Here are the themes that the folks who came to our last dialogue said that they want to explore in future dialogues. Through the help of Beja, they miraculously transformed from notes on poster paper into typed clusters in this blog for people to comment on to collectively figure out what to talk about next (April 12). Let’s see if this works. They are numbered and named for ease of commenting: Here’s a suggested process:

1. Read them over

2. Pick a cluster or a topic within a cluster that you think would be a good place to start. You can also propose restructuring the clusters.

3. Post it in a comment, along with any other thoughts about any of them, or the structural ideas at the bottom.

1.
how do we claim ancestry? (white privilege, healing the burden, understanding the choices our ancestors made)
current deep north and addressing the ways we currently/tacitly benefit from global slavery
tendency for forgiveness of others but not ourselves
we are generations into colonization
radical/proud identity/need to know your roots

2.
white female socialization
our relationships to our mothers…
“overhosting” (nice, polite, kind, smiling)
apologizing constantly
confrontation (powerful non-defensive communication)
shame and guilt
taking responsibility for everything (except our own needs)
chronic caretaker (including the professions we’re in: teacher, therapist)

3.
white female “norms” and how far we’re from it or how we distance ourselves from it…
relationships to power…
gender performativity
barriers to working together
whiteness and coming “out”
“lack”(freud/the idea that we’re inherently lacking something)
cultural appropriation, other forms of appropriation
white women victim narratives (esp in the media)
challenging white victim narratives
judgments about women who choose to be/not be mothers
reproductive rights/GOP attacks
resources to address internalized oppression

4.
class and whiteness
cross cultural feminism
white feminist imperialism/(in)appropriateness of intervening
cross cultural solidarity and accountability
conscious/unconscious motivations for activism/anti-racist work
“the most down white person”

5.
personal/inter relationships
exploring ego
giving and receiving (score-keeping, self-sacrifice, reciprocity)
step-up/step-back
evolution of “ally framework”
shared power/moving together
shared demands/collaborative leadership

structural ideas:
–start every session with something awesomely affirmative and focused on building/identifying our strengths ( what’s awesome about being a white women, skill share/discussing strengths, practicing (positive) internal dialogues)
–finding locations for each dialogue
–movie night (extra/on the side)
–guest speaker
–always thinking about the potential momentum/actions/projects that may come out of these dialogues/white noise