In the wake of the Christchurch mosque attacks, Southland women's group KIND Women and the Awareness Project are co-hosting a workshop to encourage self-reflection about racism, personal prejudices, and to help people develop skills to promote inclusiveness in the Southland community. 

The workshop, co-hosted by Kate Wilkinson and Anna Kirkwood of The Awareness Project, is designed to better inform people how prevalent racism is, and what we can do to dismantle it from our society. 

Ms Wilkinson said the workshop would be an important step towards helping people gather the tools to help identify and combat racism in their own lives.

“We are so excited to be partnering with KIND Women to start the conversation about racism in our community. Through conversations and storytelling we can begin to de-normalise subtle racist words or jokes,” she says.

“We will hear stories from people who have been directly impacted by racism in our community. Attendees will come away with the skills to recognise racist words and statements, understand the impact that these have, and most importantly become comfortable and confident calling others out on day-to-day racism.”

KIND Women organiser Becs Amundsen said it was important people faced up to the reality of racism in Aotearoa.

“This workshop is a great opportunity to learn new ways of tackling racism in our day-to-day lives. We all need to keep pushing the boundaries on what is acceptable and what is unacceptable behaviour, otherwise nothing will change.”

The workshop will be held on Saturday, May 18 from 10am – 1pm. Those interested are encouraged to register by emailing [email protected]. The workshop will cost $25.

For further details please contact Sarah McCarthy 021 513 223