EVERYDAY EMPATHY

Passing the mic and telling our stories

Most of us are drawn to stories — their narrative drive, their ability to harness metaphor. But when DEI Director Lily Medina went to a storytelling conference called Roots. Wounds. Words. last summer, she was searching for something specific: tools to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion at SCDS.

“At school, we’re working to decenter dominant group narratives that only teach one perspective,” Lily says. “We need to pass the mic to people who experience the inequity we’re striving to change.”

After the conference, Lily created a workshop for parents called Everyday Empathy: Using Storytelling at Home, at Work, and at School. The first workshops included parents who were involved in RIPPLES (Race in Parent Learning Circles) or who’d attended Courageous Conversation, a session on race that SCDS brings to campus every year.

Although parent Min Song expected Everyday Empathy to give her some tools, she wasn’t expecting the depth of trust and community. “People felt safe to share their feelings — both the pain from past harms and the joy from their cultures,” says Min. “I instantly felt connected to parents I just met.”

Min and fellow attendees practiced empathy and active listening. They experimented with oral storytelling styles and relayed, in writing, an “aha” moment in the development of their own racial consciousness. It turns out that storytelling about race has two very distinct benefits: one for the storyteller, one for their audience.

“One of the most important ways for people to heal wounds caused by racism is to be allowed to share their stories in a safe and brave space,” says Lily. The other benefit is that stories can move a listener from passive empathy (based on intellect or emotion) to empathy based on compassion — a state of mind more closely linked to taking action.

Min appreciates Everyday Empathy and the various ways that SCDS is promoting DEI. “SCDS has the courage to create authentic and safe spaces for students and parents, to support not just representation but also active inclusion,” she says. “It gives me hope for a more compassionate society.”

Generosity in action

Lily received a Summer Inquiry Grant — funded by the raise-thepaddle contributors at our 2022 auction — to attend the Roots. Wounds. Words. conference.