White Privilege Conference

Ilsa has attended the White Privilege Conference (WPC) since 2006 and is excited to share thoughts and resources.

Resources from my Workshop

Thank you everyone who attended the Train the Trainers workshop that I offered. It was great meeting people from around the world who are working to create equity and social justice in their communities. 

Click here to download a copy of the handout from the workshop. This is an excerpt from our larger workbook that is available from our Products page. 

Also, as promised, here are the ideas people wrote down for interrupting a white person who is dominating the conversation:

• Tell them that you are facilitating the training.
• "I can tell you're feeling enthusiastic about this work. Let's be sure everyone has a chance to participate in the conversation."
• Interrupt and write a paraphrase of their ideas on a sheet labeled "Parking Lot" that you may come back to later.
• "We've heard a lot from the white folks, can we hear from any of the people of color in the room?"
• "I'd like to hear from 2-3 people who haven't spoken."
• "Thanks, let's see what some of the others think."
• Have a card with a yellow dot. Explain that if you hand it to someone, it means they have to step back and stop talking.
• Everyone gets 5 chips. They spend one each time they comment.
• Have participants write their thoughts instead of speaking.

Ilsa's Reflections

     This was my third year attending WPC and going on 15th year since I came out to myself as white. I always leave the conference with new insights into my own patterns of privilege as well as new understandings of how white privilege operates on an institutional level.
     This year, the idea of feeling vs. knowing about really stood out.  I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to understand injustice in my heart, not just in my head. Part of my socialization around racism includes the ability to separate the two and to say, “Oh, yeah, I understand,” without feeling that understanding in the way many people of color do.
     In addition to the speech by Tim Wise on this topic and the repetition of this idea in various workshops, what really hit me was going to the National Civil Rights Museum. I was looking at a display of bus seats honoring Rosa Parks when an African American woman walked up with her two sons. She turned and said to the youngest, who couldn’t have been more than six years old, “This is here because Black people used to have to ride in the back of the bus. If a White person wanted their seat, they had to move and give it up.” I watched the face of the child as he digested this information and felt a lump grow in my throat.
     I wish I lived in a world where no parent ever had to explain to a child why they had to give up their seats or why our people forced others to give up their seats. Seeing how racism hurts our collective humanity is what it means to me to feel injustice. That is why I work for Cultures Connecting.