Visiting this web site requires a newer version of Netscape Communicator.
Visit Microsoft's Web site to obtain the newest version of Internet Explorer, or visit Netscape's Web site to obtain the newest version of Netscape Communicator.
Visiting this web site without first upgrading your browser may result in unreliable behavior.
Q: Why do we need to understand racism? We know it is wrong; shouldn't we just move on?
A: We wish it were that easy, that by an act of will we could shake off our society's racist past and move on together in a color-blind future. But we can only change what we can see. The beliefs and behaviors that our culture developed to support economic racial dominance are complex and often unconscious. URF participants have found that by examining where we are and how we got here, we become freer to move on.
Q: We have an active diversity and cultural sensitivity program at my place of employment, with regular seminars and courses. How is this one different?
A: This program takes a personal approach, which many of our most diversity-experience participants have found to be truly unique and meaningful. We have found that the most well-intentioned people (ourselves included), have racism within them that they (we) are not aware of. Discovering, and continuing to discover that racism, and taking steps to reduce it, is a difficult process. Our facilitators have been through the series and made those discoveries. In the sessions they facilitate, they help others to do the same.
Q: Why must the course include six sessions over a six-week period? Wouldn't it be better to have one full-day session?
A: We cannot reach our goal in one session. Our meetings are based on the premise that true understanding of one's innermost prejudices and biases comes with (a) honest thinking about the problem over a period of time, (b) forthright discussions with others, and (c) an exposure to selected readings, videotapes and other materials that are designed to awaken awareness. We believe that one-shot cultural diversity training sessions--however good they make the participants feel--are not effective in reaching the core area of racial discrimination--the subconscious biases that exist in most of us.
