Undoing Racism

Undoing Racism is the signature workshop of The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond, a collective of anti-racist, multicultural community organizers and educators.

The scene in the film from this workshop lasts about 10 minutes, but the workshop itself lasted nearly two full days and included deep dialogue, reflection, and presentations, challenging the teens to analyze poverty, systemic racism and power structures in the United States. This workshop made an incredible impact on the group. As one of them said when she got back to her regular life in New York, “How do I go back from this?”

Before the group sat down to do this hard work, they participated in a series of trust-building activities – led by Dave Hudnall at the Frost Valley YMCA – which were critical in helping the teens get to know one another better and feel comfortable enough to share and listen to each other’s difficult experiences.