empathy identity reflection activity, which asks individuals to start by articulating some of their core values, emanating from their heart, followed by how they define their own identities. They then reflect on how they are feeling in that moment, biases that might be at play, and finally, any observations the reflection process created about the empathy work that is about to be done.

This adaptation was created by David Clifford, Senior Learning Experience Designer at the Stanford d.School K12 Lab. A veteran educator, master craftsman, and longtime practitioner of equity and design, David is working with the K12 Lab at Stanford to explore the intersection between equity consciousness and design consciousness with both us and the National Equity Project.

Equity Pauses

A sense of urgency can mask hegemonic strategy. Our common discourse of urgency and business-as-usual creates little time for reflection; our pace of life eclipses our awareness. Strategic equity pauses stop the clock to reflect on our language, ideas, and hunches in the context of a discourse of transformation. Without this moment to think, our brains default to the familiar and the known, making a repeat of past practice likely. Incorporating these discourse checks and pauses after each stage ensures that our ideas remain on the path of achieving equity.

Brainstorming and Transformation Cards

One of the fundamental rules of brainstorming is to build on the ideas of others. Alex Osborn, considered as the originator of classical brainstorming, created a checklist that can help transform existing ideas by prompting users to modify, rearrange, substitute, and magnify. We have built on those core prompts with a suite of equity transformations, asking users to move more to the margin, adjust their discourse, and invert power.

Defining and Solving the Right Problems in the Right Way

Adopting others' perspectives through a lens of equity requires acknowledgement of the ways privilege and oppression work to include some and exclude others. The following form positions the needs of a person opposite societal obstructions and institutional inhibitors:
A person needs a way to (insert the needs of another) because (insert the values, beliefs, and morals of the person). Surprisingly, (state a fact that demonstrates the intent to meet the need) but (insert an institutional inhibitor or societal obstruction).
Invention with an equity lens requires teams to identify and test the riskiest assumptions about how we understand and know other people. Risky assumptions without an equity lens are racist assumptions. This is especially true when we are designing at the margins. Because our implicit biases frame our assumptions about ourselves and other people, their experiences, and the best ways to solve their problems, awareness of our biases at this stage is necessary to reverse hegemonic invention.

As a culture, we currently have limited courage, will, and skill to talk candidly about race and inequity. The current discourse around equity exists in one of two opposing extremes: morality and linear reasoning and logic.

Morality: Driven by our emotions, we talk and evaluate the degree of goodness. We talk about good people and bad people. We learn about microaggressions and reflect on our moral responsibility to be better. This inspires the motivated and engaged to remain critical of relationships, language, and assumed cultural norms, alienating those without the skill or will for engagement.

Linear reasoning and logic: This technical discourse prefers to quantify equity and reduces it to numbers, strategy, and only outcomes. This conversation leaves little room for the real experience of people - the meaning, magic, surprise, and possibility.
Our current equity discourse is either a moral conversation or a technical conversation. It is not often both.
The complex work of achieving equity requires a dialogue bold and sophisticated enough to hold both moral and technical ways of thinking, acting, and designing. This integration requires tools that can marry the head and heart while allowing a diverse set of thinkers - technologists, freedom fighters, and everyone between - to create and design in service of reconciliation.

Equity - the integral sum of inclusive practices that obstruct, threaten, and dismantle systems of oppression and amplify, privilege, and promote the voices of the most marginalized and most affected - is the work of our time. It demands enhancements, retrofits, and retooling of our current toolkits to meet this pressing need. In the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., work across difference that privileges the voices and perspectives of the most affected "bends the moral arc of universe towards justice."

We do not have the answers, but we are committed to solving this problem. We do believe that disciplined processes that support the transformation of all of us and our inventions keeps us moving toward realizing the American dream for all people.
Join us to solve it.

If you found this intriguing, stay in touch by joining our mailing lists. Also − feel free to give us some claps to your left and/or leave a comment down below − it helps others find this piece too!

The equityXdesign process is a labor of love created by Caroline Hill from 228 Accelerator, Michelle Molitor from The Equity Lab, & Christine Ortiz from Equity Meets Design.

If you are interested in designing for, accelerating and scaling equity in your schools and organizations, please connect with Caroline at caroline@228accelerator.com. If you're doing work at the intersection of equity and design, need additional capacity around equity and design in your program or organization, and/or want to apply equityXdesign to a project, please write to Christine Ortiz, founder of Equity Meets Design, at If you're interested in working to take on our most intractable race, equity, diversity, and inclusion (REDI) problems for your organization or sector, accelerating our transition toward a more liberatory, community-centered society that values the gifts and potential of all its members, contact The Equity Lab at https://www.theequitylab.org/contact/. sayhello@equitymeetsdesign.com.

Wait, one more thing! Equity Meets Design has launched a series of online courses specifically designed to help you build your capacity as an equityXdesigner. That means you can learn how to do this at your pace, in your pajamas! Sign up for (and instantly begin) our free "Intro to equityXdesign" online course here!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Racism and inequity are products of design. They can be redesigned.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We are a country founded on the genocide of one people and the enslavement of another. We have yet to reconcile the impact of this inheritance on us all. The experiment of America is 240 years old.

# data[].attributes.body
from University of Michigan

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
As campus communities quickly pivoted to online teaching and learning in spring 2020, we are learning more about how to consider inclusive teaching in online learning spaces. There are three important points that cut across most articles. First is flexibility-both in the development of courses (synchronous/asynchronous, types of course assignments, etc.) and in the generosity afforded to students as they shift to a new way of learning and have disparate levels of disruption due to the immediate COVID crisis. Second is accessibility. COVID-19 has called attention to our students' unequal access to resources (such as computers, internet access, quiet places to study) that are not always obvious in a face-to-face classroom interaction. Finally, is to know your students. If there was ever a time to learn more about your students, this is it. Without knowing them, you may miss some of the important ways they can contribute to the class and also where they have needs greater than others.

Here are some links to help you think about inclusion and equity in remote learning environments.

The University of Michigan's Center for Research on Learning and Teaching identified challenges to online teaching in the COVID-era. Read this blog post for tips on addressing those tricky situations.

The Rice University Center for Teaching Excellence was one of the first to publish guidance on inclusion when teaching remotely. Check out the article here.

Published by the John S. Knight Institute at Cornell University, this resource provides guidance for faculty teaching and connecting with international students when they may be living and taking classes abroad.

Vanderbilt University's Center for Teaching published this set of testimonials from faculty who quickly made the switch to online teaching in March 2020 and the equity and inclusion issues that they were considering at the time.

Arizona State University offers 5 strategies for fostering an inclusive environment in an online course: knowing your students, reviewing course activities for cultural awareness and sensitivity, tapping into student's backgrounds, cultures, and experiences, incorporating tools to bridge cultural and socioeconomic gaps, and striving to create safe, trustworthy, and positive rapport.

Check out Northwestern University's resources for inclusive teaching online, including a section for thinking longer term about access and universal design beyond the immediate crisis moment.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
As campus communities quickly pivoted to online teaching and learning in spring 2020, we are learning more about how to consider inclusive teaching in online learning spaces. There are three important points that cut across most articles. First is flexibility-both in the development of courses (synchronous/asynchronous, types of course assignments, etc.)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Do All White People Think The Same About Race? | Spectrum

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
I am a professor of color, and my scholarly expertise on American race relations has once again put me on speed dial to address the racial crisis of the moment. Whether it's about Charlottesville, swastikas, the KKK, the n-word, racist jokes, cultural appropriation or police brutality, I show up locally and nationally much like first responders when there has been "an incident." I am exhausted by the repetition of having to speak to this same thing-American racism, both overt and covert-over and over again.

As anti-racism allies Emma Gray and Jessica Samakow point out, "racism is everywhere." American racism, white privilege and white supremacy are challenges that people of color neither created nor should be expected to resolve, no matter our areas of expertise or lived experiences. What I want to see in this conversation about Charlottesville-and its aftermath-relative to American race relations is white allies talking to white people about solutions and strategies.

The white nationalists who marched and chanted across the University of Virginia campus have friends, families, employers, neighbors, students, employees, colleagues and partners who know them and their positions, perhaps even their menacing intentions. White allies, if you are having conversations with these marchers, reveal them more visibly alongside these "teachable moments" in which people of color are continually doing the teaching.

To be clear, I am not asking anyone to speak for me or on my behalf, but rather that allies boldly engage in their respective corners. Manifestations of white privilege and white supremacy are ubiquitous: discriminatory lending, mass incarceration, Eurocentric curricula and Arizona attacks on ethnic studies, school-to-prison pipeline, #OscarsSoWhite, workplace wage gaps, English-only initiatives, Columbus Day, Thanksgiving, bootstrap theory, anti-immigration policies, "microaggressions" and claims of a "post-racial" society after the 2008 U.S. presidential election. If we are seeking "a solution" to American race problems, those directly affected must be front and center. People of color, however, should not be charged with solving these problems.

Moreover, I am not convinced that conscious white people need people of color to tell them that American race relations are bad and have been historically. History speaks for itself. Outside of American slavery, lynching and Jim Crow, for example, are the Atlanta Child Murders (1979-1981), the murder of Emmett Till (1955), the atrocity of the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment by the U.S. Public Health Service (1937-1972), and the miscarriage of justice for the nine Scottsboro Boys (1937). Racial and social inequity have existed since the inception of this country when European immigrants invaded this already-inhabited land, claiming it as their own, and forcibly bringing others along to create this alleged "land of the free and home of the brave."

My frustration and disappointment with many conversations when racism is at the heart of crises like Charlottesville is the expectation that people of color will tell white allies what to do, as Lady Gaga did in her recent well-meaning tweet. People say, "Tell me what to do!" so often after I deliver public lectures on American race relations. Being expected to prescribe a single solution to a complex and complicated problem is unreasonable. I want to know what the asker can do within their personal and professional circles since I can't possibly already know that. Or let's have joint discussions rather than the all-too-frequent "person of color as sage on the stage" scenario.

As Gray and Samakow write in " 11 Things White People Need to Realize About Race," "It is not the responsibility of people of color to educate white people about race. People of color don't need to be taught that racism exists-they live it every day. It shouldn't (and can't) be on their shoulders to enlighten the rest of us. We have to do that for ourselves."

I am not clairvoyant, but I know that we will discuss American race relations again and expect "magic" solutions again. In the meantime, I will meditate on author Audre Lorde's words regarding this social justice work:

Black and Third World people are expected to educate white people as to our humanity. Women are expected to educate men. ... The oppressors maintain their position and evade their responsibility for their own actions. There is a constant drain of energy which might be better used in redefining ourselves and devising realistic scenarios for altering the present and constructing the future.

For me then, being an ally doesn't mean saying, "Yes, I support you," and asking, "What can I do?" Rather, it means rolling up your sleeves and showing me what you can do and are already doing.
Lester is Foundation Professor of English and the founding director of Project Humanities at Arizona State University.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
For White Allies in Search of a Solution to American Racism / When Folks of Color Are Exhausted

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Teaching Tolerance provides free resources to educators-teachers, administrators, counselors and other practitioners-who work with children from kindergarten through high school. Educators use our materials to supplement the curriculum, to inform their practices, and to create civil and inclusive school communities where children are respected, valued and welcome participants.

# data[].attributes.body
a podcast "about the gap between good intentions and good impact."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A Conversation w/ Stephanie Ghoston

In this episode of The Diversity Gap Podcast, Bethaney talks with coach and consultant Stephanie Ghoston. Stephanie works at the intersection of leadership development and organizational change, with an emphasis on empowering black women to become the most free versions of themselves. In this rich conversation, Stephanie connects the dots between the personal work and collective work required to shift a culture. She also invites us to imagine a new and emergent future where power is shared more equitably and where marginalized folks are thriving

Stephanie Ghoston is an internationally recognized speaker, facilitator, organizational development consultant , coach and recovering lawyer. She brings over 15 years of experience in advancing equity, fostering inclusive leadership, and sparking systems transformation using racial justice and healing frameworks.

Stephanie's unique approach skillfully and wholeheartedly combines her sharp legal mind, problem solving skills, and love of people to powerfully serve clients and challenge existing systems. She has coached leaders and staff in the nonprofit, for-profit, education, foundation and public sectors to integrate equity and inclusion into the core identities of those organizations. She is well versed in assessing organizational culture, tool building, and strategic coaching for equity.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In this episode of The Diversity Gap Podcast, Bethaney talks with coach and consultant Stephanie Ghoston. Stephanie works at the intersection of leadership development and organizational change, with an emphasis on empowering black women to become the most free versions of themselves.

# data[].attributes.body
the book Not Light, But Fire for navigating & facilitating racial conversations with students.

# data[].attributes.body
Stamped  a remixed collaboration from Ibram X. Kendi + Jason Reynolds for young adults.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Published: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, March 10th, 2020

# data[].attributes.body
Teaching Tolerance.org
A brilliant wealth of classroom resources, professional development, and publications.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Understanding how school discipline policies can contribute to the school-to-prison pipeline is essential for educators and families. Harsh punishments, automatic out-of-class time and police involvement for discipline can push young people out of classrooms and into the criminal legal system. But educators, parents and caregivers can help to change this harmful system by advocating for and implementing practices that prioritize mental health and well-being.

We offer this new resource page that highlights LFJ articles and content to open dialogue, shift practices and foster change to benefit all young people.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Learning for Justice | Education Resources

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Learning for Justice provides free resources to educators-teachers, administrators, counselors and other practitioners-who work with children from kindergarten through high school. Educators use our materials to supplement the curriculum, to inform their practices, and to create civil and inclusive school communities where children are respected, valued and welcome participants.

# data[].attributes.body
A piece of deep writing from former TRMS student Caleb Sewell.

# data[].attributes.body
resources on Restorative Justice practices.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Restorative Justice: Resources for Schools

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Explore resources and case studies that demonstrate how to bring restorative justice to your school or classroom.

# data[].attributes.body
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Color Blindness

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
By Michelle Alexander, Cornel West (Introduction by)

# data[].attributes.body
one of her favorite reads.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
By Malcolm X, Alex Haley, Ossie Davis (Afterword by)

# data[].attributes.body
the "imperceptibly interwoven double biography."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore: 9780385528207 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine. The tragedy is that my story could have been his. Two kids named Wes Moore were born blocks apart within a year of each other. Both grew up fatherless...

# data[].attributes.headline
Kathy S, Alison D & Kirsten R recommend...

# data[].attributes.subject
Kathy S, Alison D & Kirsten R recommend...

# data[].attributes.body
a  "vital, necessary, and beautiful book" (Michael Eric Dyson)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Description

The New York Times best-selling book exploring the counterproductive reactions white people have when their assumptions about race are challenged, and how these reactions maintain racial inequality.

In this "vital, necessary, and beautiful book" (Michael Eric Dyson), antiracist educator Robin DiAngelo deftly illuminates the phenomenon of white fragility and "allows us to understand racism as a practice not restricted to 'bad people' (Claudia Rankine). Referring to the defensive moves that white people make when challenged racially, white fragility is characterized by emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and by behaviors including argumentation and silence. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium and prevent any meaningful cross-racial dialogue. In this in-depth exploration, DiAngelo examines how white fragility develops, how it protects racial inequality, and what we can do to engage more constructively.

Download readers guides at www.beacon.org/whitefragility.

About the Author

Robin DiAngelo is an academic, lecturer, and author and has been a consultant and trainer on issues of racial and social justice for more than twenty years. She formerly served as a tenured professor of multicultural education at Westfield State University.

Praise For...

"The value in White Fragility lies in its methodical, irrefutable exposure of racism in thought and action, and its call for humility and vigilance."
- The New Yorker

"[T]houghtful, instructive, and comprehensive . . . This slim book is impressive in its scope and complexity; DiAngelo provides a powerful lens for examining, and practical tools for grappling with, racism today."
- Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

" White Fragility is a book everyone should be exposed to. With any luck, most who are will be inspired to search themselves and interrupt their contributions to racism."
- Shelf Awareness, Starred Review

"A valuable guide . . . While especially helpful for those new to the critical analysis of whiteness, this work also offers a useful refresher to anyone committed to the ongoing process of self-assessment and anti-oppression work."
- Library Journal

"A penetrating new book."
- Pacific Standard

"A vital, necessary, and beautiful book, a bracing call to white folk everywhere to see their whiteness for what it is and to seize the opportunity to make things better now."
-Michael Eric Dyson

"As a woman of color, I find hope in this book because of its potential to disrupt the patterns and relationships that have emerged out of long-standing colonial principles and beliefs. White Fragility is an essential tool toward authentic dialogue and action. May it be so!"
-Shakti Butler, president of World Trust and director of Mirrors of Privilege: Making Whiteness Visible

"A rare and incisive examination of the system of white body supremacy that binds us all as Americans. . . . With authenticity and clarity, she provides the antidote to white fragility and a road map for developing white racial stamina and humility. White Fragility loosens the bonds of white supremacy and binds us back together as human beings."
-Resmaa Menakem, author of My Grandmother's Hands and Rock the Boat

"As powerful forces of white racism again swell, DiAngelo invites white progressives to have a courageous conversation about their culture of complicity. . . . White Fragility provides important antiracist understanding and essential strategies for well-intentioned white people who truly endeavor to be a part of the solution."
-Glenn E. Singleton, author of Courageous Conversations About Race

"Robin DiAngelo demonstrates an all-too-rare ability to enter the racial conversation with complexity, nuance, and deep respect. Her writing establishes her mastery in accessing the imaginal, metaphoric mind where the possibility for transformation resides. With an unwavering conviction that change is possible, her message is clear: the incentive for white engagement in racial justice work is ultimately self-liberation."
-Leticia Nieto, coauthor of Beyond Inclusion, Beyond Empowerment

"White fragility is the secret ingredient that makes racial conversations so difficult and achieving racial equity even harder. But by exposing it and showing us all-including white folks-how it operates and how it hurts us, individually and collectively, Robin DiAngelo has performed an invaluable service. An indispensable volume for understanding one of the most important (and yet rarely appreciated) barriers to achieving racial justice."
-Tim Wise, author of White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son

"Robin DiAngelo's White Fragility brings language to the emotional structures that make true discussions about racial attitudes difficult. With clarity and compassion, DiAngelo allows us to understand racism as a practice not restricted to 'bad people.' In doing so, she moves our national discussions forward with new 'rules of engagement.' This is a necessary book for all people invested in societal change through productive social and intimate relationships."
-Claudia Rankine

" White Fragility is a must-read for all educators because racism and racial disparities in access and opportunity continue to be an urgent issue in our schools. As educators, we need to summon up the courage and together act deliberately and honestly to develop the skills we need to engage in conversations about bias, race, and racism-especially our own."
-Val Brown, professional development facilitator and founder of #ClearTheAir

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism (Paperback)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The New York Times best-selling book exploring the counterproductive reactions white people have when their assumptions about race are challenged, and how these reactions maintain racial inequality. In this "vital, necessary, and beautiful book" (Michael Eric Dyson), antiracist educator Robin DiAngelo deftly illuminates the phenomenon of white fragility and "allows us to understand racism as a practice not restricted to 'bad people' (Claudia Rankine).

# data[].attributes.body
this surprising video about raising Black children and student texts by Jaqueline Woodson such as this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqKteFSLPtE

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"I'm unarmed, and I have nothing that will hurt you." If you're a white person in America, there's an extremely strong chance you have never and will never have to utter those words in your entire life. But for many black families, it's a mantra that gets taught from a young age-to keep kids safe in interactions with police.

A powerful video posted by Cut features black parents talking to their children about how to deal with cops-a conversation I'm willing to bet the average white parent of white children has never even given a thought about. "Why would a police officer assume that you did something bad?" one mother asks a teen girl. An emotional pause follows before her tearful answer, "Maybe because of the color of my skin?"
As protests and riots rage across the country following the death of George Floyd, who died after a white police officer kneeled on his neck for nearly 10 minutes, it's time for all Americans to open their eyes to the stresses and dangers that black families must deal with.
These conversations are not about bashing police. "There are great police officers out there," a dad reminds his daughter, "There are also some that are not so good." Instead, it's about making sure their children don't give those not-so-good cops any excuse to harm them.
"Do everything you can to get back to me," one mom urges her daughter as she explains how to appear non-threatening to a cop. Parents also shared their own histories of interactions with police officers-from being tazed for no apparent reason, to being arrested over a car bumper.

If white privilege affords you the opportunity not to have worry about whether you or your child will survive a traffic stop, try to imagine for a moment how terrified you would feel every single day of your life if you (or your child) could end up being the next George Floyd, or Breonna Taylor, or Michael Brown, or Philando Castile. The list goes on and on back through the decades, and if it's ever going to change, it's going to take a commitment from Americans of all races.
If you're a black parent in America, this video will already feel all too familiar.
If you're a white parent in America who isn't actively speaking out against racism and educating your children about social injustice, let this heartbreaking video be the catalyst you finally need to take action.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
This powerful video shows how black parents have to talk to their kids about the police

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"I'm unarmed, and I have nothing that will hurt you." If you're a white person in America, there's an extremely strong chance you have never and will never have to utter those words in your entire life. But for many black families, it's a mantra that gets taught from a young age-to keep kids safe in interactions with police.

# data[].attributes.body
a podcast about the role of Whiteness in America.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Just what is going on with white people? Police shootings of unarmed African Americans. Acts of domestic terrorism by white supremacists. The renewed embrace of raw, undisguised white-identity politics. Unending racial inequity in schools, housing, criminal justice, and hiring. Some of this feels new, but in truth it's an old story.

Why? Where did the notion of "whiteness" come from? What does it mean? What is whiteness for?

Scene on Radio host and producer John Biewen took a deep dive into these questions, along with an array of leading scholars and regular guest Dr. Chenjerai Kumanyika, in this fourteen-part documentary series, released between February and August 2017. The series editor is Loretta Williams.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Just what is going on with white people? Police shootings of unarmed African Americans. Acts of domestic terrorism by white supremacists. The renewed embrace of raw, undisguised white-identity politics. Unending racial inequity in schools, housing, criminal justice, and hiring. Some of this feels ne

# data[].attributes.body
a Padlet of resources from Teaching Tolerance.

# data[].attributes.body
A response to anyone who tells you, "All Lives Matter."

# data[].attributes.body
the book How to be an Antiracist for insight, perspective and language on various forms of racism.

# data[].attributes.body
reflection through racial autobiography.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Jot down notes to answer these questions. Let them guide but not limit your thinking. Jot down any other memories or ideas that seem relevant to you. (You won't hand in these notes, but they'll help you participate in the discussion).

Are your parents the same race? Same ethnic group? Are your brothers and sisters? What about your extended family - uncles, aunts, etc.?

Where did your parents grow up? What exposure did they have to racial groups other than their own? Have you ever talked with them about this?

What ideas did they grow up with, regarding race relations? Again, do you know? Have you ever talked with them about this? Why or why not?

Do you think of yourself as white? If you're not white, do you think of yourself as black, or Asian-American, etc.? Or just as "human"? Do you think of yourself as a member of an ethnic group? What is its importance to you?

What is the racial makeup of the neighborhood you grew up in?

What was your first awareness of race? - that there are different "races" and that you are one.

What was your first encounter with another race? Describe the situation.

Is there anyone here who hasn't heard the word "nigger"? Where did you first hear it?

What messages do you recall getting from your parents about race? From others when you were little?

What was the racial makeup of your elementary school? Of its teachers?

Think about the curriculum: what black Americans did you hear about? How did you celebrate Martin Luther King Day?

Cultural influences: TV, advertising,novels, music, movies, etc. What color God was presented to you? Angels? Santa Claus? The tooth fairy! Dolls?

What was the racial makeup of organizations you were in? Girl Scouts, soccer team, church, etc.?

What was the racial makeup of your high school? Of its teachers?

Was there interracial dating? Any racial slurs? Any conflict with members of another race?

Have you ever felt or been stigmatized because of your race, gender, or ethnic group membership? Because of your sexual orientation? Social class?

What else was important about your high-school years - maybe something that didn't happen in high school but during that time?

What is the racial makeup of your home town? Of your metropolitan area? What of your experiences there, in summer camp, summer jobs, etc.?

What is the racial makeup of this institution? of your circle(s) of friends here? Does it meet your needs?

Realistically, think about where you envision living as you start a family. What is its racial makeup? social class makeup? What occupation do you foresee, 10 years hence? What is its racial makeup? Social class makeup?

What's the most important image, encounter, whatever, you've had regarding race? Have you felt threatened? In the minority? Have you felt privileged?

What do you want to tell us that we didn't ask about? About handicap, sexual orientation, social class, whatever?
Reflection Questions
Learning To Be White

When was the first time you realized you were white?

When was the first time you realized you might be treated differently because you have white skin?

When was the first time you realized people of other racial identity groups are treated differently?

What were the messages you heard growing up about white people? African Americans? Latinos/as? Native Americans? Asian Americans? Pacific Islanders?

Look at your friends, family, colleagues, key professionnals or service people (doctor, dentist, lawyer,counselor, handyperson, etc.)-what are their racial identities? How and why did you choose to know or work with these people? To which racial groups do the people you socialize with regularly belong?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
1. Awareness Activity - Racial Autobiography & Reflection Questions - Whites For Racial Equity

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Racial Autobiography Jot down notes to answer these questions. Let them guide but not limit your thinking. Jot down any other memories or ideas that seem relevant to you. (You won't hand in these notes, but they'll help you participate in the discussion). Family: Are your parents the same race?

# data[].attributes.body
the book White Privilege: a collection of essays exploring the power of privilege.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In this bestseller, Seattle-based writer Ijeoma Oluo prompts people of all races to start having honest conversations about race, giving readers handy phrases and questions to start unpacking racism within their own social networks. She tackles subjects ranging from intersectionality to microaggressions, or subtly racist remarks or actions.

Thomonique Moore, a 2016 graduate of Howard University, founder of online book club Books&Shit, which explores titles by authors of color, and an incoming master's candidate at Columbia University's Teacher's College, recommends everyone pick of this title.

"This is a good book to help white people and non-black people of color answer often spoken and unspoken questions about race and racism," Moore told Business Insider.
Find it here>>

In this book, Bonilla-Silva makes a powerful argument against the idea that race doesn't exist, or that being "colorblind" is an appropriate solution to racism.

Crystal Fleming, associate professor of sociology and Africana studies at Stony Brook University called this "one of the most important books on racism."

"In particular, Bonilla-Silva helps us understand how the rhetoric of colorblindness reinforces the racial status quo," she told Business Insider.
Find it here>>

"Two-Faced Racism," published in 2007, features more than 600 journal entries of racial events kept by white college students at 28 colleges in the US. It exposes how closely held racist beliefs are still very much a part of American culture.

Fleming assigns this book to students taking her "Racism and Ethnic Relations" course at Stony Brook University.

"Picca and Feagin analyze data from journal entries provided by white college students which reveals how racism works behind closed doors as well as in public and semi-public spaces," Fleming said.
Find it here >>

"The Ethnic Project" was written by Vilna Bashi Treitler, a sociology professor in the department of black students at the University of California at Santa Barbara.

In this historical narrative work, Treitler examines the ethnic history of the US from the arrival of the English in North America to the present day. She shows how each group of immigrants from Irish to Chinese people negotiated their place in the pecking order of ethnic groups within in the country.

"'The Ethnic Project' is incredibly useful for understanding the racial hierarchy in the United States," Fleming said.
Find it here>>

Feagin incorporates more than 200 recent research studies and reports in his book, which illustrates the origins of racism in the US, and how it still pervades white culture today.

Augustine Kposowa, professor and chair of the department of sociology at the University of California, Riverside, cites this book as an important read for anyone looking to be anti-racist.

"Joe Feagin reveals just how racist whites are," Kposowa said. "Feagin is white and he is privy to secret conversations that whites have in white networks that blacks can never join. In his book, he mentions stories, and what white people say in private, at dinner tables, in their circles about black people, leaving no stone untouched."
Find it here>>

Maryann Erigha, assistant sociology professor at the Institute for African American Studies at the University of Georgia recommends this book written by Harriet Washington, which won the 2007 National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction.

"Washington's book provides a full context and comprehensive understanding of the history and present of medical experimentation and the mistreatment of Blacks in the medical industrial complex. She covers a wide range of areas, from academic pseudoscience to the medical atrocities committed by the government and armed forces, prisons, and private institutions," she said.
Find the book here>>

Erigha also recommended " The New Jim Crow" and " So You Want to Talk About Race?" In addition, she suggested her own book, which tackles how racist beliefs pervade American movies, a major export to countries across the globe.

"My book highlights the ubiquity and implications of underlying beliefs about race and value, inferiority/superiority, profit/loss, desirability/undesirability, that are pervasive among whites in Hollywood and that influence their decision-making about what movies get made, for how much, and under what conditions," she told Business Insider.
Find it here>>

In the "code of the street," Yale professor Elijah Anderson, presents an explanation for high rates of violence among black teens in the US. Anderson explains how living in impoverished areas without access to economic opportunities, being separated from mainstream society, as well as persistent discrimination was linked with anti-social attitudes and and violent behavior in black teens.

Mansa Bilal Mark King, associate professor of sociology at Morehouse College, told Business Insider it's one of the most important books non-black people can read.

"This is one of the best books for helping non-black people begin to understand that the adoption of a street persona is often a matter of everyday safety for black people who are not actually committed to a street ethos," he said.
Find it here>>

In "Black Wealth/White Wealth," sociological researchers Oliver and Shapiro capture just how large the wealth gap is between black and white Americans.

"This book helps people of all races begin to understand that it was white America that systematically chooses for us to have almost all black, low-income, 'ghetto areas.' Equally important, this imposed reality means that black children are born at a disadvantage, in the vast majority of cases, through no fault of their own," King said.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
18 books on race and white privilege that will show you what's really happening in America right now

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In this bestseller, Seattle-based writer Ijeoma Oluo prompts people of all races to start having honest conversations about race, giving readers handy phrases and questions to start unpacking racism within their own social networks. She tackles subjects ranging from intersectionality to microaggressions, or subtly racist remarks or actions.

# data[].attributes.body
a collection of interviews to paint a broad picture of White millenials' understandings of race.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Whiteness Project is an interactive investigation into how Americans who identify as white, or partially white, understand and experience their race.

Whiteness Project is conducting interviews with people from all walks of life and localities in which they are asked about their relationship to, and their understanding of, their own whiteness. Each video interview is paired with a statistic that provides a greater societal context and offers an opportunity for self-reflection by the audience on their own thoughts about race.

Whiteness Project's first installment, Inside the White/Caucasian Box, is a collection of 21 interviews filmed in Buffalo, NY in July 2014 and released in October 2014. The latest installment, Intersection of I, is a collection of 23 interviews filmed in Dallas, Texas in July 2015 and released in April 2016. This second installment features a cross-section of Millennials, ages 15-27, who share their views about race and identity. The project is ongoing and we are in production on additional installments.

By engendering debate about the role of whiteness in American society and encouraging white Americans to become fully vested participants in the ongoing debate about the role of race in American society, Whiteness Project aims to inspire reflection and foster discussions that ultimately lead to improved communication around issues of race and identity.

Join the conversation with #WhitenessProject and follow us on social media.

Snapchat: @WhitenessProject

CONTACT US
info@whitenessproject.org

Although white people and white culture have been the dominant societal and political forces in our country since its inception, there has been relatively little self-conscious examination of whiteness as a unique racial identity, how white Americans experience their whiteness, and how white culture shapes our society. Most people take for granted that there is a white race in America, but what does it mean to be white? Can it be genetically defined? Is it a cultural construct? A state of mind? An ethnicity or a race? How does one come to be deemed white in America and what privileges does being perceived as white bestow?

Whiteness Project is a multi-platform media project that examines both the concept of whiteness itself and how those who identify as white, or partially white, process their racial identity. The project's goal is to engender debate about the role of whiteness in American society and encourage white Americans to become fully vested participants in the ongoing debate about the role of race in American society.

After almost two decades of making films with my black producing partner, Marco Williams, I have come to believe that most whites, especially liberal whites, see themselves as outside the American racial paradigm - that their race is a passive attribute, as opposed to something that impacts almost every aspect of their lives. I believe this makes it difficult for many white people to empathize with people of other races and see their experiences as parallel to their own.

I do not claim to have clear answers about how best to challenge the structural racism that is woven through our country's public and private institutions, nor do I have a specific agenda beyond my desire to create media that will challenge white people to become more self-reflective. I simply have found that honestly examining the role my racial identity plays in my day-to-day life, and, in fact, how it has shaped my life's entire arc, has been incredibly illuminating and enhanced the quality of all my relationships, regardless of the ethnic make-up of those involved.

I believe that the country is not only ready for a discussion on whiteness, but is hungry for it. Although, it is hard to imagine any other white-majority country embracing and celebrating the wide range of ethnicities, races, and cultures that make up the nation, let alone electing a biracial president to govern them all, deep racial fissures exist in American society, and we are confronted with examples of inequality, prejudice, and structural racism on a regular basis. My experiences working on this project have repeatedly shown me that when white people honestly engage on this topic, it makes all discussions about race more productive and opens conduits to understanding that ultimately help to advance a culture of true equality.

Produced in association with American Documentary | POV
WHITENESS PROJECT
Whitney Dow Project Creator
Michelle Byrd Executive Producer
Naomi Ranz-Schleifer Associate Producer
Michael Brown Coordinator
Asya Gorbacheva Assistant Editor
Patrick Seaman Studio Intern

KUDOS Design Collaboratory™
Strategy, design, and development
John Kudos Creative Director
Sumit Paul Interaction Designer
Chris Manlapid Developer
Nasim Mirzai Design Coordinator

FOR POV
Adnaan Wasey Executive Producer for POV Digital
Justine Nagan Executive Director for POV
Chris White Executive Producer for POV
Emma Dessau Senior Producer for POV Digital

CRITICAL COLLABORATORS
Peter Bearman INCITE
Michael Rock 2x4
Ada Tolla & Giuseppe Lignano LO-TEK
Marco Williams Hip Truth Productions
DALLAS
DALLAS PRODUCTION TEAM
Mark Birnbaum Segment Producer
Raoul Torresi Director of Photography
Pete Verrando LLC Sound Mixer
Harrison Snow Assistant Producer
Sergei Krishkov Researcher
Alexia Poscente Talent Coordinator
Christian Salinas Production Assistant
Chandler Moke Production Assistant

FOR KERA DALLAS
Mary Anne Alhadeff President and CEO
Sylvia Komatsu EVP, Chief Content Officer
Joe Bellotti Manager Production Services

FOR POV
Adnaan Wasey Executive Producer for POV Digital
Chris White Executive Producer for POV
Justine Nagan Executive Director for POV
Emma Dessau Senior Producer for POV Digital
Yvonne Kouadjo Web Producer for POV Digital
Julia Pyke Intern
Katharine Milbradt Intern
Benjamin Barba Lopez Intern
Ruohan Xu Intern
Kendall George Intern
BUFFALO
BUFFALO PRODUCTION TEAM
J. Garrett Vorreuter Field Producer/Sound
Shannon Madden Cinematographer
Scott Rubin Coordinator
Corina DeFabbio Grip
Garrett Weinholtz Post Production Color
Asya Gorbacheva Editorial Assistant
Clementine Dow Production Assistant
Harrison Snow Production Assistant

FOR WNED BUFFALO
Donald Boswell President
Phil Teibel Production and Facilities Manager
Lauren Mosier Studio Production Assistant
Aaron Ferguson Studio Production Assistant

FOR POV
Adnaan Wasey Executive Producer for POV Digital
Simon Kilmurry Executive Producer for POV
Emma Dessau Web Producer
Sayeh Gorjifard Intern
Shako Liu Intern
Chaska Rojas-Bottger Intern
INTERSECTION OF I INSTALLATION
Whitney Dow Project Creator
Michelle Byrd Executive Producer
Naomi Ranz-Schleifer Producer
Michael Brown Coordinator
Asya Gorbacheva Assistant Editor
Patrick Seaman Studio Intern

Architectural Design and Construction
Ada Tolla & Giuseppe Lignano Architects, LOT-EK Architecture
Sara Valente Project Architect, LOT-EK Architecture
Terence Caulkins Arup Audio Visual Design

Digital Design and Programming
John Kudos Creative Director
Chris Manlapid Programming
Nasim Mirzai Design Coordinator

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Whiteness Project is an interactive investigation into how Americans who identify as white, or partially white, understand and experience their race. Whiteness Project is conducting interviews with people from all walks of life and localities in which they are asked about their relationship to, and their understanding of, their own whiteness.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
By Marika Lindholm (Editor), Cheryl Dumesnil (Editor), Katherine Shonk (Editor)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This is a quiz for white Americans. But anyone can take it. It tests your level of knowledge about white privilege.

Caution: This quiz is not about determining whether anyone is racist.

If you're able to answer all of the questions correctly, congratulations. That means you have, at some point in your life, stepped outside of the bubble of white privilege that protects its homogeneous population from having their blissful days dampened with news about the external struggles of nonwhites.

Note: You did not create the environment in which you live. You are a beneficiary of the transparent bubble of privilege created generations ago. Its purpose is to prevent as much information about nonwhites as possible from piercing the pristine tranquility of a white Utopian lifestyle. You do, however, have the ability to effect change, if you choose to exercise it.

Exposure of white Americans to the truth of systemic institutional biases created by white supremacists in the 20th century can help tear down the divisive walls of privileged blissful ignorance they built, which are sustained today by unwitting white bubble residents and journalists who intentionally or inadvertently echo misinformation and deceptive data.

This quiz will hopefully help raise awareness of common societal challenges that are rooted in systemic racial economic policies and practices, which require involvement of all Americans to help disrupt if our nation is to overcome such deeply ingrained racist problems. This quiz may not offer any paradigm-shift in your thinking, but it may introduce an epiphany that eliminates the sheltered excuse of not knowing.

True or False: The average black family today is much closer in reaching the level of wealth possessed by the average white family than the average black family was in the 1930s.

False. It's not even close. The gap has ballooned exponentially from what it was in the 1930s and 40s, when white wealth was three and four times black wealth. Today it is reported to be an incredible multiple of 13 times, according to Inequality.org, based on the latest Pew Research data.

But, it is actually even worse when calculated correctly!

The Pew data includes consumable goods owned by black families, such as vehicles, furniture, televisions and even appliances. NOBODY in America should count their TVs and refrigerators as part of their net worth wealth assets. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which defines net worth to determine an " accredited investor," won't even allow the home you live in to count as part of its net worth equation. When durable goods are removed from the net worth calculation (which they ought to be according to New York University Professor Edward Wolff, one of America's foremost economists studying wealth inequality), the actual wealth gap is abysmally striking.

White wealth is 70 times black wealth in America today. That is much worse than the economic conditions were in South Africa at the height of Apartheid.

FACT CHECK For most of US history, keeping blacks poor was a key objective of American public and private sector policy. The current status of black wealth in America-and mass incarceration, among other things-is a testament to the success of these systemic policies and practices. For three centuries, structural racism had prevented black families from building wealth. School systems, hiring practices, red-lining, and discriminatory lending practices all combined to deny the opportunities that white Americans, whether immigrant or native born, saw as their birthright.

True or False: Black Americans have just as much educational opportunity today as white Americans.

The answer is false. Public schools were established on a foundation of white supremacy. Black students were relegated to schools that were designed by policy and practice to be of lower quality with fewer funds and resources. Political and legal battles finally made their way to the Supreme Court in 1954. Following the famous Brown v Board of Education ruling to desegregate, initial steps were taken to integrate schools during the 1950s and 60s, often with extreme measures taken, including use of law enforcement and the military, to address the white-hot hostile backlash. Those early efforts to integrate schools were eventually defeated.

The Atlantic reported in a Nov. 2013 article, titled, " Why Are American Schools Still Segregated? "

In the 1968-69 school year, when the U.S. Department of Education started to enforce Brown, about 77 percent of black students and 55 percent of Latino students attended public schools that were more than half-minority. By the 2009-2010 school year, the picture wasn't much better for black students, and it was far worse for Latinos: 74 percent of black students and 80 percent of Latino students went to schools that were more than half-minority. More than 40 percent of black and Latino students attended schools that were 90 percent to 100 percent minority."

The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) reveals that a significant obstacle preventing progress in the integration of public schools is historical ignorance (which is a benefit of white privilege). In an article titled, " Why Our Schools Are Segregated," published in it May 2013, Volume 70, Number 8 edition, ASCD states:

Social and economic disadvantage-not only poverty, but also a host of associated conditions-depresses student performance. Concentrating students with these disadvantages in racially and economically homogeneous schools depresses it even further.

Our ability to remedy this situation by integrating schools is hobbled by historical ignorance. Too quickly forgetting 20th-century history, we've persuaded ourselves that the residential isolation of low-income black children occurs in practice but is not government-ordained. We think residential segregation is but an accident of economic circumstance, personal preference, and private discrimination.

However, residential segregation is actually the result of racially motivated law, public policy, and government-sponsored discrimination. The result of state action, residential segregation reflects an ongoing and blatant constitutional violation that calls for explicit remedy.

The Atlantic followed up on the issue of school segregation in its March 1, 2016 article, " Separate and Still Unequal."

In a modern-day tale of two cities, in virtually every major U.S. metropolitan area students of color are much more likely than whites to attend public schools shaped by high concentrations of poverty, an analysis of federal data has found.

In all but five of the 95 largest cities by population for which data is available, more minority than white students attend public schools where most of their classmates qualify as poor or low-income, according to the analysis of data from the National Equity Atlas. In a full three-fourths of cities, the share of minority students attending mostly poor or low-income schools is at least 20 percentage points greater than the share of white students. In 29 of the cities, the gap is at least 40 percentage points.

Across a wide range of cities, the numbers point to a massive racial imbalance in exposure to concentrated poverty. In St. Louis, 92 percent of black, but only 27 percent of white, students attend schools where most of their classmates qualify as poor or low-income. In Dallas, 38 percent of white, compared to 95 percent of black and 97 percent of Latino students, attend mostly low-income schools. In Los Angeles, the numbers are 49 percent for whites, 85 percent for African Americans, and 96 percent for Latinos.

This year, The Atlantic has continued to target the issue of education segregation city by city, in places like Little Rock, Arkansas where 60 years of efforts to integrate schools have failed, and Brooklyn, New York, where school segregation persists largely as a result of long-term segregated communities designed by systemic policies of redlining regions, and Cleveland, Mississippi where a federal judge is still trying to force a school district that was actually sued in 1965 for its racist policies to comply with laws that have remained unenforced for generations.
WHITE PRIVILEGE SUSTAINED BY EDUCATED CLASS
This issue of segregation in public schools can't be relegated to uneducated blue collar workers trumpeting the mantra of "Make America Great Again," as major media have framed the political support for presidential candidate Donald Trump. School segregation is deeply embedded in the hostile attitudes of millions of educated, middle-class and wealthy, white Americans. These are the policymakers who determine the fate of those children struggling outside of the bubble of white privilege.

Black and Hispanic children suffer the outcomes of decisions made by white parents, teachers, principals, superintendents, policymakers, investors, business owners and real estate developers. These ordinary otherwise wonderful white Americans represent a predominant opposition to constant efforts being made to ensure low-income students born to minority parents have at least an equal footing in the tax-funded education system.

Thus far, white supremacists have claimed victories all across America, many decades after defying the 1954 Supreme Court ruling Brown v Board of Education. And with the financial ability to uproot and move to established suburban white enclaves or build their own white Utopia almost anywhere, privileged white Americans have clearly indicated there's little hope that segregation in America's schools will change for decades to come. And that's an exercise of both privilege and power.

Segregated schools with poorly performing students can rarely be turned around while remaining racially isolated. The problems students bring to school are so overwhelming that policy should never assume that even the most skilled and dedicated faculty can overcome them. Although schools can make a difference, they cannot erase the damage caused by concentrated poverty and racial isolation. By 1988, the percentage of black children in white schools in the south had risen from zero to nearly 44 percent. But, a spate of lawsuits filed by the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations, and a 1991 Supreme Court decision releasing districts from such orders helped erode that progress. By 2011, the percentage of black students in majority white schools was 23.2 percent - slightly lower than it was in 1968.

The late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia expressed his viewpoint in Dec. 2015 that black students fared better when enrolled in "slower" and "less-advanced" schools, thereby continuing a long history of white supremacist mindset that regards black students as less capable.

"There are those who contend that it does not benefit African-Americans to get them into the University of Texas where they do not do well, as opposed to having them go to a less-advanced school, a slower-track school where they do well." (The late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia)

True or False: The higher unemployment rate for Black Americans is largely due to lower education achievement, not public and private sector discrimination policies and practices.

The answer is false. There are two primary considerations:

1. The rate of unemployment for black Americans in the workforce is nearly double the rate of unemployment for white Americans every year consistently, dating back as far as the data allows.

2. Regardless of education levels achieved, unemployment among black Americans remains nearly twice as high as white Americans with the same level of education.

Even when they hold the same degree, African Americans are much more likely to be looking for a job than white Americans

The black unemployment rate is nearly or more than twice the white unemployment rate regardless of educational attainment. It is, and always has been, about twice the white unemployment rate.

"One of the problems is that we continue to have a tale of two economies," says Imara Jones, an economist and writer. "[The improvement] is mostly true for people who are white, have good educations, and are tied to those sectors that are flourishing in the global economy. And then we have the economy of everyone else that has been left out and left behind."

Fear of dredging up presumed past racial problems seems to prevent deep public discourse and analysis on why nearly all jobs in America are still being produced by just one racial demographic group. When analysts look for reasons why black and Hispanic Americans have greater difficulties in finding employment, it stands to reason they should take a good look at the fact that an overwhelming amount of the companies that own and control the means to hire workers are headed by white males. This hasn't changed much throughout history despite numerous efforts to disrupt the pattern.

The entire history of struggles in America to extend equal opportunities to others has always been a battle to persuade a preponderance of powerful white males to live up to the creed that presumably serves as a guidepost for American society.

I believe in the United States of America as a government of the people, by the people, for the people; whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed, a democracy in a republic, a sovereign Nation of many sovereign States; a perfect union, one and inseparable; established upon those principles of freedom, equality, justice, and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes.

I therefore believe it is my duty to my country to love it, to support its Constitution, to obey its laws, to respect its flag, and to defend it against all enemies.

William Tyler Page (Accepted into the House of Representative on April 3, 1918)

True or False: Black males are over-represented in America's prisons when compared with their presence in the nation's general population.

The answer is true. Data from the NAACP reveal that nearly one million of 2.3 million inmates incarcerated are black Americans. As of June 2016, the Federal Bureau of Prisons data also show that black Americans are nearly 38% of its inmate population.

And PrisonPolicy.org data reflect a per capita imprisonment rate of black Americans of more than 2,200 per 100,000 compared to a mere 380 per 100,000 for white Americans.

But the issue is more complicated than it seems on the surface. Any cursory look into the issue will find Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Alabama-based Equal Justice Initiative. Stevenson is one of America's most eloquent and insightful voices on the issues of incarceration history, patterns, causes and effects.
VIOLENT INSTITUTIONAL HISTORY

Black Americans are not naturally more prone to criminal behavior than any other group of Americans. But critics rely on such belief to explain the inordinate outcomes. Critics often intentionally leave out details that provide a contextualized holistic portrait of an ugly American story of white hostility toward black Americans.

The power to criminalize ordinary human behavior and create outlaws of every child based solely on the color of their skin is a power unique to white American males.

Today, most white Americans don't know their own history of hostility against black peoples, preferring to dismiss any references to it as ancient history. And critics suggest that whatever happened long ago magically disappeared, doesn't exist today, and had no lingering consequences.

The reality is this story is one that tells a tale of an unbroken string of systemic institutional hostilities that have impacted every generation of black Americans. From Black Codes, Pig Laws, Sundown Laws, and Convict Leasing to modern-day disparate sentencing for non-violent offenses, disparate and abusive policing, economic strangulation and "ghettoization" of communities and artificial drug influx trafficked by the government into black neighborhoods.

Critics who charge black Americans as instruments of their own demise seek to absolve white America of its role in exacerbating and accelerating declines in black communities that have devastated generations of children and weighed heavily upon society as a whole.

It is simply impossible, without sustained systemic interference, for black Americans to have survived 100 years of outright white hostilities in every corner of society and every aspect of life, from 1865 - 1965 (even sustaining a rate of near 80% intact families) and then suddenly unravel and devolve into an ever-worsening trajectory over the following 48 years.

Meanwhile, the plain-sight reality is that government is doing little or nothing to address the epidemic of consequences of America's long legacy of police brutality toward black Americans and extreme incarceration rates, widely regarded as " the greatest threat to child well-being in the U.S. "

Today, there are 3 million black boys, ages 10-13 who have committed no crimes. Although the veracity of statistics is in dispute due to lack of official data-gathering since the 2001 data set, we know a minimum of 1 in 4 up to 1 in 3 black boys will go to jail in their lifetimes, most between the ages of 16 - 24. That means at least 750,000 up to 1 million of the innocent black boys in grades 5-7 today will likely go to prison in the next five years. And whether anyone can agree on the actual numbers, there is consensus that the number is extraordinarily high and represents a dire circumstance. Yet, there exists no national intervention policy to disrupt this inevitable outcome; and no presidential candidate has even addressed the issue!

Each year, more than 600,000 inmates are released from prisons and directed to reside in economically distressed communities where they have extremely low opportunities to obtain livable wage incomes. They are ushered from one hostile environment into another, ill-prepared and ill-equipped to reenter a much different society than the one they left years prior.

Black males are 21 times more likely to be shot by police than their white counterparts.

True or False: With regard to intellect and work ethic, are black Americans less capable than white Americans?

But there exists empirical data that prove black Americans do not fit the profiled perspectives of white respondents in the poll. Here's how we know the perception by many white Americans regarding the work ethic of black Americans is misguided and steeped in the racism of white supremacy.

One of the most prominent perspectives in America's white-dominated private business sector is the idolized entrepreneurial tendencies of immigrants. The largest foundation in America focused on entrepreneurship is the Kauffman Foundation. It devotes an entire section of its website to Immigrant Entrepreneurship. In its report, The Economic Case for Welcoming Immigrant Entrepreneurs, it argues that US policy should consider the economic impact of such a hard-working class of people. Inc magazine magazine concurs.

Despite accounting for only about 13 percent of the population, immigrants now start more than a quarter of new businesses in this country. Fast-growing ones, too--more than 20 percent of the 2014 Inc. 500 CEOs are immigrants. Immigrant-owned businesses pay an estimated $126 billion in wages per year, employing 1 in 10 Americans who work for private companies. In 2010, immigrant-owned businesses generated more than $775 billion in sales. If immigrant America were a stock, you'd be an idiot not to buy it.

No one in the Reuters-Ipsos poll would classify immigrant entrepreneurs as lazy. Entrepreneurs are widely considered by white Americans to be the most creative, most innovative, hardest-working and highest risk-taking of all Americans.
NOT LAZY: BLACK AMERICAN ENTREPRENEURS
However, little attention is paid to the fact that black Americans have one of the highest rates of consistent entrepreneurial growth. Particularly, black women business owners, who have grown at an astounding rate of 322% since 1997 and represent 60% of all black-owned businesses. Sadly, America's public policy and private sector practices largely ignore the phenomenal efforts being made by black men and women entrepreneurs. The organic innovation occurring in the poorest communities in America happens daily because necessity breeds creativity and risk-taking.

This extraordinarily high rate of entrepreneurial activity is occurring in black America without a national media spotlight, without adequate infrastructure, a dearth of entrepreneurial education and training, and minus much-needed resources and sufficient capital.

Job-creation today remains overwhelmingly dominated by white males despite their declining activity. In fact, all of the 540 Comprehensive Economic Development Strategies ( CEDS) plans in the country ignore investing in scaling up the growth of black entrepreneurship and including it in their strategic planning models, goals and outcomes.

The result: As the white-dominated landscape of entrepreneurship and new business startups declines, the capacity of minority startup culture is limited in productivity output due to lack of infrastructure and resources that could be accessed through inclusion in regional economic competitiveness strategies and planning.

Per capita, there are more entrepreneurs in black American communities than exist at all of the nation's colleges and universities. This extraordinary activity is ignored by millions of white Americans who peer occasionally through the lens of privileged isolation at distant minority communities and see the struggles and challenges that reinforce their preconceived notions.

Entrepreneurship is the American Dream. It is the primary pathway from poverty to prosperity. In a nation that promotes the myth of meritocracy and upward mobility, entrepreneurship is the real solution to America's current crisis.

Entrepreneurship is also the natural outcropping of seeding and cultivating crops of student innovators, like the ones produced by the Hawken Entrepreneurship School. This method of educating students should be mandatory and ingrained in all public schools in underserved communities nationwide. It ought not be reserved solely for the children of middle-class and wealthy parents.

Overall, women now own 30% of all businesses in the U.S., accounting for some 9.4 million firms. And African American women control 14% of these companies, or an estimated 1.3 million businesses. These businesses have added an estimated 340,000 jobs to the economy since 2007, while employment at companies owned by men (or with equally shared ownership) has declined.

America must invest in cultivating a new crop of entrepreneurs. The crisis in entrepreneurship across the nation means fewer jobs are being created. Meanwhile, the Kauffman Foundation has long held the point that nearly all net new jobs are the product of fast-growing startups. And the fastest rate of growth in entrepreneurship in America is among black and Hispanic entrepreneurs. Yet, these innovators remain disconnected from an economic landscape of resources and investments that was built on a foundation of racism and white supremacy. When white Americans consider how future jobs will be created, there's no thought to investing in scaling up the existing entrepreneurial activity occurring in minority communities.

The May 7, 2016 Wall Street Journal blog quoted from an MIT report on the crisis of entrepreneurship in America and then wondered what can be done?

"To the extent that the current state of American entrepreneurship is facing a crisis, it is not in the rate of creation of high-growth potential startups or even in the initial funding of those firms, but instead in the potential of those firms to scale in a meaningful way over time," the authors said.

"Much more worrisome than the rate of creation of high-growth potential firms is the decline in the U.S. ability to accelerate the growth of new businesses conditional on initial quality...which has been falling since the late 1990s and only recently, and mildly, begun to recover. Even as the number of new ideas and potential for innovation is increasing, there seems to be a reduction in the ability of startups to scale in a meaningful and systematic way. Whether this is primarily a challenge for capital markets, or reflects systematic reductions in various aspects of ecosystem efficiency remains an important challenge for both future research and policy intervention."

What's to be done? The policy prescription isn't entirely clear. For the innovative, potentially high-growth companies, the authors suggest efforts to help them scale up. But there doesn't appear to be a single solution to meet the varying needs of an American entrepreneurial class that ranges from a small mom-and-pop shops to the next would-be Facebook.

There is something that can be done. But the solution doesn't exist under the antiquated, obsolete exclusionary economic policies and practices of the past. The nation needs to adopt a new Inclusive Competitiveness strategy that empowers underrepresented Americans to improve their economic performance and compete in a knowledge-based, tech-driven globally competitive innovation economy.

It is time for a transformation in the upcoming post-Obama era toward building the foundation for a 21st century Inclusive America. To do so, we will have to pierce the bubble of white privilege and permanently leave the past behind. The future of economic inclusion and global competitiveness of America relies on our acceptance of, investment in, and empowerment of all populations in our multicultural, multi-ethnic, multiracial society to reach their maximum potential as American citizens.

As President Hillary Clinton's campaign slogan aptly reminds us: We are stronger together.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This is a quiz for white Americans. But anyone can take it. It tests your level of knowledge about white privilege. Caution: This quiz is not about determining whether anyone is racist. If you're able to answer all of the questions correctly, congratulations.