The Facilitator's Guide for White Affinity Groups: Strategies for Leading White People in an Anti-Racist Practice

A first of its kind, accessible, in-depth resource for leading effective white racial affinity groups--an essential tool in anti-racism for building the skills and perspectives needed for white people to challenge racism.

While there are a few short articles and guides addressing the challenges and complexities of leading white affinity groups, there has never been a detailed handbook exclusively for white racial affinity group facilitators. There are many challenges in facilitating these groups including the need to have a deep theoretical understanding of racism; a high degree of racial self-awareness; sensitivity to and the ability to work with the range of skills and degrees of awareness participants bring; and strong facilitation and conflict resolution skills.

The Facilitator's Guide for White Affinity Groups is the first in-depth guide for educators, mediators, workplace consultants and trainers, workplace diversity groups, community organizers, conference organizers, members of faith communities, and members of racial and social justice groups.
Dr. Robin DiAngelo and Amy Burtaine, who collectively bring over 20 years of experience leading anti-racist education and racial affinity groups present:
- a theoretical framework for understanding racism;
- a case for the value of racial affinity groups as a tool for challenging racism;
- guidelines for setting up affinity groups in a variety of contexts;
- the skills and perspectives needed for effective facilitation;
- scenarios to illustrate common challenges;
- a glossary of definitions;
- exercises, discussion prompts, and assessment tools.
- an extensive list of common patterns and group dynamics and how to address them
Written accessibly for a wide range of readers and backgrounds, The Facilitator's Guide for White Affinity Groups will be an important reference for anyone committed to anti-racism work.

ISBN-13: 9780807003565

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: Beacon Press

Publication Date: 08-09-2022

Pages: 224

Product Dimensions: 6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

Dr. Robin DiAngelo is an affiliate associate professor of education at the University of Washington. She has been a consultant, educator, and facilitator on issues of racial and social justice for more than twenty-five years. She is the author or coauthor of several books, including the New York Times bestsellers White Fragility and Nice Racism. Find her online at robindiangelo.com. Amy Burtaine has been co-facilitating workshops, providing coaching and mediation, and educating through an anti-oppression lens for over 20 years. While she has experience leading this work on a range of oppressions, her passion and commitment is to center race, specifically looking at how whiteness upholds and perpetuates racial inequality. She most often works in collaboration with people of color to co-facilitate dialogues and trainings on racism. She holds a MFA and is trained in interactive pedagogy. Find her online at amyburtaine.com.

Table of Contents

Introduction Why White Affinity Groups? xiii

Chapter 1 The Basics 1

Chapter 2 Different Contexts 27

Chapter 3 Getting Started 37

Chapter 4 Prompts, Discussion Starters, and Facilitator Techniques 49

Chapter 5 Addressing Common Patterns and Challenges 65

Patterns we See Before Getting to or when Starting the Affinity Group

1 Resistance to Breaking into Separate Groups 68

2 "I'm Not White" 72

Patterns Related to White Identity

3 Expecting People of Color to Teach Us About Race 75

4 Expecting Answers 78

5 Fear of Being Perceived as Racist 80

6 Taking Everything Personally 83

7 Claiming Racial Innocence 84

8 Cat on a Hot Tin Roof 87

9 The Confessional 89

10 Critiquing the Thinking of People of Color 90

11 Intellectualizing 93

Patterns Related to the Denial of Racism

12 "It's Different Where I Come From" 95

13 Removing Race from the Equation 97

14 Distancing 98

15 Claiming Reverse Racism: "They're Just as Racist as We Are" 100

Patterns Related to Group Dynamics

16 Checking Out 102

17 Dominating the Discussion 103

18 Out-Woking 105

19 Silence 107

20 Scapegoating 110

21 Fear of Challenging Others in the Group 111

22 Power Dynamics Rooted in Rank 113

23 Where Is Everyone? 115

24 The Closing Bomb 117

Patterns Related to the Facilitators

25 The Difficult Participant 119

26 Challenging the Facilitators 121

27 Trying to Facilitate from Within the Group 123

28 "Show Me the Agenda" 125

29 Feeling Entitled to the Facilitators' Time 127

30 The Kiss-Up 128

31 The Pile-On 130

Patterns we Work on Here so we Don't Engage in Them when in Mixed Groups

32 Credentialing 131

33 Hopelessness 133

34 Hopefulness 135

35 Complaining about How Exhausting the Work Is 137

36 Channel Changing 138

37 White Fragility 140

38 Getting Stuck in Guilt/Shame 142

39 Centering Our Own Trauma 144

40 "I'm Powerless" 146

41 White Women's Tears 148

42 The Extreme 150

Chapter 6 Closing the Group 153

Chapter 7 Accountability 163

Glossary 177

Additional Resources for Your Anti-Racist Practice 185

Acknowledgments 187

Notes 189

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