scenario 1

A participant starts a sentence saying “You Black people…”1-The group is silent after the comment
2-Participant responds negatively: “What do you mean you black people!” how to address it?

1. write in the chat box and skip the offensive word. from where did you get this idea?

2. this is everyone's safe space please feel free to contribute to the dialogue. we noticed that
some of you are reluctant to share, how are you feeling about our discussion?

3. from your voice we noticed that you have more to share

Shri: I posed the question when should a fac intervene and one of my trainers said she counts to 5 to
observe the reactions then she jumps. I would check if they are showing awkwardness and then
propose a question: ‘’what are your thoughts? What does it mean when you hear black people?’’

Scenario 2:

Black participants share their experiences of racism. One of them (who comes from a slightly higher
socio-economic background) says that he didn’t suffer from racism in his life so much. The other
replies that he needs to be careful about making such statements because it may give a false
impression that racism is not systemic.

1-The group is silent after the comment

2-Participant responds negatively: “You’re part of the problem, you’re not really black”
Kate: in response to the group being silent, I would ask the 2nd person: what do you mean by
systemic?
Kate: the second person responding negatively, really making a note that there are emotions coming
out this experience and asking more critical thinking question. I would keep an eye on everyone
else’s reactions.

Scenario 3:

A white young woman says she wants to be sympathetic and understand what is going on. However,
she’s tired of being told she has privilege because that’s not true. She’s actually the first one in her
family to go to College, where is the privilege? Her grandpa says “racism” doesn’t exist, the problem
is that Black people and Mexicans are just lazy and don’t work hard enough. That’s why they are
looting and selling drugs.

1-The group is silent after the comment

2-Participant responds negatively
3-One participant says “Well, my mom is Mexican-American and she also says Mexicans are lazy,
don’t work hard enough and prefer easy money by selling drugs.

Maha: ask for clarification: what do you mean by privileged? We could lean back on ground rules -
we suggested we could ask why her mom does think in that way?

Scenario 4:

An international student from Vietnam says he is very surprised by everything that is going on in the
United States. He doesn’t really know what’s the problem with Black people, they always seem to get
in trouble and slavery ended a long time ago, not an excuse anymore.
1-The group is silent after the comment
2-Participant responds negatively: why would you say that? do you have an idea of the story of
slavery in the US?
Aisha: we could bring the issue back to the 1st participant: ask them why they feel surprised? This
could be an opportunity to bring the views of both participants and why they ask those questions.