17 Identity Inventory and A Conversation about Racism in The Health System (2025(

DSJ Communication Outcome: Communicate one’s own intersecting identities of difference and how one positions oneself in relation to power, privilege, and inequity.

I have two resources that build on top of one another. Similar to this course, my students complete the Identity Inventory Identity Inventory_Class 1.docx Download Identity Inventory_Class 1.docx. This is solely for their eyes, but it is a conversation starter for our synchronous session. I will ask them some of these questions related to their identity inventory:

1. What part of your identity do you think people first notice about you?
2. What part of your identity are you most comfortable sharing with other people?
3. What part of your identity are you least comfortable sharing with other people?
4. What part of your identity are you most proud of?5.

5. What part of your identity brings you privilege?
6.  What part of your identity did you struggle the most with growing up?
7. What part of your identity is the most important to you?
8. What part of your identity is least important to you?
9. What part of other people’s identities do you notice first?
10. For what part of your identity do you feel you face oppression for most often?
11. For what part of your identity do you feel you receive privilege for most often?
12. For what part of your identity do you feel least comfortable with at U of M?
13. Which identities do you identify or do not identify with power?
14. Identities that have the strongest effect on how you see yourself as a person.
15. What part of your identity do you see having the most effect on your interactions with students?
16. What part of students’ identities do you most often see affecting their interactions with you?
17. What part of your identity do you see having the most effect on your interactions with co-workers/peers?

_________________________________________________________________________________

The second activity I do with my students is the assignment below. They are to take what they learned from their identity inventory and their lecture on Racism and Health and have a reflective and open conversation about how they understand their identities and how they related to power, privilege, and inequity but also take it a step further and ask someone else about it and their experience.

A Conversation About Racism and Health

Purpose
The goal of this assignment if for you to be able to respectfully engage in conversations about topics that may be difficult for yourself or others, while also allowing you the opportunity to practice active listening. Using what you learned from the Identity Inventory and the intersectionality of your identities, this conversation goes a bit deeper and talks through these identities and how they related to Racism and Health. This type of conversation will be important because in your career having difficult conversations with staff, leadership, peers, stakeholders, community member, community leaders, and more will happen. Public Health is a field of pushing the boundaries to improve the lives of our community and understanding the intersectionality of what makes us who we are.

Skills
The purpose of this assignment is to help you practice the following skills essential to your success in this course, in college, and in your professional life:

• Build confidence in having difficult conversations about various topics
• Improve active listening skills
• Develop critical thinking skills (for example, innovative ways to tailor conversations of difficult topics to different people)
• Understand your and others intersectionality as they relate to Racism and Health

Task
Step 1: Get together with a consenting friend or family member to talk about race and health and their intersectionality. Begin by briefly describing what you have learned this week. Feel free to use any of the PowerPoint or visual materials such as videos to illustrate. Then engage in a conversation of at least 5 minutes. Keep in mind the group norms of accountability, respect, and listening as you speak with your partner.

What you will submit for this assignment is a 2-3 paragraph summary and reflection on this activity as described in Step 2.

Conversation Starters:

Is there anything I’ve described that you haven’t heard about before? What does it make you think?
Have you seen the effect of racism on health in your life experience or in the experience of others you know?
What would you like to know more about? (You can research more together.)

Step 2: Post a 2-3 paragraph summary of the discussion and your reflections on it in a word document and upload into this canvas assignment. The person you interview can remain anonymous. A transcription or summary of what was said is not enough; I want to know not only the content of the conversation but also your thoughts on it.

This is a good opportunity to talk about a challenging topic, reflect on what we have discussed and learned this week, and practice interview skills!

*Important notes:*

If you and your conversation partner are more comfortable conducting this discussion in a language other than English, you are certainly free to do so! Just please submit your assignment in English.

If you are a white person, please consider speaking with another white person about this topic. People of color bear the burden of thinking about racism much more frequently than white people usually do, so consider the impact that asking all of these questions of person of color may have. If you are close with and comfortable with a person of color, you may of course request their participation in the activity, but it should be completely voluntary. Consider other power dynamics that may be at play, such as gender, age, immigration status, employment status, etc.