"I think who really needs to heal are white people…the people who cause the harm are the people who need to do the healing, the reflection, the fixing." -Nikole Hannah-Jones, Kellog National Day of Racial Healing 2023

This event will introduce participants to Reckon With’s two core practices: Acknowledgment and Reparative Action. We welcome people of all racial identities to participate, and note that our practices are designed to be implemented in white affinity spaces.

We will open with a brief grounding exercise and a high level overview of our organization’s history. The event itself will consist of two parts.

In part one, participants will learn about false racial myths of white superiority and Black inferiority. The presenter will offer high level historical context of the false racial myths, how they have been used over time, and how they have evolved. We will discuss these myths briefly as a group in service of noticing them arise in ourselves and our everyday lives. Participants will then be given time to write and reflect about their experiences with a myth of their choice. Finally, they will discuss their experience identifying a myth and interrupting it in breakout groups of three.

In part two, participants will reflect on their influence in their existing familial and institutional relationships. Participants will draw a life map of their families, neighborhoods, schools, workplaces, or other organizations they are already a part of. They will then consider where racial harm is currently happening and where they have the most influence and resources to engage in reparative action. After completing their lifemaps and reflection, participants will discuss their maps with their trios. Participants will be prompted to consider possible areas in their lives where they can take a small next step.

We will come back together to reflect on the experience as a whole and offer pathways to stay engaged with our work.