Ep. 73: An Honest Black & White Conversation in Honor of George Floyd, with Jordan Harrison

BIG PICTURE Social Emotional Learning Podcast

White people and black people need to be liberated from the lies that have created such deplorable disadvantages for, and untruths about, black people in America. Those disadvantages and untruths are destroying the best of what all of us are capable of bringing to the life of this country, and without which there is no hope for recovery from the travesty of George Floyd's murder. (And all the other black men and women whose lives were ended by acts of racism) . Now is the time for whites to learn how government obscures, how public education indoctrinates, and how media manipulates facts about life for blacks in America. It may, at first, feel like hard work, but only at first. Once truths are revealed, it is so much easier to see our way forward to an America that will work for all as, stated in our Constitution, it is designed to do.

As educators and parents, we must awaken from the unconscious biases that make us complicit in passing on to children the *unconscious attitudes that enable racism. (* we all have them, and it's our responsibility to become aware of them and eliminate them.)

If ever there was a topic relevant to Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and Lifeskills Development, this is it.

RESOURCES:

If you're ready to see what happens when 'good' white people react to being treated with prejudice and bias, watch Jane Elliott's "Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes" Anti-Racism Exercise | The Oprah Winfrey Show | OWN 450,638 views (#oprahwinfreyshow #OWNTV #Oprahwinfrey) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebPoSMULI5U

Link to SURJ (Showing Up for Racial Justice): https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org

Link to info about "13th" - a documentary on Netflix recommended by Jordan: https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/films/1291740/13th-Netflix-What-is-13th-amendment-documentary-Prison-population-black-lives-matter

"White Fragility" link at Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/white+fragility?_requestid=11873402

New Yorker article about "White Fragility": https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/a-sociologist-examines-the-white-fragility-that-prevents-white-americans-from-confronting-racism