A hybrid event, we will review video material about how racism functioned historically and continues to impact the present. Local storyteller and peace activist La'Ron Williams will lead discussion.
This series screens films that provide the opportunity to safely engage in conversation about the topic of racism.
In 2024, this program series will go back to its beginnings with the question: What is race? We will screen and discuss episodes of the PBS series, Race: The Power of an Illusion. Scientific evidence suggests that the idea of race - the division of the world's peoples into distinct biological racial groups - is a biological myth, as outdated as the widely held medieval belief that the sun revolved around the earth. Anthropologists, biologists and geneticists have increasingly found that, biologically speaking; there is no such thing as "race." Modern science is decoding the genetic puzzle of DNA and human variation - and finding that skin color really is only skin deep. However, the idea of race has been deeply woven into the fabric of American life. Ethnic cleansing, affirmative action battles, immigration restrictions - all place race at center stage in contemporary life. Race is so fundamental to discussions of poverty, education, crime, music, and sports that, whether we are racist or anti-racist, we rarely question its reality.
We watched the first two episodes of the series on January 7 and February 11.
May 12, we will review the final episode, The House We Live In (Episode 3) which focuses not on individual attitudes and behavior but on the ways our institutions and policies advantage some groups at the expense of others. Its subject is the "unmarked" race: white people. We see how benefits quietly and often invisibly accrue to white people, not necessarily because of merit or hard work, but because of the racialized nature of our laws, courts, customs, and perhaps most pertinently, housing.
After each viewing, La’Ron Williams, local storyteller and peace activist, will facilitate an open, honest discussion about race and racism.
This is a hybrid Zoom event. Please attend in person or by clicking on the link below:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/95986811441?pwd=eVNOR1J4T0ltZ3Blaks0RklKL1ZiZz09
Meeting ID: 959 8681 1441
Passcode: 898330
Dial in: +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
AGE GROUP: | Seniors | Adults |
EVENT TYPE: | Civic Engagement | African American Interest |
TAGS: | Racism | Racial Justice | African American | Activism |
Our largest branch on Whittaker Road, near the roundabout, has 5 meeting rooms, including our large Community Room.
**Please note**Attendance at Library events constitutes consent to be photographed for use in print and/or electronic publicity for the Ypsilanti District Library.