Personal reflection
Before we begin this learning journey together, we invite you into a space to prepare your heart and your mind. And we encourage you to explore these questions individually and as a group.
Each of us are unique, and therefore, questions and materials will land differently based on who we are. We have put together a collection of words in the form of quotes, questions, excerpts, and recommendations of further readings. We offer these suggested questions not to find answers, but to help you explore and wrestle with your (and our!) thoughts, questions, and perspectives.
What is our social context? What are my roots? What’s my story?
Where am I coming from?
What is my world like?
What is my connection to this land and nation?
If I consider the story I have been a part of (social, racial, spiritual, etc.), how has this story helped bring me to the starting place of this pilgrimage?
What are some of the influences that have shaped the way I see the world?
Questions ©Roots of Justice, Inc. For permission to copy, contact roots@RootsOfJusticeTraining.org
How did your racial identity develop?
The dictionary’s definition of race is incomplete and misses the complexity of impact on lived experiences. It is important to acknowledge race is a social fabrication, created to classify people on the arbitrary basis of skin color and other physical features. Although race has no genetic or scientific basis, the concept of race is important and consequential. Societies use race to establish and justify systems of power, privilege, disenfranchisement, and oppression.
How do or have the laws of this country benefited me and my ancestors? Have they caused hardship? If so, how and why? If not, why not?
Did my ancestors have to struggle in order to be recognized and have a voice in this country? Could they/we vote? What does that say about my history and social context?
How does this relate to "privilege"? What is "privilege"? How do I understand such a term?
The notion of race is a social construct designed to divide people into groups ranked as superior and inferior. The scientific consensus is that race, in this sense, has no biological basis – we are all one race, the human race. Racial identity, however, is very real. And, in a racialized society like the United States, everyone is assigned a racial identity whether they are aware of it or not.
How am I investing myself in this journey and pilgrimage?
Why am I investing myself in this experience?
How will this experience affect me? Am I willing to encounter a different reality?
Race and Racial Identity | National Museum of African American History and Culture (si.edu)
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