My Dear Black Friend: A Response to the Letters
After four My Dear White Friend letters, the conversation changes direction. An imagined white friend reflects on what it means to listen, confront defensiveness and allow learning about racism to change behaviour.
What State Are You Occupying? And What State Are You Been Drawn Into?
What state are you occupying right now? Weekly Reflection #012 explores how stages, states, emotions and environments interact, why earlier states can be reactivated, and how repeated states may influence who we are becoming.
My Dear White Friend: Please Don’t Make Me Your Textbook
When you ask a Black friend to explain racism, who carries the cost of the lesson? Letter Four explores self-education, emotional labour, defensiveness and a harder question: does your allyship extend to Black people you do not already know?
Gender Bias, Misogyny and Backlash: What Did the Six Stages Framework See?
In 2022, the Six Stages Framework was already exploring gender bias as a dynamic and fluid process involving silence, dismissal, blame, entrenchment and extreme advocacy. Four years later, Dr Shungu M’gadzah revisits that work to ask what stood up, what became more complex and what the SSF has learned.
What Dolly Parton Taught Us About Belonging Across Difference
Why did Dolly Parton seem to connect with people across race, class, faith, sexuality and politics? This SSF Weekly Reflection explores childhood memory, music, poverty, Whitney Houston, allyship and what it means to create belonging without requiring sameness.
My Dear White Friend – Letter Three: When Bias Arrives Before You Do
What happens when a story about you reaches the workplace before you do? In Letter Three of My Dear White Friend, Dr Shungu M’gadzah reflects on how labels such as “difficult” and “intimidating” can travel through professional networks, how repetition can be mistaken for objectivity, and what White colleagues and leaders can do to interrupt racial bias rather than becoming the next domino.
Accountability and Certainty: When the Evidence Is Never Enough
How much certainty do we require before taking action — and is that threshold the same for every issue? This week’s SSF reflection explores the accountability spotlight, unequal roads to certainty and whether accountability should begin before certainty ends.
My Dear White Friend – Letter Two: The Discomfort of Looking Within
What happens when friendship, allyship and inclusion no longer reassure us, but ask us to examine ourselves? Letter Two explores racial bias, institutional silence and the difficult work of looking within.
My Dear White Friend: A Note Between Letters – Are My Letters Reaching You?
Before writing Letter Two of My Dear White Friend, I find myself needing to pause. Reflections on belonging and the public discussion surrounding Professor Arday have resurfaced memories, emotions and questions I thought I had put away. This is a note from the space between the letters.
Belonging, Fitting In and the Psychological Cost of Assimilation
What do we ask people to give up in order to belong? This SSF Weekly Reflection explores the psychological cost of assimilation, conditional belonging and what happens when adaptation flows primarily in one direction.
