Hello All,

I have been really disheartened about what's been happening on list about Racism and other prejudices. So I wrote and spoke to the AORTA (Anti Oppression Resources and Training Alliance) collective http://aortacollective.org/ about how they could help us bring some common understanding. Forwarded is the email they returned. I'm not pushing any perspective, even not that AORTA can help us, or that we even "need help". I just wanted to share with you one of the things we could do, and solicit your input if you felt like giving it.

with sudo love

-Max aka notconfusing

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: kiran nigam <kiran@aortacollective.org>
Date: 4 December 2013 14:36
Subject: Options for the Sudo Room
To: Maximilian Klein <isalix@gmail.com>

Hi Max!

As we talked about yesterday, here are some options for the Sudo Room to consider.

A training on race and racism.
I would recommend no less than 4 hours for a training on race and racism. This interactive workshop deconstructs the ways that systemic racism impact our work, our interpersonal interaction, or individual biases and prejudices, and our communities. Together we share (and learn) concepts, skills, and language to push us further and help change behavior, words, and actions to build racial justice.

The pro of this is that if many people come, it can move the group's understanding further and build community by engaging together in meaningful dialogue and learning. The con is that if people don't show up for it (and often those who would most benefit from the workshop are the ones who don't come), then the benefits won't happen. Or, a small group will attend, which then runs the risk of building resentment or tension between those who attended and those who did not.

A Facilitated Discussion, with the Goal of Developing Values or Points of Unity

This would look different than a workshop. The goal would be to facilitate the group through a process of working together to build shared values, points of unity, or expectations for behavior. This would be facilitated in a lively, interactive manner. (Think more retreat, less business meeting.)

The benefit of this is that it can be a very team building process. Additionally, this is something that is very helpful for new and developing groups to do, because it helps give you a foundation upon which you can do your work, and clear shared values and expectations that you can return to as a basis for addressing behavior that is hurtful or inappropriate. If you don't have things like this, then you don't have a group mandate to interrupt or address such behavior, and if/when you do, it's on a case by case basis, which can lead to things feeling very personal. The downside is that you don't directly address systemic oppression, or the recent email thread. However, doing this does not mean that you can't also choose to have a workshop, a series of workshops, or other forms of ongoing education.

Payment
AORTA charges on a sliding scale. For non-profit groups with a slim budget, that scale starts at $150/hour for facilitation and slides down to $50/hour. We ask organizations with access to funding to pay as high on the scale are they are able and feels fair. This helps support the free and low-cost work we do with organizations and community groups with low/no budget. We prioritize political groups, community campaigns, and movement building organizations for our free and low-cost work.

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