European Descent/Dissent (ED/D)—a white accountability group whose focus is antiracism—will give a brief overview of who we are, our purpose, and how we’ve operated since our inception in 1991. We’ve been meeting monthly for 31 years and our format includes five questions that ED/D members report on at every meeting—these include how we’ve engaged with/challenged other white people about racism; what was their response; how we’ve supported people of color; how do we know they felt supported; if we haven’t done much about racism this month, what prevented us, and how can we do more. Our format is action-oriented, anchored in time, and based on the expectation of consistent performance. Our actions take place in our workplaces, neighborhoods, families, faith institutions, community organizations, and other arenas.

Our workshop will provide the same structure and format for participants that we utilize ourselves at our monthly accountability meetings. We’ll divide the large group into smaller groups, each of which will be facilitated by one of our members. We’ll pose the same five questions to participants that we respond to at our own meetings.