Learning Action: Racialization Questionnaires
Developed by Frederick A Miller, The Kaleel Jamison Consulting Group, Inc. (Katz, 2003)
Framing
This Leaning Action was designed to help participants explore their personal relationships (or lack of relationships) with people of colour, Indigenous people and white people. This process is intended to deepen the participants’ understanding of how racism is learned, perpetuated and often present in our lives without being talked about or fully addressed. How the Learning Action is used will depend on the make up of the participating group. This Action provides the facilitator with 3 different questionnaires depending on each participants’ race. For the success of this Learning Action, it is crucial that the facilitator recognizes and understands the participant differences and be able to discuss concepts such as internalized oppression, internalized dominance, normalcy, racism and liberal racism.
For people of colour and Indigenous people, racism is often part of their daily lived experience. That is not to say that all racialized people understand how racism operates or how it affects them personally as they have also been socialized in a white society where white values are privileged. Sometimes, racialized participants do not want to understand or acknowledge racism. This can be a survival mechanism. It can be painful to examine the ways one might be different rather than the ways one is "the same," particularly for individuals who want to believe that they "fit in" or are part of a particular group or community. It can also be uncomfortable to come to the realization that they experience racism, that racism is institutionalized, and that they are oppressed by it. However, understanding and becoming aware of racism can be empowering for racialized people because it can help them make sense of their lived experience and to no longer internalize it. For white people, the notion of race is often “invisible” as, in Canada, where whiteness is the norm, they have the privilege of moving through life without needing to understand how racism operates as they do not need to do so in order to survive on a day to day basis. Overall, this Action is intended to make race and racism visible and personal and can help participants to become emotionally and intellectually committed to the work of anti-racism.
Logistics
Minimum Time Required:
Questionnaire: 30-40 minutes (completed before or during session)
Debrief : 30-40 minutes
Number of Participants Required: This Learning Action is highly adaptable for small and large groups. Keep in mind that the larger the group, the more time will be necessary for debriefing.
Age Level: Highly adaptable. Most suitable for Jr. High students to adult. For junior and senior high students, questions may need to be changed from, "when you were growing up" to "in the past."
Suggested Material:
Handout - Questionnaire for People of Colour
- Questionnaire for Indigenous People
- Questionnaire for White People
Adapting the Action:
This exercise can be done via hard copy, online, or orally depending on what is appropriate for the particular group. For younger participants, it might be appropriate to change the wording on some questions. Individuals with disabilities, depending on the particular disability, may require the facilitator or another participator, whom they trust, to go through the questionnaire with them.
How the Facilitator Participates
It is important for the facilitator to complete the exercise prior to facilitation so that they can share sample answers and insights from their process of working through the questionnaire. Acknowledging that the questionnaire is not easy to complete and that it may be uncomfortable to become aware of one’s own knowledge gaps can provide support for the participants and help create a sense of trust. For white facilitators presenting the Questionnaire for Indigenous People or Questionnaire for White People to racialized participants, it is important to acknowledge that although your lived experience is different from theirs, that you do understand, on some level, some of the difficulties they might encounter. It can be useful to provide examples of some of these challenges.
How Participants Contribute to the Group's Learning
Participants will fill out their individual questionnaires and share what they are comfortable with in the debrief. Note that it might not be comfortable for racialized participants to share depending on the ratio of racialized participants to white participants.
Facilitating
Before participants complete the questionnaire, it is important to define terms that they may not be familiar with, especially for younger learners. Participants at the beginning of their process may not understand why it is important to use terms like people of colour, Indigenous people, white people and racialized people in the context of racism.
Reassure participants that there are no right or wrong answers, that the questions might bring up knowledge gaps or issues that they have not thought about before. Warn participants that questions may trigger emotions and that this is normal.
Let participants know that they do not have to share their answers unless they choose to do so. This can help to create a supportive atmosphere so that they feel they can participate without being judged.
Discussion/Debriefing
Note: It is important to support participants in their process by validating their feelings while also presenting them with perspectives that are different than their own. Throughout this sample debrief, examples of alternative perspectives are presented.
Ask participants why they grew up with so few Indigenous people, people of colour, or white people as close friends. White participants may say that there were no racialized individuals at their school and it would be important to ask why that was the case. This might open up a space for discussing what schools in the city/area do have racialized individuals and why. Segregation?
If some participants grew up with many friends who were people of colour or many Indigenous people, ask why that was. This will have to be unpacked for racialized participants in the context of supporting each other's survival in dominant society/culture based institutions. For white people in the context of liberal racism, they will often confuse understanding racism with having racialized friends (the need to affirm that they are not racist because they have lots of friends who are not white).
For white participants who do have close friends who are Indigenous people and/or people of colour, ask them if their friends ever talk about racism and how it affects them. If their friends do talk about racism, what do they say? If they don't, why do they think that is? Have some alternative answers for participants. For instance, if the participant says that their friend does not discuss racism because it is not relevant to their relationship or that is does not happen in their friend's life, you might present an alternative view. Racism is relevant because it is systemic and affects all of us. Racism may not be discussed because the participant’s friend does not know how it affects their life (racialized people also grow up in a white focused society), or it may not be discussed because it is not safe to talk about it within that particular relationship.
For racialized participants who do have close friends who are white, ask them if they ever talk about racism to their white friends. If they do, how might a conversation like that go? If they don't, why is that? Be prepared to discuss safety.
Ask participants to describe or name the feelings that have come up for them during this Learning Action. Ask them why they think they’re experiencing these feelings. Here, feelings can range from anger, sadness, guilt, shame to frustration. It is important that the facilitator presents alternative actions or positive steps to move participants forward in their process in order to move through these feelings. That is not to say that participants should not feel their feelings, but that they should not get stuck in them and be unable to move forward.
Ask participants to volunteer to share some of their answers, and again, be ready with alternatives. For example, if the participant shares that their most significant experience with a racialized person was being robbed and that they are now afraid every time they see a person from that group, you might ask them if it had been a white person who had robbed them, would they then be afraid of all white people? This could lead to a discussion on how stereotypes affect assumptions and behaviours.
Next Steps: As a follow-up, participants can begin exploring their personal biases and developing a deeper understanding of their personal cultural identity. The Learning Actions Ism Prism and Personal Cultural Identity provide guidance for these processes.
References:
Katz, J. H. (2003). White awareness: Handbook for anti-racism training. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press.