- What is your background (race, ethnicity, gender, socio-economic class, religion, etc.)? What is one thing that is good about growing up with these social identities? What is difficult about growing up with these social identities?
- What is the earliest time in your life that you can remember being aware that there were people in the world whose skin was a different color than yours? What do you remember about it? What thoughts and feelings to you have about that memory and what happened then?
- What are your memories of friendships with a person of another race? When you were very young? More recently?
- What attitudes and behaviors around racial differences and/or racism were expressed in your family when you were growing up?
- What experiences have you had in trying to make friends with people of other races?
- What feels awkward or difficult about initiating contact with people you don't know who are of a race different from yours?
- Talk about how much you care about other people, including people of other races.
- How do you think (or fear) other people of your own race view you for being close to people of other races or for being committed to dismantling racism?
- Where do you feel you belong, and where do you feel unwelcome, with various racial groups?
- How does your class, religion, or gender affect how comfortable you feel with people of other races?
- Where do you feel superior to (some) members of a race different from your own?
- Where do you feel inferior to (some) members of a race different from your own?
- How does seeing racism or knowing about how racism affects people's lives make you feel?
- If you are white, how do you feel about giving up the privileged status (and its material benefits) that racism has bestowed on you?
- If you are white, how do you feel about other whites? Their apathy? Their racism? Their efforts against racism?
- How has racism separated you from people you would like to be able to be close to?
- What guilt feelings, if any, do you have around racial issues?
- Describe times you have interrupted racism or taken some action against it (no matter how trifling or insignificant it may feel).
- What feels difficult for you about interrupting racism?
- What feelings of discouragement, hopelessness or powerlessness do you have about dismantling racism?
- Describe a big, bold step that would be important in dismantling racism? What small steps could you take that would move toward that bigger step?
- What scares you about being really close to a person of a race different from your own?
- Where do fears of violence or of other people's anger come up for you around racial issues?
- What could you do where you work or go to school to take initiative against racism?
- Describe your vision for the world.
- Where do you think adults have been successful in eliminating racism and where do you think they haven't been successful?
How to Begin Listening Exchanges for Ending Racism
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TOPICS FOR LISTENING EXCHANGES AND CONVERSATIONS ABOUT RACE AND RACISM