Courageous Conversations on Race

Talking Across Difference - The Language of Racism

Last Wednesday’s JEDI Event: Courageous Conversations on Race - Talking Across Difference - The Language of Racism on May 12th, marked the third time Teela Foxworth joined with SMPS Oregon for a discussion about what all of us can do to interrupt racist microaggressions in the workplace as well as everyday life.

Tickets were $15 for those who are not SMPS members and all proceeds will be donated to Albina Vision, a local organization focused on honoring the history of the Albina community that once was, while remaining focused on the brighter future to come. Their goal is to bring back a sense of community to the Albina neighborhood and think about its future. Winta Yohannes spoke on behalf of the organization, giving us an introduction to the work they are doing. Once a thriving Black cultural center in Portland, the Albina neighborhood became a tangled web of infrastructure through a series of urban renewal decisions. Yohannes asked, “will the center of our city reflect our highest ideals or the ugliest racism of our past?” The organization aims to honor what was, what happened, and what could be. They have assembled a design work to create a new vision for a Black Community in Albina, incorporating Black Joy in every step of the process.

Earlier this year, Teela Foxworth had two DEI discussion in her series: One with the SMPS Oregon board that focused heavily on introducing the what and why of DEI; and one open to anyone to focus on perspective and identity (read a recap of that event).

This third event included Foxworth’s incredibly helpful presentation on conversations on race, as well as a panel of AEC industry firms who are working on their own DEI goals. Teela started with some Diversity, Equity and Inclusion reminders, including an excellent point from Anais Nin: “we see the world as WE are, not as it is.” She explained the difference between “calling in” – a solution-based method of inviting voices to be heard across perspectives – and “calling out” – shaming and critiquing without offering a solution.

Foxworth then explained several types of microaggressions that BIPOC experience regularly. For example, someone may commit the Denial of Racism microaggression when they claim, “I’m not racist, my best friend is black.” The Ascription of Intelligence microaggression occurs when someone says to a BIPOC individual, “you are so articulate,” therefore assigning levels of intelligence to race.

Then, Foxworth gives many examples of ways to interrupt these microaggressions when we notice them, going from indirect to most direct:

• Ask a Question: To someone who says, “your English is great, where are you from?” we can respond “I’m curious, what makes you ask that?”
• Paraphrase: In response to excessive force in police violence, some might say “they’re criminals, they deserve what they got.” We can respond, “so it sounds like you’re saying that no matter what crimes one commits, and if they haven’t had a full and fair trial, that they deserve to die as a punishment?”
• Reframing: When someone says something like “I didn’t have any handouts! Everyone has the same opportunities.” We can reframe by saying “Do you think it could be possible that not everyone’s experiences are the same? There may be some struggles we don’t see because we aren’t confronted with them.”
• Create Space: When a minority coworker is spoken over in a meeting, we can say something like, “Teela brings up a great point! Teela, can you repeat your point so that everyone can hear?”
• Use I Statements: When someone says something like “all lives matter” we can respond using an I statement, such as, “I know that everyone’s lives matter, but I think the important point is that BIPOC lives are the ones under threat right now and we need to put our attention on how to fix systemic racism.”
• Direct Preference: To anyone who says, “that’s so gay” we can directly say “that statement makes me uncomfortable and I don’t tolerate homophobia.”

In the next section of the event, two leaders from AEC firms dedicated to the continued improvement of DEI in their offices spoke about the strategies their teams are using.

First, Jake Rose from Bassetti Architecture shared about the Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion (EDI) Group that formed during last summer after younger staff members wrote to the leadership to ask for real change to take place within the firm. It’s a consensus-based group without hierarchy. Rose shared that one way to achieve buy-in was to tie the mission statement to the goals of the EDI organization. The EDI committee efforts have included bimonthly firmwide EDI focused discussions, as well as a bimonthly EDI minute at all staff meetings.

Next, Pamela Kislak from LEVER Architecture shared the four questions her team worked through in regard to DEI: “What do we do internally? Externally? What do we do in the present? How can we improve for the future?” Kislak also shared that LEVER performs yearly culture assessments led by external firms, where each team member is interviewed, and the feedback is anonymously shared with leadership. LEVER also contributes to youth mentorship through Your Street Your Voice, an organization dedicated to fostering youth to claim their power and agency by using design as a tool for racial justice.

Finally, this event closed with question-and-answer session with Teela as well as Jake and Pamela. Participants were encouraged to ask questions about the methods of interrupting microaggressions as well as creating a DEI-centered working environment. One final poignant tip from Teela was to verbally express a simple “ouch” when someone does something racially insensitive, so that they can understand their words and actions do affect those around them.

We’d like to thank participants for joining us, and to Teela Foxworth, Winta Yohannes, Jake Rose, and Pamela Kislak, for sharing their perspectives at this event! To continue SMPS’s commitment to JEDI, there will be several events for the remainder of the year, including an event centered around Urban Renewal Projects and Gentrification this August.