Confronting Oppression

Confronting Oppression explores the issues and lessons that emerge from letters people who have experienced oppression write to their oppressors. This exploration covers how the combined powers of storytelling and letter writing can be leveraged to create compelling personal narratives that empower people to take a stand against injustice. Real stories contained in real letters written by real people who have been subjected to real acts of oppression offer the potential for highly impactful and empowering real learning experiences. In America, marginalized people experience oppression through multiple situations involving exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism, and violence. The nuanced stories that are wrapped within each unique real letter facilitate the seamless coverage of the knowledge and skills that are needed to stand up to privileged people who use these oppressive mechanisms to exert power over marginalized people. Although the Confronting Oppression series is not an official training course or program, it is designed in a way that nurtures the ability to : 01/ Listen to understand. 02/ Identify the different forms and elements of oppression and evaluate how these different forms and elements of oppression show up in and impact different situations. 03/ Follow a structured process to transition from being frozen in denial to becoming empowered through acceptance and action. 04/ Explain the need to confront an oppressor. 05/ Identify and document clear, realistic outcomes to be achieved from confronting an oppressor. 06/ Write a compelling, objective, outcomes oriented letter to an oppressor that describes the impact of the oppression they inflicted. 07/ Practice reframing to replace harmful beliefs with positive views that enable the motivation, energy, and clarity needed to persist in the fight against oppression. 08/ Apply insights gained from the stories of the oppressed to become a supportive, empathetic a