"Understanding our Shared Liberation" with David Dean
David Dean is an anti-racism educator. He specializes in helping white people understand how their liberation is bound up with undoing racism.
David Dean, Anti-Racism Educator
We explore the history of whiteness and race in the U.S. and across human history. The stories of racism, classism and patriarchy are connected and they impact all of us.
An exploration of this deep history helps us understand how all of our ancestors were ripped away from their origins and forced to participate in a system that wants us to be divided, so that we can’t organize to fight the real sources of oppression. We talk about how these wounds play out today.
I’m personally transformed from this conversation. It’s provocative and powerful, and is not your typical conversation about race.
Learn more about David’s work and upcoming workshops on his website: sharedliberation.org
Read David’s article “Roots Deeper than Whiteness.” This article represents years of research, inquiry, and guidance from elders and friends, culminating in a synthesis of historical insight into the relationship between racism, capitalism, and the creation of a socially constructed "white" identity.
David is part of Circles for Social Change where he facilitates workshops in the Bay Area for white people who wish to more effectively challenge racism in society and in themselves.
David is also a contributing writer and trainer for White Awake, an organization that provides online curriculum, resources and support for white people seeking to dismantle and unlearn white supremacy. Learn more about White Awake and their upcoming online webinars here.
Resources on Race, Poverty, Immigration and Incarceration
Poverty
Poor People's Campaign March on June 23, 2018. Washington, D.C. Photo Credit.
In this episode we talk about the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, an effort bringing together a multiracial coalition from across the country to challenge the evils of systemic racism, poverty, the war economy, ecological devastation and the nation’s distorted morality. Learn more about the Poor People’s Campaign demands and principles here.
The campaign uses the Supplemental Poverty Measure to evaluate poverty, designed in 2010 to move beyond standard and inadequate poverty measurements by adjusting for the true cost of living. This data indicates that 140 million people or 43.5% of the population are poor (below the SPM poverty line) or low-income (with incomes above but not more than twice the SPM).
When broken down by race, this includes 60.3% of black people (25.4 million), 65.1% of Latinx (37.5 million), 41.1% of Asians (7.8 million), and 33.9% of whites (66.3 million). Data was not gathered on Indigenous peoples who typically have poverty rates higher than that of any ethnic group.
Here is an article in the Guardian about class, race and politics: “Democrats can win by tackling race and class together. Here's proof.”
Historical Trauma
Historical trauma refers to a complex and collective trauma experienced over time and across generations by a group of people who share an identity, affiliation, or circumstance. Read more about the impacts on present day health here.
Incarceration
Inmates in adult facilities, by race and ethnicity (2010)
Jails, and state and federal prisons.
Race (ethnicity) % of US population National Incarceration Rate
White (non-Hispanic) 64% 450 per 100,000
Hispanic 16% 831 per 100,000
Black 13% 2,306 per 100,000
U.S. Incarceration Rate 1925-2010
Likelihood of Imprisonment during Lifetime by gender and race
Audio & Video Resources
How can democrats build a multiracial coalition that adds up to an electoral majority? A discussion about whether it’s necessary or possible to win back voters we’ve lost. Listen to The Wilderness podcast's episode "The Big We”.
In the United Kingdom, the freedom to walk through private land is known as “the right to roam.” The movement to win this right was started in the 1930s by a rebellious group of young people who called themselves “ramblers”. More about Ramblers in this podcast: “Right to Roam” on 99 Percent Invisible
Here is the official video of “Mamwlad” by Lyla June
Watch Brené Brown TedTalk on Listening to Shame here.
Brené Brown is also the creator of the workshop Men, Women and Worthiness. Find it here.