White People Work: Recent Episodes
Scott Hall
Working to help white folks understand ourselves and take responsibility for our presence in the world.
In this episode Scott muses on the roots of white defensive responses when the topic of race comes up, especially around DEI, reparations, or affirmative action. In seeking to start a conversation, Scott explores the white cultural value of fairness and the way that it seems to be inconsistently applied, or the challenges to how it is defined depending upon one's point of view. Scott would love to have you express your own thougths and perspectives on the white people work facebook group (just search for it!) or to share with him througth the whitepeoplework.org page. Thanks for listening!
In this episode, Scott takes his first stab at one of the themes of this season: how do we lean more into the humanity we share with all people? Starting with the third tenet of whiteness--that it urges us to attempt to transcend our humanity--Scott works his way from there to his direct experiences of some of the assumptions and worldview embedded into whiteness that have kept him from living and working in the full range of his humanness. With stories of his kids, Dr. Randy Woodley, and one of his best work experiences of his life, Scott invites us to consider the ways we've been conditioned with assumptions that quietly hurt us by cutting us off from community.
In this episode, Scott shares some of his favorite stories of his own journey of growing in empathy, particularly as a result of displacing himself as the only white family on a block of African-American and Central American residents in South Central Los Angeles. Additionally, Scott references the very recent Senate interview of Jeremy Carl of Montana, part of which can be viewed here on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcKQcZrWhwk.
You can always reach Scott and explore leadership he offers at whitepeoplework.org or at scottchesterhall@gmail.com.
Scott's back! This is the launch of season five, where Scott will dive into three key steps of growth to better understanding ourselves and find our part to play in opposing racial injustice: gaining perspective on ourselves, growing in empathy, and experiencing our shared humanity with others outside of whiteness. If you're just starting here, welcome! If you're back for more, thank you! Scott continues to build on the foundation stated in the first season, and looks for relevant aspects of taking responsibility for whiteness right now in the 2026 US context.
In this final episode of season four, Scott ties together the threads of the fourth season, looking back at some of the uncanny conversations that have played themselves out in real-time in the US. Scott wraps up this season of examining the US political landscape through the tenets of whiteness by offering one last idea, one invitation for personal reflection, and one last proposal to motivate us to move forward in taking steps of action for racial justice.
Scott is also offering a live zoom Monday, April 7, 2025 at 7 pm pacific/10 pm eastern at https://intervarsity.zoom.us/j/3238398976
Scott can be reached at scottchesterhall@gmail.com and all that he offers is available at www.whitepeoplework.org
Finally, if you'd like to become a member of the white people work Patreon, you can do so at https://www.patreon.com/c/WhitePeopleWork
In this episode, Scott steps away from the historical journey to put his feet on the ground and find sustainable hope. He shares about his steps of active engagement, lessons he learns along the way, and encouragement that he is finding to balance out some of the challenging realities of the daily news cycle.
See the youtube video of how small steps of resistance can change the world through the lens of dominoes and physics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JCm5FY-dEY
Learn about a SURJ chapter near you: https://surj.org/
Read more about the Freedom Riders: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Freedom_Riders/ftHQCwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover
In this episode Scott completes the three-week tour through the history of the turn of the century, and brings together how the threads of science, immigration, and economics parallel the current state of the US. Scott tracks the way that mounting tension and disparity between labor and employers came to a head during and after World War One, and makes the case for this season as the starting point of colorblind racism.
For any interested in reading along with Scott's primary source material, get a copy of The History of White People by retired Princeton history professor Dr. Nell Irvin Painter.
For any interested in a live zoom discussion about how to operate as white folks in in the US today, and share best practices, email Scott at scottchesterhall@gmail.com.
In this episode Scott continues his look at the turn of the century, and how it parallels today. This is the second installation of this comparison, and traces the theme of immigration from the late 1800's through the early 1920's. Scott builds upon how the scientific ideas of eugenics and determinative heredity informed assessments and social views of the newer wave of Eastern and Southern European immigrants--the same who were entering the US when Emma Lazarus's poem was placed beneath the Statue of Liberty inviting the world to "give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free"--and gave established white US Americans justification for the demonizing and mistreatment of this newest wave of immigrants. Scott ends the episode drawing comparisons to today's US political climate, in which immigration and deportation are hot-button issues.
Join Scott in looking at history to gain perspective on ourselves by reading along with his primary source text: The History of White People by Princeton Historian Dr. Nell Irvin Painter. https://www.amazon.com/History-White-People-Irvin-Painter/dp/0393339742/ref=sr_1_1?crid=116NYJ5X2AQBH&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.KKx9LSZAtPM8GJZuKcbSmHgk_pbzuSwNprvCa6oQlMZ6EFCqHHJKdnOTMSXYdHdnYiPO28UVlYg-Fa2ctDRGeu33xz71lT1bd8kgIP0pqn6rjZJdG-H_r8waHhM12Ari_efDWdulRq3xycPV6iwcoBDiJ-kmkQwOjshtFfd9F-sh3RQFkJnjl9S2nnhWtHNFYc0-jV4foSX92QfFU0CtybwTELNvxo7MLOwVgfJgh5A.x4KCNRgzv-sL6QE1ozMLi6NNTWVZO32-z3qncHRL2qo&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+history+of+white+people&qid=1741476012&sprefix=the+history+of+white+peopl%2Caps%2C219&sr=8-1
In this episode, Scott goes back into history mode, leaning heavily on the amazing work of Princeton historian Dr. Nell Irvin Painter in looking at what the turn of the 19th to 20th century in the US has to teach us about what we're in the midst of today. Tariffs, immigration, deportations, oligarchs, and the resurgence of white supremacist groups are just a few of the parallel issues of today and this period in time. Come with us into the three-week series of leaning on history to catch the scents of the present, so that we can have a sense of what to watch out for and where it might (again) lead.
In this episode, Scott shares in a very live way the ways that he has had a recent revelation that he's been attempting to transcend his humanity in the way he's carried his own emotions and concerns with all that happening in the US political sphere in the present. Scott shares vulnerably about his own arrogant assumptions about soldiering on as a good white person in these dynamic times, and about the freedom he's gaining from finding places to name and discuss his feelings, and to find community and mentoring for healthy sustainable engagement. Scott includes the helpfulness of learning about Shock Doctrine, a concept first articulated by Naomi Klein.
If you listen and are interested in a live zoom community conversation about best practices and sustainable advocacy, send Scott an email at scottchesterhall@gmail.com with the subject heading as "zoom community".
Scott interviews friend and co-founder of Italian Homecoming, Chris Centracchio, discussing the story of Chris's experience of being received by his long-lost Italian relatives, and the felt need it brings to the surface for many white European Americans. Chris shares his story of growing up as an Italian American in Rhode Island, the complexities of his grandmother's relationship with her Italian heritage, and the how the longing he always had as a child was fulfilled in the Napoli region of Italy. In responding to the story, Scott and Chris process the concept of a place wound as something that describes a possible reality of white European American identity, and how it might account for the white European American track record with the land and non-white peoples.
For more information about Italian Homecoming visit: https://www.italianhomecoming.com/
And to learn more about Scott's Celtic pilgrimage, email him at: scottchesterhall@gmail.com
In this episode Scott shares his experience of diversity, equity, and inclusion, how they have never threatened him, and why the stated narratives of DEI being dismantled in favor of merit don't hold up under scrutiny. Additionally, Scott covers the opposition to critical race theory and honest about US history, and offers tools for naming, dissecting, and evaluating narratives about reality that we carry in order to help us who are white see what is shaping us and step into agency in becoming the kinds of people we want to be.
Scott interviews Dr. Corey Clay, a PhD in industrial/organizational psychology, and recent director of diversity and inclusion for the School of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Washington. Dr. Clay shares his unique life journey--from Texas to the military to corrections to academia--and how it has led him to be passionate about advocating for the rights of African Americans and marginalized communities. Scott and Dr. Clay talk about today's political climate through the lens of race, and land at the reasons that Dr. Clay and his wife have decided to leave the United States.
Dr. Clay's recent Huff Post piece can be read here: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/black-leaving-america-election_n_6776dfdfe4b0b748756170c7
This episode kicks off the start of season four with Scott sharing about the interesting relationship between words and actions as a set up for the season. He introduces the theme of the season, which will observe current political rhetoric, values, and decision-making through the lens of whiteness. Scott starts the observation by discussing the inauguration day declaration that Denali and the Gulf of Mexico will be renamed.
In this final episode of season three, Scott invites a guest speaker to share her experiences of growing up in an under-resourced community as a white person. Scott and the guest journey into some of the complexities of how race and class combine to chart different paths of understanding what it means to be a white European American. This episode is, in many ways, a composite of many of the themes of the white people work podcast, played out in real life with nuance, challenge, and compassion. Join us for this wrap-up episode of addressing highly conceptual ideas in a practical, relationship-oriented way.
In this episode Scott shares a recent insight from his friend about the ways white folks tend to seek more information about racial injustice, when they're not putting into practice the information they've already learned. Beyond that, Scott explores some of the insights from James Baldwin about the unconscious awareness that all white folks carry, and the importance of white folks moving the impetus for personal growth from the suffering of folks of color to their own appropriate sense of responsibility for stepping into what is right.
In this episode Scott live-processes his experiences in Ireland, and the way that he got the pilgrimage he needed, not the one he wanted. Scott brings a present-tense level of processing the humiliating nature of learning the same lessons over again with higher stakes, and how that is part and parcel toward the ongoing journey of getting out from underneath whiteness as while people. Scott shares about the ancient Celtic wisdom of the spiral and how it can help inform our own personal character growth journeys.
Scott goes back to the "stick" in this episode, breaking down his take on how the ideology of whiteness leads people to a violent way of being in the world. He takes the tenants of whiteness--the god-complex that centers itself, controls others, and seeks to transcend humanity--and breaks down how these lead those under the influence of whiteness toward a violent way of relating to the earth, to others, to ourselves...and even gets at some of the roots of our tendency to characterize the universe as a fundamentally violent place. Scott's been stewing on the ideas of this episode for almost a year, and is finally ready to put some shape to them.
In this episode, Scott takes a more personal turn to share his experiences from his own family of origin, and how he and his wife have discovered and stumbled into ways to live differently in their home now, as they host friends and neighbors, and as they raise their family. While some of the engagement with whiteness in previous episodes can be at a historical and abstract level, this episode gets very practical with ways to approach time, the use of space, and the culture of a living space in order to nurture a retreat from the harmful harshness of whiteness in the United States. Additionally, don't miss Scott's invitation to consider the online cohort Scott is leading with Erna Hackett, which you can learn more about at www.whitepeoplework.org.
TRIGGER WARNING: this episode contains direct quotes of historical anti-Jewish literature and ideas that are disturbing. In this episode Scott seeks to shed a little bit more light on the historic connection between whiteness and anti-semitism, and in doing so clarify the confusing double-standard by which the United States can be consciously or unconsciously anti-Jewish while being so deeply aligned with the state of Israel, politically, particularly in the midst of a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Scott goes deep into the history of the Christian church--back to 54 AD--and the seed that was planted that gave rise not just to ongoing anti-semitism, but to the the justification of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the commodification of African people. Join Scott on this tour of European and Church history to gain more clarity on a complex issue that needs attention.
In this episode, Scott breaks down the complex relationship between race, dominance, privilege, and personal identity, particularly for white European Americans. While it is common to be unaware of these dynamics for white men like Scott, learning to notice them, empathize with those most hurt by them, and engage with correcting them can be a wonderful journey of purpose and transformation.
In this episode Scott balances out the "stick" of the challenge in the previous episode with the "carrot" of how white folks can be free from the pressure of trying to never make mistakes, and--how when white folks do deep work on themselves--there's good that come out of them that might be better than expected. The episode addresses some of the knee-jerk responses white folks can have when issues or conversations about race come up, and how to deal with those responses. Scott ends inviting anyone who is still interested to join him in Ireland in late April by emailing him at scottchesterhall@gmail.com.
Welcome to episode two of the third season!
This episode reveals Scott's exploratory thoughts on the ways white people can tend toward being falsely nice, what's behind that, and why it might be a deeper issue than one would think.
Follow Scott's recent story from a friend and how it connects to his own reflections on failures and revelations from his own cross-cultural relationships. And join in the conversation by sharing your perspectives on the White People Work Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/707371604521900
Welcome to Season Three!
Scott's been living out the principles of the first two seasons, testing out ideas and theories and learning new things, and he's back, ready to share more of the journey of understanding himself as a white person, and taking responsibility for his presence in the world.
In this episode Scott shares his evolving thoughts on whiteness--adding more nuance on some aspects and more conviction on others--as well as telling some stories of his own failures, questions, and explorations.
Welcome back to this journey...there is some great stuff for us together!
In this episode, Scott shares his reflections on the past season's interviews with eight of his friends of color as well as a new insight he's had into why it is that whiteness is so toxic and unsustainable.
My conversation with Silvia Ahn charts her upbringing as a conservative Korean American evangelical, and the process of transformation by which she has come to live out a deep spirituality of liberation and solidarity with marginalized communities. Silvia recently completed a master's degree in social entrepreneurship and tells a fascinating story of her own journey about how her own learning about her cultural history has been a key part of learning to walk in solidarity with others.
Join my conversation with my friend and colleague, Jovanie Smith. Jovanie is a black Haitian-American woman who lives in Atlanta, Georgia. Jovanie shares about the significance of her family in building up her strong sense of self, and reveals some of the wisdom and lessons about how to thrive in the midst of spaces that don't always honors the fullness of who she is.
In this episode, Scott interviews his long-time friend, Alex Hsu. Alex is a Taiwanese American man who is a theatre actor in the San Francisco Bay Area. Alex leads the conversation into discussing whiteness through the lens of how it intersects with toxic masculinity, and about how that intersection has shaped the journey he has needed to walk to be true to himself as an Asian American Queer-Identifying man.
Join me in sitting at the feet of my friend, Abner Ramos. Abner is a Honduran immigrant to the US who after graduating from UCLA, moved back the East LA Area to work begin what has now been an almost 25 year dedication to advocating for underresourced students and communities. Not only does Abner's hard-won wisdom flow as he speaks, but he gives powerful invitations to take activism from social media into deep community transformation. Get ready...Abner keeps it real, and you're in for a treat.
Welcome to season two of White People Work! In this episode, I interview my long-time friend, Mark Yim. Mark is an attorney in the Los Angeles area, and shares in detail about his experience as a Korean American immigrant. Mark leads us into discussion about Asian American identity, and the complexity of the Asian American and immigrant experience. Join me as I learn from Mark, and let his experience shape my own perspective and presence in the world.
In this episode, in addition to starting out with my own confession of the realities of being on this journey of taking responsibility for my own character formation as a white man, I interview the insightful Brandi Miller. Brandi has an incredibly popular podcast of her own--Reclaiming My Theology--and she and I have been friends for the past 10 years or so. Brandi shares about her experience of getting out from underneath whiteness as a queer Black woman raised in central Oregon, and about her insights after spending much of her life navigating white institutions as a woman of color and directly seeking to unlearn the toxicity of whiteness. Listen in to be inspired by Brandi's character and challenged by her perspective.
This week I interview my friend, Larissa Marks. Born and raised in rural Maui and now living on Oahu, Larissa is a realtor and a spiritual director. Larissa is a fifth generation Chinese American woman who has done a lot of deep work to come to a powerful sense of her own personal and ethnic identity. You can also learn more about her land-rights-advocacy work for indigenous Hawaiian folks at www.greenlinehawaii.com.
Join me for the first published interview of my friend, Eddy Ekmekji. Eddy is an Armenian American immigrant, grew up in Lebanon and immigrated to the US at age 10. He's a thoughtful soul who knows how to navigate in and out of the white world in the US, and as a result has deep perspectives that we can learn from.
This is the first episode in the second season of White People Work! I've spent the last couple months in a new season of learning, teaching a class, and interviewing a number of friends of color about their perspectives on whiteness, white people, and their experience of life in the US as folks of color.
In this final episode of the first season, Scott shares about what it looks and feels like to have whiteness come close to home. As he processes the death of his father, Scott looks at the ways that the culture of whiteness shaped his family of origin and contributed to both his parents' declines, and then broadens out the danger of the "pioneering spirit" that's such a core part of whiteness.
In this episode, Scott illuminates the most common problems with white progressives, even while identifying himself as one. This episode is targeted at folks who tend to identify as white progressives and is designed to hold a mirror up to their most common blind spots toward the end of being consistent between values and actions.
In this episode, Scott does a deep dive on the issue of intent versus impact. This is a very common complaint of folks of color about white folks. Often white folks want to be assessed on the intent of their words, actions, or choices, yet in contrast, folks of color are often more focused on the impact of those words, actions, and choices.
In contrast to the last two episodes, which featured common practices that injure folks of color and common pitfalls white folks fall into, this episode is a proactive expression of cross-cultural practices that are healthy for white people.
In this sixith episode, Scott goes into some of the pitfalls white folks can fall into as they grow in racial awareness, and how to avoid them.
In this fifth episode, Scott lays out the eight common practices of white folks that injure and alienate folks of color. Additionally, he lays out why it's so important that this isn't a list of do's and don'ts for white folks--and what's wrong with that--but that it comes from a place of deeper engagement with wanting to discover our part to play in opposing racist systems.
In this episode, Scott pushes into the implications of the deeper definition of whiteness, exposes the directives of whiteness, and charts a path for getting out from underneath it. If you can make it through this episode, then this podcast is definitely for you!
In this episode, Scott goes deeper into the history of the formation of whiteness and race, including the historical impact of scientific racism and eugenics and how they continue to shape the unconscious conditioning of us who are white, today. This episode includes Scott's deeper definition of whiteness, why it's so troubling, and what white folks need to come to terms with if they are to be honest with their issues, and move into healthy growth.
In this second episode, Scott defines whiteness and goes into the history of race that is crucial to understand if white folks are to truly understand themselves. It's this history that shapes how we understand ourselves as white folks in the US, and that shapes what so many friends and colleagues of color understand about us that we don't often understand very well, ourselves. This is part one of a two-part series.
Welcome to White People Work, helping white folks understand ourselves and take responsibility for our presence in the world. My name is Scott Hall, and this is the introductory episode launching my first season of content. In this episode, you'll get a sense of who I am, and why I feel this podcast is important. Enjoy!