June 2 Critical Conversations Anti-Racism session: the continuum of harm
Critical Conversations use poetry as a springboard to guided conversations that advance anti-racism in the workplace.
Date and time
Location
Online
About this event
- Event lasts 2 hours
From February through June of 2025, the Chicago Poetry Center is offering free online Critical Conversations: Anti-Racism sessions.
Drawing on CPC’s decades of workshop facilitation, Critical Conversations use poetry as a springboard to increase belonging and inclusion in the workplace. By centering the dialogue on lived experiences reflected in poems, the process launches transformative discussions without requiring those most violently and directly affected by racism to tell or retell their stories of trauma and resilience.
Each session is led by two trained and racially diverse facilitators. Sessions include exploration of a theme related to racial justice through discussion of contemporary poems, sharing of personal experiences, and guided writing practice. No prior poetry experience or education is needed!
Two types of Critical Conversations sessions will be offered through this program: Belonging and Inclusion, and The Continuum of Harm. Participants may register for one Belonging and Inclusion session and one Continuum of Harm session.
All participants will also receive access to the Continuing Practice Guide, which provides all of the materials and guidance needed for pairs or small groups to engage in additional self-guided discussions around racism and its impact on their lives and workplaces using poetry as the center and launch point.
Accessibility: The session will take place over zoom and will be live captioned.
Additional Information on the Program:
Musu Bangura is the author of the essay-book “…Considers Lil’ Kim’s Hard Core.” Their work has been published in New Delta Review, Apogee Journal, and Cosmonauts Avenue. They are an educator at heart, working in various formal and popular education roles since 2015. In 2020, they were selected as a Best of the Net Poetry finalist.
Timothy David Rey teaches creative writing and performance throughout the city of Chicago and suburbs. His writing has appeared in magazines and journals including 60 Inches From Center, and After Hours: The Chicago Journal of Writing & Art. His book of poetry and performance, "Little Victories," was published in 2012 by NewTown Writers Press.
Marty McConnell is the author of "when they say you can’t go home again, what they mean is you were never there," winner of the 2017 Michael Waters Poetry Prize; "wine for a shotgun," which received the Silver Medal in the Independent Publishers Awards; and "Gathering Voices: Creating a Community-Based Poetry Workshop." She co-created the Critical Conversations process in collaboration with writer and educator Gregory Geffrard.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, the sessions are open to any eligible participant on a first-come, first-served basis. Space is limited, so early registration is encouraged.
Nope! We will read together and discuss poems that you will receive ahead of time, and we will do some written reflection, but you will not be asked to write or share a poem of your own.
No prior experience with poetry is needed -- we use poems as the launch point for our conversation, but you don't need to know anything about (or even like!) poetry in order to participate.
There is opportunity within the session to discuss ways in which the anti-oppressive practices modeled within it could be integrated into the workplace, but the goal of these sessions is interpersonal connection and growth, which can provide an excellent complement to structural change.
Within the session, each person decides for themselves how much or how little to share, and what their level of personal disclosure will be. Sharing is always voluntary and never pressured or mandatory.
Two types of Critical Conversations sessions will be offered through this program: Belonging and Inclusion, and The Continuum of Harm. Participants may register for one Belonging and Inclusion session and one Continuum of Harm session.