I've been thinking about internalized racism racism for a long time. And liberation. What I know is that the world that is possible will not be accessible to any one without a deep exploration and excavation of our internalized racism. And for People of Color (Indigenous, Black, Latinx, Asian Pacific Islander, South Asian/Desi, Middle Eastern, Multi and Biracial People Color) that means an exploration of the ways in which we have internalized the marginalization and subordination of our racial identities in a system that was never built for us.
I made the decision a while ago that going to after my own liberation from internalized racial subordination would never be enough. It only worked if I did it in Community, and then shared with others what I had learned in my own process. And this experience is the outgrowth of that decision.
I know that it is possible to live from a liberatory perspective and experience in a system framed by racism because I do it every day. Now I want you to, also.
This November 2021... continue the process of belonging to the deepest part of yourself.
Who is this designed for...
Photo by Christian Newman
Photo by Yogendra Singh
Photo by Ronny Sison
This experience is for people who identify as people of color. (White people have internalized racism, specifically internalized racial domination, but this is not for White people.) This is a space where People of Color/BIPOC can explore and cultivate in a space that will be held specifically for and by People of Color/BIPOC. It is a space for community, connection, reflection, and liberation. We will hold each other in Community and in affinity, though it is more than an affinity space. It is an opportunity to do deep work understanding what internalized racism is, where it lives in you, and what's possible beyond it.
What will the journey involve?
This 4-week, online experience is meant to give participants a jumpstart to explore the ways in which they have internalized a system of racism and offer reflections and conversations to extract it from their lives. It is meant to help people who experience marginalization is a system of racial oppression explore ways to live authentically with presence and power to go after and experience liberation while a system of racism still exists. The process will involve a few components:
Content and Reflection
During this four week, online engagement you will receive weekly emails with short video segments, reflection questions and journal prompts. This course is designed to have you practiced and integrate short segments of learning content through reflection, practice, and engagement.
Community
In addition to opportunities for self reflection, will get to learn with and from each other in a weekly group coaching format. Every Tuesday Night in July at 7 PM ET, there will be space (via zoom) for participants to gather together and receive coaching and support from the facilitator and from the group. The hope is that you reserve the space on your calendar and make every session count.
Connection
Using a mini version of the cojourn method, participants will have the opportunity to partner with another participant to receive accountability support during this journey. You'll set goals together and have someone to support you throughout the experience.
Invest in Yourself...You're Worth It
I'm offering a sliding scale pricing structure for this journey. If you want to learn more about what sliding scale means check out this fabulous article. Essentially it's a structure that moves closer to collective liberation and anything that we have internalized about money. Perhaps it'll be something that we even talk about during the month but for right now all you need to basically know is that we want you to choose your fee. This month of engagement, coaching, relationship building, and self exploration is worth $50. There are many complex ways to help you figure out what you might offer in a sky sliding scale structure but we want to keep it pretty simple. Maybe you've seen the green bottle example floating around the Internet. Well, here's a way to think about pricing using that model for this course:
Bottle 1: $75 | Bottle 2: $50 | Bottle 3: $25
Interested in the Journey?
Participation instructions for the November session will be opened up in early October.
Still, wondering if this is for you?
You might still have a few questions that you need and want to have answered before you decide if this course is for you. The section below response to the most often asked questions and hopefully will help you make the decision to choose you...
If you are a person of color interested in living beyond the ways that racism has impacted you psychologically and emotionally, this course is for you. We won't completely hill and excavate – but will get a running start at it.
Are you tired of reacting to the racism directed at you? Have you started your own journey and understanding racism in its many systemic forms? Do you get the sense that there is more available to you beyond daily experiences of racism and other forms of oppression? Then yes, you're ready!
To do this work in community is a direct challenge to the ways that racism impacts marginalized groups. In truth we are all connected, so there actually are no strangers...there are only people who are alongside us in the journey who we can support and who can support us. This experience gives us the opportunity to practice understanding the depths of isolation that we learned in systems of oppression and asked us to challenge them.
Of course. No one will ever be forced to share, and your full participation (however it will look) will be just right. Again we are working to build a community of support, connection, and authenticity. Sometimes, one of the ways that we manifest internalized racism is experiencing shame about our truth. There will be no shame here.
For me, being on a consistent journey of exploring internalized racism has helped me feel clear about my agency and power in this world. Not power over, but my inherent power and worth as a human that has black skin. From that place of value my life feels different. What might that look like in your life?
We often think internalized racism is colorism, self hate, or the many other ways that internalized racism might show up or get expressed within or between people. Those are just the manifestations of the phenomenon. The phenomenon is the fact that we have internalized the system of racism. Racism is a devilish beast and we have ingested its venom. How do we get the venom out? If we get stuck on those manifestations, it's like cutting off the top of a dandelion in the garden and thinking that we've taken the weed. We haven't! We have to go in and really go after the roots.
Meet Your Facilitator - Tanya ("Tan" like the color)
I am a Social Justice Educator, Life Lover, Possibility Creator, Hope Giver and Liberation Seeker.
What about you?
My mission is to provide and create spaces in relationships, conversations, communities for all people to feel seenand appreciatedfor their authentic selves. I believe that educating and working toward equity, as well as creating spaces of justice and communication all grow out of that desire. I come to my work from a belief that humans are capable of greatness, that our world is beautiful, and that it can be better for everyone. The work of social justice became part of my DNA through my exposure to faith early in my life – it gave me a clarity about the beauty and possibility of creation. The principles that guide my work include integrity to my values of compassion, a belief that all people have worth, patience, a belief that justice, equity, and love are essential to our survival/success as humans. I see the work that I do as part of a larger plan and I am a contribution, doing what I’ve authentically been given to do, and believing that if we all can live in authenticity, oppression won’t stand a chance. I've been wrestling with and thinking about internalized racism since I was a teenager in high school. I am embraced that liberation from is possible when studying for my doctorate (Ed.D) in Social Justice Education from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and researched and wrote a dissertation, entitled A Process of Becoming: U.S. Born African American and Black Women in a Process of Liberation from Internalized Racism, focused on internalized oppression and liberation.
"The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any.”