Workshop Outline- Discussion of Racism & Classism
Purpose of Workshop:
Students will be exposed to information that will help them understand the often avoided
social study of race and class by sharing personal experiences and defining key terms
often associated with the discussion of these topics.
Skills being developed:
Students will be expected to engage in cooperative learning where they will be challenged to
cope with feelings of guilt, anger (potential emotional reactions resulting from difficult
subject matter). Students will be expected to work through emotions and complete
reflective activities meant to give students a positive, realistic foundation on how they
perceive themselves and others through the lens of race and class.
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Self Reflection : D. Heck & F. Cephas
o To set the proper tone for the workshop, and to model the internal conversation required
to make pro-social conclusions about personal identity and potentially racist views.
 Might insert a slide show with pictures of family to frame “success story”
Plant conversational seeds surrounding the ideas of:
o Internalized oppression
 “…when we unconsciously believe stereotypes about a
group to which we belong.” (Bolgatz 2005)
Describe personal experiences with coping against
peer pressure to embody stereotypes (detrimental to
formation positive self-identity)
o Prejudice
 “ …”generalized judgments, attitudes, thoughts and feelings
we make or have about others without sufficient evidence to
substantiate the opinions.” (Bolgatz 2005).
Integrate stories/common perceptions associated with
different classes (e.g. passing judgment on so called
“poor” & “rich” people).
Setting of expectations for large group and small group discussion
o Without stifling honest discussion, we should prepare students by saying things like “it’s
okay to be angry”, “you may feel guilty” and “there may be some disagreements” but
stress the basic rules of “active listening”.
 Please be respectful of others opinions by listening quietly while others speak,
and by looking at the speaker while they share (whether the speaker is a peer or
an adult).
 Anything that is shared should advance the conversation or insert an appropriate
tangent that enriches the discussion
o Let students know that it’s okay to share their views, and that they should be able to
trust the authenticity of others’ experiences just as they would like to be trusted and
believed.
o Remind students that the issue of race and class precedes all of our lifetimes, and that
the conversation is not an easy one. We should all be aware that the discussion may
challenge us to go outside of our respective “comfort zones”.
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Activity #1- Defining our terms: Race
o Video clip- examples of modern black identity in the context of a majority white nation
o * video clip example of “diversity” (primarily, cooperation between black students and
white students to combat racism)
 This will hopefully promote a positive, progressive tone to our discussion as we
lead them into difficult topics.
o Challenge students to come up with their own definition of race, drawing from some of
the images and opinions from the video clip (group discussion)
 Possible functioning definitions for race
Race cannot be scientifically defined, as the differences between humans
with different physical attributes are too miniscule to define races from a
biological standpoint. However, socially, people tend to describe and
classify each other based on physical differences (“that black dude” or
“that white lady”). And so, race is usually decided in social contexts,
based on appearances (despite the fact that a genetically Asian person
can appear African, a person identifies themselves as Jewish or Hispanic
are defined as White).
o Provide handout with space for a short open ended response to the prompt, “Based on
your definition of race, how do you define racism (what are some examples of racist
behavior)?
 Possible functioning definitions for racism
Racial bias manifested through institutionalized discrimination, individual
prejudice, internalized oppression, etc.
o What are the impacts of racism?
Activity # 2- What is class?
o In provided space on the handout, students will list their preconceived ideas about the
lifestyles and attributes of people in the three commonly discussed social classes
 Low income/impoverished
 Middle/working class
 Upper Middle/”High” class (“rich”)
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o Challenge students to face their internalized ideas of what races fall into which classes
(encourage them to answer questions like, “How do you know that”, “what do you mean”
when they share their stereotypical views)
 Continue to categorize stories of stereotypes into the categories of “internalized
oppression” and “prejudice”
Activity # 3- Positive views of others starts with a positive view of self.
o Ask students to write a narrative about themselves and where their goals will take them.
 The challenge will be for students to avoid self descriptions that speak to their
current (or future) class, and their racial category.
Activity # 4- “The Line Game”
o Students will be challenged to “step up” to the line as they find common interests and
share common experiences.