Getting Started for White Folks V: Online Workshop Edition

Building on A Getting Started Guide For White Folks, this is the fifth of a series diving deeper into recommendations for white folks seeking a place to start, to listen, and most importantly, to act.

If you prefer the structure of a class or workshop, the recommendations below, offered by anti-racist activists and academics, are a great place to start. If you’re in the Bay Area, I highly recommend the Diversity and Social Justice series from City College of San Francisco. Even if you’re not, keep an eye out as I suspect more classes may move to an online format in the Fall.

Also, if you’re just getting started on this journey, take a quick look at Part I: The Basics.

Check out other posts in the series: A Getting Started Guide For White Folks Overview , Videos, Documentaries and Film Edition, Podcasts, Voices and Organizations, and Books and Articles.

Online Workshops

White Ally Toolkit

The White Ally Toolkit is offered by Dr. David Campt with the goal to teach anti-racism allies how to manage conversations so racism skeptics can migrate through these steps and revisit how they look at racism. The program offers both on-demand options as well as very reasonably-priced courses with live check-ins.

Good Ancestor Academy

Created by Layla Saad, the Good Ancestor Academy offers a series of inexpensive masterclasses on-demand. You can also order Me and White Supremacy, Layla’s anti-racism education workbook from Black-owned online bookstores.

#DoTheWork

Created by Rachel Cargle, #DoTheWork is part of The Great Unlearn. This free 30-day self-paced course is designed to be an eye-opener and a call to action for those who seek to be allies to Black women by intentionally breaking down the systems that continue to oppress and disenfranchise the Black community. Going through daily prompts, you will be called to think critically and act tangibly in solidarity, your first small step in working towards dissolving these systems, institutions, and ideologies that continue to negatively affect Black women and their communities yet benefit white people in this country.

21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge

Created by Eddie Moore Jr and Debby Irving, the 21-Day Action Plan is designed to quickly introduce people to new ideas, perspectives, actions, thought leaders, activists, writers, organizations, and media outlets as well as guidelines for engaging across privilege and power dynamics and a “notice” checklist to make visible the power and privilege in the systems around us. A self-directed program is available with a chart to track your progress, but it looks like Debby and Eddie do engage live on Facebook from time to time.

Classes

Diversity & Social Justice Certification

Offered through City College of San Francisco, the Diversity & Social Justice Certification offers a series of on-campus one or two Saturday consciousness raising courses covering all the -isms — racism, sexism, classism, heterosexism, transphobia, ageism/adultism, ableism as well as anti-semitism and anti-arabism. Addressing individual, institutional and sociocultural elements of diversity and social justice, the program leads students through courses that analyze specific forms of social oppression and evaluate social justice interventions in the United States. Keep an eye on these as it’s possible they will move to an online format to keep traffic on-campus down. Classes are free for San Francisco residents.

Conferences

White Privilege Conference

Created by Eddie Moore Jr, for the past 20 years the White Privilege Conference (WPC) has examined challenging concepts of privilege and oppression and offers solution and team building strategies to work towards a more equitable world. WPC is a conference designed to examine issues of privilege beyond skin color. WPC is open to everyone and invites diverse perspectives to provide a comprehensive look at issues of privilege including: race, gender, sexuality, class, disability, etc.

I’m trying to get these out quickly while folks are paying attention and looking for resources, so I’m sure there are many things I’ve missed. Please share thoughts, feedback and suggestions!