WREX.com – Rockford’s News LeaderYWCA hosts race relations workshops

YWCA hosts race relations workshops

By Samantha Ptashkin

ROCKFORD (WREX)- Race relation discussions often get touchy. People don't know what they can say out loud, or what they shouldn't say. Some even avoid talking about it all together. Rockford's YWCA wants to change that, by giving people a chance to have an open discussion.

Every month the YWCA holds these workshops and anyone from the community can attend. The discussions vary depending on who shows up, but they all have one purpose: to clear up misunderstandings we all have about race. "Rockford is very segregated geographically and there's a disconnect somewhere in the line of communication and people aren't talking about it," said YWCA Program Coordinator Brooke LaMere. 

To change that the workshop uses exercises to get people thinking about how their personal history relates to racial differences, the people they stereotype and whether or not they're racist. "You'd be surprised about how somebody just approaches you and asks you if you're racist, then you say, 'No I'm not!" said Crystal Scarborough, a YWCA employee who attended one of the workshops.

That's when Scarborough thought twice about her answer. "When you see someone walking with baggy pants, you think they're a certain type of person, but me being a woman of color, I was having that same stereotype. Just look at the man in the mirror and say, 'hey, I need to do better because I know better now," Scarborough said.

The next workshop is on June 11. For more information call Brooke LaMere at the YWCA at 316-6123.