The Circle Activity
A workshop prepared by Rachel M for NEADS staff, with input from the DEI Team.
This is an activity relating to the NEADS DEI Team’s current focus of race.
Humans often make conclusions and see the world by drawing from our experiences. I’d like for us to draw a face in reflection of where we are coming from. This can be a reflection just for yourself, or you may share it with others if you choose. We may even display our anonymous faces somewhere on campus so that we all can reflect on ourselves as a group. There is no right or wrong, no good or bad to this activity. Simply follow the directions to the best of your recollections.
- Start by drawing one large circle on the paper. This circle will be our heads.
- Do you have a person in your immediate family who is not the same race as yourself [this family member either lived in the same home with you as a child, or you saw the relative multiple times a month]?
- Yes: draw two LARGE perfect circle eyes
- No: draw the top half of an oval for both eyes
- Think about where your parents grew up; their neighborhoods, workplaces, markets. Do you know what exposure they had to racial groups other than their own? (Have you ever talked with them about this?)
Were racial slurs commonplace for them to hear while they were growing up?- Yes: Complete drawing your eyes by drawing the bottom oval. The more real (physical) or perceived segregation between races they had while growing up, the narrower the oval you will create.
- Perhaps your parents use racial slurs either out of prejudice or ignorance?
- Yes: draw one ear on the left side of the head
- Were there people of a race other than your own in the neighborhood you lived in when you were little (up to grade 5), or within a one-mile radius of your home?
- Yes: draw one foot on the left bottom of your head (think Mr. Potato Head or the Mr. and Mrs. Books)
- As a child (through Middle School age), were you ever inside the home of a person of another race than your own?
- Yes: draw a nose
- Have you ever had a teacher that was of another race than your own?
- Yes: draw an open, smiling, mouth
- Think about how God, or the Tooth Fairy, or Santa Claus was presented to you. Were they ever presented as a person of another race than your own? Or maybe you played with dolls of another race?
- Yes: draw five strands of hair on the head (starting on the left side of the head)
- Did you go to high school or college with students that were of another race than your own?
- Yes: draw some pupils in both eyes
- Was there interracial dating?
- Yes: draw some eyelashes on both eyes if it was in high school, draw one set of eyelashes if it was in college years OR between co-workers in one of your first jobs up to age 22
- Same time period (HS / College Years) – were there conflicts between races that you were aware of? Or was it common for you to hear racial slurs?
- Yes: draw one ear on the right side of the head
- Have you had a boss who was of another race than your own?
- Yes: draw five strands of hair (starting on the left side)
- Do you go to a church or participate in a small social group with a person of another race than your own?
- Yes: draw five strands of hair
- Do you have a regular professional relationship (doctor, dentist, lawyer, etc.) with a person of another race than your own?
- Yes: draw five strands of hair
- Do you work with a person of another race than your own? (Either closely or at all)
- Yes: draw one hand on the left side of your head
- Do you have the phone number of a person of another race than your own in your phone’s contacts?
- Yes: draw one hand on the right side of your head
- Do you have daily or weekly conversations with a person of another race than your own outside of work?
- Yes: draw a CLOSED smiling mouth
- Today, do you have a person of another race than your own living within a mile of your house AND you know their name?
- Yes: draw one foot on the right bottom of your head
To find out what your drawing says about your life experiences, click on the link to the document.
File Type:
pdf