America, since it's early history, has had a binary system for defining citizenship, privilege, and power: race. Blackness has symbolized evil, abject states and otherness. Institutions in our society present themselves as race neutral but are influenced by the lifetime of conscious and unconscious stereotypes and beliefs held by those who control the institution.

Given this reality, this workshop will examine how our own racial identities develop in such a context where racism is like the smog in the air we all breathe. We will explore some of the ways we have encountered and responded to difference. Ideally, as we expand our consciousness, we have more capacity to find the "other" within ourselves and to encounter "others" from a place of identification and connection.

Janice O. Bennett, PhD is a psychologist/psychoanalyst in private practice. She writes and presents on race, culture and the legacy of slavery.

Sarah Hill, LCSW is a psychotherapist and bodyworker. She is also a teacher and a writer and is always grateful for opportunities to talk about race.

For more information, contact Steven Lee at [email protected] or (212) 316-7483.

This event will take place in Cathedral House in the middle of the Cathedral's Close. Attendees should enter the Close via the driveway just south of the Cathedral's main entrance at 112th Street, check in at the security booth on the right, and proceed to Cathedral House. You can download a map of the Close here.