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Ward explores how conversations about racial equity shape public education and national debates on identity and democracy. Drawing on decades of leading racial equity training, Ward grounds the discussion in stories to unpack unconscious bias and the risks posed by white nationalism. The narrative recounts a tense encounter with neo-Nazis during community screening efforts, showing de-escalation and dialogue as pathways to human connection and repair. It traces how one participant’s encounter with Sesame Street and later public accountability marked a turning point.",{"@graph":69,"@context":121},[70,84,104],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":45,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/religion-spirituality/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/youre-my-inspiration-how-i-came-to-understand-racism-in-america-what-we-can-do-about-it/591846/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":98,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":99,"interactionStatistic":100},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/youre-my-inspiration-how-i-came-to-understand-racism-in-america-what-we-can-do-about-it/591846.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Dipper","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":101,"interactionType":102,"userInteractionCount":4},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":103},"ViewAction",{"@type":105,"mainEntity":106},"FAQPage",[107,113,117],{"name":108,"@type":109,"acceptedAnswer":110},"What two questions does Ward say underlie current debates about racial equity?","Question",{"text":111,"@type":112},"He points to “Who is an American?” and “What is America becoming?” as the enduring questions beneath controversies in public education and civic life.","Answer",{"name":114,"@type":109,"acceptedAnswer":115},"How did Ward handle a potentially violent confrontation at a community screening?",{"text":116,"@type":112},"He chose de-escalation, asked questions to identify individuals within the group, negotiated entry conditions, and kept the interaction focused on respectful participation.",{"name":118,"@type":109,"acceptedAnswer":119},"What event contributed to one neo-Nazi leader’s emotional turning point?",{"text":120,"@type":112},"Watching Sesame Street characters of color with his daughter led to a moment of shame and emotional disruption, which Ward describes as signaling the start of departure from the white power movement.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":123,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":125,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":127,"site_id":62},591846,1792073335,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":130},{"doc_id":127,"user_id":131,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":132,"doc_module":4,"category_id":44,"category_name":45,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":133,"file_id":134,"file_url":135,"file_type":136,"file_size":137,"view_count":4,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":39,"language":138,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":139,"faqs":140,"seo_title":141,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":128,"read_time":46},1374404997633,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_a8503ba1806abce46bf441b54a3ca4cd","“You’re My Inspiration”  \nHow I Came to Understand Racism in America—and  \nWhat We Can Do About It  \nBy Eric K. Ward  \nThere are two fundamental questions underlying the  \nnationwide debates about racial equity, mask mandates,  \nlocal control, and other controversies bedeviling public  \neducation today: Who is an American? and What is America becoming? This is always the conversation we’re having as a country, even when it seems like we’re talking about something else.  \nEarly in my 30 years of leading racial equity trainings, I became a firm believer that how we have this conversation matters. We do best when we ground ourselves in stories.  \nThis is the story of how I came to understand race and racism in America. This story has everything to do with how I came to understand unconscious bias, white nationalism, and the fundamental threat to democracy we face today—and what each of us can do about it.  \nI’ll take you back to my early years. But where I want to start is somewhere in the middle, about 25 years ago.  \nEricK. Ward, a nationally recognized expert on the relationship between authoritarian movements, hate violence, and preserving inclusive democracy, is the recipient of the 2021 Civil Courage Prize—the first American in the award’s 21-year history. He currently serves as the executive director of Western States Center, which created one of the first widely used Dismantling Racism organizational change programs in the 1990s and currently equips educators with the Confronting White Nationalism in Schools and Indigenizing Love toolkits. Ward is also a senior fellow with the Southern Poverty Law Center, the chair of Proteus Fund, and an advisor to the Center for Entertainment & Civic Health. He is grateful to Race Forward for contributing the framework and teaching tools presented here.  \nNot in Our Town  \nIn the mid-1990s, the documentary Not in Our Town II told the story of communities following in the footsteps of Billings, Montana, as neighbors united in response to a series of racist and antisemitic hate crimes.1 I was the field organizer for the Northwest Coalition Against Malicious Harassment atthe time, working with over 120 local anti-bigotry community groups in six western states. We were cosponsoring dozens of screenings with discussions featuring local anti-hate leaders.  \nOn one particular night, I travelled down to Eugene, Oregon, where I’d gotten my start as an anti-bigotry organizer and helped found a program called Communities Against Hate. Before the screening started, I was standing under the lights outside the entry to the venue, a public utility meeting hall that was in a pretty deserted part of town, greeting people. We’d heard that neo-Nazis might attempt to disrupt the event. All of a sudden, I saw them marching our way: about a dozen Aryan Pride members decked out in full regalia. I hustled everyone inside and turned to face the group approaching us. At my side was a local rabbi, the only person who had refused my plea to go indoors. He made it clear: he simply wasn’t going to leave me, let the chips fall where they may.  \nThese were serious guys, violent guys. As they surrounded the rabbi and me, I knew it could go one of two ways. De-escalation was the direction I was determined to try. So I started asking them who was who. Who was a Klan member, who was a Christian Identity adherent, who was neo-Nazi? These were among the subculture variants of white nationalism at the time.  \nThey weren’t sure what to do with my curiosity, my willingness to engage them without showing fear or launching a counterattack. One of them asked if they could come in.“Sure,” I said.“It’s a public event. But you can’t have your bandannas covering your faces.” I explained that doing so could get them arrested, and it wasn’t my goal to see people get caught up and further drawn into the criminal justice system.  \nAfter some negotiating, they took off their face coverings and came into the screening. After awhile, I saw ","cbCaitVrhYwlIsLo","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaitVrhYwlIsLo","pdf",265157,"English","# Background\n## Core questions in public education debates\n## Grounding change in stories\n# A formative encounter\n## Organizing against hate in the 1990s\n## De-escalation at a screening in Eugene\n## Dialogue after the film\n# A turning point\n## The role of empathy and shame","[{\"question\":\"What two questions does Ward say underlie current debates about racial equity?\",\"answer\":\"He points to “Who is an American?” and “What is America becoming?” as the enduring questions beneath controversies in public education and civic life.\"},{\"question\":\"How did Ward handle a potentially violent confrontation at a community screening?\",\"answer\":\"He chose de-escalation, asked questions to identify individuals within the group, negotiated entry conditions, and kept the interaction focused on respectful participation.\"},{\"question\":\"What event contributed to one neo-Nazi leader’s emotional turning point?\",\"answer\":\"Watching Sesame Street characters of color with his daughter led to a moment of shame and emotional disruption, which Ward describes as signaling the start of departure from the white power movement.\"}]","You’re My Inspiration - How I Came to Understand Racism in America - What We Can Do About It | PDF"]