EGPS Work Group for Racial Equity
Mission Statement
The Work Group for Racial Equity of the Eastern Group Psychotherapy Society aims to initiate opportunities for members to examine how racism is embedded in individuals’ unconscious, in groups, and in our organization. Utilizing a collaborative process, the work group supports EGPS efforts to integrate awareness about race and racism in professional events and presentations.
The Work Group also seeks to enhance members’ understanding of the impact of institutional racism on their work, encourages members’ examination of internalized racial oppression and works with the Board of Directors to strengthen our racial equity lens.
Healing from racial injustice is a result of learning and struggling together. We hope all members will join EGPS in this work.
For more information contact:
Rudy Lucas or Christine Schmidt
For a list of resources suggested by the Work Group for Racial Equity and books reviewed by EGPS members, please click here
For a list of works that inspired monthly WG4RE discussions, click here
Current groups
Zoom discussion on book Stamped from the Beginning
The Work Group for Racial Equity meets monthly to discuss relevant books, films, podcasts, and articles. Join us! We are a "drop in group." You are invited to participate whenever you can. Connect via Zoom link on the third Monday evening of the month (https://zoom.us/j/128780416 or 646 558 8656 Meeting ID: 128 780 416) except for announced in-person gatherings.
Zoom discussion on book Stamped from the Beginning
November 19, 2018
Ibram X. Kendi’s powerful book, Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, exposes the myth of living in a post-racial society. He shows how racist ideas were intentional products of brilliant minds aimed to justify policies of white racial superiority. This ideas show up in our lives and work. Let’s understand it together.
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Zoom discussion on book Just Mercy
Zoom discussion on book Just Mercy
The Work Group for Racial Equity meets monthly to discuss relevant books, films, podcasts, and articles. Join us! We are a "drop in group." You are invited to participate whenever you can. Connect via Zoom link on the third Monday evening of the month (https://zoom.us/j/128780416 or 646 558 8656 Meeting ID: 128 780 416) except for announced in-person gatherings.
December 19, 2018
Scholar, lawyer, and human rights activist Bryan Stevenson describes his journey from childhood in rural Delaware to fierce and compassionate human rights activist in his 2014 book, Just Mercy . He is a storyteller who will expand our understanding of hope, justice, and mercy. Stevenson inspired the creation of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice and the Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Alabama that EGPS members and families will visit in January.
Sign UpDiscussion in person in Montgomery, Alabama
Discussion in person in Montgomery, Alabama
January 21, 2019
The Work Group for Racial Equity will convene an in-person gathering as part of the Witness to History Expedition in Montgomery Alabama, following our visit to the National Memorial for Peace and Justice and the Legacy Museum. We invite EGPS members near and far to reflect on the impact that the racial terrorism of lynching has on our lives.
Sign UpZoom discussion on film “Sorry to Bother You
The Work Group for Racial Equity meets monthly to discuss relevant books, films, podcasts, and articles. Join us! We are a "drop in group." You are invited to participate whenever you can. Connect via Zoom link on the third Monday evening of the month (https://zoom.us/j/128780416 or 646 558 8656 Meeting ID: 128 780 416) except for announced in-person gatherings.
Zoom discussion on film “Sorry to Bother You”
February 18, 2019
Boots Riley‘s award-winning film, Sorry to Bother You is a gut-churning satire about inequities in our country. No more hints. If you haven’t seen the film, find it in theaters and on Amazon. Join us to talk, laugh, and rage together.
Sign UpZoom discussion on book A Colony in a Nation
The Work Group for Racial Equity meets monthly to discuss relevant books, films, podcasts, and articles. Join us! We are a "drop in group." You are invited to participate whenever you can. Connect via Zoom link on the third Monday evening of the month (https://zoom.us/j/128780416 or 646 558 8656 Meeting ID: 128 780 416) except for announced in-person gatherings.
Zoom discussion on book A Colony in a Nation
March 18, 2019
News anchor Chris Hayes’ A Colony in a Nation exposes the relationship between policing and racial inequality. These arrangements of power continue to instill fear in our communities and in our groups. Please read and let’s learn together.
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Zoom discussion on film “Cornered”
The Work Group for Racial Equity meets monthly to discuss relevant books, films, podcasts, and articles. Join us! We are a "drop in group." You are invited to participate whenever you can. Connect via Zoom link on the third Monday evening of the month (https://zoom.us/j/128780416 or 646 558 8656 Meeting ID: 128 780 416) except for announced in-person gatherings.
Zoom discussion on film “Cornered”
April 15, 2019
Artist and scholar Adrian Piper tackles the complexity of race in her short film Cornered See it. Feel it. React and respond in conversation.
Sign UpZoom discussion on book Ain’t I a Woman?
The Work Group for Racial Equity meets monthly to discuss relevant books, films, podcasts, and articles. Join us! We are a "drop in group." You are invited to participate whenever you can. Connect via Zoom link on the third Monday evening of the month (https://zoom.us/j/128780416 or 646 558 8656 Meeting ID: 128 780 416) except for announced in-person gatherings.
Zoom discussion on book Ain’t I a Woman?
May 20, 2019
Poet, scholar, author, activist, feminist, Black woman, bell hooks’ broke many new grounds when she wrote, Ain’t I a Woman?. Join us to discuss this powerful testament to Black women and feminism.
Sign UpZoom discussion on article “Racial Melancholia” and PBS documentary
The Work Group for Racial Equity meets monthly to discuss relevant books, films, podcasts, and articles. Join us! We are a "drop in group." You are invited to participate whenever you can. Connect via Zoom link on the third Monday evening of the month (https://zoom.us/j/128780416 or 646 558 8656 Meeting ID: 128 780 416) except for announced in-person gatherings.
Zoom discussion on article “Racial Melancholia” and PBS documentary
June 17, 2019
“Racial Melancholia”, is a seminal psychoanalytic article by David Eng and Shinhee Han about the impossibility for Asian American immigrants to attain whiteness. As a counterpoint to Freud’s theory about melancholia, this is essential psychoanalytic literature about how racial oppression becomes internalized. Read and join us in discussion
Note: After reading the article, you may also want to view
PBS’s The American Experience: The Chinese Exclusion Act
Sign UpZoom discussion on “25 Mini-films for Exploring Race”
The Work Group for Racial Equity meets monthly to discuss relevant books, films, podcasts, and articles. Join us! We are a "drop in group." You are invited to participate whenever you can. Connect via Zoom link on the third Monday evening of the month (https://zoom.us/j/128780416 or 646 558 8656 Meeting ID: 128 780 416) except for announced in-person gatherings.
Zoom discussion on “25 Mini-films for Exploring Race”
July 15, 2019
In 2017 the New York Times produced 25 Mini-films for Exploring Race, Bias and Identity With Students. Watch the films and join us in discussion. They will provoke thoughts and stimulate a productive conversation.
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