Our Vision

The summer of 2020 saw people black and white pouring into the streets to march for racial justice, demanding police reform and amplifying the cry to end the senseless killing of black and brown bodies. The death of George Floyd became a watershed moment for a movement. It was this generations Edmond Pettis Bridge moment. A breakthrough in the collective consciousness that said real change must come, now!

2020 also saw the explosion of interest and popularity of books addressing social justice issues, the history and dynamics of systemic racism and so on. One day, while reading The Conscious Activist by James O’Day - it hit me; “We should treat whiteness like the dis-eased consciousness that it is!” I immediately began exploring in my mind the ways in which the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, an 80 year old proven psycho-dynamic model of addressing the consciousness of disease, could be applied to the consciousness behind racism and white supremacy.

With a quick google search, I was delighted to find that my idea was not unique or new - a group of people in Minnesota had already done a great deal of work on this topic. The 12 steps of recovery from white conditioning was already available!

As I explored this existing body of work and shared my vision for incorporating it into my teachings - something wonderful began to happen. A congregant and long time friend, Rev. Andrea Travers approached me and said, I want to help take this to the next level.

A vision was born! We sought out to produce an easy to use tool for building awareness and understanding of one’s white conditioning. Our desire is to build a grass roots consciousness movement to awaken white people to the “lie of whiteness,” prejudices, and biases which have built and sustained racism embedded in our nation’s history and DNA.

Rev. Andrea was the perfect partner and collaborator to pull this vision together, bringing over 20 years of experience, practicing, teaching, researching, and writing. Her own work, 12 Steps and the 12 wisdom traditions (www.12wisdomsteps.com) made her the perfect project lead.

Together we attracted an inspired team of People of Color who could help bring their unique lived experience into the project.

The result is a workbook of exercises that will assist people both individually and in group settings, to utilize the wisdom of the 12 steps, applied to the issues of white supremacy.

Our vision is that white people take radical responsibility for affecting change by understanding that change begins within our own consciousness. We have all been colonized by a 500 year old lie and the tenticile of this lie reach into our own thinking, assumptions, behaviors and systems and structures. The dismantling of which must begin within.

Our prayer is that the growing and awakening desire for change and a more just society will move people to the radical responsibility of doing the inner work necessary. One Step at a time, One day at a time.