Here are some supports for you as you prepare to facilitate a conversation that inspires curiosity, connection, critical questions, recognition of difference, power, and possibility for coalition-building. Importantly you (and your facilitation partner, which we suggest you have one) should prepare yourselves to engage in tensions that arise while also refusing hate or violence in any form.

STEP ONE: ESTABLISH AND SHARE COMMUNITY AGREEMENTS

To begin, review these suggested community agreements. Before beginning the conversation, ask individual participants to take turns reading one aloud to establish agreements for how participants will engage with one another. You may modify these agreements to meet the needs of your unique community, and to set intentions and establish parameters of care. Begin by asking that people be conscious of the way power will be working through this conversation, how this film teaches us about how power has been differently and unequally distributed, and ask that they hold space and offer care to the tensions that may arise.

After reading all agreements as a group, ask participants to reflect on whether they feel capable of honoring them and one another. We suggest that you give participants permission to quietly excuse themselves if they do not feel comfortable honoring these agreements.

SAMPLE COMMUNITY AGREEMENTS*

1. We acknowledge that racism is real, historic, structural, and institutional. We understand that white supremacy and anti-Blackness are active forces in our society and agree not to debate this fact. Racism and racist violence is not a matter of opinion, but a reality of history and, recognizing this, we begin our discussion from this agreement.
2. Prejudice, discrimination, hate speech, harrassment, and any other form of violence are not tolerated in this space. If an individual in the group is intentionally causing harm, the larger community has the right to ask this person to leave.
3. Impact is more important than intent. We will assume best intentions as a community and attend, primarily to the impact we have on one another while centering an intention of care and support. If harm is unintentionally caused and we are made aware, individuals will practice: (1.) recognition of harm caused, (2.) taking responsibility for harm caused, (3.) apologizing for harm caused, and (4.) learning from the experience and changing behavior.
4. Listen to understand, not to respond. When someone is speaking, give them your whole attention. Remember, listening is a form of engagement and care.
5. Make space, take space. As you engage, be mindful of the people that are speaking and how much/how often you are sharing. Work as a community to support one another in equitable sharing (so long as it is generating new ways of understanding).
6. Respond do not react. Before you speak, ask yourself “Why am I talking?” Check in with yourself and ask if your contribution will help the conversation deepen and become more collaborative.
7. Be open to learning and changing your mind. Changing your mind after learning new information and bearing witness to the experience of another can be a challenging process because we have been conditioned to want to be “right.” However, the experience of learning and growing is transformative. We commit to the common goal of dialogue that asks us to change and be changed by others. We understand that it is okay to have been wrong and to learn new information and to change our minds. In fact, we think this can be exciting!
8. Focus on growth and speak from your own experience. We will practice using “I” statements and speaking only for ourselves. We will avoid assumptions and generalizations. We will aim for specificity and intention.
9. Self care and community care. Pay attention to your body, pay attention to your neighbors. If you need to take a break, take a break.
10. Practice gratitude often. We will say thank you to one another for sharing and taking risks. We will receive one another with care and sincere gratitude.

*Some agreements were inspired by and modified from: Emergent Strategy, by: adrienne maree brown.

STEP TWO: INTENTION-SETTING & RECOGNITION

Histories of colonization and American Slavery are deeply intertwined as are their enduring structures. While the experiences of settler colonialism and chattel slavery are unique to place, peoples, and communities, we all inherit and hold different relationships to this inheritance. We must recognize this past and its ongoing human, societal, and structural implications in order to commit to change. We encourage your community to openly acknowledge the legacy and inheritance of both and open this discussion with: (1.) a Land Acknowledgment, and (2.) an Acknowledgment of Slavery.

What is a Land Acknowledgment?*

Land acknowledgments do not exist in the past tense, but rather recognize that colonialism is a current and ongoing process with enduring structures. Land acknowledgments are a way to combat systemic erasure and honor the traditional indigenous inhabitants of the land you are currently living on, to offer respect, and to support larger truth-telling and reconciliation efforts. Acknowledgement is a small gesture that must be accompanied by continued education, action and commitments to justice and repair. Here are some resources to learn more about Land Acknowledgments: Native Land Resources,

To discover and learn about the Indigenous Territories you currently inhabit you can:

1. Visit https://native-land.ca/ to see a visual representation and learn more
2. Text your zip code to (855)-917-5263

Land Acknowledgment Model:

I/We acknowledge that today we gather as [name of your community/group] on the unceded Indigenous lands of Turtle Island, the ancestral name for what is now called North America. Specifically, I/We acknowledge the unceded territory of the [indigenous community/communities local to your zip code] past and present; as well as all the american Indian and Indigenous Peoples and communities who have been or have become a part of these lands and territories in [your state]. We honor, with gratitude, the land itself and the people who have stewarded and lived in relation to this land across generations.

Acknowledgment of Slavery & its Enduring Legacy Model:*

I/We also recognize that we cannot separate the history of [name your community/institution] from the history of colonialism and slavery in what is today named the United States. We acknowledge that what we know of this country today, including its culture, economic growth, and infrastructure throughout history and across time, has been built by the labor of enslaved Africans and their ascendants who were made to suffer the horror of the transatlantic trafficking of their people, chattel slavery, and Jim Crow. We also recognize that it is our duty to acknowledge the afterlives of that state-sanctioned violence throughout the generations and the lasting impacts that are alive today.

*Acknowledgments have been inspired and modified by: Native Land, The University of Texas at Austin Native American and Indigenous Studies Program, and Dr. Terah ‘TJ’ Stewart, Iowa State University, “Labor Acknowledgment;” and the scholarship of Christina Sharpe, York University