“But if we do that, we will lose people!” Have you heard these words before in a meeting? Someone proposes an idea that is in keeping with the mission or values of an organization, and the idea is not shot down on its merits, but rather because there is a fear that it will turn … Continue reading Episode 279: White Supremacy Culture – “Progress! Bigger! More!”

Have you ever been the victim of a lost story? Viola Davis tells a story in her autobiography “Finding Me” of a time when she was in elementary school wearing clothing that smelled badly. Her teacher could have told herself a story that black people like Viola didn’t care about standards of cleanliness and that … Continue reading Episode 278: White Supremacy Culture – “Either/Or – There Is No Between”

Who is qualified to make a decision? Like it or not, it is in the human nature to continually evaluate our surroundings based on almost imperceptible judgements. Sometimes these judgements keep us alive. Our bodies remember things to keep us safe, to “jump out of the way” of all sorts of perceived dangers. Some of … Continue reading Episode 277: White Supremacy Culture – “Who is Qualified?”

Do you think you know other people’s motives? A lot of us do. I remember working in a psychiatric hospital many years ago where a part of my job was to write down the observations I made about the individuals under my care. It took training to try to describe factually what I noticed in … Continue reading Episode 276: White Supremacy Culture – “Antidotes to Objectivity.”

I know a number of perfectionists who tell me that one of the things they like most about their personality is that they strive to make things better. And it makes sense, there are a lot of things about the world, and about ourselves, that could benefit from improvement. But one of the things which … Continue reading Episode 275: White Supremacy Culture – “Antidotes to Perfectionism.”

Everyone has a perspective or bias, and most of us like to think that our biases are accurate. As a therapist, I often hear couples tell me about the problems in their relationship, and I will ask each partner to tell me the story of the problem. Often these stories are somewhat different, reflecting the … Continue reading Episode 274: White Supremacy Culture – “Objectivity and Paternalism.”

What makes you feel good about yourself? I remember how much I used to dread performance evaluations. I remember so often feeling anxious, my palms would sweat, I’d feel restless, and have this sick feeling in my stomach in the hour before I’d have my yearly performance review. I hated it. It like I was … Continue reading Episode 273: White Supremacy Culture – “Perfectionism.”

What makes you afraid? A common thing that people across cultures run into is having a fear of unfamiliar foods. New flavors, textures, or smells can create strong responses – sometimes embarrassingly strong responses. However, we tend to think that the food “we” like is … “normal.” I remember discovering that some of my non-American … Continue reading Episode 272: White Supremacy Culture – “Fear of Disconnection.”

The Antioch Podcast is a team of Christian antiracism educators and friends who gather every week to have a conversation about faith, race and the things that matter in our lives. We are a diverse group, but recognize that many of us are… well, we aren’t the youngest people doing this work. So today, we … Continue reading Episode 271: Hannah Reed – “Strength, Struggle and the Shepherd.”

The Intercultural Development Inventory is a tool to help individuals and organizations assess their cultural competence and chart a path to increase this competence over time.  Last year, we took the IDI as a team, and since then, we have reflected on and grown from the information we learned from the experience. On today’s episode, … Continue reading Episode 270: The Intercultural Development Inventory – “Kissing Doesn’t Count.”