Youth Ministry Institute

Rev. Dr. Christopher Carter and Dr. Seth Schoen address structural racism with Rev. Keith King.

Questions for a Black or Racially Mixed Youth Group:

1. What does it mean that whiteness has become a “race?” How do we get white youth to see themselves not as white but as their origin ethnicity, (Irish, Swedish, Italian, European, African!)
   What might safe vs. brave space look like here?
2. When did you realize you were black? When did you learn that was a bad thing?
3. In focusing primarily on slavery as we learn about the history of racism, what is being left out of the conversation? What are the successes and contributions from POC that can be celebrated as we remember our full history? What other racial/ethnic biases are present in our country’s roots (ie, against Irish Americans, Italian Americans, Japanese Americans, Jewish communities, and others) and how might their stories be intersectional tools for growth in our current conversation about race?

Questions for a Predominately White Youth Group:

1. How do we help our young people have “waking up” points, akin to what Schoen experienced?
2. How might we plant seeds of discovery within our youth, particularly our white youth, fostering within them a desire to explore further the complexities of race?
3. In focusing primarily on slavery as we learn about the history of racism, what is being left out of the conversation? What are the successes and contributions from POC that can be celebrated as we remember our full history? What other racial/ethnic biases are present in our country’s roots (ie, against Irish Americans, Italian Americans, Japanese Americans, Jewish communities, and others) and how might their stories be intersectional tools for growth in our current conversation about race?