Keywords

I am an elder and wear my crown of graying hair with pride. I am female, childless, a few pounds overweight, and I enjoy every step of my life. Every day of my life, I am African American to many and Black to my friends of color. Any of these portrayals of myself can lead to being viewed as outside of a prescribed norm. The reality of my Blackness never loses the space of consciousness in my world.

I learned this consciousness of being Black from a seemingly infinite number of interactions. At a young age the elders taught us to straighten our hair, speak eloquently (a term used to describe an articulate Black person), and behave in a manner accepted by the dominating culture. Still, I was prejudged, marginalized, made invisible, unheard, shamed, mocked, infantilized, and more. Racism is a small word for the world of struggle and transformative learning potential hidden within it.

Transformative learning is an individual recursive journey that has many disorienting dilemmas, reflections, and actions throughout life. A disorienting dilemma occurs because an experience does not fit into one’s pre-existing frame that previously helped make sense of the world.

In the next few pages, I situate racism in general and internalized racism specifically within the concepts of transformative learning. First, I apply Mezirow’s (2000) transformative learning theory to stories of my past. Next, assisted by the work of Kegan (2000), I share my understanding of internalized racism as an unconscious tool of oppression.

In this chapter I interlace my stories of oppression with theory. By using stories, I believe that the concepts of internalized racism, internalized oppression, and internalized white superiority can surface how these concepts influence one’s thinking.

I do not want to stop with simply making concepts visible. I want to bring them alive in each reader’s lived experience by offering exercises to help explore your assumptions about race.

The exercises are exploratory adventures, a beginning step for examining internalized racism, internalized white superiority, oppression, and racism. Because I want to be in dialogue with readers about your shared humanity, I will sometimes speak directly to you.

By making the invisible visible and the unconscious conscious, we create an opportunity to stop reacting to the world, instead of beginning to live in action with the world.

Oppression

The success of oppression depends on two factors, the oppressor and the oppressed. It is an unequal relationship because the oppressor has the ability to negatively influence the lives of others by creating obstacles. The oppressor has power, which, when unjustly used, promotes fear in another. They practice dominance and control finding ways of perpetuating the subordinate position of others.

Freire’s (1970/1993) work lends insight into the duality experienced by the oppressed. “The oppressed suffer from the duality which has established itself into their … being. They are at one and the same time themselves and the oppressor” (p. 48). Until this internalization is realized, it is difficult for the oppressed to self-author their lives. Freire suggests the oppressed develop a critical consciousness to help see systems of inequality and commit to taking actions against these systems.

Certain characteristics are interpreted as influences of oppression such as self-hatred, self-concealment, feelings of inferiority, resignation, isolation, and powerlessness. The resulting behaviors influence the person’s concept of self and the world. The power of oppression is that marginalized groups may begin to perceive themselves from the negative lens of the oppressor.

When I hold the stereotypes and myths the dominating culture believes about me as true and judge myself by these standards, I have internalized that culture’s beliefs.

Internalized Racism

My objective is not to cry stale tears from the past, nor rekindle old hatreds from past injustices, instead I seek to enlighten my path of today by better understanding where and how the lights were turned out yesterday.

—Na’im Akbar (1996, p. 3)

Internalized racism is taking the stereotypes and racist judgments a dominant culture has about my race and internalizing these beliefs and attitudes. These stereotypes are usually based on negative racist opinions, such as “Black people are inferior” or “Black people are angry and violent.” The internalization of the oppressing culture’s ideologies creates lesions in my psyche. These lesions influence my attitudes and behaviors toward myself and other Black people. I am in a reinforcing loop where the oppressor no longer needs to worry about keeping me down, or influencing my thinking, because I have learned to perceive myself as worthless and unconsciously behave in a manner that supports this view. This is the way any form of internalized oppression works, be it internalized homophobia, internalized anti-Semitism, ageism, etc.

Without knowledge of the power of internalized racism, its causes, and resulting behaviors, the phenomenon remains an unbreakable, self-destructive element in the life forces of many people. Making internalized racism visible can be paralyzing, an overwhelming endeavor, because it is more than adding information into an already existing way of being. It changes the way we think about our being. I expect my stories of oppression to show one Black woman’s approach to the difficult work of meeting and transforming internalized racism.

How I Used Mezirow to Understand Internalized Racism

A defining condition of being human is our urgent need to understand and order the meaning of our experiences, to integrate it with what we know to avoid the threat of chaos.

—Mezirow (2000)

Jack Mezirow’s (2000) theory of transformative learning (TL) offers a process by which we can develop a worldview that is more inclusive, flexible, and reflective. According to Hoggan and Kasl (in print):

Mezirow’s theory begins with the assertion that we make meaning by “filtering” our sense perceptions through a “frame of reference” (1996, p. 163); these frames of reference are comprised of meaning schemes and meaning perspectives. A meaning scheme is a particular way of thinking about something; … a meaning perspective is more foundational; it is the basis upon which meaning schemes are built. (p. 6)

Mezirow’s transformative theory describes a 10-phase process wherein the learner begins to examine their frames of references. I illustrate these phases using three vignettes. In my VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) story I experience the initial three phases of this theory:

  • disorienting dilemma

  • self-examination of feelings and guilt

  • critical assessment of my assumptions.

Phases three and four are demonstrated in the second vignette in which I began examining my Blackness during my 10-year interracial marriage.

  • Recognize my discontent and

  • explore new roles, relationships and actions.

The next four phases of TL theory are illustrated in a vignette describing my work with a group of African Americans:

  • plan a course of action

  • acquired knowledge and skills to implement a plan

  • tried new roles and Built confidence in my new roles, and relationships.

Phase 10 is the final step of Mezirow’s theory. During this phase I offer the reader an integration exercise.

  • Reintegration into one’s life on conditions dictated by one’s perspective.

I expect my stories of oppression to show one Black woman’s approach to the difficult work of meeting and transforming internalized racism.

Volunteers in Service to America 1966

It was three decades before I was exposed to Mezirow’s (1991) transformative learning theory by which time I had experienced several disorienting dilemmas. In my middle years of school my parents moved to a white neighborhood that tolerated my family’s presence. The move ripped me from a caring Black community; those relationships could not be sustained, and I felt abandoned.

After graduating high school, I joined VISTA, Volunteers in Service to America, a national service program to alleviate poverty. I traveled from California to Texas and entered an all-Black neighborhood called the Bottoms. This unexpected cultural shift delivered a major disorienting dilemma. I was probably one of the first northern Black women who came to assist in this community.

We were required to live in the community where much of the housing consisted of dilapidated shacks. The house I rented gave me fewer roaches and more mice. The mice did not get into my bed or bite as the roaches did. Two white female VISTA volunteers resided in the house next door. We met daily to decide what areas of the community needed our attention. There were many needs to address such as getting milk for a family, finding transportation for a resident’s visit to a doctor, and starting a youth center.

My transition to becoming a resource to this community was difficult. First, I felt disheartened when I saw white girls greeted, accepted, and admired instantly. I became increasingly aware of the brainwashing stories I received in the north of white is right, beautiful, and something to be admired. These stories contaminated the minds of even this poor community. I remember the daily walks I took on the oyster shell roads, hoping to make myself known and what I could offer. Often the Black kids threw cans and rocks at me and made derogatory remarks, calling me the n-word. I did not have a name for how the Black people of this community treated me. Years later I learned the term internalized racism that explained their behavior and my reactions to them. I knew racism from my life in California and tolerated covert expressions. However, my move to the South amplified my familiarity with racism 1000 times. My VISTA placement in the Texas Bottoms provided one of my first lessons on internalized racism as well as several disorienting dilemmas. Fifty years later I remember the horror on the faces of white residents when I jumped into a swimming pool where only white people swam. The white people screamed, “No! No! Don’t get in here!” Their eyes were full of fear as they screamed, “Your color is going to come off and get on us. Don’t!” and they jumped out of the pool.

I remember being refused service and once I was detained by the police for walking with a white man. They assumed I was a prostitute because of my skin color. How are people expected to survive, not to mention thrive, surrounded by a dominant community that despises them based on their skin color? These were among my first significant disorienting dilemmas that required many years to understand. These overt racist acts colored my two-year stay in the South.

I was between two worlds—and both worlds despised me because of my skin color. Forty years would pass before I came to understand how I was belittled and diminished. I agreed to a loss of dignity by acquiescing to the dominant power’s demands. This is how I expressed and experienced my internalized racism.

Incremental Learning

Mezirow (2000) says, “Transformation in habit of mind may be epochal, a sudden dramatic reorienting insight, or incremental, involving a progressive series of related transformations that culminate in a transformation of habit of mind” (p. 21). While I was living in the south, the racial incidents I experienced were good examples of incremental disorienting dilemmas. I became involved in cycles of internalizing my racism. These cycles of self-denigrating thoughts were subtle. Subtleness is an unfortunate characteristic of oppression, like the subtleness of pollen, until the first sneeze. An oppressive act can leave one feeling confused about what happened without delving into the event. Often with internalized racism there is blaming and shaming, often focused on you. I would take years to shift my way of thinking about myself, racism, and other African Americans.

Becoming Critically Conscious of My Reality

How did I make my self-denigrating behaviors known to myself? I had to become aware of the disorienting events I was facing related to my Blackness. My time in VISTA served as an excellent starting point. My experience with the southern Black community proved more daunting, painful, and confusing than the overt racism I experienced from whites. I found myself making assumptions that were feeding my internal shame: “Black people will disappoint you; they will abandon you; they will talk about you because they talk about each other.” I felt guilty for having these feelings and embarrassed for having expectations. Unfulfilled, guilty, and uncomfortable, I was forced to question my assumptions and look compassionately at myself. In transformative learning theory, this was the beginning of my critical reflection about my Blackness, phases two and three.

Exploring Experiences and Questioning Assumptions

Mezirow (2000) tells us that meaning schemes are understood and developed through reflection. Looking deeply and deliberately, we can move through the phases toward transforming those structures that limit us. To pursue this goal, I began to journal some of my experiences as an African American woman. Through journaling I realized that during my time in Texas I felt irritated and mortified by the poor Black community. My feelings were not limited to this southern community. They had generalized to my relationship with all Black communities that did not meet my standard of behavior. Reflection became an important step for sorting out my discontent. Journaling enhanced my understanding.

My collection of journal entries became a list of things I was told, heard or believed about being a Black person and my Black community. Once on the list, stereotypes and unconscious assumptions that supported self-doubt became visible and useful. Here is a partial list of the stereotypes I was told, heard or believed:

  • Black men are angry and dangerous.

  • Anglo facial features, lighter skin color, and fine straight hair are the standard of beauty, not my Black features.

  • Whites view people of my culture as inferior.

  • All Black women want to be white.

  • All Black people ever want to talk about is race.

VISTA is a significant marker in my road to consciousness about my identity as a Black woman. I think of this experience as a triggering event that led me to a lifetime of exploring my internalized racism. But my exploration did not begin right away nor was my VISTA experience the start. Unknowingly my internalized racism was getting stronger. My understanding of this self-denigrating behavior was propelled by writing about my experience.

Exercise One: Journaling to Explore Mezirow’s Phases One, Two, and Three

We are guided by our narratives. These are stories we make up about our relationships, our learning styles, our parents, our looks, and so on. These stories are internalized, becoming our points of view and habits of mind, in other words, our worldview. What are your stories?

How did we learn these stories? In transformative learning theory, if your response to an event is one of confusion where you become emotionally frozen, shamed, feel distressed and agitation, etc., you may consider that event a disorienting dilemma—step one of Mezirow’s 10 steps toward transformation.

In this exercise, you will explore a disorienting racial dilemma, your feelings associated with that dilemma, and take a critical look at your assumptions about race. There are two explorations in this exercise, both using a Free Write method of learning.

Preparation: Set aside 10 minutes for uninterrupted, nonjudgmental writing for each of these writing prompts. Keep your hands moving and don’t worry about spelling and grammar. This is a form of heart felt brainstorming using the pen and paper.

  • The first exploration is to help you make visible your racial assumptions. Review the list above and identify one or two stereotypical thoughts you believe or were told about people of African ancestry. If you do not see one that works for you, see what you can discover for yourself concerning racial stereotypes.

  • Create your own list of things you have been told, heard or believe about people of your culture, gender, status, or social class. This is an exploration of your internalized thoughts.

Take this time to critically reflect and explore your assumptions.

Can I Marry Dignity?

I had more narratives to deconstruct including my selections of romantic partners. As my feelings of unease continued to nip at my esteem, I decided to assuage these mounting emotions of diminished dignity by being in a romantic relationship with a European-American. I used personal characteristics that our culture privileges—youth and heterosexuality—to gain entry into a world that historically minimized and marginalized my existence. I had hoped that this union would grant me some recognition, privilege by proxy, and the possibility of love. After a few months, I realized that marriage to a white man was a significant change, causing me to address mounting discontent with who I was. I began looking for others who had similar experiences, developing new relationships and searching for a new way of being.

Before my partnership, I found it easier to blame others for what was happening to me. Racism was disabling me, and internalized racism was the constant variable in this equation of self-love versus self-doubt, the feeling of being “good enough” versus a battle with my sense of unworthiness. My choice to marry a white man did not support my worldview, or did it? Why did I make this choice and what did it mean for my self-acceptance as a Black woman? My marriage contributed to my ambivalence about my relationship with the Black community. In this period, I began to rid myself of the superfluous baggage I now call internalized racism.

Shifting Internalized Racism and Oppression from Subject to Object

Robert Kegan (2000), a constructive-developmental psychologist, “believes our meaning making systems, change and grow over time” (Garvey-Berger, 2012, p. 181). Kegan’s work combines two ideologies, constructivism and developmental theory.

Constructivists suggest we create our world by the meaning we assign to our experiences. Developmental theory proposes human beings enter different cognitive phases as we grow. Kegan (2000) combines these two concepts advancing the idea that knowing involves a subject and object relationship. Kegan explains:

That which is ‘object’ we can look at, take responsibility for, reflect upon, experience control over, integrate with some other way of knowing. That which is ‘subject’ we are run by, identified with, fused with, at the effect of …. What is ‘object’ in our knowing describes the thoughts and feelings we say we have; what is ‘subject’ describes the thoughts and feelings that has [sic] us. We have object and we are subject. (p. 53)

As we grow and expand our ways of knowing, what was once “subject” in one’s reality, becomes “object.”

Kegan identified five orders of consciousness each having a developmental task that involves a subject and object relational shift. Each order consists of three lines of development on the cognitive, interpersonal, and intrapersonal levels. Below, I offer subject descriptions, how we identify ourselves, in each order which, upon reflection and integration, becomes the object in the subsequent order.

  • First order, ages 2–6, one perceives and respond to the world by impulse and emotions.

  • Second order, ages 6–10, is motivated by needs and preferences. A person begins to understand consequences.

  • Third order is older adolescent and majority of population. This period is known as the socialized mind or traditional mind. One is subject to role consciousness and self-consciousness.

  • Fourth order is called the self-authoring mind, where we begin to see systems. During this period, we are subject to autonomy and multiple role consciousness. This order supports Frier’s (1970) cultural consciousness theory for exploring one’s oppression.

  • Fifth order is called the self-transforming mind where one begins to hold multiple perspectives, living with paradox and connection with others.

Before I questioned my internalized racism, I was functioning in what Kegan calls the second order of mind. Racism was a part of me because I had assumptions about the way the world worked and that dictated how I would be in this community and with my Blackness.

I contend internalized racism as well as internalized oppression is a socialized, traditional mind, and considered a third Order of Mind. In this order one has “internalized the feelings and emotions of others and are guided by those people and institutions” (Garvey-Berger, 2012, p. 184). In addition, in the third order, one’s “esteem is entirely reliant on others because the person is made up of those around them” (Garvey-Berger, 2012, p. 185).

Kegan (1998) suggests becoming self-guided and self-motivated, one needs to move to the fourth order of mind. In the fourth order there is ownership of one’s life, as the individual learns self-identity and autonomy.

In the third order, one would begin to explore their assumptions about internalized racism that leads to self-denigrating behaviors. In the fourth order, one begins to develop an understanding about individualization and being self-regulating.

How does one bring to awareness or surface the subject of internalized oppression in order to transform our connections to the oppressor? We are all involved in this work of unmasking our internalized oppression. As we move forward remember internalized oppression can happen to anyone, internalized racism usually impacts people of color.

Exercise Two: Soul Collage

The last narrative about my interracial marriage illustrates how I chose to address my low self-esteem from a third order of mind. I now invite you to reflect on choices you too have made to ease the pain and discomfort of oppression or internalized racism. Remember, the working definition of these concepts is we are taking the judgments and stereotypes of the dominant culture, internalizing these values as our own, and evaluating ourselves using their yardstick.

For recovery from internalized oppression, we have to move those feelings associated with oppression outside of ourselves. We must begin to realize, what we did to survive racism and oppression was okay.

This next exercise lets you practice moving oppression from subject to object. Reread my story of partnership with a European-American male. Pause, breathe, and make notes about choices you have made to ease the pain and discomfort of your oppression or internalized racism. This next exercise is inspired by Seena Frost (2010), the creator of Soul Collage. Frost uses collage as a way of exploring aspects of yourself, both known and unknown.

Preparation: You will need three cards or pieces of cardboard cut to 7.5 by 5.5 inches, glue, and magazine images.

  • Create a collage on the card that represents your intuitive vision of what your oppression looks like. What does internalized racism look like to you?

  • Create another collage card that represent ways you act out your internalized oppression or internalized racism.

  • Create a third collage card that represents what the world looks like when you are self-authoring your life.

Once you have created your three cards, sit with them, meditate on them, carry the cards with you for a few days. Imagine these cards have answers to these questions:

  • Internalized racism or oppression, where did you come from?

  • What feelings do I associate with internalized racism or oppression? Shame, numbness, alarm, surprised, unsettled, anxious, mistrustful or frightened? This list is endless.

  • How do you (internalized oppression and racism) serve me?

  • What can you tell me about ways I am reacting to this world?

  • What are my assumptions about

    • my body

    • my social status

    • my race, and gender

Your list of assumptions will expand once you begin to live in the questions. This process is subject reframing. The intention of this exercise is to shift what is subject—oppression and internalized racism—to object, identifying attitudes and beliefs that influence my behaviors. Placing the identities of internalized racism on a card gives you something to focus on outside of yourself. You can begin to critically reflect on the assumptions associated with the things that “got you.”

Returning to the steps of Mezirow’s (2000) theory of transformation, another important step in transforming one’s habits of mind is to make public the dimensions of our dilemmas.

Finding ways to have conversations about or deepen your understanding of internalized racism, is a necessary step for one to develop their own internal governing system, a fourth order of mind. Finding others for creating dialogue circles is a good approach for addressing this step of Mezirow’s theory. Remember addressing internalized racism, oppression and racism can be paralyzing. You are asking yourself to acknowledge your discontent and changing your way of knowing, behaving, and feeling.

Telling My Story to Others and Planning a Course of Action

If you want to go quickly go alone; If you want to go far go together.

—African Proverb

Transformative learning theorists agree that sharing personal concerns and process with others is an important part of transformation. In the final vignette I share ways I rebuilt my connection to the African American Community. This connection was reorienting and the impetus for the epochal change in my way of thinking and being.

During the time I was feeling a mounting discontent concerning my relationship with myself and the Black community, I joined four other Black women to grapple with racism’s impact on our self-worth. We learned ways of not falling prey to racism’s changing disguises. We wanted to understand how internalized racism had been an unseen demon on our shoulders causing us uncertainty. In this group I planned a course of action, acquired new knowledge to implement my plan, tried new roles and built self-confidence. These are phases four through eight of Mezirow’s theory.

We designed an environment that supported a way for us to safely explore the impacts of racism. We agreed to meet monthly for two hours at an established place; we developed group guidelines, such as being honest and compassionate with ourselves and each other. We felt, “being honest without compassion could be cruel” (personal journal, 2004). Our process became a road map for 36 other African Americans to begin the journey of understanding ways internalized racism distorted our meaning schemes.

This group of five Black women worked together for many years. During my first months, I questioned my relationship with my European-American partner. I came to understand that nothing was wrong with our union except my motives for being with him. I addressed the shame and guilt I felt for assimilating into a dominant culture. I began to talk about my embarrassment of being assigned lower track classes during my middle school years. I held this shame close to me, influencing my desire to pursue a law degree, because I knew I was flawed. I eventually understood there was nothing wrong with me or the other Black students in the lower track classes. We were victims of an all-white school system that ignored us contributing to our beliefs of being stupid and defected. My school experience was an example of institutional racism, an unfortunate encounter for many people of color.

Through this Black women’s group, I began to embrace a different standard of beauty. We wrote poems and meditations honoring our noses, tightly woven hair, our thighs, our lips, and other parts of our bodies that once brought us disgrace. My voice was now important, my experiences were no longer secrets that mortified, but meaning schemes for expanding my worldview. I was important and my community was important; we all learned how to be vulnerable and connect. My supreme takeaway from this group was learning: “There are as many ways of being Black as there are Black people” (personal journal, 2007). I no longer fear being called “not black enough or too black.” My Blackness was once defined by a white culture, whose limited view of me I internalized. This internalized view offered a limited definition of who I was and who I could become.

Exercise Three: Begin an Inquiry into Your Bias

Begin to Study Your Oppression or Internalized Racism

Take an Implicit Bias test. This test is often suggested for exploring your hidden bias. Place the name, Implicit Bias Test, in your search engine and take a free test. The implicit bias test results plus exercises one and two in this chapter are good talking points if you decide to work with others to expose your racism, internalized racism and oppression. When I began my work, I preferred whites over Blacks; now I do not have a preference for one or the other. Kegan (2000) might suggest that I have moved to the fifth order of mind.

If you decide to internally explore this subject alone, the Implicit Bias Test can be another Free Write exercise. For example:

  • I was surprised by my results because I always thought of myself as

  • I have limited my connections to others because

  • I am ashamed of my results because

Additional Writing: Shame to Gratitude

Review some podcasts on shame. Understanding your source of shame is a great starting point for understanding your internalized racism, internalized white superiority and oppression. I learned from my years of study, “Internalized racism involves two levels of shame: the shame associated with our African-ness, as a result of slavery and racism, and the shame of being shamed” (Watts-Jones, 2002, p. 593). This is the shame some Blacks carry. What about you as a white person, what shame do you carry? Shame is a powerful tool often used to control one’s behavior.

  • Write a letter of gratitude to yourself.

  • Read it aloud often. You can even make a collage card that represents your self-love.

Conclusion

The history of the United States of America is laden with stories of several ethnicities being subjugated to discrimination. To alleviate the discomfort, people assimilated adapting and internalizing both the positive and negative ideas of the dominant culture. This is internalized oppression and internalized racism.

Oppression is a method of social assimilation that influences our ways of thinking from an early age. Our parents did not intend to impose a way of being that could limit our thinking today, yet it was necessary for us to learn these rules to become socialized human beings. Mezirow (2000) identified what we learned at a young age was habits of mind that becomes our foundation.

As we grew older, our habits of mind became unchallenged assumptions about our lives. Part of these unchallenged assumptions can be about our worthiness. What we were told, heard or believed to be true, can become internalized and restrictive. These internalized norms can create self-doubt, angst, fears, and humiliation, as well as motivation, esteem, happiness, and assurance. I contend unless we look at our habits of mind, they can oppress our expression of life.

I’ve taken you on a journey to “turn the lights on.” This is for you to see your joy and happiness more clearly. First, we needed a better understanding of where and how the lights were turned out. Mezirow (2000) suggests that after we explore our disorienting dilemma, we begin to look at new roles, plan a course of action, build self-confidence and competence in our new roles. The final exercise in this chapter offers a way to integrate new roles and perspectives into your life.

Exercise Four: Mandala. A Reintegration into Life as My Author

Exploring our experience with a critical mind can be done harshly or gently. I have selected the mandala as the final exercise because I believe it provides a helpful frame for exploring your inner self through a deep and gentle process. Circles and mandalas are reminders of our relationships and sacred connections, thus they represent the infinite and can take us on a profound journey.

Drawing and coloring can be a helpful way to make the images behind the emotion more visible. Drawing can result in whole person learning, through the inclusion of affect, imagination, spirit, and sensation. Working with images helps us connect the knowable world to the unknowable or the unconscious mind.

Preparation:

  • Create your own mandala. Find one on the internet or purchase a mandala coloring book.

  • Use whatever colorful materials you desire such as watercolors, crayons or paints and pastels. A combination of all might be enjoyable.

  • Find a quiet, peaceful place to work.

  • Play some music, light a candle, or burn incense if you wish.

As you work:

  • Think about bringing together all the parts of yourself into a new role.

  • Notice the patterns you choose and colors enticing you.

  • Remember the process is nurturing. The product is only for you.

Reflect:

  • Take a picture of your finished mandala and keep it with you.

  • Your mandala can be your grounding shield, a reminder of a time you felt whole, self-authoring and connected to your inner wellbeing.

These were the beginning steps in your exploration of racism, internalized racism, and internalized oppression. My hope and dream is for you to try these exercises with people who look like you and later with an even more diverse group. Remember that the journey’s goal is to seek to enlighten the path of today by better understanding where and how the lights were turned out yesterday. Let there be light!