Live & Virtual Trainings
Live & Virtual Trainings
Microaggressions 101
Are the brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative attitudes toward people based on Race, class, Sexual Orientation,
Religion, Disability, Age, Weight, & Mental Health.
Examples of microaggressions:
1. Continuing to refer to a transgender female as a female after he has repeatedly told you he identifies as he and wants to be called Michael.
2. Telling an employee who looks young for their age that they look "too young" to work at the business (although many may think this is a compliment).
3. Congratulating someone who has a disability about how they have "overcome their disability and inspired you."
This Session Will Help Participants:
1. Develop a basic understanding of microaggressions & how they may impact their victims both physically & mentally.
2. Acquire the skills to address microaggressions as a victim or bystander/witness
Recognizing Unconscious/Implicit Biases
Unconscious or implicit biases are thoughts or feelings that you are not aware of that influence your judgements. They are rooted in your preferences for or against something, and they may lead you to having positive or negative biases.
Biases develop during childhood-due to repeated reinforcement from social stereotypes that children are exposed to from their communities, homes, families, social media, schools,
Pro-White Bias- has been shown to develop in children as young as 3 years old, and these
biases can become harmful when they're based on inaccurate stereotypes or information.
We all have unconscious biases-they are necessary to organize information into categories when our brain tries to make quick judgments and opinions of people and/or situations.
Examples:
1. You may develop a preference for certain employees because they share your gender, race, or sexual orientation.
2. Bias may impact who you call in to interview for a job.
3. Bias can lead to law enforcement officers allowing their innate fear of POC to cause them to use excessive force or kill POC.
This Session Will Help Participants:
1. Develop a basic understanding of how our unconscious biases can impact important decision-making, even playing a role in life-or-death decisions.
2. Recognize personal biases and begin the hard work of eliminating these biases in an effort to mitigate their power to negatively impact personal and professional decision-making abilities.
Racial Microaggressions 101: Uncover the Hurt behind "Helpful" Words
Are the brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative attitudes toward people of color (POC). They differ from microaggressions because they are based on racial discrimination. Although research indicates that White people are more likely to commit racial microaggressions, people of color (POC) also commit racial microaggressions.
Some Examples:
1. Telling a Black person that you aren't racist because you have relationships with other Black people (other friends, boyfriends, etc.).
2. Saying that you "don't see color" as a way to prove you are not racist.
3. Expecting your Latinx co-worker or friend to be the "voice" or "spokesperson" for all Latinx people.
This Session Will Help Participants:
1. Develop a basic understanding of racial microaggressions & how they may impact their victims both physically & mentally.
2. Acquire the skills to address racial microaggressions as a victim or bystander/witness
Racial Microaggressions in K-12 Schools
Most educators pride themselves as
'not being racist" or "treating all children the same", however racial microaggressions are easy to commit if educators are not aware of their impact. There is extensive research that indicates teachers commit racial microaggressions towards their students, and data that all supports the fact that Black teachers are the victims of racial microaggressions also.
Examples of racial microaggressions towards students:
1. Continuing to mispronounce a student's name, even after they have corrected you.
2. Scheduling important tests or school events on major non-Christian religious holidays.
3. Having low expectations for students from particular racial groups.
Examples of racial microaggressions toward Black/Teachers of Color:
1. Asking a teacher colleague to provide you with a list of books by authors of their race rather than taking the time to look the books up yourself.
2. Suggesting that a teacher of color spearhead an activity or committee because of the teacher's race, (i.e. Black or Hispanic History month).
3. Sending a Black student to a Black teacher for mentoring or discipline because you believe he/she has a better rapport with the student because they share the same race.
How This Session Will Help:
1. Learn how teachers and students can be victims of racial microaggressions in schools.
2. Examine how these subtle slights occur and who is most likely to be the perpetrator.
3. Learn how racial microaggressions contribute to the racial achievement gap.
4. Acquire skills to lessen the likelihood of committing racial microaggressions.
It's OK to talk about Race
The unprecedented world-wide protests over the video-taped killing of George Floyd, the death of Breonna Taylor, and the dozens of other unarmed Black, men, women, and children during the summer of 2020 has made it nearly impossible to avoid conversations about race. The United State's deep history of systemic and institutional racism is all to familiar for many POC, however, for some Whites a racial reckoning occurred, which made it difficult to turn a blind eye to the fact that all though things have improved for POC in this country, America has a long way to go, and all races must work together to actively create meaningful and sustainable change. Change can only begin by having conversations, which can be uncomfortable when race is involved.
Talking about race can cause people to feel a range of emotions from anxiety, fear, anger, or even feelings of awkwardness (Crossin Gilpin, 2017). This fear frequently leads to avoidance of racial topics, denial of individual racism with statements such as, "I have Black friends" or insisting one is "colorblind" or doesn't "see race".
For some Whites, talking about race amongst people of color (POC) causes angst due to their fear of saying something that may make them appear racist.
For some POC the ability to talk amongst members of their own racial affinity group (other people of color) may allow them to feel more safe to express any pain or anger they may be experiencing. Unfortunately, in some school's and organizations a lack of diversity may make it difficult or impossible to provide racial affinity grouping, so the staff must be taught to have inter-racial conversations about race in a safe environment.
Examples of ways to safely talk about race:
1. Be respectful to who ever is sharing their experiences/beliefs about race & racism, whether or not your experiences have been the same or you disagree with them. Denying their experiences is a racial microaggression.
2. Find out what you don't know about race & racism and discover the answers on your own. It is not the responsibility of your friends of color to teach you. Do the research either online, read books, attend conferences, trainings, webinars, join groups, spend time with other races & ethnicities.
3. Identify any personal biases you may have and commit to actively making an effort to deconstruct them.
This Session Will Help Participants:
1. Develop an understanding of why discussing race can be so difficult.
2. Learn about differing racial identities between POC and White people.
3. Develop the foundation needed to begin participating in potentially uncomfortable conversations about race.
The Intersectionality between Race & Trauma in Children & Teens who are Black, Indigenous, & People of Color (BIPOC)
Racial trauma can be defined as experiencing psychological distress and fear after personally experiencing or witnessing racism, racial-violence, racial-intimidation, immigration issues, “justified” killings of Black and Brown people, the constant threat of deportation by ICE officials, and systemic-racism (Chavez-Duenas, Adames, Perez-Chavez, & Salas, 2019).
Racial trauma can impact children of color causing mental and physical health issues and impact them academically, emotionally, and socially. However, this trauma can be hard to recognize and educators must be aware of how schools can inadvertently re-traumatize children who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC).
Examples of hidden racial trauma SOC may experiences:
1. Black students may experience racial trauma after witnessing the widely publicized killings of unarmed Black men, women, and children by law-enforcement officers and regular citizens.
2. A muslim student may have had her hijab pulled off on the school bus on her way to school as a "prank".
3. An Asian student may suddenly begin to miss school because his class mates are saying he has the "China flu".
This training will provide educators with insight into the potential trauma that students of color (SOC) may bring into the classroom and provide them with the skills to recognize potential clues and address the needs of this population of students. It is imperative that teachers develop the knowledge and skills to recognize this hidden trauma in children.
This Session Will Help Participants:
1. Learn about general childhood trauma & how race can further impact children of color.
2. Examine potential trauma causing events by racial/ethnic group.
3. Recognize how racial trauma can impact BIPOC children & teens
4. Learn how schools can inadvertently re-traumatic students of color (SOC).
Racial Trauma Informed Pedagogy Strategies for Educational Professionals
In order to address the racial trauma that teens who are Black, Indigenous, & People of Color (BIPOC) may face at home, and potentially experience in school, educational professionals must equip themselves with the specialized skills to meet their academic, emotional, and social needs. School leaders must begin this task by examining their own personal racial biases as they lead their staff in the task of reviewing data, rules, policies, and the school environment to call out and correct practices that support and promote institutional and systemic racism.
Examples of how schools can unwittingly re-traumatize students of color:
1. Academic tracking of students of color (SOC)
2. Excessive disciplining of Black males and females
3. Lack of representation of people of color (POC) in the school environment and curriculum.
This training will provide educators and educational leaders with information about how schools can unwittingly re-traumatize students of color through biased teaching curriculums, unfair disciplinary practices, and personal racial biases. Participants will take away easy to implement strategies for educational professionals to put into practice in their buildings to help eradicate institutional and systemic racism towards SOC.
This Session Will Help Participants (This session should be taken after the Intersectionality Between Race & Trauma in Children & Teens who are BIPOC):
1. Review the meaning of racial trauma and how it can impact BIPOC children & Teens.
2. Develop skills to thoroughly examine school rules, policies, and procedures that may negatively impact SOC and cause racial trauma.