More than 1,600 people gathered April 27-30, 2017 in Kansas City, MO for the 18th annual White Privilege Conference (WPC 18). Fifteen PSESD staff members collaborated with dozens of Road Map district and community partners, sponsored by the Race to the Top project, as a the fourth largest delegation at this year’s conference.
The White Privilege Conference creates a learning community to provide a challenging, collaborative and comprehensive experience where participants strive to empower and equip to work for equity and justice through self and social transformation. White privilege is an institutional set of benefits, including greater access to resources and power, bestowed upon people classified as white. The work of the WPC 18 supports our PSESD adaptive ENDS to Ensure the Success of Every Child and Eliminate the Opportunity Gap by Leading with Racial Equity and our goal to become an Anti-Racist Multicultural Organization.
The theme of the WPC 18 was Deconstructing the Culture of White Supremacy and Privilege: Creating Peace, Equity and Opportunity from the Heartland. Over 140 workshops were facilitated by over 210 nationally recognized presenters for participants to develop knowledge about privilege, anti-racism, oppression, and intercultural issues with the intent of action taking. Keynote teachings and sessions were offered by Eddie Moore, Jr. (WPC founder), Glenn E. Singleton, Michael Eric Dyson, Amer Ahmed, Hsiao-Wen Lo, and Jacqueline Keeler. Themes presented by keynote speakers covered an array is topics including courageous conversations about white privilege, examining whiteness, white privilege, white power, and white supremacy, opportunity to dispel basic misconceptions about Islam and learn about the current state of Islamaphobia America, explore intersectionality and identity, and a challenge to consider if it is possible to be an “ethical colonist.“
If you would like to learn more from PSESD staff who attended the WPC 18, please contact Melia LaCour, Executive Director of Equity in Education, at MLaCour@psesd.org.
