Cover of "Breaking the Deadly Dance of Racism" alongside two speakers. Text details a free Zoom event on August 13 at 2pm EST with Derald Wing Sue and Lisa Beth Spanierman

In this Zoom Webinar Dr. Sue and Dr. Spanierman will introduce their new book, Breaking the Deadly Dance of Racism. They will discuss their research and focus on action - things we can all do right now.

They will share small, everyday tools that we can all use to disarm bias, interrupt racism, and shift harmful dynamics in real time. Dr. Sue and Dr. Spanierman will also talk about why this book is so important right now in this time of challenges. 
Introducing Dr. Sue and Dr. Spanierman's new book

Dr. Derald Wing Sue is a renowned psychologist, author, and educator known for his groundbreaking work in multicultural counseling and the study of microaggressions. He is a professor at Teachers College, Columbia University. Now, alongside co-author Dr. Lisa Spanierman, he brings this important work directly to you in a free Zoom webinar hosted by SunShower Learning and co-sponsored by Wiley. As a proud co-sponsor, Wiley brings decades of trusted psychology and mental health publishing expertise to support a conversation designed to help participants put these insights into practice.
  
When racism happens in the room, most people freeze. Not because they don't care. Because no one taught them what to do next. Too often, racist incidents are met with silence. Perpetrators remain unaware, targets feel powerless, bystanders freeze, and allies hesitate.

Breaking the Deadly Dance of Racism, by Dr. Derald Wing Sue and Dr. Lisa Beth Spanierman provides a comprehensive framework for understanding how these four roles maintain racism and offers concrete intervention strategies.

In this live conversation, Dr. Sue and Dr. Spanierman will unpack the research behind their newest book and give you tools you can use as an educator or a practitioner. 


Stop the Silence. Break the Dance.
Learn skills you can use.
Free Live Zoom Webinar
Thursday, August 13 at 2pm EDT / 11am PDT

Here's a quote from Dr. Sue about this book: 

"At the heart of this framework is our guiding metaphor that racism operates like a dance. It is not simply a matter of individual bias or intent, but a patterned set of roles, rhythms, and responses that are repeated, learned, and reinforced across relationships and systems.

In this choreography, perpetrators, targets, bystanders, and white allies each move in ways that either sustain or disrupt racial injustice. These roles are interactive and shaped by institutional scripts and cultural ground rules that elevate whiteness while diminishing other ways of knowing and being.

We chose this metaphor because it illuminates how racism is relational and systemic, and because it gives us language to explore how people can learn new steps, change their role, or disrupt the choreography altogether."
Elderly Asian-American man in a brown blazer and blue shirt speaks, gesturing with his hand. He appears thoughtful and engaged. This is Dr Derald Wing Sue.
Derald Wing Sue, Ph.D.
Teachers College, Columbia University
Author, Microaggressions in Everyday Life,
Microintervention Strategies

Dr. Lisa Beth Spanierman wrote this about Breaking the Deadly Dance of Racism:

"Breaking the deadly dance of racism requires more than good intentions. It requires awareness, practice, accountability, and the willingness to act. This book helps readers understand their role in the dance and take meaningful steps toward disrupting it."

Lisa B. Spanierman, PhD, is Professor in the School of Counseling and Counseling Psychology at Arizona State University and an American Psychological Association Fellow. Her scholarship focuses on racism, racial microaggressions, and white individuals’ racial attitudes. She has authored more than 80 peer-reviewed publications and co-authored the second edition of Microaggressions in Everyday Life.
Joel Lesko is the host of this Zoom and founder of SunShower Learning. Joel’s work has been at the forefront of DEIB training, setting a standard in both content and quality. Check out SunShower courses here. 

  • Why This Conversation Matters to Me

    I had the privilege of working with Dr. Sue for over a year to develop Disarming Microaggressions, our eLearning program built directly from his research. That collaboration earned awards and, more importantly, it taught me what it looks like when rigorous scholarship meets real-world practice. 

    This free Zoom is my way of bringing that same quality of thinking directly to you, without a paywall and without prerequisites.     Come ready to learn. Come ready to interrupt the dance.
Silhouetted figures dance energetically against a blue spotlight. Text overlay discusses racism metaphorically as a dance involving various roles.
Drawing on decades of research and clinical experience, Derald Wing Sue and Lisa Beth Spanierman show how perpetrators, targets, bystanders, and allies unwittingly follow choreographed steps that reinforce racial hierarchy.

From Dr. Sue: "In this webinar, I want to share an overview of the dance metaphor and link it to how the puppeteer of cultural racism pulls the strings of all four dancers."

Breaking the Deadly Dance of Racism examines unique barriers each role faces, from perpetrators' defensive reactions to targets' racial trauma to bystanders' diffusion of responsibility to allies' performative gestures. Readers discover how cultural scripts like color-blind ideology protect racism from challenge, and learn detailed microintervention strategies for making racism visible, disarming biased behavior, educating offenders, and mobilizing support.

Purchase Breaking the Deadly Dance of Racism at Amazon or Wiley  If you purchase the book at Wiley, make sure to use this discount code in the checkout process to get 20% off before Sept 30!   PSY20  

                                                                                           ______ 

An additional thought from Dr. Sue: "To understand how each of us can become complicit in the perpetuation of racism, I use the metaphor of a deadly dance. Racism is not sustained by a single actor but by an interconnected cast of performers—perpetrators, targets, White allies, and bystanders—who, knowingly or unknowingly, play roles that allow it to persist. Each participant follows learned steps, shaped by powerful and often invisible cultural scripts that define what is acceptable, expected, and unquestioned. These scripts are rooted in a system of cultural racism that silently directs perceptions, beliefs, behaviors, and relationships. When perpetrators enact racial bias, when bystanders normalize it, when allies remain passive, and when targets are pressured into silence or self-protection, all are drawn into a choreography that conceals and perpetuates racial injustice. The tragedy of racism lies not only in overt acts of discrimination, but also in the everyday participation of ordinary people who unknowingly keep the dance alive. Breaking the Deadly Dance of Racism: Perpetrators, Targets, Bystanders, and White Allies exposes these hidden dynamics and offers a roadmap for disrupting the dance and dismantling racism at the individual, institutional, and cultural levels."
Moral leaders have long warned of the dangers of neutrality in the face of injustice. Nobel Peace Prize laureates Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Archbishop Desmond Tutu both challenged the myth that decency alone is enough and called on individuals to act with conviction. As Dr. King warned, “We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.”

A distinguishing feature of this book is its emphasis on action. While conceptual clarity is vital, it is not enough. Across the chapters, we extend the concept of microinterventions—small, everyday acts that individuals can use to disarm bias, interrupt racism, and shift harmful dynamics in real time.

We envision this book reaching a wide range of readers who seek to deepen their critical consciousness and take part in the collective work of dismantling racism.

~ Derald Wing Sue, Ph.D. 

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Dr. Sue and Dr. Spanierman speak about their new book
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