Equity Workshop Series - Session 1 - Bias and Brain Development

MRBN is offering a workshop series to engage Maine community members to increase knowledge around systemic injustice. The cost to attend each session is $30 for MRBN members and $40 for non-members.

Anti-racism education builds resilience for everyone. Evidence shows that systemic injustice has a negative effect not only on the marginalized community members who are directly impacted, but every community member, regardless of identity. Studies support the idea that when communities take action to address racism, outcomes for every group improve.

This workshop will use Daniel Kahneman's theory of fast and slow thinking to explain how representation, societal structure, and brain development create a culture of biased thinking and behavior. Attendees will take the Harvard Implicit Bias prior to the training and will receive follow up materials to practice unlearning their own biases.

The speaker, Sultana Khan, is a writer, organizer, and consultant who lives in New England. She works with community members, educators, and young people to increase their understanding and activism around social change. Sultana believes equitable communities can only be developed through education, acknowledgement, and action, and tailors her approach to meet people wherever they are in their journey towards collective liberation. Her writing has been published locally and nationally, and her first book of nonfiction essays is forthcoming. Sultana is a queer woman of color and can most often be found splashing around in cold bodies of water.