Looking at Race Relations in the SW

In promoting the Luminary Event throughout the SouthWest Quadrant, some of SWAN's staff connected with V.O.T.E.R. (Voice Of The Electorate in Rochester) at the Frederick Douglass Resource Center (36 King Street, off W. Main, west of Canal St.) to enlist their support and participation. My own agenda was to see how this event might be a way to engage youth in a meaningful community service project. This meeting resulted in a 4-hour, very frank discussion about racism, white privilege, gentrification, the effective education and empowerment of youth (civic engagement), and, finally, how to connect "action steps" to the celebration of African-American leaders, such as Dr. Martin Luther King.

In comparing the African-American history with that of our Jewish brothers and sisters, I came away with a deeper awareness of the importance of "remembering" and a better understanding and respect for the significance of the Red, Black, Green flag, which is comparable to the significance of the menorah of the Jewish religion. It was also pointed out that Jewish people aren't asked to "get past" the Holocaust; in fact, a traveling memorial has been created to continue to educate the public as to the travesties that occurred during this 4-year period (while the systematic extermination lasted from 1941-1945, Jews were persecuted since 1933). To this date, concentration camp staff are still sought for prosecution throughout the globe, especially in the category of "Crimes Against Humanity."

This Friday, 12/10, from 6 p.m. - 8 p.m., the Frederick Douglass Resource Center (FDRC) is hosting a special viewing of the new exhibit, "Lynching in America," by Pepsy Kettavong (who also created the "Let's Have Tea" sculpture and is working on the "Voter's Box" sculpture on W. Main at the old McDonald's site). This is Pepsy's first Show in over a decade and will be open from 12/10/10 - 2/28/11.

As we move closer to the holiday to celebrate the life and teachings of Dr. King, I am hoping we can have some meaningful and authentic discussions about race relations in the SW.

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Permalink Reply by Margy Meath on December 8, 2010 at 2:37pm

Thanks for bringing up this subject Eleanor! I have observed and experienced what feels like an increase in 'racial tensions' in our community (and others) over the past few years. Finding ways to talk about this is sometimes difficult as some people are very uncomfortable with the discussion - yet, talk about it behind closed doors and/or in private. I don't think that this is unique to the SW but given the diversity of our neighborhood I think that the tension is more obvious and just under the surface of a lot of issues.
I was in Westchester County yesterday and the topic came up in a group of MH professionals. Interestingly, some in the room were comfortable with the discussion and others literally 'squirmed'. One of the women shared a resource/concept that I had not heard of - the concept is called "Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome" based on the research/book of Dr. Joy DeGruy. If interested, you can read more about this here:http://www.joydegruy.com/index.html

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Permalink Reply by Eleanor Coleman on December 8, 2010 at 3:17pm

Locally, Kia Nyame of Ujima has hosted the "Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome" conference annually for 2 years. The 2nd one was last month. He also hosted a post conference workshop for those who were passionate about continue to explore the message. Kia's email is: kiahnyame@gmail.com.

I'm finding that nervous and uncomfortable is a necessary by-product of substantive change for the better.

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Permalink Reply by Ken Maher on December 9, 2010 at 7:52am

It's really too bad that this event conflicts with the annual Metro Justice Human Rights Day event at DUPC, which starts before (5:30) and ends after (9:00) it. I'm sure that many people, like me, would like to have been able to attend both. Will this exhibit have another public showing?

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Permalink Reply by Eleanor Coleman on December 9, 2010 at 4:39pm

The exhibit runs until 2/28. The opening ceremony is tomorrow.

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Permalink Reply by johnnie banks on December 13, 2010 at 7:27am

Thank you for sharing the information you received at the Luminary event- there is a quite a bit to be said regarding race in America-and hopefully this discussion will have given some insight to some of the issues that are an integral part of life for African-americans in this country.