Healing the Roots of Racism in Ourselves Series

For people who want to discover how whiteness has shaped them and practice new cognitive, emotional, and bodily/somatic patterns. This series is a deep dive for people who already have some foundational understanding of structural racism in the US.

Register Now

Registration will close March 20, 2023 or when the program reaches capacity.

Why This Series?

Land stewardship in the US has a deep history of racism, and yet land offers resources for resilience and healing from racism. As farm and food system workers and educators connected to land, we have a unique responsibility and opportunity to deeply engage in this healing work.

This series invites you to take a step back from analysis and cognitive learning to shift personal patterns in your body and heart. Facilitators will share practices to help us focus on abundance, resilience, interdependence, and humility: qualities we need to build authentic, trusting relationships with people of all identities. The facilitators’ compassionate approach supports participants personally and as a community. Join this space to listen, learn, and try out acting differently in our bodies and from our bodies so that we can move with alignment for racial justice in farm-based education and beyond.

Want a preview? View this video.

Who is this series for?

This series is for people in farm and garden education, farm to school, land, agriculture, and food systems fields who:

1. Identify as white, have been conditioned/privileged as white, as well as folks with multiple identities who are close to whiteness: eg, one white parent, white adoptive parents, or any other constellation that calls you into this work. We welcome people with a variety of identities. We do not discriminate based on race or ethnicity.

2. Are (or want to be) a member of movements to transform the culture of domination and the many systems of oppression within which we live;

3. Feel a deep desire to be an active, positive part of creating a world free from racialized violence and oppression;

4. Are interested in working cognitively, emotionally and somatically in a group;

5. Want to learn how to redistribute power and resources that they can access through whiteness.

We are also currently pausing to deeply listen for what, and how, FBEN can be most supportive for BIPOC/people of the global majority working in food/farm/garden/land education. If you have thoughts and ideas, we would love to hear from you!

From a Past Participant

As a white person, I’ve felt confused at times about how to best show up in farm-based education work that is inviting to and representative of people across cultural backgrounds. Should I move aside and make space for others, or take up space with my values of equity and access? Is the privilege I have because of my whiteness something I should back away from, or learn to use in partnership with others who may not have it? At times, I felt guilty for having an identity that is associated with so much violence and injustice. At times, I’ve felt overwhelmed and numb. The facilitators, Julia and Mintz, helped me move away from that numbness, and showed me that when I can feel, I can act to create a world where inequity and oppression isn’t the norm. They also helped me realize that small adjustments in how I think, move, and act have real impacts on my relationships and collaborative work. The series felt like one part yoga class, one part social studies class, one part supportive conversation group. It helped me come alive in a way that I love.

What else should I know?

This series is a deep dive for people who already have some foundational understanding of structural racism in the US. If you are new to this topic and are looking for a first formal learning space to begin your journey, or aren’t sure if this space is for you, feel free to be in touch with Rebecca Mintz for recommendations: mintz.rebecca@gmail.com.

Facilitators Julia Metzger-Traber and Rebecca Mintz will create a space that is deeply personal, vulnerable, challenging, confidential, and mutually supportive. You’re ready for this space if you’re ready to show up for each other and yourself with love and rigor as we do the hard work of opening up.

Dates

Zoom meetings 3–5:00 PM EST

March 22: Reshaping from Individualism Toward Interdependence

April 19: Toward Dignified Humility

May 17: Toward Real Abundance

Sept. 20: From Defensiveness toward Openness to Change

Oct. 18: Toxic Cocktails & Resource Redistribution

Nov. 15: Our Personal Healing Journeys & Real Reparations

Time Comittment

We hope participants can commit to attending all six virtual dates. Additionally, you may:

1) Complete Between Session Work: We strongly encourage you to listen to recorded dialogues and guided meditations that will be available in an online library between sessions, 1-2 hours per month. These 6 recorded discussions of our analysis of and experience with the toxins of White Supremacy Culture, as well as the glimpses we’ve gotten into what life could feel like when lived through the antidotes. The 6 guided practices (10-15 minutes per day) will help you to live into the antidotes and shift our mental and somatic-emotional frameworks.

2) Participate in Optional Small-Group Meetings with 4-6 others for about 1.5 hours additional hours per month. Small groups will meet between whole group sessions. A facilitator will support small groups to explore ways that white supremacy culture is showing up, and then co-create practices in real time for moving toward more liberatory ways of being. These are loving, rigorous and deeply transformative spaces. There is NO extra cost to opt into a small group. If you do opt into a small group, please commit to attending as much as possible as a gift to your group-mates.

3) Optional Monthly Individual Coaching: In these sessions (55 min per month), you work 1-1 with a coach for personalized support in reshaping from elements of white supremacy culture toward more liberatory ways of being. This option is an additional fee which you’ll see on the registration page.

If you would benefit from talking with someone who took the class last year, please reach out to Vera and she’ll be happy to connect with you.

"Wow. So grateful for this space. Your facilitation was superb...inclusive and challenging bound together."

About the Facilitators

Julia Metzger-Traber (she/hers) is a facilitator of creative, healing, and culture-shifting processes and trainings for social transformation and racial justice. She brings her backgrounds in performance, embodiment, and conflict transformation into her work with communities and organizations as they grapple with themselves and each other and the systems they’re embedded in, toward more whole and regenerative ways of being. Since 2017 she has lived at Potomac Vegetable Farms, in Virginia, where, in addition to her external facilitation, coaching and consulting, she is learning to be in reciprocity with land, and co-create beloved community. She is currently finishing her training as a Somatic Experiencing practitioner and has previously trained with Generative Somatics. She believes that communities, like bodies, hold the wisdom needed for their own healing and transformation, if attended to with curiosity, compassion and awareness. She is a mother and a dancer and practicing leaning into ancestral wisdom and spiraling time.

Rebecca J. Mintz, MSOD (she/her) has been facilitating organizational change and transformative dialogues for over 15 years. She holds space for dialogue on the individual level through coaching, the interpersonal or group level through political education and conflict transformation, and on the organizational level through full-scale collective change processes. On all three levels, Mintz works from a core belief that we can change (and be changed) toward collective liberation when we turn toward the challenging conversations that are calling from our growing edges. She creates spaces for people and teams to engage courageous conversations, so that the collective can build strong social movements as healthfully and effectively as possible. Mintz is a mediocre but wildly enthusiastic singer, loves dogs and the woods and her constantly evolving spiritual practice.

About the Hosts

Hosted by the Farm Based Education Network in partnership with the School Garden Support Organization Network.

Fees

We believe cost should not be a barrier. During registration, participants can select the registration fee that fits your budget. If you are able to pay a little more, please do so to help balance the budget so we may continue offering this type of programming. The facilitators’ compensation is not dependent on revenue generated by the workshop, so pay what feels right to you. Thank you!

Pay What You Can: $50, $100, $200, $300, $400, $500, or $600. Optional one-on-one coaching can be added for $250.

"I loved the mix of breath, somatic work, sharing, journaling, active listening and reflection. It all worked so well together."