Before We Were White

Ceremony and Ancestral Recovery for Anti-racist Action

Online Workshop Series presented by White Awake
Facilitators: Eleanor Hancock and Darcy Ottey

For more information and to register: 
https://tinyurl.com/b4wewerewhite

Cost: $75 - no one turned away

“Your culture is your medicine.” - Jeff Duncan-Andrade, La Cultura Cura

"Before We Were White" is an online workshop series for white-identified people seeking greater emotional resilience in their work against racism and for a sustainable future. Together we will explore how ceremonial practice and ancestral identity help us challenge white supremacy as whole people.

Each of us belongs to a collective body of people with a story (or stories) that reach before us and after us in time. Before we were ever classified as “white”, our ancestors were distinct peoples with their own unique culture - their own unique “medicine” (to quote Dr. Duncan-Andrade). What happened to us? What have our ancestors done? And what can we do, now, to stop the trauma from continuing, repair the harm, and build a better future?

Together we will address these questions, and build our resilience, by connecting with ancestral stories across these four thresholds of remembrance: ancestors who lived as indigenous people, with deep ties to land and place; ancestors who experienced domination and destruction of traditional ways of life; ancestors who participated in violence and subjugation of other people's (directly or indirectly); and ancestors who resisted all along the way.

Through this interactive workshop series, facilitators Darcy Ottey (Co-Founder, Youth Passageways) and Eleanor Hancock (Director, White Awake) will help you:

• Establish a baseline of understanding of what whiteness is, why it was formed, and how it is impacting our society today.

• Explore techniques to support the recovery of the Original Instructions our oldest, indigenous ancestors received; mourn and repair the damage that has been done to us and by us; and open ourselves to further instructions for our work at this moment in history.

• Develop skills for ceremony and ritual that are vital aspects of healing and resilience. Understand cultural appropriation and learn tools for healthy, cross-cultural exchange.

• Bring all of these learnings out into your life, and draw upon them in your work for racial justice and collective liberation.