Challenging Anti-Racism Workshops

Trainer: Valerie Shirley

Valerie Shirley was born and raised in Chicago, IL and made Minnesota her home in 1997. She has worked tenaciously to break down barriers and make the world more accessible to her deaf son and many others, first by learning sign language herself and then teaching it to her entire family until they reached fluency. She is a mother of 5, 3 girls and 2 boys. She earned her master’s degree in deaf education and her Director of Special Education license and is currently working on her Principal's license. She is a teacher by trade and founded the Minnesota Deaf Muslim Community (MDMC) in 2013. Valerie has worked as an activist in grassroots community organizations since she was 19 years old and continues to work to dismantle and disrupt systems that oppress. In 2021 she was honored with a Facing Race Award from the St. Paul and Minnesota Foundation for her work challenging racism and pushing for justice and equity.

This workshop helps attendees explore their personal and public identities and use their newfound understanding to fuel intentional interactions with their families, coworkers and peers. This workshop will also focus on movement-building through identity work, using Reviving the Islamic Sisterhood for Empowerment as an example.

This workshop guides participants through a history of white supremacy and its manifestations in the modern world. This interactive training will allow participants the opportunity to analyze white supremacy, examine the ways in which communities of color have been affected, and arm themselves with solutions to manifesting racial justice in their own communities.

In this workshop, we will define bias as it relates to institutional racism, oppression, and discrimination. Through interactive activities, we will be examining our privilege along with the historical elements that shape our current worldview — and acknowledging how all of these factors intersect in the Muslim community.

We know that racism exists in our community and that we tip-toe around it. Let’s talk about it, understand its impact on our intra-community relationships, and be better.

This workshop examines the disease of colorblindness and how it creates barriers to allyship. We will engage in meaningful activities that will give us fundamental tools to begin our journey toward allyship. We will also learn how to dismantle weapons of privilege and oppression that we hold in order to become true accomplices in the struggle for equity.

 Islamophobia and antisemitism draw from the same pool of hate — white supremacy. We are being pitted against each other deliberately, and it’s time to recognize that our power together is stronger than hate.