Course: Anti-Black Racism in the U.S. and Building a Unified Society (March, 2022)
Faculty Mentor: Nicola Daniels
Editor’s Note: This was Chidimma Ozor Commer’s first course with the Wilmette Institute. The title of the article is the title she gave to her Learning Self-Assessment post. She was the first learner to complete the course. Chidimma and her husband took the course together, and she will serve as a Teaching Assistant for lead faculty June Manning Thomas this summer.
Chidimma’s revised Personal Learning Plan:
I plan to focus on creating greater connection of racial unity through Revolutionary Love. We have been reconnecting with friends to participate and I am leading two Conversation Circles on two powerful and important books. One is written by a friend on nonviolent resistance and spirituality, and the other is on the topic of the foster care system and its complicity in, intentionally and unintentionally, separating Black families.
Chidimma’s Learning Self-Assessment:
I was able to co-lead a Conversation Circle through Revolutionary Love on Andre Henry’s All the White Friends I Couldn’t Keep. I’m still reading Torn Apart: How the Child Welfare System Destroys Black Families and How Abolition Can Build a Safer World by Dorothy Roberts and will be co-leading the Conversation Circle after I finish the book. It’s a very difficult book to read. As a Black mother, I’m horrified and not at all surprised with what I am reading. I encourage EVERYONE to read this book. It’s on my top five list of books.
I will continue to use my voice, power, and privilege in service of others; not to speak for them but rather to amplify their voices and perspectives. I want to come alongside them in a meaningful, helpful, and appropriate way while continuing to practice empathy, compassion, and understanding. Thank you to all the instructors and other learners for a wonderful course. I have already suggested this course to a dear friend and her partner.
