Stephen Brookfield spoke at the 2021 Lilly Conference Online on “Becoming a White Antiracist.” I was excited to see Brookfield’s name as a plenary speaker; I also realized he just published a book and put the presentation slides on an open access homepage. Brookfield talked about how everything on his page is open access with proper acknowledgements. Using Sli.do, Brookfield polled the group about how they feel when they know they are going to talk about race. Brookfield was also honest about the feelings of people when having to attend mandatory training. Then, Brookfield talked about why specifically white antiracism. A slide with several points mentioned “BIPOC get tired of seeing white folks wake up to racism & discover white supremacy in front of them” and “White people often feel the need to confess to racism & seek absolution from BIPOC.” Interestingly, Brookfield suggested breaking up groups into racial affinity groups. Brookfield spoke about the impact of the term “white supremacy” and how when it is mentioned in certain settings, causes fear. The discussion was rich in examples and, also, warnings agains performative actions. Brookfield mentioned modeling and showing others how we struggle with white supremacy. I just today made an awful assumption and tried to quickly point out my mistake. The idea of “inequity pause” was introduced to explore the voices or racial dimensions that haven’t been explored. Further, Brookfield emphasized that there is a lot one can do as a bystander. Several audience members asked good questions that required explanations. Brookfield then shared hard truths including:
- I must call out racist behavior (including myself) as soon as they appear.
- I must assume that for students and colleagues of color everything is seen through the lens of race.
- I must never claim to be an “ally” or anti-racist: self-proclamation increases the cynicism.
Brookfield stressed the importance of not staying silent because it is condescending. Several tips were shared to “prepare to teach with race in mind” including: lose your desire/expectation to be perfect, take the emotional temperature, begin by modeling self-disclosure, introduce the concept of brave space, and use conversational protocols. A question asked was what do you tell instructors at HBCUs to share with BIPOC students interviewing at predominantly white graduate schools? Brookfield discussed the importance of setting up spaces for BIPOC students. Students need a support group; institutions should think about racial identity cluster hires so that students can have emotional support systems. Brookfield ended with a thought-provoking message: we all have a role including those of us who have become experts in how white supremacy becomes internalized because we have done that! We all have a contribution to make. We are all learning.
