When Karen Shepler was in college, the Black Power movement was in full thrust. It was then she first got a hint of her own white privilege — although no one told her what that was. That time period was a catalyst that began her life’s work of educating to end racism.
“My father was bigoted and was a klan member,” Shepler said during a recent telephone interview. “My brother and sister had done some things around (ending) racism. Now it stops with me. I am going to do anything I can do to eliminate racism in my time. Since my college days, I’ve been trying to do something about it.”
Shepler, a pastor who has recently come out of retirement, started the Dialogue to Change program in Toledo. The program, which brings together people of all races in a class format to discuss their personal experiences with racism, is meant to affect change.
“The purpose is to bring together people of various backgrounds to discuss the whole issue of racism and their personal stories of how racism has affected them, particularly people of color,” Shepler said. “And in some way, it’s to help white people understand white privilege.”
The classes are two hours a week for six weeks. They use exercises and a curriculum to stimulate discussion, but, Shepler said, most of the sharing is personal experiences. At the end, they have what’s called an Action Plan.
“We can talk about racism forever but if we don’t do anything to try to stop racism, it’s just talk. So we put together a plan of action,” Shepler said.
The most recent Action Plan was held in March. Some of the groups’ action plans included proposals for a third-grade classroom to participate in a pen pal project, a tool kit for faith-based organizations to put together class discussions and WTTE Channel 28 was invited to film the next Dialogue to Change from April 13 to May 20.
“We’ve had over 200 people participate in the group starting in the fall of 2013,” Shepler said. “We had two or three sessions in 2014. One in 2015. We’ll do another in the fall of 2015. … We’re lifting the consciousness of white people to understand institutional and structural racism. It’s all a part of the program.”
Shepler grew up in Waterville and Whitehouse, was ordained in 1982 and was pastor at Monroe Street United Methodist Church from August 2001 until she retired in June 2013.
The Dialogue to Change forum is a program by Everyday Democracy, a project of The Paul J. Aicher Foundation, a “private operating foundation dedicated to strengthening deliberative democracy and improving the quality of public life in the United States,” according to the website, www.everyday-democracy.org.
All classes are held at libraries or churches. To sign up for a class, go to www.dialoguetochangetoledo.org.
