Recap: Let’s Talk Race Series: American Education System
Check out these photos from The American Education System workshop! If you couldn’t make it this past weekend, here’s what you missed:
This past Saturday, the second-to-last Let’s Talk Race Series event, The American Education System, was held in Youngstown Cultural Arts Center. Exploring our personal experiences with the American education system, participants were led through a “culture toss” activity that tied individual stories into the larger equity crisis in our education system today. The “culture toss” activity encouraged guests to share their experiences by writing six aspects of their identity on separate note cards. Attendees partnered up and exchanged cards, eventually crumpling them up and throwing them away. Throughout this process partners would discuss which cards they lost and how it felt to discard aspects of their identities.
After sharing individual experiences within the American Education System, video clips and a Native case study helped build upon the history timeline, by questioning the perspectives we hear in history and the complexities of who defines civilization.
The walk-through timeline activity detailed an Indigenous perspective of our education system, and participants interacted with the timeline by responding to three questions: What is missing? How does this make you feel? What did you learn? Attendees broke into pairs to discuss these questions, and then into small groups where they wrote down answers before reporting back to the larger group. By examining the history of our education system, the workshop provided an opportunity to discuss how the future can be made inclusive and transformative.
In discussing the future of our education system, video clips helped illuminate the difference between equity and equality. Attendees brainstormed ways in which we can implement equity plans both individually and as a group, as well as on the city, state, national and global levels.
Following the workshop, participants continued conversing over community dinner. Resource packets were provided to each guest to encourage the continuation of these conversations long after the Let’s Talk Race Series comes to an end.
We’re so thankful for the support we’ve received throughout this series. Special thanks goes out to:
Seattle Department of Neighborhoods
Young Women Empowered (Y-WE)
Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association – DNDA
Reel Grrls
DC Bully Busters
Lovage Seattle
