Workshop participants learn about sensitivity, how to connect with others

Through group and individual exercises, discussions and role-playing, those who attended a special interactive workshop Saturday in Riverhead learned about sensitivity and how to connect with others as part of Black History Month.

"How to be an Ally," sponsored by the Town of Riverhead Anti-Bias Task Force at the Riverhead Free Library, focused primarily on bringing people out of their comfort zones and having them interact with each other through a series of exercises among the attendees. In one such exercise, focusing on rejection, the attendees formed into groups and were told to kick out one member from the group. During another, each member of the group was made to turn around while the rest of the group talked about them behind their backs.

However, as the groups conversed, several people said they found they had more in common with each other than they thought.

James Banks, a professor and the multicultural affairs coordinator at Suffolk County Community College who hosted the event, said the goal of Saturday’s exercises was "to not only know the information I was teaching, but to feel it."

"Giving them these experientials gives them a chance to take a look at what it feels like to be one of the oppressed, or one of the people that have experienced that kind of discrimination," Banks said, "where someone just chooses a reason to reject you or to talk behind your back without any care of what you might be feeling because they feel they’re right."

Through the exercises, Banks said attendees would better be able to understand when and how to be an ally to people who have been rejected, talked about or experience any type of discrimination.

"Once you know what it’s like, you can no longer deny that it’s around you," Banks said.

Joanne Passannante, 53, of Lake Grove, said she was glad to meet the people in her group, and that she found ways to participate in a constructive way.

"I keep wanting to get more involved, and I definitely don’t have the courage to put myself out there, but I definitely want to get more involved in events like this," Passannante said.

Joanne Humbles, 64, of Riverhead, said she came away from the event agreeing that empathy and love were key in helping to understand one another and to reduce bias. Humbles in 2005 sued her employer for racial discrimination and bias.

"Love covers everything," said Humbles, "because if you learn to love, and you learn to put yourself in the other person’s position, you’re not going to have much bias, because you’re thinking ‘If that was to happen to me, how would I feel?’"