Beyond Black and White: Being Chinese in America

Overview

The Program

Teachers

Teachers

Charlene Leung practices traditional Chinese medicine and teaches qi gong and meditation in the SF Bay Area. For over a decade she chaired a diversity and inclusion committee for a predominantly white spiritual organization. She has led dozens of experiential workshops within Buddhist communities to raise awareness of personal and social oppressions. She has two adult bi-racial sons. The UNtraining helps Charlene, "Come out and be more fully who I am and hold the ambiguity of experiencing anti-Chinese racism, model minority status, and unconscious anti-blackness conditioning." She has been involved in the UNtraining since the pilot group in 2009 and is a facilitator for Chinese Phase 1 groups.

Yvette Leung is a certified coach specializing in collaborative leadership. Back in 2011 after attending an anti-isms conference, Yvette realized that she unconsciously followed the unspoken rules of a model minority, rarely rocking the boat. Her participation in the UNtraining has led her down a continued path to unlearn her white-biased conditioning, acknowledge where she has privilege, and courageously use her voice to speak out and influence conversations on race, class, and privilege. Yvette immigrated to the United States as a young child. She is a daughter, wife, mother of two teenagers, and a Facilitator for the Chinese Phase 1 Group.

Barbara Lin was born naked and crying into this world a few decades ago... and she has been trying to figure it all out ever since. By day, she is a non-profiteer trying to end cycles of poverty and marginalization. By night, she lives in a small one bedroom with her wife, surrounded by cups of coffee, books and a plethora of plants.  Barbara first came to the UNtraining as a participant seeking answers and a desire to be a fully realized human. She stayed for the community; full of potlucks, snacks, stories and laughter. As a facilitator she hopes to share her favorite emotion: laughter through tears - helping participants feel their joy, as well as their pain, at the same time.

James Lin is one of original members and Chinese facilitators of the Chinese UNtraining. He works as the Senior Director of Mission and Spirituality at the GLIDE Foundation, where he founded GLIDE’s Center for Social Justice and co-directed its Human Resources and Organizational Integration Department. Prior to that, James directed the Multicultural Resource Center at Reed College. He has been a bookseller, a doorman, a school teacher, and done product development for a biotech startup. In the community, he facilitated support groups for the UCSF Alliance Health Project and learning groups in the Interpersonal Dynamics course at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, did volunteer legal intake for Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD), a civil rights legal organization in Boston. He currently co-chairs the University Council on Community Engagement at the University of San Francisco. He lives in Oakland, California.

Lillian Mark is the eldest daughter of Chinese immigrants and a Bay Area native. Her great grandfather came to the US many eons ago and bought papers (aka 'paper son') for her granduncle to arrive who then many decades later sponsored her parents to come to the US. She currently serves as the Deputy Director of Programs at GLIDE Foundation, San Francisco.  Lillian has been involved in the UNtraining since 2009 as a founding member for the Chinese-identified cohort. She believes deeply that the collective path to social justice begins when each of us are willing to look at our own conditioning so that we do not default to the same racial and social narratives and structural patterns that have been handed to us.