White Awake Courses | Defecting From Supremacy 2021

Defecting from Supremacy

Course Participant Page

Welcome! This page is for registrants in our 2021 summer course, Defecting from Supremacy: Joining the Struggle for Collective Liberation. Please do not share this page with anyone who is not registered for the course. You are welcome to share specific homework materials, but not the link to the page – which will include links to recordings as they become available.

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Homework:

Supplemental Offerings:

Identity-based Caucuses

Important Information

Homework: Homework materials for all sessions will be posted below. Please allow 2-3 hours for homework per session. We ask that everyone engage with the study materials and holistic practices prior to each session.

Recordings: Recordings of each live session will be available 2-3 days after it takes place. Links to these recordings will be posted at the top of the homework assignment for the corresponding session. Recordings, along with the participant page as a whole, will remain accessible through December 19, 2021 (three months after our final live session). After this, study materials will be e-mailed to you as a PDF and session recordings will no longer be available.

Have you visited the Logistics Page for the Training? Please allow 20 minutes to review this page and take the action steps outlined within it prior to the training. Applications for your personal zoom login must be submitted by the end of the day Saturday, July 10, in order to participate in the first live session (applications are approved manually, not instantly).

Join Our Mighty Network: If you would like to be part of the online forum we have created for this course, we encourage you to join the Mighty Network group for this class. You can view the full invitation here. The Network is somewhere you can share with the whole group (similar to an FB group), and it is also a place where you can send a private message to anyone else who joins. We hope this helps you all make the connections you may desire with other "Defecting From Supremacy" course participants.

Identity-based Caucuses

We are holding the following identity-based caucuses for Multiracial course participants, Trans, Gender Non-Conforming and Gender Queer course participants, and participants who are Gay, Bi, or identify with Queer sexuality. These meetings are meant to create space for these groups to reflect on the uniqueness of their course experiences in a supportive environment. All of these are optional calls that can be taken free of charge as part of this course. They will not be recorded. The caucuses are for individuals of these specific identity groups only and not for all participants in this course.You are welcome to attend more than one caucus. If you have questions about whether a caucus is for you, please reach out to us at info@whiteawake.org. Note: You must register for a caucus in order to receive the correct zoom link to attend it (Your course zoom login will not work).

Multiracial Caucus

Facilitated by Jimi Eisenstein - This caucus is for people who have both white and non-white ancestry who may identify as mixed-race, multiracial, or biracial.

Jimi Eisenstein (he/him) is an educator and advocate for social and environmental justice. He has worked at the Eco-Institute at Pickards Mountain, facilitating residential immersive programs centered around earth healing, community building, and social activism. He is now creating educational animations and working on ecologically-restorative landscaping projects in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Queer Gender Identity Caucus

Facilitated by Andy McGuire – watch Andy's introduction here

Andy McGuire (they/them/he/him) is a contributor to White Awake and graduate of Landmark College. They identify as a non-binary trans masculine person and have a background in group facilitation for queer identifying people, co-developing many transgender specific programs at Landmark. In addition to Queer Caucus facilitation, Andy also regularly leads "Hard Conversations with People We Love" for White Awake, a training on communicating effectively across large political divides.

Queer Sexuality Caucus

Facilitated by Jason Lydon

Rev. Jason Lydon serves as the minister at the Second Unitarian Church of Chicago. Jason has been involved in both secular and faith-based efforts organizing against white supremacy culture since 2001. As a founding trainer with Groundwork, the Unitarian Universalist Youth and Young Adult Anti-Racism/Anti-Oppression Training and Organizing Collective, Jason developed curriculum focused on dismantling white supremacy and engaging white people in the work of challenging internalized superiority. Jason is also the founder of Black and Pink, a national abolitionist organization approaching the work by centering the needs of LGBTQ/HIV+ people.

Session One

Session One: An Introduction

Session Recording (8/16) View Here

Chat Log: View Here

Presentation Content: Slides From Topher's Talk

Study Materials

What is White Supremacy – Elizabeth Martínez (15-20 min read)
Understanding Patriarchy – bell hooks (15-20 min read)
Understanding Anti Semitism – excerpts from two essays (8 min read)
Tony Porter Ted Talk: A Call To Men (11 min video)
From a Place of Love: Catalyst Project and the Strategy of Collective Liberation Leadership in White Communities – Chris Crass (10 min read)
Gender and Patriarchy Definitions Sheet – Topher Stephens (10-12 min read)

Holistic Practices

Complete the first exercise on embodied awareness and then do at least one of the two practices below it.

Establishing an Embodied Awareness Practice (5 min read + 10-15 min meditation)

Creative Practice: Write a "Where I'm From" Poem (15-20 min)
Emotional Intelligence Practice: Reflect on Your Feelings and Needs (15-20 min)

Further Reading (optional/if you have time)

Relinquishing the Patriarchy – adrienne maree brown (10-20 min read)
Towards Collective Liberation: What I Believe – Chris Crass (19 min read or listen)

Session Two

Session Two: Historical Context

Session Recording (8/16) View Here

Chat Log: View Here

Presentation Content: Notes From Topher's Talk

Study Materials

Early Human Cultures, Indigeneity and the Dawn of Patriarchy:

The Vast and Beautiful World of Indigenous Europe – Lyla June (15-20 min read)
Origin of Gender video (9 min watch)
The History of Patriarchy – Elle Beau (9 min read)
How Colonialism Killed Gender Fluidity (7 min watch)

Capitalism, Race, Gender & Religion:

Note on Federici piece: "Production" denotes work done by wage laborers. "Reproduction" denotes work done to birth and sustain human life, and, under capitalism, give wage laborers the sustenance to toil for the boss.

Holistic Practices

Continue your daily embodied awareness routine and do at least one of the practices below:

Emotional Practice: Re-kindling Connection with the More-Than-Human World (20-25 min)
Embodiment Practice: Dance and Expressive Movement (15-20 min)
Spiritual/Imaginative Practice:
Imagining Yourself as a Benevolent Ancestor (15-20 min)

Further Reading (optional/if you have time)

Heteropatriachy and the Three Pillars of White Supremacy - Andrea Smith (20- 25 min read)

Session Three

Session Three: Harm Caused and Harm Received

The following study materials are meant to offer an opportunity to bear witness to the vast harm perpetrated by white men in the past and present while also waking up to the ways that racialized, gendered capitalism has created suffering and disconnection in our own lives. Even though we have separated this content into the two categories “harm caused” and “harm endured,” we understand that there is crossover between them. For example, we recognize the notion that, as Kazu Haga says, “hurting people hurts” on a psychological level as well as the reality that racism and misogyny can distract white men from seeing the real causes of their own suffering under capitalism.

Content Warning: many of the study materials contain graphic descriptions and/or depictions of violence including rape, torture, and suicide. Engage with this material in a way that feels appropriate and manageable for your own nervous system and emotional resilience.

Session Recording (8/30) View Here

Chat Log: View Here

Study Materials

Harm Caused:

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz on the Ulster-Scots (7 min read)
Life Aboard a Slave Ship (5 min video) & Slate graphic of transatlantic slave trade (3 min interactive graphic). The horror of the human trafficking and enslavement of Africans is vast. As you watch the interactive graphic, take time to reflect on what you already know about the middle passage and enslavement of Africans then attempt to scale this to the number of dots you see moving across the screen.
Soldiers talk about what they saw and did in Iraq (5 min video)
How Microaggressions are like Mosquito Bites (2 min video)
The Female Price of Male Pleasure - Lili Loofbourow (15-20 min read)
What the Abortion Bans Have to do With Poverty and Race - Renee Bracey Sherman (8 min read)
Anti-Black Racism, the Mistrel Show, and the Making of Whiteness - Chris Crass (6 min read)

Harm Endured:

If you haven’t watched it yet, please view Tony Porter’s talk, “A Call to Men,” from the Session One Study Materials (11 min video)
Mass Incarceration and Rule by the Rich - Ian Haney López (2 min video)
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor Interview Excerpt (10 min read)
Visualization of the wealth of the super-rich shown to scale (3-5 min)
"Wise Bully" Sketch - Key and Peele (2 min video) Note: this satire contains offensive sexist and homophobic language to depict and critique school bully culture

Holistic Practices

Continue your daily embodied awareness routine and do at least one of the practices below:

Physical/ Emotional Practice: Somatic Awareness of Harm Endured and Harm Caused (20-25 min)
Emotional Practice: Guilt vs Shame (15-20 min)
Imaginative Practice: Read & Reflect on a Visionary Fiction Short Story (20 min)

Session Four

Session Four: Cultivating a Renewed Identity

Session Recording (9/12) View Here

Chat Log: View Here

Study Materials

Toward a healthy anti-racist identity:

Quotes from Anne Braden on “The Other America” (2 min read)
The 1968 Rainbow Coalition: Documentary Trailer and Description (1 min) and Fred Hampton’s Speech to the Young Patriots (2 min watch)
If you haven’t already, read Part III of the article Roots Deeper than Whiteness - David Dean (7-8 min read OR listen)
AWARE-LA: Theory of Personal Transformation (10 min read) and Theory of Change (5 min infographic)

Toward a healthy gender identity:

10 Responses to the Phrase “Man Up” - A spoken word poem by Guante (3.5 min watch)
How Homophobia Has Robbed All Men Of Touch - Mark Greene (7 min read)
Uses of the Erotic - Audre Lorde (15 min read or 23 min listen)

Choose one or more of the following:

Gay Men Need to Be Feminists Too -Rich Benjamin (10 min read or listen)
Deep Heterosexuality - Jane Ward (25 min read) For heterosexual men in the course who want support developing a healthy relationship to their sexuality, the last chapter of Jane Ward’s incredible book is focused lessons and insights from Lesbian feminism for hetero men.
Queer Sex, Communication, Consent, and Protection - Yana Tallon-Hicks (8 min) A good resource for anyone about how to have pleasurable, consensual, and safe sex.

Holistic Practices

Continue your daily embodied awareness routine and do at least one of the practices below:

Emotional Practice: Write a Letter of Gratitude (20 min)
Embodiment Practice: Write a Self Blessing Poem (20 min)
Imaginative Practice Visionary Fiction Brainstorm (20 min)

Further Reading (optional/if you have time)

The Opposite of Rape culture is nurturance culture - Nora Samaran (20 min read)
Carl Braden - A short biography on inspiring Civil Rights era white male anti-racism activist (15 min read)
St. Patrick’s Batallion: View this infographic and listen to this podcast from 1:08:55 to 1:10:44 (link cued to correct start time)
War Happens in Dark Places, Too - Keri Leigh Merritt (15 min read)

Session Five

Session Five: Taking Action

During our final live call on September 19, there will be opportunities for participants to share about ways that they have gotten involved, taken initiative, organized, or otherwise brought the work of collective liberation into their lives or professional settings. Please be thinking about your own story of engagement in collective liberation work and how your successes and challenges might help guide and inspire others.

Session Recording (9/19) View Here

Chat Log: View Here

Study Materials

Race/ Class Organizing: