To the Guilford College community:The members of the Guilford College Anti-Racism Team want to express our deep sorrow for the violent incident that occurred on our campus on Jan. 20. We also want to convey our sincere concern for all students that sustained injuries in this incident, both physical and emotional. No student should have to live with the fear of being subjected to a violent attack while pursuing an education at Guilford College. We are confident that the Guilford community will commit itself to preventing similar incidents in the future.
As the Anti-Racism Team and other groups reacted to this incident, some members of our community expressed serious concern over the use of caucuses specifically designed for white people and people of color only. We welcome the opportunity to engage with the Guilford community in an open and honest dialogue about the various tools and principles we use in implementing the anti-racist initiative outlined in the “Strategic Long Range Plan.”
We believe it is important to understand the concept of caucusing in its proper context. Caucusing is a tool widely used by anti-racist practitioners throughout the country and is recognized as an extremely effective tool by experts such as Peggy McIntosh, Beverly Daniel Tatum, Tim Wise and Sonia Nieto, among others. Even global corporations have long recognized the importance of creating safe spaces for different groups and for many years have benefited from the existence of affinity groups.
Caucusing should also be understood as simply a tool and not the central component of an anti-racist strategy. In other words, much of the hard work of transforming an institution into becoming anti-racist involves implementing new policies, applying new teaching methodologies, changing the organizational structure, and creating relationships of internal and external accountability, among many other things. Thus, caucusing can best be understood as a way to prepare people to engage in challenging conversations across racial boundaries. As people meet separately, they are less constrained by the presence of other groups that prevent them from being fully open and honest for fear of offending someone in the room. In the safety of the caucus, people can work through some difficult internal issues and feel better prepared to enter into the other phase of the work, namely cross-racial dialogue and collaboration. Finally, since racist acts are experienced by people of color as an attack on all members of that group, the availability of a safe space to process the emotional impact of such acts is crucially important. This was confirmed by the overwhelming response of students and staff of color to the caucuses organized by the Anti-Racism Team.
We understand that simply offering this explanation will not do away with the concerns raised by some. However, we hope that in the spirit of true community, those that continue to feel uncomfortable with this practice will seek to engage members of the Anti-Racism Team in respectful and open-minded dialogue. This is one of the most important contributions we can all make to our Guilford community as we strive to heal our wounds and achieve true anti-racist community.
The Anti-Racism Team