Best-selling author challenges Barrington audience on racism
Best-selling author Robin DiAngelo told a mostly white crowd of about 130 in Barrington that if she did her job properly, she would make it an uncomfortable evening.
DiAngelo, who wrote "White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism," was about 10 minutes into her talk Wednesday night when she said none of the whites in the room knew anything about racism unless they've devoted years of sustained study on the topic.
"I have never met a white person who didn't have an opinion on racism. Have you?" said DiAngelo, a University of Washington professor whose best-seller gets into what white people can do to engage more constructively across race. She also is a consultant and trainer on issues of racial and social justice.
DiAngelo's presentation kicked off the second leg of "A Year of Courageous Conversations" in the packed third-floor ballroom at Barrington's White House. The program aims to bring together people with conflicting viewpoints to learn how to have discussions on issues surrounding race, bias and other difficult topics.
Even if that makes people uncomfortable.
"The status quo of this society is racism," said DiAngelo, who is white and grew up in poverty. "That is not an aberration. That is the norm."
Jessica Swoyer Green of Barrington Hills and the Rev. Zina Jacque, pastor of Community Church of Barrington, co-organized "A Year of Courageous Conversations." They've received assistance from Claire Nelson, a former Barrington resident who founded the nonprofit Urban Consulate and now lives in New Orleans.
Green said participants who learned about exploring biases and mindfulness in the series' first half could use that knowledge in discussing the social issues addressed during the rest of the program.
"I think the enthusiasm from the community and the fact that people are showing up and engaged and coming back has been really promising and inspiring to us," said Green, an active member of the Chicago-area philanthropic community and vice president of the Duchossois Family Foundation.
As part of her presentation, DiAngelo asked the mostly white attendees to consider questions such as the diversity of their neighborhoods growing up and where people of different races from them lived. The crowd also broke up into a few one-on-one discussions on issues, including ways in which race shaped their lives.
DiAngelo also addressed what was headlined on a slide "Dominant White Progressive Narratives," citing as examples those who say they aren't racists because they were taught to treat everyone the same or work in a diverse environment. She said those are signs of a "dangerous white person."
What white people should do, DiAngelo said, is educate themselves about racism and get away from having limited, superficial and uninformed opinions. The overwhelming number of white leaders in federal and state governments, the entertainment industry, media and elsewhere are part of "something profoundly anti-black in this culture," she argued.
About 30 fellows from Barrington, Hoffman Estates, Mundelein, Chicago and elsewhere have committed to attending all "A Year of Courageous Conversations" sessions. Jeanne Hanson, a fellow from Barrington, said it's been good to listen intently, drop her defenses and be curious about someone else's perspective.
"It does take a commitment to doing something different in a town that may not be comfortable with some of the conversations," Hanson said.
While not a fellow, Cynthia Armendariz-Maxwell said she's attended all five gatherings. It's been refreshing to be part of face-to-face conversations that have been evolving in a professional, purposeful tone - opposite of a frequently negative social media world, she said.
"This type of experience is what people need to hear about, because there are so many good people in the world, so many people that want to change that (negative) rhetoric and don't believe in that type of behavior," said Armendariz-Maxwell, principal of Barrington Area Unit District 220's Sunny Hill Elementary School in Carpentersville.