Race & Medicine

Caucusing Activity

Facing Our White Superiority

 
 

Ask participants to read Why My "Good Intentions" Aren't Enough to Dismantle White Superiority.

  • For a deeper dive, I strongly recommend chapter 2, Racism and White Supremacy from Robin DiAngelo’s book White Fragility.

Pre-work

 

Quiet room with enough chairs/space for all participants. If you have a group larger than ~6 people, chairs should ideally be mobile so people can break into small groups and then join the large group again.

Supplies

Activity

  • Read “caucusing guidelines” to the group

    • If you have a group that includes multiple levels of medical hierarchy (medical students, residents, attendings, nurses, MAs…) consider explicitly pointing out that expertise in medicine does not equate to expertise on issues of race and equity. One example, “For this exercise, experience and expertise may flip from how they are in clinic or on the wards. The attendings in the room may be the learners today and an MA may be the expert. Let’s recognize that we are all here to learn, share, and challenge each other.”

  • Break into small groups.

    • Group size may depend on the size of your large group. We have found that groups of 3-4 work well. Breaking into small groups allows people to be more vulnerable than they might be in a large group. It also makes it challenging to not participate.

    • Consider the make up of your group and how you might do this. Do you want mixed groups that include all levels (ex. student, intern, attending) or would it be helpful to break into groups that might be more comfortable for challenging discussions (ex. group attendings, students, residents separately)? Are the groups assigned in advance or do you have your group “count off” and then group by number (all the “1s” together, “2s” together, etc.)?

  • Discuss

    • Ask groups to discuss the reading(s) and their reactions to them.

    • Discussion prompts/questions might include:

      • What resonated for you in the reading(s)?

      • What was hardest to read?

      • What are ways that you personally have benefited from white privilege/superiority? Try to come up with specific examples.

      • Can you think of examples when you might have been acting through the lens of white superiority? (Ex. tutoring in “disadvantaged” schools or participating in service activities that focused on people of color but were operated by white people.)

      • What do you think about the actions discussed by Francesca Moroney in her article Why My "Good Intentions" Aren't Enough to Dismantle White Superiority?

        • What hadn’t you considered before?

        • Are there resources or other actions you have found helpful that you would like to share?

      • If using the book White Fragility:

        • What were your reactions to the questions on pages 35-37 (consider reading some aloud)?

  • Report back

    • Ask each group to share some highlights of what they discussed with the large group.