A Workshop for Asian and Asian American Educators on Dismantling White Supremacy Culture in the Workplace

What: Too often, we as Asian and Asian-American educators are assumed to comply with the racist school and non-profit systems we’re employed by, which ultimately harms Black and Indigenous colleagues and students. In this 3 hour interactive workshop, we will define white supremacy culture, identify how it shows up in our education spaces, explore its connections to the model minority myth, and work through scenarios on how we can resist white supremacy culture in order to show up in solidarity alongside our Black and Indigenous colleagues. Participants will be asked to actively engage in activities and contribute to discussion. We will be drawing from our own collective experiences as educators to discuss, reflect, and reimagine what our role as Asian and Asian American educators could be in the larger arc towards a more equitable future.

Where: This workshop will happen over Zoom. The Zoom link will be sent to attendees after registration.

When: April 14 from 2-5pm EST

Who: This workshop is open to all Asian and Asian American people, and other people of color. This includes Asian people, Black people, Indigenous and Native people, and Latinx people of color and all other people of color. This is open to teachers, administrators, people who work in non-profits, and anyone who works broadly in education or youth spaces. While the context for the workshop will be based around the United States, this workshop is open to anyone wherever they are located in the world.

Why: As Asian American educators with over 25 years of combined teaching experience, we feel invested in continued political education with Asian and Asian American educators. Over the years working in multiracial schools and education non-profits, we have found that discussions around race and power often leave little room for the specificity of what it means to be Asian and Asian American working in education. We offer this workshop as a way to further discussion, gather our collective knowledge, and support one another as we commit to dismantling white supremacy in our specific roles and locations. We believe that community building plays a key role in consciousness building and that Asian and Asian American people are pivotal in our work towards collective liberation.

Accessibility: This workshop will be held in English, and closed captioning will be offered by a 3rd party. Throughout the workshop, participants will be given multiple options for how to engage (i.e. silently and individually, in groups verbally, and through chat and writing). This workshop will not be recorded.

About Us:

So Mak is a queer and gender non conforming Hong Kong Chinese-American facilitator, educator, and artist with over 15 years of experience working at the intersection of art and social justice in a range of education spaces including schools, non-profits, and higher ed institutions. To learn more, please visit somak[dot]work.

Sara Yukimoto-Saltman is a mixed-race, Asian-American (Nisei Japanese and Anti-Zionist Jewish), cis-woman raised on unceded Kanaka Maoli land in Honolulu, Hawai’i. She is a facilitator, educator and artist who has taught in various education spaces including preschool, high school, and higher ed spaces. For more, please see sarayukimi[dot]org.

Sliding scale: 35-110 (35, 65, 85, 110) Our sliding scale is meant to make this space accessible to as many people as possible, while also honoring our work. If you have greater financial access, we ask that you consider paying on the higher end of the sliding scale. To get a sense of where you may fall on the sliding scale, please check out the ‘Green Bottle’ image below created by Alexis J. Cunningfolk. And to learn more about sliding scales in general, you can visit this site: http://www.wortsandcunning.com/blog/sliding-scale.