Amiel Handelsman on the topic: Outgrowing Racial Essentialism

In this session, Amiel Handelsman will lead us exploring an apparent paradox: how can you deracialize yourself and others while keeping your eyes focused squarely on “race”? By sharing his journey around this and inviting yours, Amiel will entice us to consider:

• Four meanings of the word “race,” why we confuse them, and the freedom that comes from differentiating them

• Racial essentialism, which white supremacists and most antiracists have in common and which is arguably the last refuge of the Socialized Mind

• The personal, organizational, and political benefits of outgrowing racial essentialism

• Conversation microhabits of the anti-race antiracist

Amiel is an executive coach and writer based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A. He is the author of Practice Greatness: Escape Small Thinking, Listen Like A Master, And Lead With Your Best and DJT’s Enneagram Type: The Case for Three and coauthor of Reimagining American Identity. Amiel is a frequent guest on podcasts. His recent articles on JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) and the integration between the Enneagram and Immunity to Change appeared in Integral Review. Amiel identifies as Six on the Enneagram and is identified as “white” in society. He once accidentally knocked over the Surgeon General of the United States.

Pre-reading: Amiel’s new free e-book, How To Be An Anti-race Antiracist