"I'm a Good Person, Isn't That Enough?” A presentation with racial justice educator and author Debby Irving

*DIVERSITY, EQUITY and INCLUSION SERIES*

MVNC with the generous support of the Tower Foundation invite you to join us for:

"I'm a Good Person, Isn't That Enough?" 

with Debby Irving  

We welcome Debby Irving, racial justice educator and the author of the acclaimed book, Waking Up White: And Finding Myself in the Story of Race, for a presentation designed to be a 101 for white people about white privilege and institutional racism and how they manifest. 

Wednesday, October 28th

noon - 2pm

Zoom (see below for details)

Using historical and media images, Debby tells the story of how she used her white-skewed belief system to interpret the world around her. Socialized on a narrow worldview, Debby explores how she spent decades silently reaffirming harmful, archaic racial patterns instead of questioning the racial disparities and tensions she could see and feel. 

The program aims to support making the paradigm shift from 'fixing' and 'helping' those believed to be inferior to focusing on internalized white superiority and its role in perpetuating racism at the individual, interpersonal, institutional, and cultural levels. 

This presentation includes pauses for reflection, dialog, and Q&A. Please see suggested resources for you to prepare for the event below.

Zoom Call In:

Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6585316212 

Meeting ID: 658 531 6212     PASSCODE - 123456

One tap mobile +13017158592,,6585316212# US+1 646 558 8656 US (New York)  

Debby's Recommended Resources:   https://www.debbyirving.com/recommended-resources/

About Debby IRving:

Debby Irving brings to racial justice the perspective of working as a community organizer and classroom teacher for 25 years without understanding racism as a systemic issue or her own whiteness as an obstacle to grappling with it. As general manager of Boston’s Dance Umbrella and First Night, and later as a classroom teacher in Cambridge, Massachusetts, she struggled to make sense of tensions she could feel but not explain in racially mixed settings. In 2009, a graduate school course, Racial and Cultural Identities, gave her the answers she’d been looking for and launched her on a journey of discovery. Debby now devotes herself to working with white people exploring the impact white skin can have on perception, problem-solving, and engaging in racial justice work. A graduate of the Winsor School in Boston, she holds a BA from Kenyon College and an MBA from Simmons College. Her first book, Waking Up White, tells the story of how she went from well-meaning to well-doing and how she unpacked her own long-held beliefs about colorblindness, being a good person, and wanting to help people of color. She reveals how each of these well-intentioned mindsets actually perpetuated her ill-conceived ideas about race.                                                   

Her bookWaking Up White is the story of her two-steps-forward-one-step back journey away from racial ignorance. She continues to study racism and strategies for its undoing while working to educate other white people confused and frustrated by racism. She is passionate about transforming anxiety and inaction into empowerment and action, be it for an individual or an organization. 

Learn more about Debby by viewing her Ted Talk here.