The Diversity Projekt
Empowerment for All People of Color
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The New Voter – MixedFolk Style
In mid-June of this year, SwirlPhilly hosted Philadelphia’s first official Loving Day events. We took a trip to the Franklin Institute for a viewin of their “RACE: Are we really so different?” exhibit. We also received permission to hold a discussion within the exhibit space. It was a great opportunity for us to share our impressions of the exhibit and how it fits into the legacy of Loving Day for us. Other topics included the fluidity and social construction of race and racial identities and the impact of being trans-national and mixed in U.S. society. We also talked about the marriage fight being waged across the country – same sex marriage. Swirl National released talking points just a few days before the event. Individual chapters have always bridged the gap between mixed and lgbt communities, and I am so very proud and excited that we are doing so in a more intentional way.
Another guest was the University of Maryland “News21 team” who were there to film our Loving Day events. They filmed our exhibit tour as well as the discussion. A few of us also had the opportunity to speak with them individual on the day of the event and a few weeks later. Chris and Nick came back to interview a few SwirlPhilly folk – three of us were chosen for the “Beyond Other” video segment.
WHO:
Chris Matthews, 25, is an M.J. candidate at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism. He has interned at Fox News Channel, the Mount Hope Monitor, washingtonpost.com and Salon.com. He has reported on the U.S. Congress, Bronx politics and a hostage standoff. Matthews aspires to be a foreign correspondent and has traveled widely, including seven-month stints in Paris and Australia, where he was a semi-professional lacrosse player. He received his B.A. in political science from Kenyon College in Ohio. Born in Houston but raised in Manhattan, he is a passionate fan of the Astros, Rockets and the N.Y. football Giants. He can be reached at Christopher.Matthews@news21.com
WHAT:
A team of 12 journalism fellows at the University of Maryland, including two visiting fellows from the University of Missouri and University of Texas at Austin, spent the summer of 2009 taking an in-depth look at how demographic trends are influencing American voting behavior and attitudes as part of News21, a national journalism program. In addition to reporting compelling stories, their goal was to experiment with innovative ways of presenting them. They were guided and edited by a team of experienced faculty and consultants.
So, check out the site, the Mixed Race Section and interviews by several mixed folk on “Beyond Other”, including four Swirlies!
I would love to hear from other mixed people who were raised in a caucasian household or who are trans-national. How does that influence the way you construct your identity?
Loving Day
“We loved each other and got married,” she [Mildred Loving] told The Washington Evening Star in 1965, when the case was pending. “We are not marrying the state. The law should allow a person to marry anyone he wants.”
Mildred Loving fought for her right to marry someone of another race in 1960’s Virginia. More than 40 years later we are still fighting for true marriage equality.
Stay tuned…..recap of Philadelphia’s First SwirlPhilly Loving Day events to come!
Related Stories:
Matriarch of Inter-Racial Marriage Dies
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24468808/
The Huffington Post Interview with Loving Day Founder
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jennifer-gandin-le/loving-day-its-not-a-hall_b_51358.html
Village Voice Interview with Loving Day Founder
http://www.villagevoice.com/2006-06-06/people/love-actually
2006 Washington Post Article
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/12/AR2006061201716.html
SwirlPhilly Hosting Loving Day Celebration @ The Franklin – RACE Exhibit Discussion
SwirlPhilly is celebrating Loving Day this year by hosting a trip to see the RACE exhibit at the Franklin. We will meet after the viewing to participate in a discussion on the exhibit and Loving Day. Community dinner to follow!
This is a family friendly event. Bring your children, spouses, parents, etc.!!
Date: Saturday, June 13, 2009
Time: 1:00pm – 5:00pm
Location: The Franklin
Street: 20th and Ben Franklin Blvd
City/Town: Philadelphia, PAPhone: 215.776.1162
Email: kathrini@swirlinc.orgRSVP requested as we are receiving group museum rates!
The Loving Day name comes from Loving v. Virginia (1967), the landmark Supreme Court decision that legalized interracial marriage in the United States.
Loving Day’s mission is to fight racial prejudice through education and to build multicultural community. It is a global network of annual celebrations you can host or attend, as well as an educational campaign that you can be a part of every day. Swirl partners with Loving Day every year as it’s mission is central to our work. We are a national organization with 11 chapters focused on challenging society’s notions of race through community building, education and action.
Faces of Poverty
Poverty is an ongoing epidemic plaguing millions of Americans in rural, suburban and urban communities even prior to this economic crisis. Yet, now that an increasing number of middle class Americans are joining the roll call of homeless and welfare seekers, it is worthy of front page news.
“Why is no one helping our struggling middle class?” I have CNN running most days- background noise if you will, and this question has been posed a total of five times today alone.
Does poverty and financial strife among our mostly suburban, middle class hold more currency than the lack of housing, adequate food and nutrition, access to health care, mental health counseling, clean clothing, etc., experienced by millions of Americans prior to the present financial meltdown?
Millions of children across this country live without health care, quality education opportunities, and are forced to live in conditions comparable to those in the third world. Yet, it has taken the deterioration of the quality of life for the American middle class for the country to truly wake up.
Local and state governments have failed for decades in adequately addressing issues of adequate housing and health care services, as well as quality education for much of the nation’s working and non-working poor. These existing conditions are exacerbated by the credit and mortgage crisis, as well as an annual job loss that has far exceeded the 1 million mark. Over 4 million homeowners are behind in their mortgage payments. If conditions continue to deteriorate, over 5 million may lose their homes between 2008 an 2010. The current procedures and processes of loan modifications are fundamentally useless for those who lose jobs or have mortgages that are under water.
Rescue missions and soup kitchens across the country are bursting at their seams. Food banks are seeing record crowds and are unable to service all those coming to them for help. They are finding it more difficult to find donors due to the financial crunch. Shelters are unable to house the many families who lose their homes due to foreclosure or job loss. Families are separated as shelters dedicated to maintaining family units reach and exceed capacity.
Leslie Kaufman recently reported on the plan to reduce New York shelter capacities in all of its burroughs:
The city has a massive municipal shelter system that houses roughly 6,500 homeless individuals every night. But it also has a much more ad-hoc system for street homeless who are highly resistant to institutionalized settings.
That alternative system is composed of eight drop-in centers, which have showers and seats but no beds. From there, homeless men can find one-night beds in churches and synagogues – or, if they can show they’ve been on the street for more than nine months, they can use city-run safe-haven beds. But each night, more than 500 hundred people, on average, end up sleeping in the chairs at the drop-in centers – some by choice and some because there are not enough beds in the faith-based centers.
While we are all feeling the crunch, those of us who are employed can help in several ways that are not overly burdensome to our own wallets.
- donate unused canned goods from your cupboard to a local soup kitchen
- donate your time to a local food bank of soup kitchen. This is also a great family building activity.
- set out non-perishable food donation box at your place of employment or church (Our office allowed everyone who donated a canned good to wear jeans to work the following Friday.)
Advertisers Run Amuck!
Have you seen the new Obama Victory Plate commercial? Particularly amusing is the image of the white family sitting in the living room. The husband exclaims “We never thought this day would come,” to which the wife retorts, “and now we own a piece of history.” As if this isn’t ridiculous enough , following them are the token black folks who say “Our generation has truly spoken”.
This is the dumbest commercial I have seen in quite some time. Following close behind is the in-color Obama gold coin commercial. I love the “you have x amount of days to get your plate and then the ink will be destroyed!” It strikes me as a bit odd that Obama’s profile is in color. As if we may forget that Obama is a black man?!
WHAT?
The DOW is taking a nose dive. Millions of people are without work and on the verge of losing their homes. The financial world as we know it is crashing down around us. And these advertisers are threatening people with ink being destroyed?
Perhaps the problem rests with me. Perhaps my priorities are out of line. My friend Jennifer pointed out (quite sarcastically) that the DOW will eventually rise again. People will eventually find work (or migrate to Canada). But I will never forgive myself if I do not jump at the opportunity to purchase “my own piece of history.!”
These are the last things people need to be purchasing right now. While consumer confidence needs to be rebuilt, this is also a time in which people need to be focused on saving. There is no time left to prepare, as the rainy days are here.
Independent Sector – Closing Plenary Luncheon – “A New Look at Race and Gender in Americ”
Round-table Discussion: Beyond Election 2008: A New Look at Race and Gender in America
Moderator: Kalvin Taketa, IS Board Member and President/CEO, Hawai’i Community Foundation
Panelists:
Randall L. Kennedy, Michael R. Klein Professor of Law, Harvard Law School, Harvard University
Sterling Speirn, President, W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Luz Vega-Marquis, Secretary, Independent Sector and President/CEO Marguerite Casey Foundation
Maria Wilson, President/Founder, The White House ProjektWhile I had limited power, I was able to jot down some thoughts that jumped out at me:
Speirn: “While the glass ceiling was smashed, there are millions trapped in the basement.”
Kennedy: Why is there a “who’d have thunk it” idea that Obama could be elected, that people could have pulled the lever to vote for him.
We need soon however to be thinking about what next” and I hope that we are not so entranced by what happened last week, that we fumble an opportunity to push the agenda for social justice.
Wilson: Two conversations got invoked in this election:
1) race
2) gender
3) class – Obama class upwards and Clinton class downwardsThe changing of the conversation is a major milestone in this country.
“You can’t be what you can’t see.” – What happened all over America, is that there are children from all races and gender that they can be president of the United States.
I know that I cannot celebrate very long, but it is great!
Vega: “The real America showed up at the poles.” In response to the idea that Palin spoke for the “real America.”
The real America finally got included. The fact that she is proud that Latinos voted the right way in this election.
Taketa: Obama as a transcended of all aspects of our population. Is Obama unique?
Kennedy: Obama is an extraordinary politician. Yet, Obama had a hard fought campaign for the Democratic nominee on gender. Gender and racial lines are moving. They are still there but they are moving. Obama still had to overcome his race. There are a variety of politicians of a variety of racial politicians and women politicians. Obama is the person of the hour but he is the tip of the iceberg. In a way this is the most hopeful thing of the election. There is more coming.
Speirn: If the issues are not central nothing will change. Education system is bankrupting our nation. Health status and economic status which is linked to education. The social determinants of education far outweigh all other issues.
Vega: Expectations of Obama are high. He also talked to us about us and what responsibility we take as members of this society to take active part in our future. We need to be responsible for the kinds of things we want to see. We need to begin shaping agendas in our communities. We expect miracles, but we need to hope in what we really can change. It is the collection of our efforts to build a better society.
Wilson: Obama did something transcendent – The major ways AA leaders have made progress is through challenge. Some questioned that AA could not make progress without bargaining. Obama assumed good will which is the third way – not challenge or bargaining. No negative stories about the campaign staff – mission of being respectful and doing good.
Wilson: about Clinton’s campaign – when it comes to gender, gender will always trump gender. But if you only have one person who is different, you look at what they have different. Gender is central. It meant that Clinton had to walk all fine lines about being tough enough and maintain appeal. At end of campaign she felt she had nothing to lose, and she was more authentic.
Wilson: We learned about the continuing way gender continues to be reported in the media. There was an enormous amount of sexism in this election.
The movement – Civic engagement of young people, women and African Americans:
Kennedy: the horizons have been widened traumatically. The sense of possibility – young women, people of color – frankly regardless that everyone’s horizons were opened and that has something to do with extraordinary moment we are in. Even people who did not vote for Obama, even his rivals, many of them have been changed and moved to opening their horizons.
Wilson: inspiring but what do we do next? If they are not engaged – if it is just about their votes – we will lose them again. Obama has a plan, but we all need a plan too for the energy.
(ran out of battery)
This conversation derailed within the first five minutes of comments. The panelists began discussion the ways in which the 2008 Election redefined discussions of Race and Gender in America, particularly the ways in which these new discussions influence the non profit sector and the ways in which the non profit sector can contribute to these discussions. A great topic, particularly since a “what now?” theme ran through the entire conference. However, the conversation quickly jumped to the failures of the Clinton campaign, policy reform and eventually the prison system. Once again, a fruitful discussion on race and gender derailed! Is it that we don’t know how to have a meaningful discussion on race or that it’s just to complicated and uncomfortable?
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