Through intergroup dialogue I had a realization that I wouldn’t do that if I were a man.
Understanding how to transform ourselves in order to transform the world. Just because I don’t
feel that sense of like trauma does it mean other people jobs and I started to realize that the
privilege that I had a quote of not having to you skip few value creativity if you value innovation if
you value looking long and longer-term Trends not just short-term deliverables and short-term
profits that you’re looking to create something that is sustainable for the long-term then you
need diversity hi there this is Hope Crystal Let’s begin with B in my story of why I believe in our
group dialogue is incredibly powerful and I’ll started during my sophomore year under one
specific class when we were talking about high school and I had a major aha moment at the
beginning of every semester I remember talking to my friends and classmates about what
classes I was taking for the upcoming semester I would always sign up for the highest classes
when I would tell classmates what classes I was taken and then say I would say that to not
sound like I was sort of full of myself and I got great grades although I was really hard working
class Intergroup dialogue I thought but I say this if I were a man what I justify my Advanced
course load by saying oh but I’ll probably drop one and the answer was no I wouldn’t Society
smarter and that men are supposed to be taking the higher classes and this realization really
helped me recognize this equality about my intelligence that’s small change in behavior that I
recognized dialog class is the true power of Intergroup dialogue today I will be speaking with
several people in order to help shed light on what is Intergroup dialogue next I talked to her a
you a code facilitator of the white racial identity group to get her take on what Intergroup
dialogue is so are you can you tell us to you essentially a space for really for students to be able
to to come into a space to Dialogue on a specific topic here perspectives learn critical
Consciousness learn steps to take afterwards in active but in different communities talk about
the social issues that they may not have had an opportunity to talk about previously really
understand their social role and their how their identity in perspective please into into that issue
were into that conflict with their talking about were you just threw out a lot of important social
justice terminology like critical Consciousness and active Ali Hood let’s all take a step back let’s
start off simple why does Intergroup dialogue matter why does diversity matter and Professor
Chris Mueller from the Ross School of Business to get a business take on the value of diversity
find the value of Intergroup dialogue and diversity to be that if you value creativity if you value
innovation if you value looking long and longer-term Trends not just short-term deliverables and
short-terms profit but you’re looking to create something that is sustainable for the long-term
diversity you need a diversity of perspectives because if it’s something tangible like a product
that you’re developing and you’ve got people with common background some perspective very
likely to program blind spots or features into it that will push away meaningful segments of
customers because you didn’t have that representation of the tape things Chris so clearly
diversity is important 14 but what happens when there’s a lack of diversity having a bunch of
people who think the same way as efficient having a bunch of people with similar backgrounds
and similar experiences who think of a similar way I’ll be at the highly-trained potentially very
smart lots of expertise the lack of diversity if it if there’s a homogeneous form of thinking it’s a
very efficient they’re likely to speak the same language they’re likely to communicate with each
other and be very productive they’re also likely to come to the same conclusions and therefore
be very efficient in their work but not very interesting and not very creative and it’s it’s a policy or
a practice or an organizational structure rather than That suit our needs because our needs are
and if you want to build a team in organization that has creativity that has the ability has the
ability to anticipate the needs of tomorrow instead of just needs of today then you need to have
diversity of representation in order to point out the blind spots that we all have and that we all
bring to a conversation Chris shares that diversity and Intergroup dialogue is important because
it feeds creativity and long-term stocks now that we understand a little bit more about the how
does the Intergroup dialogue program actually Define dialogue abroad definition of dialogue is
that facilitated learning experience over sustained. Of time to understand and explore let’s hear
a little bit from Maya a student in the white racial identity group to hear about what was her
experience like going into a group very interesting to walk in this class all the same, I know there
are so many differences is country labels you as soon as I’m not 40 now I’m not black like
there’s this is all I have and it was so interesting cuz I’ve never really had that experience was
very eye-opening to see green levels of Lake identities even though it was all like a white class
that’s really interesting and helpful to hear Amaya was there anything during your class that
really Reef Ranger your view of the world and you of whiteness white supremacist who is it was
such a big deal because they know they’re public institutions targeting history and and I
remember being in that class and I’m thinking very in my mind logically Michigan coming for him
know but I don’t think it’s their place to not have them come what is logically like morally correct I
guess and I remember this girl she was Jewish and she was very adamant very strong you
know it’s kind of like an argumentative like you’re having these conversations in this
conversation I began to like take away and realize oh I think because of my weight is my
understanding that you know all these systems and stuff because serve to protect me and you
know other white folks but then you have a white supremacist she’s like very anti-semitic he’s
coming to campus and How Deeply that can expect you or is it it wasn’t expecting me so why
why should I care if he comes or not Amazon that moment and in that conversation I began to
very much realize that while like I understand how something as simple as someone coming to
have a talk upholding freedom of speech out like deeply traumatic that can be so and I think that
applies to not only Jewish people to anybody really I think that was a big takeaway for me was
just because I don’t feel that sense of like trauma does it mean that other people don’t and I
started to realize that end in like the privileged that I had for them quote of not having to give up
incredible and I think that is something that speaks to the power of Intergroup dialogue like
when else would you have an experience like that where you’re in a classroom people with a
bunch of different identities talking and being open about their perspectives on a topic and being
able to have a major take really. Of racial strife and conflict on many college campuses in the
United States Intergroup dialogue brings together 12 to 18 people from two or more social
identity groups are supported by a curriculum effective and behavioral dimensions of learning
are chosen to the composition of their dialogue for example a dialogue involving men and
women would have one male and one female facilitator igr or Intergroup relations at the
University of Michigan is divided into several sections into one of several groups including
sexual orientation and white racial identity now that we know a little bit more about Intergroup
dialogue let’s learn about white racial identity group beginning Community getting comfortable
and then we go into Hot Topic specifically in our group like I said we’re talking about this is not
topic but what type of way right side sew-in Hot Topics we talked about affirmative action know
when you’re born it’s a different patterns we fall into and all time for unconscious of these
different belief systems that were apart of and starting to mitigate those biases is the
internalized and when black people are killed in instant block before killed in the street and the
social contract is that the police are supposed to protect not broken social social contract so
looting and rioting is completely acceptable. So moving in Friday night is completely acceptable
and next steps for people on what that looks like and what really being an effective active Ally
looks like you mention critical Consciousness what is critical Consciousness so a lot of what we
do is awareness-building I’m going to use my group specifically just because we talking about
privilege so what what do we do with that privilege if we become just aware of that privilege we
don’t learn how to like Leverage a privilege to serve whiteness we’re not we’re not being active
with that we’re not doing anything with it so it’s really important with critical Consciousness that
we are conscious we are critical of that we are critical of the systems that play into this that feed
into These Arms of stomach issues social work on the racism and we are doing things to work
with this privilege we are aware and Reggie Keating a lot of work teaching our participants and
we’re teaching ourselves as how to leverage that white privilege was there and were utilizing its
help marginalized communities you mentioned the cycle of Liberation what is that there’s four
stages the first stages kind of need to know what other getting to know your specific topic
second is kind of driving into it more third is Hot Topics in Forest really creating action points
from the program because dialogue is a form of social change people don’t necessarily ways
but there’s a lot to it cool so Intergroup dialogue is a form of social justice the Value Inn in a roof.
Understanding how to become Scholars of belonging like that slowly quote from Adrian Brown
and moving towards transformative jostes like I said not just being a part of a system heartbeat
and allies a white person how to really really work towards that and not just changing your
profile on Instagram or writing a or donating because it’s not that’s not where it ends and I think
it’s where people got it kind of mixed up because it’s not really all I have is a verb so and it’s also
talking about these issues and understanding that we may not all be in agreement on certain
things but I think that coming to see different perspectives on these issue Really Alex is a verb
so and it’s also talking about these issues and understanding that we may not all be in
agreement on certain things but I think that coming to see different perspectives on these issues
and has Fates well space with all white people was really transformative for a lot of people what
would you say to someone you know from this class from what you’ve learned from leading at
what are the things that people should be doing there’s a lot of things the first thing is honestly
for a lot of people joining a dialogue is a first huge stuff that’s a huge part of social change and
people aren’t always necessarily aware of $20 during different perspectives different lived
experiences listening being being present and not taking up space that’s a huge part of being a
huge part of learning how to be an ally it’s it’s about learning to mess up but changing your
actively changing her behaviors afterwards not having it as a reply repetition and just posting on
the internet like kind of like mindlessly I want to say that it’s always my list but I think that that’s
an easy way for a lot of people it’s about doing things in being apart of actions and not seeking
recognition for it that’s huge it’s committing to doing your own work without seeking recognition
zorawar it’s asking questions about the system weather that’s your you’ve been whitewash your
education or other ways as well asking yourself why certain things by certain systems are the
way they are the answer to a lot of it is systemic racism it’s about building relationships and
friendships with people who aren’t white but not having a p and tokenizing relationship that’s a
huge huge piece and a lot of people are like I have a black friend or Latino friend and that that’s
not where it ends it’s also being present surround yourself with different identities but not like I
said have it as a token of satient at all and anyway redistributing resources so redistributing
money leadership electing people of different Present yourself with different identities different
social identities different racial identities and a really having decision-making power finally beat
by person and not all white with joining a dialogue you started out this episode by talking about
why Intergroup dialogue is incredibly powerful to me where I highlighted my aha moment
regarding gender Norms in education in high school well let’s under by how Intergroup dialogue
continues to constantly impact me in a positive way my social justice education through
Intergroup dialogue has come full circle from the beginning of college to my senior year I’ll do
my learning from Intergroup dialogue comes through in many aspects of my life when all
encompassing experience was this year when I was pure coaching a female student, cheer
coach I’ll never forget when I was doing a mock interview with a female student and she raised
a concern to me that she was nervous that she sounded overconfident full of herself in an
interview I remember taking a pause in that moment and I asked her would you have this
concern if you are a man she answered no question help the student to reframe reveal stinking
in an interview to highlight her key experiences and accomplishments for what they are great
successes that she can share this is just one of many times intergroup dialogue has helped me
make a positive difference in someone’s life it was a pleasure to have you join me to listen to
dialogue it out special thanks to Chris Mueller Mia McCrumb please consider a class and tell
your friends about it you will hear next from Mia Who shared her story podcast with united we stand
