Conversations to combat racism
- Kathrin Merritt
- Nov 28, 2021
- 3 min read
By: Kathrin Merritt
Racism impacts our entire community, so it will take a community effort to put an end to it. That starts with conversation. This past Sunday, October 3, Rabbit Box theatre group and the Athens-Clarke County Library teamed up to host a ‘Walk and Talk’ with several local teen groups to help facilitate those discussions.
The impacts of racism are relevant today, and are socially, fiscally and medically detrimental. Despite progress toward equity, racism is still a problem.
Watch the video below to get a first-hand look at what it is like to take part in a ‘walk and talk’ with the event’s coordinator Pat Priest from Rabbit Box.
Rabbit Box, the Athens-Clarke County Library, and local teen groups League of Step, Rites of Passage, Chess and Community, Youth is Life and the Teen Social Justice Club of the Athens Anti-Discrimination Movement believe that this starts with conversation. Including Torrance Wilcher (Coach T) with the League of Step.
“If you want to change things, it starts with the conversation. As uncomfortable as it may be, the conversation is the foundation of progress,” says Wilcher.
The ‘Walk and Talk’ was an event that was created to coincide with a community-wide reading of the book “Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You” by Ibram X. Kendi and adapted for young adults by Jason Reynolds. The book is focused on telling a more holistic history of the many forms of racist ideology in a way that is accessible to teenagers and adults alike.
Though the participants were welcome to talk about the book, conversations were also based on several prompts given for the visitors and teenagers to discuss as they walked together. Questions included “do you feel the color of your skin or other outward features are a big part of how other people see you,” “could you share… a memory when you realized the world was not fair,” and “what can we do to stamp out racism,” among others.
When asked what question she liked explaining the most, a teenager from the group League of Step said, “the one that’s like ‘how does [my skin color] make me see myself and how do other people see me based on other features?'... People see me as ‘loud’ and ‘ghetto’ because of the way I look and dress, but in reality I’m actually kind of quiet.”
Pat Priest explained how white people also experience race and that even children understand racial inequality.
“When I was probably about five, I saw the ‘colored’ water fountain, and I thought it would be like a rainbow. My mother just gripped my arm and said ‘this place is so backward!’ and… pulled me aside... to explain to me,” said Priest. “Kids get it.”
Though racism might not be found in water fountains today, the sentiments behind that segregation are still something that society is dealing with.
“If people aren’t careful, they can be tricked into believing a big deal is a done deal,” says Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi in “Stamped.”
* Kathrin Merritt is a journalism student at the University of Georgia and has previously worked for the Athens Clarke County Library from December 2019 to March of 2021 as the Digital Media and Public Information Intern.
** In order to report on this event involving teenagers, it was necessary to hear their voices. However, in the interest of their safety any questions about their input should be directed to their group’s coordinator.
Comments