The Problem with Privilege
Bias, Fragility + Taking Action to End Racism

Taught by Christine Dupres

Acknowledging privilege proves to be a crucially important factor in understanding how structural racism and other "-isms" continue to exist. But understanding that you have privilege doesn't mean you understand what to do about it. Ignoring your privilege, however, allows racism and other -"isms" to thrive. This class is designed to help you be a better, more effective ally, especially if you're feeling stuck and ineffective. Fragility has uneven corollaries to non-white/non-male perspectives, but we will be addressing cultural privilege as a whole. This class will help you understand, identify, and interrupt implicit bias and white fragility, mechanisms that keep privilege in place.

Note: This course is best suited to those who are familiar with and practiced in the basics of ally work.

Week 1: Core Concepts for the Ally
Racism and what it means to unpack privilege.

Week 2: Defining Fragility Within the Rubric of Power and Privilege
White fragility and how to recognize it. Where does white fragility show up in Portland?

Week 3: Coalition of Communities of Color + Multnomah County
Discussion of the Multnomah County Profile Reports from the Coalition of Communities of Color and more thoughts on white fragility in PDX.

Week 4: Further Use of Concept and Tools
Power protects itself. Other fragilities and ways we can interrupt them. 

Christine Dupres (Cowlitz/Cree), Ph.D., is a writer, teacher, and Native leader. She is the author of Being Cowlitz: How One Tribe Renewed and Sustained Its Identity (University of Washington Press). She has taught at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Oregon.

 

 

This course is sponsored by KBOO Community Radio.

Photo by brx0 via Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.