"I'm a good person, isn't that enough?" with Debby Irving

Irving is the author of the book Waking up White: And Finding Myself in the Story of Race. As an emerging voice in the racial justice community, she educates and consults with individuals and organizations seeking to create racial equity.

Irving conducted a three-hour interactive workshop on how white people should work to acknowledge their privilege and confront their own racial belief systems. The workshop, which was held at a Benton Harbor banquet hall, was attended by over 225 people. The participants, both Black and white, worked together to better understand each other's point of view. 

Irving used her own childhood as an example. She grew up with many opportunities, and a sense that she was a good person, engaged in her community. But she admits to being oblivious to the everyday disadvantages that people of color experience.

"We're exposed to these ideas again and again in ways we don't even know we're being exposed," she said, "and it gets into our subconscious way before we're old enough to start to discern it."

Watch Our Interview with Debby Irving