Amid today’s social uprisings, many white people have become acutely aware that racism shapes our communities in Oregon and beyond. Many of us have also begun realizing how poorly our experiences have equipped us to make sense of these times, and we have many questions. Join Emily Drew in a conversation that asks, How can we who are white show up as more effective and less damaging participants in struggles to interrupt racism in our community? How can white people engage in efforts to dismantle racism in ways that do not reproduce or place unfair burdens upon people of color to be our teachers? This conversation is for white people to reflect together on what it means to “do our work” as white people, which includes taking responsibility for one another, educating ourselves, and coming to view other white people as our partners—not competition—in developing antiracist identity.

Emily M. Drew is an associate professor of sociology at Willamette University, where she teaches courses about racism, race and ethnicity, immigration, and social change. Her primary areas of research involve understanding how race and racism operate inside of institutions. She earned her PhD from Loyola University Chicago and publishes her research on institutionalized racism in academic journals. Drew’s work is driven by a long-term commitment to social justice struggles. She has been actively engaged in anti-racism organizing and activism for more than twenty years, and serves as a co-trainer of “Understanding Institutional Racism” workshops for Crossroads Anti-Racism Organizing and Training. She works as a strategic planner with public school districts, universities, and community-based organizations across the country to develop and implement long-term commitments to multicultural diversity.