White people, at the end of the world: who will we be?

White supremacy will end in our future. Part of our role as white people is to embody this future now.

White antiracist organizer Anne Braden talked about having a choice as a white person. We can continue to live without interruption and perpetuate white supremacy, or we can be a part of creating a different kind of world. When we harness our imagination, we do what Anne asked of us: we are part of building the other America.

Black gay writer and activist James Baldwin calls us in as white people to see the violence white supremacy wages on Black bodies. In his essay “My Dungeon Shook: Letter to My Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of Emancipation,” he tells his nephew that “We cannot be free until [white people] are free.” This labor, of feeling the rage and violence of living under white supremacy while also holding that Black freedom is tied up in white racial healing, is a clear call for us as white people to take on our own healing work as a spiritual and political commitment to building a new world without white supremacy. We can do this by looking at our own lineages, as well as envisioning who we want to become as ancestors for future generations.

Systemic racism has disconnected us white folks from so much: our ancestry, cultures, spirituality, humanity, and each other. We are in a new era of antiracism, one that is asking us to consider a holistic approach, one that centers a re-connection to the earth and our ancestors.

This workshop series will take us through exercises to explore, examine, and begin healing our disconnections. It carves out space for us to practice, reflect, and write. We will work through prompts, asking us to examine who will be at the end of the world; connect to ancestral patterns and lineages that need attention; and share space and reflect with other white-bodied folks.

This is for you if:

You believe in collective liberation

You yearn for a community of connection and belonging

You desire a practice and writing space for deeper reflection

You are interested in the intersections of healing and spirituality as foundational for white antiracism work

You want to expand your imagination

You desire connection to your ancestral lineages and your creativity around the future you are part of co-creating with others

In these workshops and practice sessions you will explore:

Generative space for practice and writing

Diving deeper into healing, reconnecting to ancestors and earth

Centering healing and spirituality in changemaking work

Transparency and vulnerability with other white people who want to make change in the world

Who you are at the end of the world

Spiritual and healing practices

Writing prompts to connect you to deep questions around antiracism and your ancestors

Connecting time with others who yearn for a better world

Explore your body as a portal and location for healing and ancestral connection

How we will gather:

We will gather online through a 2 session workshop--in a participatory popular education format on Zoom. There will be breaks, embodied movement, self-reflection, and small group work.

Additionally participants are invited to participate--and if desired--participate/lead three practice sessions after the workshop series completes

Workshop Part 1: Wednesday, March 2nd, 2022, 4-6pm PT/ 6-8pm CT/ 7-9pm ET

Workshop Part 2: Wednesday, March 9th, 2022, 4-6pm PT/ 6-8pm CT/ 7-9pm ET

Practice Session: Wednesday, March 16th, 4-5pm PT/ 6-7pm CT/ 7-8pm ET

Practice Session: Wednesday, March 23rd, 4-5pm PT/ 6-7pm CT/ 7-8pm ET

Practice Session: Wednesday, March 30th, 4-5pm PT/ 6-7pm CT/ 7-8pm ET

The sessions will not be recorded.

What to expect: Please be prepared to write and practice, and connect with others as you are able. Ideally, you will have a space where you are able to sit on the floor, move, and participate exactly as you are. Bring a journal and something to write or draw with.

What to prepare for workshop:

Please read: “Find The Other America” Anne Braden

http://www.november.org/BottomsUp/reading/america.html

“Apocalypse Logic"

Elissa Washuta: https://theoffingmag.com/insight/apocalypse-logic/

“My Dungeon Shook: Letter to My Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of Emancipation” James Baldwin:

https://bit.ly/BaldwinDungeon

During the first practice session--we will explore themes explored by Alexis Pauline Gumbs:

Please listen to: Alexis Pauline Gumbs on the End of the World Podcast:

https://www.endoftheworldshow.org/blog/2017/12/19/a-breathing-chorus-with-alexis-pauline-gumbs

Cost:

Workshops & Practice Sessions $70

Both workshops Practice Sessions + Healing Accompainment with Jardana $150

Some scholarship options are available.

20% of income will go to support BIPOC Solidarity Economy and Cultural Work at PeoplesHub and the NDN Collective.

***Add on Healing Accompaniment***limited space. Everything above and 1 one-on-one hour coaching session with Jardana Peacock. Jardana will follow up to schedule.

Your facilitators:

Jardana Peacock (they/them) has worked with thousands of changemakers globally to address trauma through an anti-oppression lens. They are the author of Practice Showing Up: A Guidebook for White People Working for Racial Justice. They are a 500 hour certified yoga teacher in the Tantric tradition, with a focus on subtle body energetics and spiritual healing. Their work and essays have been featured in YES! Magazine, Elephant Journal, Decolonizing Yoga, The Avatar Review, Mother, Feminist Wire, and more.

A longtime movement builder, they founded the project Liberation School South, a healing and spirituality school for changemakers and helped to found the U.S. based network, Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ). They have trained a global field of changemakers through their cultural organizing work at the Highlander Research and Education Center, The Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research and currently at PeoplesHub and facilitating white antiracism spaces with a foundation of healing and spirituality. Jardana lives in Louisville, KY with their two kid

Rachel Parsons (she/her) is a queer teacher, writer, activist, and mama living in Chicago. She’s committed to collective healing and liberation through trauma-informed practice and care.

A long-time educator, Rachel has taught in high schools, colleges, prisons, and community spaces. She addresses educational trauma through culturally responsive pedagogy, restorative justice work, and a focus on social-emotional development. Her students have taught her a lot about resilience, creativity, and the healing power of laughter; they solidify her understanding that listening is always the first step.

Rachel’s writing is fueled by her commitment to justice and her desire to understand what makes us fully human; she explores education, race, gender, family, sexuality, and politics, and her work has appeared in multiple venues, including Guernica, Yes! Magazine, Schools: Studies in Education, Organizing Upgrade, and the anthology Nasty Women and Bad Hombres: Historical Reflections on the 2016 Presidential Election.

Rachel has been involved in feminist, queer, global justice, racial justice, and labor movements for over 20 years. She loves living in big cities, is calmest near the water, and thrives when in community with other troublemakers and shapeshifters.