NOTE TO EDUCATORS
PRE–VIEWING QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION & WRITING
1) What is race? What were the messages you heard growing up about your race? Other races? Do you think these messages about race are based on physical characteristics and differences
assigned at birth or are filtered through cultural beliefs and learned? Explain.
2) Do you believe the United States is a racist society? Why or why not? How would you define racism, anyway? Is it a societal and institutional phenomenon, or a personal, individual mindset? Perhaps both?
3) What is privilege? How can it be applied to race in the U.S.? Who has it? Who does not? How can people with privilege affect society in ways people without privilege cannot?
4) Name some examples where white people receive certain advantages – either unconsciously or consciously – that people of color do not receive. Are these examples of white privilege institutional or interpersonal?
5) What are some of the costs of racism for white people? Why should white people work to address white privilege? And most importantly, how can all people work collectively to address issues of race and privilege?
