One day before the country celebrated the life of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., a group of about 10 white people addressed racism in Gainesville.
Sunday’s six-hour workshop, Creating Spaces: Untangling Racism for White Folks, took place at the Gainesville Civic Media Center, located at 433 S. Main St. The event aimed to help participants discover how to achieve an end to racism, using Theater of the Oppressed techniques.
The event was what Lana Sendzmir, the event’s creator, called a “white caucus,” a nod to the skin color of the participants. The homogenity was necessary for participants to talk honestly, she said.
“We want people to be brutally honest with themselves,” Sendzmir said.
One flaw with the workshop, however, was that many attendees already felt strongly about combatting racism, so it didn’t reach the people who needed it most, Sendzmir said.
Rachel Kline, a UF economics and political science senior, agreed.
“I think that if they were to take a small sample of people with different views and beliefs and put them in a room together to do these exercises, I feel like we would get a lot further,” the 21-year-old said.
