I thought that the handouts were very valuable. Also the works cited. I've already deployed a few of the items in the works cited list from the first module in library course guides I've compiled. I've saved them to a file and will share them with colleagues (Our university had an entire day of engagement on antiracism last week) and perhaps with my city's Community Organizing for Racial Equity.
I'm an introvert. Watching the videos was an uncomfortable experience. Engaging with people itself is a challenge. And with being home for the past 3.5 months I've hardly communicated with anybody about anything other than work. But now I have some tools. Some awareness, and plenty of guilt and shame. Now if only the pandemic would go away....
I am definitely experiencing guilt and shame and have put myself in the "good" person category. I have misunderstood or not been completely aware of how BIPOC have experienced racism in their daily lives. As a Middle Eastern immigrant with lighter skin, I saw my ethnicity and culture as a disadvantage and my struggle as similar to the discrimination others faced. I feel guilty not acknowledging how my skin color afforded me advantages that my BIPOC friends and colleagues did not have. I have tried to be an ally/advocate/activist for my students. But, it felt shameful and embarrassing to reflect on my own privilege and my story. I also thought that sharing my story would be taking away from theirs. I like the thought of breaking down barriers by sharing our stories and learning what we can by combining stories. I have to remind myself of the growth mindset I try to instill in my students. It is about improving throughout the process, not being perfect!
I like what you said about sharing stories and have thought that, too. I try to make sure that I'm giving others the opportunity to share their stories to learn about their perspective. However, it doesn't give them the same opportunity to learn about my perspective if they don't know my story. It also speaks to building bridges that Luvvie Ajayi talked about in her Ted Talk. Her 3 questions also resonated with me. Did you mean it? Can you defend it? Did you say it with love? These ideas overlap with the ideas of sharing our stories and getting to a place where we can have a conversation and actually listen to one another to become allies and activists for change.