ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We are in the homeland of the Wabanaki, the People of the Dawn. Respect and gratitude is offered to the many people and ancestors whose rich histories and vibrant communities include the Abenaki, Maliseet, Mi'kmaq, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscot Nations and all of the communities who have lived here for thousands of generations. This comes with the acknowledgement and awareness of continual violations of water, territorial rights, and sacred sites.
The vision and tending of Lichen is a prayer and an offering to these ancestors.
Is this information new to you? If so, please get to know the following organizations that support the indigenous caretakers of this land we often call “Maine.”
Centering Anti-Racisism
We at LICHEN are committed to doing our part in promoting, practicing, and embracing research-informed anti-racist practices and beliefs. We start by acknowledging systemic barriers like poverty, inequitable opportunities, and racist institutional policies. Though such barriers may seem insurmountable, we must work toward dismantling them; we must also change the hearts of people - starting with ourselves by unearthing unconscious biases, stereotypes, and racist thinking.
To that end, any of our offerings center and commits to:
Applying an anti-racist lens to our work in learning, mindfulness, and ethical development.
Acknowledging the limits of our awareness.
Engaging in continuous and lifelong learning to address racism in our work.
Embracing a strengths-based, student- and healing-centered approach to learning and development that serves as a counter to deficit thinking and exclusionary discipline practices.
Incorporating trauma-sensitive practices and approaches in our work to foster safety and a sense of belonging.
Acknowledging implicit bias as a barrier in anti-racist education by engaging in and promoting practices that enhance self-awareness and social awareness.
Deepening empathy, compassion, and relationship skills by offering practices for facilitators, guides, teachers and students designed to build trust and bridge differences.
Anti-Racism Resources
99 Years Podcast by Samuel James - A Black exploration of the deliberate creation of the whitest state in the nation.
My Grandmother’s Hands by Resmaa Menakem
How to Be an AntiRacist by Dr. Ibram X Kendi
White Fragility by Robin Diangelo
Avoiding Racial Equity Detours by Paul Gorski
Helping Students Discuss Race Openly by Julie Landsman
How Can We Build Anti-Racist White Educators? by Charlie McGeehan
White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh
Anti-racism resources for white people: A compilation of books, podcasts, articles, and other media to help white people, particularly parents, better understand racism, their own role in it, and what they can do to help dismantle it.
The Equal Justice Initiative: Committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, to challenging racial and economic injustice, and to protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society.
An Antiracist Reading List by Ibram X. Kendi