 Good morning. I Just like to say it's a bounty to be here with you this morning And I'm going to make a confession too. This is my first time attending an account a conference here and Also, it's my first time speaking to an audience of such magnitude so But but where else should I get my feet wet but with my family, right? Alright, so okay I am going to actually engage you in Conversation dialogue Small group as best we can do this as I share with you the program that my company has implemented throughout St. Louis, Missouri and surrounding states and actually we've been here in California we Worked in Santa Barbara, San Diego and Los Angeles We haven't been here for a while because school systems can no longer afford to bring people in But we were I think an integral force in helping to restructure and To have teachers re-evaluate how they look at young people particularly children of color and so with that I am going to Engage you in as soon as we get the screen up and what is it then I am doing in my non-technological There should be a screen up here and we we went through this several times didn't we so that we would have it But wouldn't you know it? Okay. Okay. All right, so let me okay, and we check and double check I did And it's not up so where is my most trusted friend Okay Thank you Transforming habits of thought I do belong here This is one of the programs that we have implemented and we call it our umbuntu program Of course, I want you to know and probably what you have some eyes that Everything that I do Is based on my being a behind so as much as I can I infuse the behind principles Into any of the work that I do The other three members of my company are well aware of my being a behind and they are on board with everything that we can do in order for us to create an environment where young people feel value where the young ones know that they're noble and for particularly a group of young people and these are the children of color it has been a struggle for them to Actually see themselves as these noble beings so a lot of potential and capacity is Has been wasted because of the fact that these individuals Don't have a mirror that is held up to them to let them know who they truly are their authentic self their spiritual self and so what we do as we work with teachers and Those are the the primary people with whom we work teachers and administrators in school systems We create an environment where they can come together and to explore issues of race class and sexism and When we do this or as we do this we create Norms that young people The teachers the administrators can adhere to because to talk about race Can be emotionally volatile and so what we do is to set the norms that you see there In front of you and they come from a person by the name of Margaret Wheatley Who has written several books one is leadership and the new science and what she says about how we can come together to Create this inclusive environment is that we have to acknowledge one another as equals We try to stay curious about each other We recognize that we need each other's help to become better listeners and that Thread of communication has been woven into many of the the thoughts that you've already heard that in order to communicate We certainly are going to share what it is that we need to share, but we also have to be able to listen We slow down so that we have time to think and Reflect and that's something that teachers don't really have an opportunity to do But we create that space for them to be able to think and to reflect and We remember that conversation is the natural way humans think together We tell stories and we have found that when we have an opportunity to share our stories Then we're able to hear others experiences We're able to dispel some of the mental models and the predispositions that we have about other people because we have the opportunity to come together and to listen and Finally we share with them that it's going to get messy Anytime you talk about race or racism, we know that it's going to get messy But the metaphor that we use for that is if you plant the seed and you have the Camera that infrared camera that's able to look at how the seed germinates and you can see the roots Struggling and it looks as if they're in agony But soon we know that that seed will pop up and there will be a plant and So we say that if they were to keep that analogy that yes, it is going to get messy It we you may struggle but eventually that seed or that plant will pop up and that plant will be that Which will say to young people that there is an environment that we can deliberately and intentionally Create for you as educators that will honor you will acknowledge your nobility Racism one of the most baneful and persistent evils is a major barrier to peace It's practice perpetrates to outrageous a violation of the dignity of human beings to be countenance under any pretext Racism retards the enfoldment of the boundless potentialities of its victims Corrupts its perpetrators and blights human progress the additional part of that quote is recognition of the oneness of mankind Implemented by appropriate legal measures must be universally upheld if this problem is to be overcome as an educator of 38 years I have witnessed how Racism has retarded the potentialities and limited the Ability for young people to access all of their brilliance What I am going to in the next 40 minutes is to engage you as much as possible in a brief workshop that we do with teachers and Administrators and to the degree that you engage in it Hopefully you will see exactly what can happen when people have an opportunity to listen to one another So you're a very first Participatory activity is that I want you to take a few minutes And I want you to think about the many gifts that you have now mind you I'm not talking about bragging because sometimes we we get into that place where people say well Billy if you Tell me to think about my gifts or you're asking me to go to that egoic mind and no I'm not I am asking you to just think about what you do and To give yourself credit for what you do and how you show up So for the next minute or so Just think about the gifts that you bring get those up in your mind And then I'm going to ask you to share those gifts in a very special way now remember You are workshop participants so if that helps also to Set the framework for you that you are actually engaged in The type of workshop that we would conduct We're doing it in 50 minutes. We actually do it in two days with six days of follow-up So we're going to move rapidly here. All right So how are you going to share these gifts? Well, you're going to turn to the person that you are seated next to and You are going to share in a very particular listening configuration. We call it a listening pair or paired sharing What you are going to do what I'm inviting you inviting you to do is to as a listener Just listen to the person share his or her gifts You aren't going to ask any questions. You aren't going to in any way say but let me tell you about my gifts Okay, because you will have an opportunity to do that as well when I tell you to switch but right now your sole purpose of Listening to that person is to create this Invitational and I dare say spiritual space where that person feels totally comfortable comfortable is Feeling not judged in any way Is feeling for that particular moment as if he or she is a sunshine in your life? All right, so can you get a feel for that? Now this is what we invite the teachers to do from the very beginning because we are setting the framework for us to actually delve into some deeper issues, but our first Activity is to really celebrate the goodness about who the people are who come to us No matter what their belief system is we believe in that innate goodness and the course as a behind you know I believe that and it undergirds everything that I do But those who come in sometimes haven't even thought about their goodness So this is an opportunity for them to do that and I'm going to invite you to I know you know about your goodness But just let's reinforce it So you are going to share with the person who's sitting next to you All of the good things about who you are Okay All right, you got to do it now you I didn't get your your verbal or your hand Participation that you were going to go along with me, but I'm assuming since you're my family That you're going to participate in this so turn to the person that you are seated next to I Forgot to give you some additional directions. I should have said to you That your statements have to be robust All right robust as opposed to thin now Let me give you an example of a thin statement a thin statement might be shared in this manner really I love to read books and People like to hear me talk about them behind books who will put that in there. All right Now let's robust the size that statement okay, and To robust the size it would be Billy. I'd like to read books and When people listen to me they sit at my feet in awe right All right that you can you can tell her it down if you want, but I would say go for that So this this means you cannot say I think I'm a good whatever it is or People tell me that I'm a good whatever it is. You are claiming it You are claiming it and that's exactly what I want from you So put aside The stuff about bragging you're not bragging you are validating who you are all right now One person is talking the other person is listening and then I'll say switch and the person who's doing the listening Will be the person who will do the talking Got it. All right began ish your thought complete your statement and time Finish your thought Complete your statement and Now you are switching listeners. You're now the speakers so begin finish your thought complete your statement and time finish your thought Complete your statement and time. Oh, this is wonderful See our eager you are to talk and to listen and to share good things about you so finish your thought and complete your statement and time Okay, I'm gonna go into my teacher mode If you hear my voice clap once if you hear my voice clap twice Thank you. Thank you That's the eighth grade teacher coming out there I Want you to in just a little bit of silence down to think about what you heard and What you said and Above all notice the feelings Notice what feelings are coming up as we do this work. We focus a lot on feelings because they are there We know that feelings are not the most accurate barometer of our thinking we acknowledge that but we also know that if we Can't get to the feelings Sometimes this rich flexible intelligence is retarded We can't get to it because we're using so much energy supporting the feelings About the time that we started our work There was an educator by the name of Julian Weiss class Who actually lives in Santa Barbara, California who? had an article that was produced or included in a book called Ed weak a magazine actually and Julian said any reform effort designed to reduce the achievement gap That does not help whites and people of color heal from the hurts of racism Will not likely succeed over time Although educators cannot by themselves solve all of the problems caused by racism in society and we know that you know We're presupposing that we know it is the faith that will do that It is possible for us to construct healing communities in which people can learn how to listen and give attention while others heal and That's exactly what you did That's how we start our workshop so that people get in the practice of Transforming habits of thought about how they really listen to one another That there is a way that you can listen very deeply that you connect with that person's spirit Ubuntu is the title that we have given to this particular program and I don't want to reduce The umbun to cosmology to just a greeting But we as people come in and they are engaged in the program We ask them to say umbun to to one another and then we proceed to explain that it is truly a Cosmology that it says I Belong Therefore I am 400 years ago Renee Descartes talked about In a way separation of mind and spirit It was an either are Way of looking at life. It was very logical he focused on the individual and He focused also on contracts that and there's nothing wrong with that. I do something for you. You do something for me Ubuntu, however Compliments what Renee Descartes talked about and in Ubuntu says it is both and that we allow intuition to flourish that we build and We focus on community and what it means for one another and that we make covenants among ourselves and we do all of this in a way that we set The environment where young people not only are going to be exposed to the academic portion the cognitive Information that is true because we are in we live in the society Particularly in the school district where they are measured. I don't know if I have any educators out there But if I say AYP that means average yearly progress and schools are given money on how well their students do so there is a real focus on The cognitive domain, but we also know that if young people are going to thrive they must also Have individuals who will focus on the effective domain that until young people feel as if they belong They are not going to do what it is that will allow them to thrive if they see you as a teacher Who is focused on educator who is focused on test scores and not on the human spirit Then young people rebel they detach they move into sometimes Antisocial behavior and they are extremely perceptive We have found that if you say one thing to them and you you give them the impression that you are supportive of them But your covert behavior says I don't really respect you or I don't see you capable of achieving what it is that I put out there if teachers don't Hold up for young people high expectations. Then what is it that you suppose they do? They move to those lower expectations that teachers have of them and When they do that they also know that if you don't respect them Then there is no way in the world that you care about them And we know the highest correlate between teachers Or the highest correlate of success for students is the relationship between them and teachers So it is the relation piece that we do a lot of work with and we focus on Mbuntu says Mbuntu does not say I think therefore I am it says whether I am human because I belong I Participate and I share and we had the saying long before avatar When we say I see you the response is I am seen Let's talk a little bit about belonging Adler in 1939 said that failure in school stems from feeling Unconnected Belonging equals in hand sense of worth and increase self-confidence in Contrast to lacking a feeling of belonging equals felt helplessness and no sense of control over their environment Students who are labeled as disadvantaged students tend to be socialized for subordination Advantage students are socialized for responsibility and that's a critical difference Okay, students who are failing Seek their own sense of belongingness in a context that is often more antisocial and what happens Just a little bit of information here From the Chicago area alone the number of students or a number of young people and I'm going to Really focus on the fact that the young people that I'm speaking of are For the most part African-American males and Latino males They seek a sense of belonging in a way that will involve them in games or any other kind of antisocial behavior that often will see them in prison and in Just from 1985 to 2005 you can see the percent of increase of young people young men who have been sent to prison So we know that one out of every four man of color and we're talking about the ages And it used to be from like 17 to 25 and that age range has dropped lower than that From 15 to 25 will find himself incarcerated What a waste What a waste and what a tremendous job we have as behinds to create a different kind of environment for them what we emphasize about the belonging is That teachers have to show up Educators have to show up in a very special way and we call it The stance that teachers or educators have to take Stance is how I walk in the world Most often when we do workshops initially teachers or educators want strategies They want to know what the next lesson plan is so they they can go back and implement it the next day But what we focus on what we emphasize most critical for making this change is that they have to have a particular Stance they have to show up in a way that young people will see them as authentic If and I've already mentioned this if they say one thing and they do another What do you think the young people will hone in on? What they do right what they do so we are Focus all of the time on having people to first of all peel the onion To be able to look inside to see how they have been Socialized or indoctrinated to feel certain ways about people of color and often the educators don't know that you know, so we we keep peppering our Workshop link language with the fact that no one had control over his or her parents This is not about guilt blame or shame But it is about the responsibility that you have if you're going to say you're an educator and that you are going to Work with young people then you have to show up in a certain way and so we delve into how we all came to this particular place of being socialized in a certain way about who we are and What we do and offer as a graphic for this is what we call the cycle of Socialization of the cycle of oppression. I want you to imagine a young baby coming into the room Crawling and and just being a Baby that's exploring and inquisitive. So when you think of babies and this is a shout-out. This is a call and a response What are the kinds of attributes that you would associate with that baby? joy curious open innocent vulnerable fearless What was that? Happy happy Crying Okay, and a friend of mine was say cha-ching, you know money There that comes along with that as well But as this baby comes into the room and I'm just gonna call the baby baby Billy All right, so as baby Billy enters the room and she's crawling around and She asked you wants to be nurtured and held She goes to any number of people here and you are accommodating you share with her your Your good thoughts about her you nurture her you bounce or you do everything that you need to do but at no time did baby Billy distinguish race or Sex or a class all that she wanted to do was to be held and nurtured taking care of but what happens as Baby Billy grows and I'm going to tell you my story as an African-American woman that In my early years, I learned Misinformation about who I was There was bias history about who I was There were stereotypes out there about who I was Perhaps now those stereotypes are not so ingrained but I'm not so sure about that, but let's just say baby Billy some Well quite a few years ago living for me at that time in an all African-American community and Attending an all African-American school and it was a community in which my teachers live So I had tremendous support for me reaching my potentiality and my capacity My teachers encouraged me they shared with me the fact that I could achieve whatever I wanted to achieve They modeled what Teresa Perry says in the book young gifted in black that for us at that time It was freedom for literacy and literacy for freedom So I had this encouragement. I also got What we call another narrative and this is what we are exploring for ourselves the narratives that we Were internalized with and we were socialized with the other part of that narrative was I had to work twice as hard To be able to accomplish what my white counterparts accomplished now I don't know how many brothers and sisters of color. I have out there, but if there is an And amen there or you heard the same story You can just acknowledge by raising your hands All right. All right This was something that we heard and so What it did and I am not discounting the benefits from it, but you know, we were super overachievers Now we worked And 50% as opposed to our white brothers and sisters who maybe work may have worked 150% I'm not saying that they didn't but it felt like we always were struggling in order to keep up And that was because society has said to us that we were maybe not quite capable enough Not quite brilliant enough Not able to lead or lead well those were the messages that we got as we were growing up And you know what family those are the messages that young children of color still get today They still get those messages and unless we are able to somehow refute that information about who they are They're going to continue getting those messages now what that I had Been able to stop it right there at the that bubble because my family worked diligently to see that I got different messages Unfortunately, though those mass messages were reinforced and installed Through these other institutions They were enforced by media and one of our partners is Professor at one of the major universities in st. Louis Webster University and He has a class actually there about four or five sections of this class on race and median That's just how popular the class is and what a problem media presents for young people who are trying to get Authentic look about who they are or an authentic image of who they are So you just think about what media does and how it perpetrates negativity Government If you think about what happens in government, you know, there there are not a lot of people who look like me now We we do have a black My racial president right in office and I think some people felt that when that happened that Racism was done over and what we have seen is that there really is an escalation of it People who perhaps might not have said anything about it before are now coming out and being very blatant in their actions Houses of worship well we can exclude that, you know now remember I'm not talking to a behind audience when I'm with the educators So houses of worship do show up as a place where the division is continued And it's been said that one of the most segregated hours of the week is Sunday morning when people go to their respective houses of worship Fortunately, we don't have that separation. We don't have those divisions Economics and class now this is a tricky one Because we can think ourselves very liberal until we get to that place where we start Dividing and counting material possessions and who has this and who doesn't have this and sometimes we don't know We're operating out of that Classism but we do and we we rank other people based on their material possessions and Finally education and this for me is the most critical place because this is where We get a chance to work with educators who will work with young people and we often say to them that Children are like wet cement what falls on them sticks And so we have to be very very careful about what they do or what they say to young people Take a few minutes my 12 minute clock went off and I try not to talk longer than 12 minutes before I know the the blood will pool in the seat there. So Take a few minutes and talk to the person that you're seated next to and Talk about the teacher that stands out most for you in your mind Which teacher who was she who was he that had an influence on you? So talk about yourself have some dialogue go back in time to the teacher Who made an influence or had an influence on you? finish your thought Complete your statement and time finish your thought complete your Statement and time So talk to me a little bit What came up for you and I know it'll be difficult because you don't have the mic But you did quite well when I asked you about babies. So This is a shout out. All right. So what came to you when you thought about that teacher What was it about that teacher that encouraged you or maybe discouraged you? I don't know hand back there Expectations absolutely Public okay, so right so this was not a good experience for you right public embarrassment love of Love of God. All right. All right. I Didn't hear that compassion confidence Prejudice. All right. So that was not a good experience for you, right? But you see how those experiences stand out and stick with us Yeah, they made that difference in how we feel about ourselves saw some other it hurt some other voices Respectful and back there Sincere Worldly All right She liked me. Wow That speaks volumes Expanded horizons Nobility nobility Caring caring. Okay. All right all Discouragement, okay, all right tyranny Okay All right All right You know, I'd like to think of myself as a teacher that encompass those wonderful qualities That I was able to project To students about who they were but I can remember sometimes I had to dance around a little bit and as I Peel that onion to figure out why it is that I Had this student in a particular place that left him or her no other out than to rebel I think it went back to my ego, you know teachers have this sense sometimes of power and Being totally in charge and Setting parameters for young people that are very constricted and I can remember that I had the choice When I had that student in a sense backed in the corner, I had the choice of Further embarrassing him or Apologizing to him and Which one do you think I did? Apologize Apologize Because I knew I had set up a situation that was a lose lose situation for both of us And what I had momentarily forgot was that young person's dignity? And so you should have seen me scrambling to recall that To move back into that frame of reference that would allow me to see this noble being His actions didn't speak to that But I was able to see beyond that to see who he really was and so as a result of that He lived up to my expectations So what happens if the negative information is reinforced? By society through all of these institutions and certainly there are other Institutions up there as well. We could say the criminal justice system And I don't really have time to go into that But I would just advise many of you or invite you to get a book entitled the new Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander I Think you will be shocked and saddened and maybe motivated to do something about what is happening in a very systemic way I did not at the beginning say That my partners and I and the information that we share with the people that we work with around race and racism is One in which we all believe that there is only one race and we put that premise up right away That there is only one race But we also know that the architecture of racism was deliberately engineered to keep people separate to keep people in a place where they're targeted and to keep other people in a place of power So what happens then and this brings me to this circle we collude if I hear over and over and over again That I'm not quite brilliant enough. I'm not quite capable enough. I can't lead I should doubt my thinking that this is who I am. I'm a person who's coming from a deficit place Then I am going to start believing it I May not accept it wholeheartedly, but there are going to be places in my thinking that will cause me to doubt myself I can't believe you the joy that I felt when I went to my first fireside and The woman who conducted the fireside sissy while She was married to Henry while and I had the the bounty to be with them often Talked about the efflorescence and the effervescence of African-American people had never heard anything like that before didn't know anything about the pupil of the eye This was 35 years ago. I was a result of the 1974 conference in St. Louis International Conference. Well, I became a Baha'i after that After attending what actually not attending after seeing the information on TV and then I Looked for the fireside. I wanted to know where they were and I had already read that ebony article And see this really dates me okay so I was searching and I knew that there was something more than my particular church was offering me Although I am no way Disparaging the kind of spiritual information I got as a member of the African Methodist Episcopal Church So that it was a strong foundation for me But I also knew that there was something else and lo and behold Bahá'u'lláh came to me so Given the misinformation about who we are and there's no way to refute it Nothing that would say that no on that that's not true about you You are this noble being then we collude and we collude in ways for people of color We call it the internalized racism Anytime you systematically oppress a group of people That group will internalize the oppression and pass it on to themselves and others who look like them And sometimes we don't even know we're doing it. We say that's just the way I am We also mentioned over and over again That we did not set that up. So it's not our fault When we operate out of that, it's not our fault, but it becomes our responsibility To do something about it to educate ourselves In such a way that we see we are not living up to that vast potential And capacity that Bahá'u'lláh has put out there in front of us And while I might not say Bahá'u'lláh I do allow them or I do invite them to see their nobility and how they have been Subcombing to misinformation about who they are And that is not their authentic self If we don't stop the cycle it repeats If we do stop the cycle We probably are going to work with the feelings that are up there There will be some anger and we certainly have experienced that among our participants But we have ground rules in which we can handle that And we allow people to feel the feelings And we don't get confused about their goodness Sometimes when people see passionate feelings there is some confusion around Associating that person with the passion or with the anger and we don't get confused about that We know the goodness of the person and we acknowledge the feelings that are there There are feelings sometimes of resentment, denial, confusion, aggression, isolation That's okay, it keeps people in the dialogue If we create a safe environment for those feelings to be explored and we have been Able to do that I think in a very competent way Because when people leave they are yearning to re-engage with the people they have participated with They create what we call ally groups so that they can continue the dialogue because people are dying To talk about race and racism I cannot overemphasize how much people want to get together to share their stories And we and I'm sure there are other organizations as well are offering a venue For people to be able to just come together and talk And when that happens we create what's called the path of liberation This is one of the ways that we have found to be very effective in working with educators Is for them to get a glimpse of how they have been socialized In ways to think less about people who look different from them Often what happens is those individuals get very angry And they wonder how they were duped into thinking certain things about other people And so there's a little bit of the grieving process for them Because it was significant others who shared with them That maybe people of color weren't quite brilliant enough and weren't weren't capable enough Weren't able to do certain things But once again, we also offer the corollary that people Perform or they act in ways that they have been indoctrinated and that these young people who are in front of us at the workshop They have an opportunity to break the cycle And what we do is and I know my time is moving Rapidly here Is we ask them to Get into groups and just for Maybe about five minutes. I'm going to ask you to do the same thing This is not um an exhaustive list of Social groups But these are the ones that we put up in front of them and we put these groups in front of them because of The no child left behind act anybody familiar with nickel b or no child left behind All right, okay So you know exactly why we put these particular groups in front of them because these are the groups of People that they will work with these are the groups of the children that they will work with And so we want them to explore Maybe the subconscious ideas about What they think about these young people and we put it up in four categories family and friend media Faith base and school So i'm going to ask you for the next five minutes just explore messages that you got About One or two of the groups you won't have time to do all of them But pick a group and explore the messages that you got as a child Now I want you to go back in time And i'm sure for most of you it won't be far back But I want you to be in middle school And I want you to think about the messages that you got about any of those groups there From those four divisions there so talk among yourselves for a few minutes Using the chart up there Finish your thought complete your statement and time Once again just a reminder that you are doing in 50 minutes What we do in two days and of course there are a number of other components that we have in our two-day retreat I want to end With once again what Teresa Perry says that is needed in schools And that she suggests that we need in schools or what we need in schools is a counter narrative and that's what we as members of National equity consultants hope that we're providing for teachers A way that they can see themselves differently And a way that they can see their students in a different way One that confronts the messages surrounding our young people about their intellect And capacity for learning She addresses in her first essay in that book The mythology about the intellectual prowess of young african-american children She addresses that myth of the inferiority Of the intellectual ability of young people and it is a prevailing Myth that finds its way into some concrete actions Actions on the part of educators not all But certainly on many of them and it's not until we bring it into their arena of awareness that they realize That they have lower expectations For young people of color The imbuntu philosophy that we share with them and once again couldn't think of a better way to Term that or to describe that other than transforming habits of thought Is that teachers and educators create a safe environment An environment where young people are valued Where they have some personal power and above all I think this is sort of the linchpin for me because I can remember Making mistakes and my dignity was at risk Where they can make mistakes and not risk their dignity And that they know that they are growing and learning If the human race is one Any notion that a particular racial ethnic or national group is in some way superior to the rest of humanity must be dismissed Society must reorganize its life to give practical expression To the principle of equality For all its members regardless of race Regardless of color creed or gender And all individuals must be given the opportunity to realize their inherent potential And thereby contribute to an ever advancing civilization And so as I end I'm going to ask you to close your eyes And to do some visioning And I'm going to read this last quote and it is that prompt that I want you to just think about What you can do how you can create How you can continue to create a place where Baha'u'llah says to us Ye are the fruits of one tree And the leaves of one branch Deal ye one with another With the utmost love and harmony With friendliness and fellowship Thank you, dear family. Thank you