Space Still Available for GMAC Anti-Racism Training Workshops at SHA 2017 Conference

Dear SHA Members,

As you may know, the Gender and Minority Affairs Committee (GMAC) of the SHA is sponsoring two Anti-Racism (A-R) Training Workshops at the upcoming meeting in Fort Worth. An introductory workshop is scheduled for Saturday morning (January 7, 2017) and a Second-Steps workshop is scheduled for Sunday morning (January 8). I am writing to invite you to participate in this important work.

I twice attended a 2.5-day A-R workshop in Kalamazoo, Michigan, offered by Crossroads trainers, the same folks who we have been working with since the Seattle meeting. The workshops showed me that institutional racism was not of my making. It nevertheless harms people of color, provides white people with unearned privileges, and generally dehumanizes us all. In short, the work has been life affirming. I emerged from the workshops with a new resolve to try to change the institutions with which I associate, including the SHA. I feel responsible to help expose how the impacts of structural racism in the SHA make us a less inclusive organization.

I can guarantee that you will find the workshops worthwhile and strongly urge you to register before the Monday, December 19 deadline. You will gain a powerful analysis of racial relations and be on the right side of history as SHA enters our next half century. Help us create a mandate to examine how we can interrupt institutional racism in our Society and our discipline. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about the workshop or our intent.

In community,

Michael S. Nassaney
Chair, A-R subcommittee of the GMAC
Former SHA Secretary, 2006-2011
SHA Conference Co-chair, 2016