An Unfinished Conversation About Race

Film Nine of the Restorative Practices Film Series
An Unfinished Conversation about Race (114 minutes)

Wherein we deep-dive into exploring race in the United States with internationally-acclaimed documentary film-maker and Master Mindfuless and Diversity Trainer Lee Mun Wah, Restorative Practices Training Director Tiara Maldonaldo, Violence Prevention expert and Regional Director of Timelist Group Earl Simms, Licenced Marriage and Family Therapist and Culturally-sensitive Mental Health Expert Douglas Woodson LMFT, and mindfulness and somatics teacher Katrin Welch.

In this film, which emerges through a facilitated conversation with Lee Mun Wah, we dive deeply into understanding racism in the United States. We explore, through a lens both intimate and universal, the structuring of race in America, both in its intimate personal and broad sociological dimensions, what it means to be American, the wounds of racism on both People of Color (victims of racism) and white people (perpetrators of racism), myths about racism that prevent us from connecting across difference, and what we have to do in order to truly be with one another as witnesses and allies.

PLEASE NOTE: There is an audio flaw in our source files that begins around fortyfive (45) minutes into the film, where static comes into the microphone that Mun Wah is holding and persists. We know the flaw is there, and are working digitally in post-production to re-master the sound. Our sincere apologies for the distraction and inconvenience. Please bear with us as we try to fix this in a future version of the film.

Learning Objectives for People of Color

  1. As a POC participant how does your socialization impact your ability to access that which you are entitled to?
  2. As a POC what/where are the visceral responses in your body while watching this film? As a POC are there any questions about Whiteness that come up for you? Do any of the ideas shared in the film resonate with you? What is familiar to you?

    People of Color Take-Aways:

    1. As a POC what does it mean to to be included in mindfulness-based anti-racist work with White folk?
    2. As POC how do we center restorative practices for ourselves while de-centering Whiteness?
      1. White participants become aware of how their social location and socialization is shaping their worldview and understanding (or lack thereof) of racism.
      2. Participants feel the visceral impacts of racism on people of color and begin to understand the public health implications of systemically depriving a social group of safety.

      Learning Objectives for White folks

    3. Participants conceptualize a mindfulness-based anti-racist pedagogy of emotional engagement, empathy, and vulnerability.
    4. Participants develop greater capacity to keep their hearts and their eyes open in difficult cross-cultural conversations about race.

    Take-Aways for White Folks

    1. White participants begin to examine the progression of their socialization and assumptions around discussing racism, and to identify where and from who they learned things about relating to people of color. They increase their ability to sit with and metabolize their own discomfort in relation to these discussions.
    2. White participants empathically connect with the beauty and pain of an honest conversation about this vital topic.

QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER REFLECTION

  1. What is safety? What makes you feel safe- physically/ emotionally? When / where / with whom in your life do you feel safest? How do you know when you are feeling safe? What places do you feel most safe? Now, and in the past?
  2. When you reflect on this idea of safety, and of being aware of when you feel safe, and on cultivating safety, what do you want to make sure that you remember about this?

Supplementary Related Resources