EVALUATION REPORT
a) Those who collected/organized/displayed information:
b) Those who shared/furnished/provided information (e.g., individuals who gave interviews, recorded their oral histories)
Over 150 people engaged in the community conversations, the Summit on Racism, the White Allies Workshops and the Michigan Stories workshops. All of those participants shared their oral testimonies regarding their experiences with race and racism with the individuals in the workshops. Here excerpts of some of those experiences to the left in the share audio evaluation file.
c) Those who received information (e.g., individuals, parents, families, members of the general public, audiences who attended events, exhibits, forums, school plays, etc.).
Over 150 people engaged in the community conversations, the Summit on Racism, the White Allies Workshops and the Michigan Stories workshops. Those people were a combination of high school and college students, community members, members of the health care community, the secondary education community, the non-profit community and the arts community.
2. What were the primary intended outcomes of your effort? To what extent were these achieved? Please elaborate so that readers understand what was intended, what evaluation methods were used, and what findings emerged from your evaluation.
We intended that the major outcome would be that the individual moments each participant would experience in attending events and participating in workshops would be transformative and as a result would mean healing of the individual, the black community, the larger community and the collective community.
In so many ways, the project exceeded the expected outcomes because in the community conversations individual participants had such transformative experiences around race and racism that they asked for a series of White Ally and People of Color workshops. Those workshops then led to a White Ally and People of Color team to work on race issues in Kalamazoo. The People of Color constructed a working document to share with the White Allies in order to give tools for activist. Here is the list they constructed.
How to Act Like an Ally
Some of the other major transformations are reflected in the comments below:
Martha Beverly <[email protected]>
May 19
Thank you for your continuing presence towards encouraging white people to learn how to begin these important steps to take care of our business and reduce and someday eliminate racism. This is overwhelming work and sometimes frustrates me at its slow progress. But it is important work.
Rochelle Habeck <[email protected]>
Hi Denise,
With thanks to you and Gail for your commitment, courage and competence in leading into this space of becoming better able to be together in real and beneficial ways to fight against racism in ourselves and our world.
Denise, Thank you so much to you and your collaborators for a beautiful performance. It was a privilege to be there, and I believe it deserves a wide, even regional or larger, audience.
best wishes,
Arthur L. Riley
Hello Ms. Miller,
Thank you for the Common Threads performance today. It was enjoyable and thought-provoking.
I didn't get a chance to thank you in person, but I did ask if I could take your photograph, and you said yes. Thank you for that. I posted the photo on my Humans of Kalamazoo - 2016 FB page. It came out really nice. Here's a link to it: https://www.facebook.com/humansofkalamazoo2016/photos/a.703290423107560.1073741828.703222093114393/740536842716251/?type=3&theater. I hope you like it, too.
Thanks again.
Signed,
Frank
3. If not explicitly addressed in #2, how did you attempt to address issues of racial equity through your project? To what extent were your efforts successful, and how do you know?
4. Each Heritage grantee was asked to implement a “most significant change” process as part of their evaluation. In connection to this,
Here are some select "I Was/I Am" responses. The others are complied below:
I was ... well-intentioned, trained in ERACE twice, active in community dialogue, and trying to incorporate my learning into my actions.
I am... The workshop reinforced my understanding that I cannot step inside the skin and the hurt of being non-white, and it has laid out strategies and bolstered my courage and creativity to voice my own feelings when I hear or see racism, especially in my own communities where contact with others would be most effective.
I was unsure how to move further into my own desire and need to be an effective ally in several areas of work where I am deeply involved and which require this effective ally-ship.
I am more hopeful and gaining confidence about walking into the space of uncertainty. I gained some good examples from our processing of the dinner table article in how to use I statements when things are awkward in our work and seek clarification from POC allies in our work.
I was feeling discouraged about the work that I am involved which requires addressing racism as the core component (The Infant Mortality Initiative) and am feeling a little more hopeful about our ability to work together to find some ways through
5. Did you note any unintended outcomes of your work? If so, please explain.
Please submit copies of any additional evaluation materials you used or collected (audience surveys, etc.).
Please see the an excerpted audio and then the compiled evaluations for each of the activities below.
- Who did you serve through your project? Please describe the number of people in the categories below.
a) Those who collected/organized/displayed information:
- Michelle S. Johnson, PhD - historian for the State of Michigan and exhibit administrator for Exhibits for A New Century
- Western Michigan University students from Mitch Kachun PhD's Michigan History course
- One student intern from Kalamazoo College
- One student intern from Kalamazoo Valley Community College
- One Kalamazoo Central High School student
- One Kalamazoo community member
- Two employees of SHARE
- Patty Parker from the Governor's Mansion in Marshall, MI
- WMUK Michigan Public Radio
- Kalamazoo Institute of the Arts
- The ARCUS Center for Social Justice Leadership at Kalamazoo College
b) Those who shared/furnished/provided information (e.g., individuals who gave interviews, recorded their oral histories)
Over 150 people engaged in the community conversations, the Summit on Racism, the White Allies Workshops and the Michigan Stories workshops. All of those participants shared their oral testimonies regarding their experiences with race and racism with the individuals in the workshops. Here excerpts of some of those experiences to the left in the share audio evaluation file.
c) Those who received information (e.g., individuals, parents, families, members of the general public, audiences who attended events, exhibits, forums, school plays, etc.).
Over 150 people engaged in the community conversations, the Summit on Racism, the White Allies Workshops and the Michigan Stories workshops. Those people were a combination of high school and college students, community members, members of the health care community, the secondary education community, the non-profit community and the arts community.
2. What were the primary intended outcomes of your effort? To what extent were these achieved? Please elaborate so that readers understand what was intended, what evaluation methods were used, and what findings emerged from your evaluation.
We intended that the major outcome would be that the individual moments each participant would experience in attending events and participating in workshops would be transformative and as a result would mean healing of the individual, the black community, the larger community and the collective community.
In so many ways, the project exceeded the expected outcomes because in the community conversations individual participants had such transformative experiences around race and racism that they asked for a series of White Ally and People of Color workshops. Those workshops then led to a White Ally and People of Color team to work on race issues in Kalamazoo. The People of Color constructed a working document to share with the White Allies in order to give tools for activist. Here is the list they constructed.
How to Act Like an Ally
- Be willing to listen
- Don’t get stopped by fear
- Do not be afraid of the pain that can be caused by fighting racism.
- Allocate or help agitate for the even distribution of wealth and resources.
- Take an honest self-assessment and understand your own racism.
- Be prepared to walk the talk. If you pledge to be a part of the fight against racism, be prepared to do what you are asked to successfully fight.
- Be willing to truly listen and fully hear the stories of people of color.
- Do not drop the ball. Do what you commit to and do it in a timely manner.
- Do not judge people of color.
- Do not make assumptions about who people of color are, but instead listen to who we say we are and believe it.
- Seek out answers for yourself instead of expecting people of color to give you the answers.
- Attend events and forums that discuss different levels of trauma related to race and racism in order to get more equipped for the fight against racism.
- Be devious if necessary in order to fight racism.
- Stay strong in the face of criticism from white peers.
- Decentralize yourself.
- Value people of color experiences as they relate to race and racism.
Some of the other major transformations are reflected in the comments below:
Martha Beverly <[email protected]>
May 19
Thank you for your continuing presence towards encouraging white people to learn how to begin these important steps to take care of our business and reduce and someday eliminate racism. This is overwhelming work and sometimes frustrates me at its slow progress. But it is important work.
Rochelle Habeck <[email protected]>
Hi Denise,
With thanks to you and Gail for your commitment, courage and competence in leading into this space of becoming better able to be together in real and beneficial ways to fight against racism in ourselves and our world.
Denise, Thank you so much to you and your collaborators for a beautiful performance. It was a privilege to be there, and I believe it deserves a wide, even regional or larger, audience.
best wishes,
Arthur L. Riley
Hello Ms. Miller,
Thank you for the Common Threads performance today. It was enjoyable and thought-provoking.
I didn't get a chance to thank you in person, but I did ask if I could take your photograph, and you said yes. Thank you for that. I posted the photo on my Humans of Kalamazoo - 2016 FB page. It came out really nice. Here's a link to it: https://www.facebook.com/humansofkalamazoo2016/photos/a.703290423107560.1073741828.703222093114393/740536842716251/?type=3&theater. I hope you like it, too.
Thanks again.
Signed,
Frank
3. If not explicitly addressed in #2, how did you attempt to address issues of racial equity through your project? To what extent were your efforts successful, and how do you know?
4. Each Heritage grantee was asked to implement a “most significant change” process as part of their evaluation. In connection to this,
- Tell us briefly how you implemented your most significant change process, given the context of your grant (e.g., who was asked to respond, and how? Who was involved in processing responses?)
Here are some select "I Was/I Am" responses. The others are complied below:
I was ... well-intentioned, trained in ERACE twice, active in community dialogue, and trying to incorporate my learning into my actions.
I am... The workshop reinforced my understanding that I cannot step inside the skin and the hurt of being non-white, and it has laid out strategies and bolstered my courage and creativity to voice my own feelings when I hear or see racism, especially in my own communities where contact with others would be most effective.
I was unsure how to move further into my own desire and need to be an effective ally in several areas of work where I am deeply involved and which require this effective ally-ship.
I am more hopeful and gaining confidence about walking into the space of uncertainty. I gained some good examples from our processing of the dinner table article in how to use I statements when things are awkward in our work and seek clarification from POC allies in our work.
I was feeling discouraged about the work that I am involved which requires addressing racism as the core component (The Infant Mortality Initiative) and am feeling a little more hopeful about our ability to work together to find some ways through
- Please characterize the significant change stories you collected. Provide copies of illustrative responses. Tell us about those you considered most significant, and why.
The significant change stories were almost always stories that moved from hopeless to hopeful. By and large, most participants had given up on seeing any real possibility for shifting racism. By the end of workshops or performances, many participants realized that they were not in the struggle alone, they gained greater self awareness and ultimately began to realize that they could connect with and/or rely on people regardless of color.
I was (Please describe your attitudes about allyship before the workshop.)
- Thankful for those that are willing to take positive steps. But if an ally isn’t organizing systemic change, it truly means little.
- Have grown to believe that whites can het honest about their history & continued treatment of people of color & change the world in which we live.
- feeling pretty hopeless about white attitudes of privilege and racism
- Friends, Relatives, people who think like I do.
- aware and working to fix the problem
- skeptical
- & continue to be open to discussing Racism, white privilege, etc.
- hoping for the best
- I don’t know what this [allyship] means
- Uncertain how to develop allies with people of color.
- feeling pretty hopeless about white attitudes of privilege and racism
- modestly ignorant of where I stand on allyship
- Eager, open, nervous (for various forms of oppression to show up in the room)
- willing to be the best ally that can be, including my failures. Always eager to be of service to others.
- ignorant of what allyship requires of me
- dedicated to becoming an ally – hopeful w/lofty goals
- well ready to learn more about how to be a better ally
- would try often to be accepted?
I am (Please describe your attitudes about allyship after the workshop. - Good to see white people trying. Call me when this or any other group organizes to produce real change. I just learned this community is raising $2.8 million to rebuild Bronson Park. What if this community raised that for Minority Economic Development
- Pleased as I progress
- Hopefull [sic]
- excited that these discussions are occurring and that there are white allys invoved and acknowledging the existence of white privilege
- People who are willing to listen and be open to other cultures.
- finding the truth
- ?
- feeling more comfortable after hearing other people talk about what gets them ‘unstuck’ I know what to do
- excited that these discussions are occurring and that there are white allys [sic] involved and acknowledging the existence of white privilege
- less ignorant and not yet fully capable
- Frustrated w/the ways in which white privilege plays out even in this space, but also hopeful that others see that too and will challenge themselves
- more equiped [sic]to be an effective (I hope) ally.
- making a start. I feel I still have a long way to go to overcome white fragility, an impediment to true, deeply ingrained allyship
- more grounded and understanding
- aware that there is so much work for me to do personally & for us to do to change society
- need to approach the situation willing to learn
Please use the space below to describe any changes you experienced during or after participating in the workshops. I was - Appreciate the effort
- fearful to share my true views about racism with white people in the room.
- Concerned about openness of all (white & people of color)
- Thinking this was a one shot deal
- -very pleased . I came, and I learned a lot.
- in denial about dealing with white privilege & white privilege at Quaker meeting.
- very pleased to be in an environment where these issues are fully open to discussion. – This is not my usual experience.
- motivated to be involved and check in.
- & still am looking for deeper understandings of my white privilege in order to have the awareness with me all the time.
- feeling an inability to be very articulate on issues of race, white privilege when faced with blatant (or subtle) racism.
- comfortable and content
- can I make a difference?
I am - Still appreciate the conversation. But it’s still talk. When white people really care about a particular issue. They put their money where their mouth is. Our community needs economic development. Not community meetings. Self reliance, not complete economic dependence. Racism is about controlling economics, not bigotry.
- more comfortable, but I am still vigilant about letting my feelings and opinions out.
- Glad to see openness of some, but not of all
- Thinking this may be a lifetime commitment
- want to thank you
- planning to write up something about white privilege & white privilege for our newsletter
- still motivated, and refreshed by the new folks
- more determined than ever to continue my own education & find the courage to be more present in the world of anti-racism work.
- uncomfortable & still content – this means I’m learning and i [sic] love learning
- feel a part of the group working for change
- Discuss any reflections within your organization about findings from this process. Did this process yield useful information for you? How might it influence your work in the future?
This process illicited a wealth of information from participants that is helping us to set up a series of workshops for 2016 and 2017 that will connect them to more resources that will get them to find organizations and individuals working for change.
5. Did you note any unintended outcomes of your work? If so, please explain.
Please submit copies of any additional evaluation materials you used or collected (audience surveys, etc.).
Please see the an excerpted audio and then the compiled evaluations for each of the activities below.
share_audio_evaulation_8.2.16.mp3 | |
File Size: | 23513 kb |
File Type: | mp3 |
Summit on Racism Compiled Evaluations
White Ally Workshop Survey Compiled Results
Scholar Biographies and Pension Records Workshop Results
Excerpt of Transcript (Transcribed by Michelle S Johnson):
Jacob
African-American biracial male and working with SHARE Society for History and Racial Equity I got pulled into the work through that and also as an individual who has family roots in Kalamazoo, definitely interested in a personal level for sure but also tied to it through the work of share. Glad to be doing it attended most of the workshops that you put on for SHARE and I think I've been at the table for most of the history meet ups.
My name is Heshima Spague. I am 16 years old and I got involved through you guys and my mom. I went to a few of your workshops and I've just been to these workshops on the pension records
My name is Laura Sprague I'll be 50 this year. I'm white. And I have been involved in this project through the controlling the narrative project first and then we had a pension meeting party. We all read pension records and then there was a radio project then that day. And then I got further involved in it.
My name is Haley. I am 21. I am white. I am the summer intern for society for history and racial equity and I got asked from Donna Odom if I wanted to partake in the second half of the controlling the narrative and I got asked to attend the workshop that is the pension records. I said yes because I'm here and I figured that that would help and better broaden the work that I'm doing for the society.
My name is Jesslyn Leach African-American biracial 21 years old and got involved in the pension records workshop. Thinking of controlling the narrative and the conversations that we had with white allies for example and the conversations we had before that around people like Tamir Rice and ancestors of African Americans that have been killed and the pension records. What was the most significant change that you might have seen through this whole project? Overall what do you think if you felt any big change in yourself or in your any big change in your community what would that be?
Jacob
Thinking back to some of the controlling the narrative workshops, and I guess it's just really sticking with me, and going to the pension records and history stuff in general, the idea around who is writing down history or information and who were getting it from. Who's controlling the narrative. I know that was the name of it but like literally who, as we sit around the table and put together a collection of individuals and their history in southwest Michigan, just thinking about that and everything. Who's the teller of the story and realizing how much that matters in terms of their analysis of whatever. Thinking about recent events in the media and race and racism is definitely like through some of the conversations. It helps to reiterate that some of these folks just don't know what they're talking about in terms of the who we’re listening to get our information from. Folks just don't know what they're talking about.
Denise
More pointedly, you can think along the lines of how did the experiences that you've had effect your thoughts or beliefs about race in this community? How has it effected how you think about yourself?How has it effected even what you think about your community? All of those are fair game. Even internal changes our external views that have changed
Heshima
I think I've become more aware and I've read about it and kind of understood more of my history and what my African-American ancestors went through. It's crazy. It's like something that I wouldn't learn in school so it's good to learn it now. I can understand it with in myself so that is better than what I knew before.
Denise
Has that affected you in anyway?
I guess it just makes me stop and think more and try to relate current events and current things that have happened to what's happening in the past and how people are treated then and how they're treated now.
Denise
What connections do you see?
Officials don't really care about hurting black bodies, if that makes sense. Jeremiah Stafford he was shivering and freezing while he was sleeping and the sergeant came in there and didn't do anything about it he was like "I'm surprised you're not dead" You know what I'm saying? But now a body can just lay in the street dead for four hours." You know what I'm saying?
Jacob
African-American biracial male and working with SHARE Society for History and Racial Equity I got pulled into the work through that and also as an individual who has family roots in Kalamazoo, definitely interested in a personal level for sure but also tied to it through the work of share. Glad to be doing it attended most of the workshops that you put on for SHARE and I think I've been at the table for most of the history meet ups.
My name is Heshima Spague. I am 16 years old and I got involved through you guys and my mom. I went to a few of your workshops and I've just been to these workshops on the pension records
My name is Laura Sprague I'll be 50 this year. I'm white. And I have been involved in this project through the controlling the narrative project first and then we had a pension meeting party. We all read pension records and then there was a radio project then that day. And then I got further involved in it.
My name is Haley. I am 21. I am white. I am the summer intern for society for history and racial equity and I got asked from Donna Odom if I wanted to partake in the second half of the controlling the narrative and I got asked to attend the workshop that is the pension records. I said yes because I'm here and I figured that that would help and better broaden the work that I'm doing for the society.
My name is Jesslyn Leach African-American biracial 21 years old and got involved in the pension records workshop. Thinking of controlling the narrative and the conversations that we had with white allies for example and the conversations we had before that around people like Tamir Rice and ancestors of African Americans that have been killed and the pension records. What was the most significant change that you might have seen through this whole project? Overall what do you think if you felt any big change in yourself or in your any big change in your community what would that be?
Jacob
Thinking back to some of the controlling the narrative workshops, and I guess it's just really sticking with me, and going to the pension records and history stuff in general, the idea around who is writing down history or information and who were getting it from. Who's controlling the narrative. I know that was the name of it but like literally who, as we sit around the table and put together a collection of individuals and their history in southwest Michigan, just thinking about that and everything. Who's the teller of the story and realizing how much that matters in terms of their analysis of whatever. Thinking about recent events in the media and race and racism is definitely like through some of the conversations. It helps to reiterate that some of these folks just don't know what they're talking about in terms of the who we’re listening to get our information from. Folks just don't know what they're talking about.
Denise
More pointedly, you can think along the lines of how did the experiences that you've had effect your thoughts or beliefs about race in this community? How has it effected how you think about yourself?How has it effected even what you think about your community? All of those are fair game. Even internal changes our external views that have changed
Heshima
I think I've become more aware and I've read about it and kind of understood more of my history and what my African-American ancestors went through. It's crazy. It's like something that I wouldn't learn in school so it's good to learn it now. I can understand it with in myself so that is better than what I knew before.
Denise
Has that affected you in anyway?
I guess it just makes me stop and think more and try to relate current events and current things that have happened to what's happening in the past and how people are treated then and how they're treated now.
Denise
What connections do you see?
Officials don't really care about hurting black bodies, if that makes sense. Jeremiah Stafford he was shivering and freezing while he was sleeping and the sergeant came in there and didn't do anything about it he was like "I'm surprised you're not dead" You know what I'm saying? But now a body can just lay in the street dead for four hours." You know what I'm saying?