Tonight's conversation at the Brooklyn Historical Museum (BHS) was thought-provoking and energizing.
From discussing the "mixing" of neighborhoods through immigration and migration,
to exploring the ways in which different moments of history have given way to today's dynamics,
to hearing the diverse experiences of multiracial identity,
one thing is clear -
we need new vocabulary to have conversations about race and identity that do justice to the ways in which we are actually "living race" now (one of tonight's panelists, Suleiman Osman, first raised this very good point).
We can't simply explain ourselves by checking off a simple set of boxes and we can't tell a whole story in one line. You can't know everything about people by merely "reading" their faces. We need more time for dialogue, we need to work on developing our language to explain complexity and we need to develop our capacities to understand and absorb such complexity.
This was the start of more great conversations to come, through BHS' Crossing Borders, Bridging Generations project. I hope you will join me and Swirl as we continue in the dialogue.
And stay tuned for Swirl's upcoming projects - we are planning programs that will offer more opportunities for cross-racial/cross-cultural dialogue!
Thanks to Sady Sullivan and BHS for bringing me in to design and moderate tonight's great event...thanks to Katrina Grigg-Saito, Dr. Suleiman Osman, and Judith Sloan for being amazing and thought-provoking panelists and thought partners. Thanks to Loving Day for sponsoring this great event!
to exploring the ways in which different moments of history have given way to today's dynamics,
to hearing the diverse experiences of multiracial identity,
one thing is clear -
we need new vocabulary to have conversations about race and identity that do justice to the ways in which we are actually "living race" now (one of tonight's panelists, Suleiman Osman, first raised this very good point).
We can't simply explain ourselves by checking off a simple set of boxes and we can't tell a whole story in one line. You can't know everything about people by merely "reading" their faces. We need more time for dialogue, we need to work on developing our language to explain complexity and we need to develop our capacities to understand and absorb such complexity.
This was the start of more great conversations to come, through BHS' Crossing Borders, Bridging Generations project. I hope you will join me and Swirl as we continue in the dialogue.
And stay tuned for Swirl's upcoming projects - we are planning programs that will offer more opportunities for cross-racial/cross-cultural dialogue!
Thanks to Sady Sullivan and BHS for bringing me in to design and moderate tonight's great event...thanks to Katrina Grigg-Saito, Dr. Suleiman Osman, and Judith Sloan for being amazing and thought-provoking panelists and thought partners. Thanks to Loving Day for sponsoring this great event!
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