Understanding and Managing Resistance to Racial Equity

When Equity Is the Bogeyman: Understanding and Managing Resistance to Racial Equity

When: June 20 and 22, 2023, 12-3 PM east coast time

Are you struggling to respond to and manage increasing resistance to your racial equity (and other equity) efforts? Do you need strategies for pushing equity efforts forward despite the resistance?

The resistance isn't new. But in our experience parts of it do appear to be increasingly well-funded and well-organized. Of course, it has other sources, too, such as individuals within our organizations who range from people who feel they already "get" racial equity and don't need to be challenged further to people who are ideologically opposed to the objectives of antiracism and equity. In order to respond effectively to resistance, it's important to understand its sources and causes and to distinguish between resistance from people and organizations who have no intention of budging and resistance from people and organizations who are misinformed but willing to move to deeper understanding and action.

In this 6-hour summer series, we will explore different kinds of resistance and learn (and practice) ways to respond to it. We will work on being able to spot various motivations for resistance and respond strategically. We also will discuss when we need to shut down resistance and when we might engage with it. Finally, we will explore how to attend to our own well-being in the face of resistance.

This series will be led by Marceline DuBose, founder of Due East Educational Equity Collaborative, and Paul Gorski, founder of the Equity Literacy Institute.

Sessions will be recorded in case you have to miss all or part of either session.