Ancestors & Money: The Reparations Work Required of People with Racial & Class Privilege

We need to talk about our collective histories, which include: European colonial expansion, extractivism, and a supremacist worldview that enables widespread destruction of peoples, lifeways, and ecosystems. This class is responding to a call from the global climate justice movements for people with class and/or racial privilege to understand intergenerational responsibility for the intergenerational trauma, economic injury and ecological devastation of our times. This understanding does not involve disowning those ancestors who may have caused harm, but telling a fuller truth, committing to transform and transmute the trauma, standing in solidarity with those most impacted, and not letting wealth inequality, racial violence, or climate chaos be the final chapter of their story. This participatory, immersive course draws in insights derived from whiteness studies, liberation psychology, solidarity economics, and critical family history, and methodologies drawn from restorative justice, storytelling, the Work That Reconnects, and social justice philanthropy. The focus is on critically examining the role of the privileged individual to organize in active solidarity with movements for justice working for reparations and systemic change. Any interested student, with any personal or academic background, is welcome. You will be learning from one another, your own families and ancestors, guest facilitators Morgan Curtis and Justine Epstein, and an incredible group of guest speakers, including Black and Indigenous leaders in the movements for reparations, environmental justice, and Landback. Please fill out this Google form to be considered for the cohort: (https://forms.gle/HQFaRYUVFDCgaCsw5)