The second event in our Community Education Webinar Series provides a space to learn about how to become an anti-racist adult education practitioner. It was joined by:

• Stephen Brookfield, educator, consultant and author
• Lilian Nwanze, Doctoral Student at The Department of Adult and Community Education, Maynooth University
• Dr Abiola Muhammed-Ogunfowora, Psychologist and Founder of Racism on the Couch

The three-part Community Education Webinar Series was created in collaboration with EPALE Ireland, Léargas and the Three Pillar Group. The final event in this series looks at climate justice in community education. Register here.

EPALE connects practitioners across Europe

The webinar is introduced by Manika-Nia Dixon from the EPALE Ireland Team at Léargas, who gives participants a brief overview of EPALE.

EPALE is the largest hub in Europe for adult learning and practitioners use it to help members connect, collaborate and innovate with their peers. Become an EPALE member for free.

Bringing two specialist voices together in conversation about racism

The speakers, Stephen and Lilian, are introduced to the group.

Stephen Brookfield is an educator, consultant and author who helps people learn to think critically about the dominant ideologies they have internalised and how these can be challenged.

Stephen’s most recent book, co-authored with Mary Hess, is titled Becoming a White Antiracist: A Practical Guide for Educators, Leaders and Activists.

Lilian Nwanze is a Doctoral Student at The Department of Adult and Community Education at Maynooth University, where she’s exploring the impact racism has on students in education.

Lilian qualified and worked as a barrister and a solicitor in Nigeria before migrating to Ireland.

Racism is a system, not an event

Lilian starts by telling attendees that if they want to become anti-racist practitioners they must first understand that racism is a system and not an event.

Lilian says that racism is

“a set of societal, cultural and institutional beliefs and practices, regardless of intention, that subordinate and oppress a race”

and she emphasises the importance of the phrase ‘regardless of intention’.

Know what an anti-racist practitioner actually is

Lilian helps participants to get clarity on what an anti-racist practitioner is through a collection of descriptive statements. Lilian points out that these statements do not cover everything but they are a good starting point.

An anti-racist practitioner is one who:

• has a comprehensive and broad view of racism
• understands that racism lies embedded and inexplicably interwoven into the systems and institutions of society
• will refuse to sit on the fence because, when it comes to racism and education, you are either for or against; there is no middle ground
• doesn’t just talk, but really commits to taking action and understands that actions can be individual or collective
• is unafraid to interrogate themselves and self-reflect on their own racial identity and racial dominance
• is not colour blind, because colour blindness ignores race
• is comfortable with discomfort and, in spite of the discomfort they experience, speaks and educates about race and racism
• creates safe spaces in classrooms to discuss and interrogate racism
• is a person of love who cares enough to really, really listen to the voices of people who have different racial identities and experiences from them

Acknowledge the white elephant in the room

Stephen shows us the importance of starting conversations like this by openly acknowledging our own racial and gender profiles. Stephen does this by pointing out that, as a white male in his 70s, his profile means that white supremacy, patriarchy and the assumption that he is the authority in the room can come into play.

Stephen says people sometimes ask him, “Doesn't having a white male as a speaker in a conversation about race just recentre the power yet again and give the message that the white male is the expert on these things?”

Stephen answers by acknowledging that, while it is the ‘white elephant’ in the room, if white people are not involved in the conversation about race then we're never going to move forward.

Stephen says

“Someone who is an old, white male like myself must try to be the first to raise race in a very normal, matter of fact way in every situation that I'm in.”

Ask yourself: ‘What are the racial dimensions in what I’m doing?’; ‘What racial perspectives have I missed as I developed this programme?’; ‘Have I thought about what my own white racial identity means?’.

Introduce an ‘equity pause’ to your meetings

Stephen explains that when white practitioners are in meetings, it's their responsibility—and not just the responsibility of the minority members of colour in the room—to consider race before decisions are made.

Stephen explains the concept of the ‘equity pause’, a deliberate pause that is taken in meetings before decisions are made where meeting attendees must ask themselves if elements of white supremacy have been embedded into what is being proposed.

In this moment of ‘equity pause’, everyone should stop to consider the racial identities that are both in the room and not in the room, and how this might be impacting the decision.

Racism is not solely located in individual behaviour; it’s systemic

Diversionary tactics are activities that attract people’s attention away from an issue or an action.

Stephen says that one of the biggest diversionary tactics he sees around discussions of race is when people reduce it to the personal and say, “Well if I can just learn some strategies to avoid committing microaggressions, or if I just learn what to do when I hear someone say something in a classroom or a meeting, then I will have become anti-racist.”

Stephen clarifies that while it’s obviously important to take action on a personal level, we must not become fixated on racism as something that is solely located in individual behaviour change because racism is also systemic.

Racism pervades and permeates the organisations and communities that we move through. It’s often completely unacknowledged so we must constantly attempt to unearth how it manifests itself, and take action.

Actions against racism can be intrapersonal, interpersonal or structural

Stephen highlights the fact that actions can be taken against racism on different levels, depending on the situation you find yourself in.

Sometimes the action is intrapersonal, sometimes it’s within the personal interactions we have with others, and—most importantly—sometimes it's structural, taking place at an institutional, organisational or community level.

Becoming anti-racist means taking action in these three intersecting spheres: the intrapersonal; the interpersonal; and the structural.

It’s normal for the conversation to be complicated and uncomfortable

Stephen talks about the fact that it’s normal to struggle because the nature of these topics are complicated. We must be open to changing our opinions and behaviours because we might be presented with new perspectives and information.

“A lot of people will feel threatened”, Stephen tells the group. “They're going to feel worried about saying the wrong thing, or they’ll worry that they don't have anything to contribute. This is a big worry for white folks like me.”

When the conversation is about race, don’t be silent

Lilian shares her experience of discomfort when discussing the issue of race and racism.

“I found that, in Ireland, the words ‘race’ and ‘racism’ are almost swear words,” Lilian says.

Lilian tells the group a story about when she was in a sociology class and the class were talking about ways in which society is stratified or divided. The students brought up issues of socioeconomic class, sexual orientation and more, but no one brought up the issue of race.

“I remember putting up my hand and saying, ‘What about race?’ and there was silence. It was so silent that the silence was loud. Nothing was said and eventually someone got us out of the awkward situation by saying ‘Sure, yes society is divided in race’. The teacher hurried onto the next topic. Nobody wanted to have that conversation.”

Speak up and normalise discomfort

Lilian tells another story about when she was a student in another class where the issue of racism was being discussed.

“Someone was courageous enough to look me in the face and say racism doesn't exist, it's only in your mind. I had a heated exchange with them. The class was silent, no one said a word. It was a very uncomfortable silence.”

What struck Lilian in this situation was that so many class members spoke to her afterwards. Almost everyone in the class came to her privately and said, “I think you were so courageous and so eloquent,” but no one wanted to talk about it publicly.

“It's like people suddenly realise, ‘Hold on a minute, I'm part of this whole system’, and they don’t want to talk about it,”

says Lilian.

“If we’re going to solve whatever problem this is—if it's even possible to solve the problem in the first place—we need to speak about it, for what problem has ever been solved that hasn't been spoken about? We have to start normalising this discomfort”.

“For the period when I was doing my education, I was taught to be the cleaner or to be the student, never the teacher,”

Lilian says.

“I feel uncomfortable trying to raise race but I have to raise race because it is always there.”

Don’t wait for the person who is the minority in the room to raise the issue of race

Stephen tells the group that often people wait until the person who is in the racial minority in the room raises race.

“It’s implicitly assumed that it’s their responsibility. It’s so important for white people to regularly raise race as a normal part of the agenda,” Stephen says.

“Oftentimes, when I come into a meeting or a class that I'm running—before we come to the official agenda—I’ll talk about something that's in the news because there is always something about racism in the news. I normalise the act of talking about race so that it doesn't become this big moment when race is suddenly brought up.”

Stephen also makes the point that the best teaching happens when you have a multi-racial teaching team.

“Multiracial facilitation is crucial; your teaching team should comprise people of different racial identities.”

Unpack and interrogate the language you use

Lilian talks about the language we use in conversations about racism.

“We have buzzwords now like ‘inclusion’ and ‘representation’. Interrogate words like ‘inclusion’ and ask ‘What are you including me in?’”

Avoid tokenism

Lilian tells the group about her experience of people asking her to attend seminars and events because she is black.

“People ask me to participate in their research. They say, ‘We need a black face to complete the research’. I get this all the time,” Lilian recounts. “Or they say, ‘We’re having a meeting of the diversity committee in the university, do you want to come?’.”

“I’m not saying representation doesn’t matter, what I’m saying is that we often throw out these buzzwords but not much is changing. If these things were changing then by now we wouldn’t still be having these discussions. It’s not as simple as saying, ‘Oh I put a bunch of black people and Indian people and muslims on my brochure so everything is fine with the world and racism is a thing of the past,’ or, ‘Now we have a black person speaking so our department is really great’. This is tokenism.”

Organisational changes need to go beyond representation

Stephen brings up an essay he read by a critical theorist called Herbert Marcuse. The essay was about repressive tolerance.

“It explained so much of what was going on,” says Stephen. “Institutions appear to embrace change when there is a challenge to their legitimacy, but they embrace change in such a way that structurally everything stays intact.”

Stephen says when organisations put people who are clearly of a different identity in their brochures or featured on their webpage in order to appear a certain way, this is a way of deflecting.

Representation is important but it’s not as simple as just bringing in one or two individuals and having them as a visual representation of your commitment to anti-racism. You have to take more impactful action.

Stephen says one way this can be done is by bringing in a policy of cluster hiring. Instead of bringing in just one person of colour, make a budgetary plan to bring in multiple people of colour. Also, create spaces within the organisation that are only for people of colour.

Use relatable examples when introducing the topic of racism to students

Lilian gives advice on how to bring up the topic of racism with students.

She suggests starting by discussing something more familiar like the concept of being left-handed. Lilian explains to her students that she is right-handed and hardly ever thinks about left-handed people. People have to bring ‘left-handedness’ to her attention.

Being right or left handed is not top of mind for Lilian but it is top of mind for a left-handed person who comes into a classroom and struggles with the kind of desks that they have to sit at. Start with something relatable like this and then bring the conversation to race.

What resonated most with the webinar’s participants?

The webinar attendees are divided into breakout rooms to discuss what Lilian and Stephen said and share their own thoughts. The issues that surfaced the most were:

• The lack of people of colour in teaching roles in Ireland, and knowing that realistically the power and decisions are in the hands of predominantly white boardrooms.
• The support for the idea of cluster hiring.
• The paralysis that white people can sometimes feel because they’re afraid of saying the wrong thing.
• The culture in Ireland of not talking about difficult topics and the perception that Ireland is not a racist country.
• The use of language as a diversionary tactic and the reality that buzzwords are being used but things are not changing.
• The support for normalising discomfort and allowing honesty to come forward.
• Support for the ‘equity pause’.
• The prevalence of tokenism and the importance of asking if people genuinely have an interest in someone’s contribution.
• And finally, a great tip that one participant shared: to introduce the topic of racism to students in a relatable way, first ask learners to use their non-dominant hand to cut out some pictures.

Lilian’s and Stephen’s responses to the students

Stephen and Lilian respond to the group’s feedback and leave them with important words of solace and advice:

It’s normal to sometimes feel overwhelmed

Lilian acknowledges that this is really draining stuff and people can feel hopeless.

“My favourite saying is, ‘If you want to change the world, start with making your bed’. We have to start with the small things. A lot of us don’t have access to policy makers so we can start with ourselves first.”

“Interrogate your privilege. Ask yourself what are the things that make you feel uncomfortable and why are they making you feel uncomfortable.”

It’s better to say the wrong thing than to say nothing at all

Lilian says the commitment to becoming anti-racist is a lifelong thing and there will be many mistakes made along the way.

Lilain points out that you will say the wrong things anyway, and encourages people to speak up because it’s better to say the wrong thing than to say nothing at all.

“If you’re feeling confused or uncomfortable, name it, say it. That opens up discussions.”

Stephen agrees saying he’s had to apologise for saying the wrong thing or missing perspectives in groups he works with.

“There are two ways to do this work,” says Stephen. “Imperfectly or not at all.”

Prepare yourself emotionally

Stephen talks about how he needs to prepare himself emotionally for the work he does. “I know I’m going to feel like a fool and I’m going to feel like I’ve said the wrong thing. I have to prepare for that.”

Stephen says success is preparing for the discomfort, acknowledging the tensions around different racial identities, and being ready to come back and look at things again.

Don’t just create safe spaces, create brave spaces

Stephen explains the difference between a safe space and brave space. He says safe spaces are necessary to get people to commit to having a conversation. Safe spaces are about listening.

Brave spaces, on the other hand, are about creating room for riskful moments where you’re going to feel uncomfortable.

Closing thoughts by psychologist Dr. Abiola Muhammed-Ogunfowora

Dr. Abiola Muhammed-Ogunfowora is a psychologist and offers online therapy at Al-Afia Counselling Services. Her doctoral research topic was on ‘Clients’ Experience of Race in Cross-Racial Therapy.’ She founded ‘Racism on the Couch’, a resource for practitioners to address racism more effectively in the therapeutic space. Abiola closes the event by sharing her thoughts and feedback.

1. Understand that racism is systemic

Abiola liked Lily’s emphasis on understanding racism and moving away from seeing racism not just as a one time event, but as something that is systemic.

2. Reflect on your own racial dominance

“Part of being racist is about challenging yourself. Also moving away from being colourblind. Own and reflect on your racial identity and your own racial dominance.”

Abiola says Stephen showed the group how to own and reflect his own racial dominance by pointing out that he’s white and male.

3. Bring lived realities to the conversation

Abiola says it’s important to bring your own lived realities to the conversation. The reality in Ireland is that there’s a perspective that racism doesn’t exist.

“Lilian drove this point home when she talked about her experience as a student when she tried to talk about the topic of race and everyone was silent,”

says Abiola.

4. Silence is dangerous

Abiola says silence is dangerous because it creates missed opportunities to connect with the lived experience. Silence means things are being left out of the room and things are not being addressed.

Abiola praises Stephen’s approach to taking responsibility for introducing the topic of race before others do.

“People ask if we should still have the conversation of race even if it’s only white people in the room” says Abiola. “We forget that being white is still a race.”

5. Embrace cluster hiring and create spaces for people of colour

Abiola tells the group about an experience she had when doing her doctorate in counselling psychology.

“One of the important aspects of counselling psychology is unpacking your traumas. We did group therapy and individual therapy, and then we brought it all back to group reflections. In the very first group reflection there wasn’t support or connection met whenever I tried to talk about my lived experience of racism. What that meant was that whenever I was talking about difficult or personal childhood traumas, I always consciously removed the concept of racism because I didn’t feel supported or connected to.”

The feeling of being supported or connected to when talking about lived experiences of racism is one of the reasons why Abiola loves the concept of cluster hires and creating spaces in the workplace that are only for people of colour.

“People need to reflect and take time away from always being the minority.”

6. Own your discomfort

Abiola agrees that people need to own their discomfort.

“Race and racism are heavily charged. They bring up emotions on both sides. Open yourself to not always getting it right and allow yourself to be continuously challenged by people within that space.”

7. Change your baseline understanding of yourself

Abiola says the reality is we have all been raised and socialised in a racist society.

“A lot of our understanding of history and our introduction to structures and institutions and anything that we know about each other is under that lens of racism and white supremacy.”

“If your baseline is, ‘I am racist and I understand I can have racist views or racist ideas’ then that way, when someone challenges you, you can pause. It moves you away from that defence space. You are acknowledging, ‘I already know that this exists within me’. ”

8. Don’t make people feel ‘othered’

Abiola talks about how passing remarks become microaggressions.

“When we think of passing remarks, we don’t see how it’s systemic. But it’s not just about the one time someone asks that. The repetition makes the person who is experiencing that microaggression feel ‘othered’.”

“The concept of making someone feel ‘othered’ makes it difficult to be in that space because one thing you already know as a minority is that you are the racial minority but when people constantly point it out to you then you feel more and more like the minority and that’s what makes it a microaggression.”

See the event’s graphic harvest

The themes and topics from this event were captured in illustration by graphic harvest artist Eimear McNally. For digital or printed copies of the harvest, contact liacovone@leargas.ie.

Register for the next webinar

The final event in the Community Education Webinar Series takes place on October 6th and looks at climate justice in community education. Register here