Remember the summer of 2020 when everyone was in a flurry about racial identity work?
Remember when white people made commitments to learn and show up differently after watching the cell phone recording of the murder of George Floyd? Almost 3 years later, the urgency has dissipated and many white people have settled back into accepting the status quo as only white people can.
We are offering opportunities for white employees and leadership to (re)-engage in essential discussions about whiteness and how it operates in the workplace and influences the experiences of BIPOC (black indigenous people of color) employees. White supremacy culture and racism exist within every institution. Even when organizations work to diversify their employees or adopt a strong mission statement about antiracism, this continues to be true. White people make up the majority of most companies and even when we are in the minority, our cultural norms and ways of doing things continue to dominate. And so, white people within organizations need to work to understand what it means to be white and how whiteness operates within their company. In order to build inclusive workplaces, white people must explore questions like:
How can I get better at noticing the harm that I (and other white people) might be causing to my BIPOC colleagues?
How can I respond maturely and effectively when racial incidents happen?
How can I make sure that all voices have a voice?
Why a White Space?
White people gathering together without BIPOC people can, and should, feel strange and counterintuitive. However, when we are trying to disrupt racism, research strongly suggests that white people benefit from engaging in conversations about race and whiteness in antiracist spaces limited to white people. In white antiracist spaces, white people can:
Authentically engage in learning without causing additional harm to BIPOC colleagues.
Ask the questions that we need to ask but often don’t ask in multiracial spaces for fear of looking “racist.”
Build and participate in a community effort to understand whiteness and racism as opposed to operating as individuals that avoid topics about race.
Please note…we believe that white antiracist spaces must be held alongside safe spaces for BIPOC employees to connect and receive support as well as efforts to build structures for cross-racial dialogue.
Have questions?
Check out our FAQs on our Explore Workshops page to learn more about our approach.
3-Hour Introductory Workshop: Uncovering Whiteness
In this introductory workshop, we guide white-identifying employees through a process of learning about the history of whiteness, how they became—and continue to be—racialized as white, and how whiteness operates in our everyday lives, including in the workplace.
Five-Part Series: A Deeper Dive into Uncovering and Disrupting Whiteness (5 one-hour sessions over the course of five weeks)
Dismantling white supremacy is an ongoing, lifelong process. Our multi-part series allows for a deeper dive into how whiteness operates in you and your company and allows for more exploration of disrupting white supremacy culture in ourselves and in our workplace.
Dr. Liza Gleason
Liza earned her educational doctorate at Mills College with a focus on racial identity. Liza works with educators and non-educators on antiracist identity work. Her research focused on the complicated and harmful legacy of the White woman teacher and how White women teachers might engage their history and address their impact today.
Emma Peat
Emma Peat is an educator with 20 years of experience and a commitment to social justice and supporting equity in schools. She attended U.C. Berkeley and earned a B.A. in ethnic studies. After spending time working in public policy as a legislative assistant in Washington, DC, she moved back to the Bay Area and earned her M.A. in education from U.C. Berkeley. In her work as a teacher, instructional coach, and senior administrator, she has been focused on building equitable communities.
Resources
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Contact Us
Please contact us to schedule an informational session. Prepare to share with us how your company has been approaching diversity, equity, and inclusion work in the last few years so that we can best partner with you.
Email: lizagleasoncoaching@gmail.com
Phone: (415)724-5676
Liza Gleason Coaching
Click here to learn more about Liza Gleason Coaching.
