Masculinity & Whiteness Circle

This video talks about a gathering of white men. Small, intimate, raw, honest and grounded in curiosity, while witnessing each other’s humanity.  Stories of the untold “white” lies that have been passed down through generations, stories of identity and the impacts of the myth of white supremacy to the white male soma and the wider collective consciousness.

Pieces of Shame

The courage it took for these men to agree to being filmed while talking about whiteness and masculinity is inspiring.  Let’s be real. Most white men would not put themselves in this position. These men are powerful, vulnerable and willing to put themselves under a public microscope for a wider and larger purpose.  They sat and shared their deep and personal stories in order for you to observe and deepen in dialogue, build more awareness and add to the wider vision of racial justice. Shame was a theme that continued to surface in our circle conversation and it seemed relevant and important to pull out. Although the conversation overall was long and layered, these are a few pieces that captured some of the ways shame came through the stories.

Childhood Stories of Race

When we grow up, we absorb stories from our families, our communities and the social environment around us. These are a few stories shared about the subtle and obvious ways racism influenced their young minds. What stories did you grow up hearing about people who didn’t look like you?

Growing Up White

When did you first learn that you were categorized into a particular racial group? These men dive into stories of how they first had an awareness of being in a category of whiteness. Many of them shared how they didn’t grow up knowing they were white, unless it was in contrast to Black. And these stories all had subtle and explicitly racist stereotypes woven into them. What stories did you grow up hearing? What stereotypes did you hold from these stories that weren’t based on actually knowing people from outside your cultural/ racial upbringing?