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Courageous Conversation: Me and White Supremacy

4-Week Discussion Series

Join members of Courageous Conversations for a 4-week, in-depth discussion of the themes and issues raised in Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad.

Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad will walk you step-by-step through the work of examining:

• Your own white privilege
• What allyship really means
• Anti-blackness, racial stereotypes, and cultural appropriation
• Changing the way that you view and respond to race
• How to continue the work to create social change

Awareness leads to action, and action leads to change. This program is for anyone who is ready to closely examine their own beliefs and biases and do the work it will take to create social change. This is intended to be a safe, focused space for honest sharing in which to discuss the systematic structures of racism and the work we can do individually and community-wide to dismantle them.

Each session of this 4-week discussion series will focus on select sections from Me and White Supremacy. The book is organized as a 28-day reading and reflection practice.  We encourage you to keep a journal, as each day includes reflective journaling prompts.  Whether or not you read daily or in fewer sittings, participants are expected to have read the designated sections before attending the discussion.

Week 1 (2/8)    Part I and Part II: Day 1 - Day 7
Week 2 (2/15)  Part II: Day 8 - Day 14
Week 3 (2/22)  Part II: Day 15 - Day 21
Week 4 (2/29)  Part II: Day 22 - 28 and now what?

Copies of the book are available through the library. Find it in the catalog and request a copy. 

Registration is required for this series and space is limited. We ask that participants commit to attending all 4 sessions as we build on the lessons and discussions from each week.

This discussion series will be facilitated by Aldonsa Pereyra and Deb Olander, active members of the Courageous Conversations planning committee. 

Aldonsa Pereyra is a community organizer who lives in Lawrence and works at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. She is committed to helping people find common ground through courageous conversations. 

Deb Olander is an educator and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion facilitator who lives in Andover. She is committed to helping white people find their place in anti-racism work through courageous conversations. 

This program is in partnership with Courageous Conversations which works to advance and amplify conversations about interpersonal and systemic racism, racial identity and privilege, and antiracism through community reads, films, facilitated conversations, speaker events, and panel discussions. The purpose is to educate ourselves on these issues so that we may better understand the systems that perpetuate racial inequities and reflect on strategies for interrupting and dismantling those systems.

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