Final Racial Literacies Meeting: Thursday, April 4th, noon to 1:30pm in Toy Lounge

Final Racial Literacies Meeting: Confronting White Nationalism

A reminder that the next (and LAST ever!) meeting for Racial Literacies will be next week Thursday, April 4, 12-1:30pm, Toy Lounge, Dey Hall. We are still finalizing our panelists, but so far we have confirmed 3 speakers: Cortland Gililam (PhD candidate, School of Education), Juliane Hammer (Associate Professor, Religious Studies), and Allison DeMarco (Faculty, School of Social Work, Scientist, Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, local activist).

To prepare for our last meeting, please listen to a recent episode on Fresh Air, “The New Zealand Massacre and the Global Resurgence of Extremism”: “J.M. Berger studies the online activity of extremists. He warns that white nationalism is a growing phenomenon worldwide”: https://www.npr.org/2019/03/25/706580711/the-new-zealand-massacre-and-the-global-resurgence-of-extremism

Next Meeting: Wednesday, March 6th, noon to 1:30pm in Toy Lounge

Our next meeting will take place on Wednesday, March 6, 12:00-1:30pm in Toy Lounge. We will take up the topic of leadership at UNC Chapel Hill, namely the changes in leadership that we have seen in the last two months and the ways we’d like to see the leadership of UNC Chapel Hill, interim, current, and future, take up issues of racial equity and inclusion. In other words, if we were to draft an open letter or wish list for our interim and future chancellor, and interim and future UNC systemwide president, what would we include? What issues would we like them to take up with respect to race, racism, equity, and inclusion?

Readings include:

1) A one sheet pdf on UNC’s strategic plan, “Blueprint for Next” — you can find the Blueprint for Next website on the Sakai Resources page for Racial Literacies under “Readings.”

2) “Advancing Diversity and Inclusion through Strategic Multilevel Leadership” (Takyama, Kaplan, Cook-Sather) — this essay published on the Association of American College and Universities website discusses several case studies of colleges and universities and the impetus behind their diversity and inclusion programs. https://www.aacu.org/liberaleducation/2017/summer-fall/takayama_kaplan_cook-sather

3) “Reclaiming the University of the People: Racial Justice Movements at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill” (Charlotte Fryar, American Studies PhD) — this is Charlotte Fryar’s dissertation, available as a public website (and a fine example of public humanities work). The section “Moving Forward” may be particularly useful for our discussion.

Sonny Kelly’s The Talk at the Historic Playmaker’s Theatre–Feb 14-17

The Talk

Written and performed by Sonny Kelly
Directed by Joseph Meagle

The Talk is a virtuosic one-person show about the difficult conversation a father must have with his son in a divided America.

Currently playing at the Durham Fruit and Produce Center until February 10th, this performance can next be seen on campus at the Historic Playmakers Theatre from February 14th until the 17th.

For more information and to purchase advance tickets, visit https://www.piedmontperformancefactory.org/now-playing 

 

 

 

Next Meeting: Wednesday, January 16th, noon-1:30 in Toy Lounge

Please mark your calendar for the next Racial Literacies meeting on Wednesday, Jan 16, 12:00-1:30pm in Toy Lounge.

The first Racial Literacies meeting of 2019 will take up the issue of what we, as students, staff, and faculty, can concretely do to address white supremacy and racism at UNC Chapel Hill. What are the multiple things that we can each do and do collectively–and how can we convince the leadership of UNC Chapel Hill to take up our suggestions and address white supremacy and systemic racism directly?

This conversation is particularly vital in light of the controversial BOT report recommendation about the Confederate monument known as “Silent Sam.”  The university has again failed to acknowledge and correct the continuing pain that this symbol of white supremacy represents. But the university must take action to address white supremacy, which exists on campus with or without the statue.

To inform our discussion of how to confront white supremacy at UNC, we will discuss an article by Shaun Harper, who went to UVA in the aftermath of the “Unite the Right” rally–you can find the article at this link: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/education/column-colleges-need-stop-sustaining-white-supremacy

Next Meeting: Friday, November 30, noon-1:30pm in Toy Lounge

The next meeting of Racial Literacies will take place on Friday, November 30th, noon-1:30pm in Toy Lounge, 4th floor of Dey Hall.

We will have a special guest speaker from the Pratt Institute: Jonathan Beller, a media studies scholar who works on race and whiteness.

We will be discussing his essay “Camera Obscura After All: The Racist Writing with Light.”

We hope to see you all there for our last meeting of 2018.