The Clackamas print., February 15, 2017, Page 3, Image 3

Staff discusses racial issues
HUNDREDS OF EMPLOYEES GATHER TO TALK ABOUT ‘SEEING THE RACIAL WATER’
BY ELIZABETH KESSEL
Race is an uncomfortable subject. People see it, hear it
and even talk about it, but nonetheless it’ s a sensitive
topic that is hard to navigate.
At the Winter Inservice, on Feb. 10, “ Seeing The Racial
W ater,” sta ff m embers from Clackam as Com m unity
College had three hours to discuss the topic.
David Plotkin, vice president of Instruction and Student
Services, was the first to speak briefly.
“ We have a connection to our mission, our values and
our priorities around providing access, m aking sure we
are a relevant institution and that we provide quality
for all of our students,” said Plotkin.
Next to speak was Jil Freeman, department chair of
distance learning. She briefly talked about how a group
who traveled to a conference in Novem ber had m et
author and consultant Robin DiAngelo and asked her
to speak at the college.
D iA ngelo has m ore th an 20 years o f experience
studying racial and social ju stice. She also has two
published books: “ W hat Does It M ean To Be W h ite”
and “ Is Everyone Really Equal?”
“ W e are not goin g to solve racial issues to d ay ,”
DiAngelo said before starting the talk.
The inservice was similar to a TED Talk, where one
speaker has a large audience, except throughout her
speech she gave the audience questions to discuss
amongst their table groups.
For exam ple, she flashed a photo o f a woman and
child, which looked like a nice cafe setting.
After showing the photo a few times, it was clear what
was really happening in the picture. Many people were
lying on gurneys after an attack. Here, she talked about
description, evaluations and perception.
D iAngelo’ s point to, that exercise was to shed light
on the fact that w hen people see a situation that is
considered unusual,their minds fill in the blanks with
som ething different than w hat’ s happening.
Much more was also brought up such as the unconscious
bias, how individuality and society are inseparable, being
hom ogeneous, where racism is seen, prejudice and
discrimination.
DiAngelo’ s talk fueled productive conversations. One
of her questions had the staff thinking about their past
experiences in school and where they grew up.
Staff had gone into this inservice wondering how they
can help Clackam as, classrooms and students feel safe
and able to talk about racism, especially at the current
time.
DiAngelo showed that there is much more than meets
the eye w hen it comes to racism. She was open about
this difficult subject. She started the speech o ff strong
and left the staff w ith new ideas to wrestle with.
“life are n o t going to solve racial
issues today.” - Robin DiAngelo
Robin DiAngelo discusses racial issues w ith sta ff in
Gregory Forum on Feb. 10.
photosby,Collin Berend
Staff answers questions from DiAngelo at a staff inservice in Gregory Forum.
Clackamas Print FEBRUARY 15,2017 theclackamasprint.com 3