Confronting Oppression

Confronting Oppression explores the issues and lessons that emerge from letters people who have experienced oppression write to their oppressors. This exploration covers how the combined powers of storytelling and letter writing can be leveraged to create compelling personal narratives that empower people to take a stand against injustice. Real stories contained in real letters written by real people who have been subjected to real acts of oppression offer the potential for highly impactful and empowering real learning experiences. In America, marginalized people experience oppression through multiple situations involving exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism, and violence. The nuanced stories that are wrapped within each unique real letter facilitate the seamless coverage of the knowledge and skills that are needed to stand up to privileged people who use these oppressive mechanisms to exert power over marginalized people. Although the Confronting Oppression series is not an official training course or program, it is designed in a way that nurtures the ability to : 01/ Listen to understand. 02/ Identify the different forms and elements of oppression and evaluate how these different forms and elements of oppression show up in and impact different situations. 03/ Follow a structured process to transition from being frozen in denial to becoming empowered through acceptance and action. 04/ Explain the need to confront an oppressor. 05/ Identify and document clear, realistic outcomes to be achieved from confronting an oppressor. 06/ Write a compelling, objective, outcomes oriented letter to an oppressor that describes the impact of the oppression they inflicted. 07/ Practice reframing to replace harmful beliefs with positive views that enable the motivation, energy, and clarity needed to persist in the fight against oppression. 08/ Apply insights gained from the stories of the oppressed to become a supportive, empathetic ally. 09/ Practice self-care and self-advocacy. 10/ Build a robust network that can be leveraged to scale increased efforts to combat oppression. The Confronting Oppression series starts with a deep exploration of the harassment and violence inflicted on my domestic partner and me by a Seattle-based property manager. Explicit racial biases, fueled by deeply ingrained stereotypes of black men as criminal, threatening, and dangerous are inherent within the way the property manager treats my domestic partner and me. Season 1 includes 9 episodes. Each episode in Season 1 features one of the nine letters I wrote to address the property manager’s interference with my right, and my domestic partner’s right, to exercise the housing projections offered through local, state, and federal fair housing laws. The content and resources included in the accompanying comprehensive episode listeners’ guides support a deep exploration of the issues and concepts covered in Season 1. Step-by-step guidance on how to “write to fight” harassment and racial violence in housing is also provided in the listeners’ guides. 1:1 coaching sessions offer interactive, tailored guidance.