Dwayne Morgan – Understanding Race and Privilege in Our Communities
Summary and Questions for Discussion
On April 29, 2021 the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) committee hosted a special talk by Dwayne Morgan entitled “Understanding Race and Privilege in our communities.” This engaging talk included personal stories of what it is like to live as a person of colour and parent in Toronto.
Dwayne highlighted how systemic racism works, how he experiences microaggressions, how the collective trauma of racism affects communities, and how privilege plays an important role in maintaining racism. Dwayne asks us all to reflect inward and think about our roles: How are we being inclusive (or not)? How can we increase representation in our school? And how can we support our communities?
You may want to explore the following questions with yourself and with your families:
- Where do my ideas of race come from? Do I know if these are true? What do I need to unlearn?
- Why does ‘seeing yourself’ in the world matter? What can I do so that others are seen?
- How do I feel when race and privilege are talked about? What can I do to address these feelings?
- When was the last time you thought about your skin colour? Am I being treated differently (positive or negative) because of my skin?