5 Sundays, beginning August 18th-September 22 (excluding Labor Day) virtually on Zoom. 

Participants must be able to attend all five sessions.

**TO REGISTER for this program, please contact the facilitators by sending an email to ConvosAboutWhiteness@gmail.com.** 

Our facilitators will provide the Zoom link as well as course materials.  

Fish don’t see water. Birds don’t see air. And white people may not see whiteness. With video clips, articles, and small- and large-group activities, Conversations Unpacking Whiteness brings together white-identified people in a safe setting to see how this came to be the case. Guided by two facilitators, we will explore aspects of our culture that prevent us from seeing ourselves and people of color without deeply ingrained distortions.

During five weekly two-hour sessions, we will see our whiteness in ways we never have before. We will reflect on unconscious biases, white privilege, race, and racism. We’ll explore some ways racial divides are embedded in institutions; think about tools to interrupt these divides; brainstorm about collaborating with each other and with people of color; and individually plan for what to do with this new knowledge. This course is based on similar grass-roots courses offered around the country.

Because each session builds on the previous one, we ask for participation for the full 5 weeks. Please register by sending an email to ConvosAboutWhiteness@gmail.com. You will then receive a welcome email and course materials. This is a virtual series, which will be presented on Zoom. You will receive a link prior to the first session. Because each session builds on the content and connections from previous sessions, we strongly encourage you to attend all five. If you cannot attend all sessions, please contact the organizers at ConvosAboutWhiteness@gmail.com to find out when the program will run in the future.

Rabbi Jessica Lowenthal is the Rabbi and education director at Temple Beth Shalom in Melrose. She has been an educator most of her life, teaching in the Jewish community for over 15 years. Her goal is to help participants see the underlying connections between multiple topics and how they impact each other. Rabbi Lowenthal has been trained by groups such as Facing History and Ourselves, Resetting the Table, and Echoes and Reflections. She was a Rukin Rabbinic fellow for 18Doors (formerly Interfaith Families) and is an active member in the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization. Rabbi Lowenthal loves engaging with participants and cannot wait to meet the next cohort! 

Sue Herz, a generalist, wears multiple hats: bioethicist, lawyer, writer, and – at heart – educator. As educator, she has served as faculty at Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, and Suffolk University; and has served as facilitator in community forums focusing on areas such as race, disability, the Holocaust, and Laughter Yoga. Of particular significance: she brings to the course Conversations Unpacking Whiteness considerable thought, commitment, and experience as a white person.