Race Matters: Continuing the Conversation

This discussion began with Melvin Rouse defining trauma and its process. Trauma does not have to be experienced directly; even witnessing or hearing trauma can trigger a traumatic response. An example he shared which could trigger such a response, was watching racial violence occur in the media. Carolyn Weisz discussed that emotions begin with feelings, the internal feeling is interpreted through cognitive processing that allows labeling of the feeling as an emotion. The way feelings are expressed, and the kinds of emotions produced, varies by racial identity because circumstances vary by race. Weisz discussed that negative emotions can lead to systemic patterns of misinterpretation, leading white people to say Black people overreact, but can also alert people to something that is wrong and compel people to take action against the harm being inflicted. Khalila Fordham discussed how we can reduce the potential of our emotions overwhelming us by using coping strategies to manage stress and trauma. However, sometimes these strategies are not enough and additional support, in the form of a friend or a mental/medical professional, is needed. Overall, this session taught us how trauma occurs neurologically, how we express and react to it, and it reminded us that there are ways to cope with trauma. Panelists also shared techniques we can use.

In collaboration with the Department of Psychology a conversation led by:
Melvin Rouse, PhD, (Assistant Professor, Psychology)
Khalila Fordham, PsyD, (Psychologist/Multicultural Support Specialist in CHWS)
Carolyn Weisz, PhD, (Professor, Psychology)

• Resources related to the "Remembering to Breathe" discussion

The space held a variety of meanings for those who took part in it and discussed a range of topics, such as: Black Identity in white spaces, supporting Black college students, and activism for Black people. Other featured panelists included LaToya Brackett, Assistant Professor of African American Studies; Melvin Rouse, Assistant Professor of Psychology; and student Christina Mills, ‘22. Between the panelists, they discussed issues of how non-Black and white people should support Black women; how they remain confident and manage in the environment that is Puget Sound; and discussed the need of physical, emotional, and vocal support for the Black community in this time of civil unrest and organizing. The Black affinity space was provided to:

1. Give voice to Black students, community members and faculty
2. Have discussion on what they wished the University to know about their lives
3. To express Let’s Talk: Black Space for Black Lives where resilience, challenges, and success is found as Black people at Puget Sound.

In collaboration with the Black Student Union, a Black Affinity Space* hosted by
Mimi Duncan ’22
Serena Sevasin ’22
Jaylen Antoine ’22

*Racial affinity spaces allow people of color to center and prioritize their specific needs, voices, and experiences in a space without re-routing or re-centering the conversation to adjust to white education. 

Click Here to Watch the Recording
Requires university credentials

Andrew Gomez began this conversation by explaining the duplicity of citizenship as a legal process as well as a process of belonging, membership, and solidarity. By viewing certain groups as cultural outsiders to the US identity, we reduce their ability to exercise legal and political citizenship. Historically in the US, the legal citizenship of Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, and African Americans, specifically has been rebuked and met with violence, police brutality, lynching, voter suppression etc. which evidences the chasm between citizenship and inclusion. Robin Jacobson discussed broadly the carceral state: a summation of the web of systems like incarceration, policing, immigration, surveillance, parole etc. and the way that interactions with these systems of punishment and management affect civic citizenship: political participation, trust in community and government, sense of belonging or obligation, etc. This oppressive process works in combination with formal disenfranchisement: losing the right to vote post-incarceration, as well as in relationship to the socio-political narrative of ‘getting tough on’ immigration. There are clear patterns of deterioration in political engagement among these groups as the carceral state grows. Monica DeHart examined the way cultural citizenship is racialized to privilege whiteness. Cultural citizenship and national belonging can be mapped out and negotiated in cities and public spaces, centered around personal culture, (how individuals speak, act, dress, practice religion etc.), and how we associate with different communities. All of these factors which we currently use to define citizenship function to decide who can claim nationality, participate in public life, exist in public spaces, and conversely how violence towards and exclusion of Black and brown people is legitimized. DeHart proposes that we redefine citizenship so that cultural difference is a condition of inclusion, rather than adapting to whiteness in order to be considered a citizen.

A conversation led by:
Monica DeHart, PhD, (Professor, Sociology and Anthropology)
Robin Jacobson, PhD, (Professor, Government and Politics)
Andrew Gomez, PhD, (Associate Professor, History)

Moderated by Nancy Bristow, PhD, (Professor, History)

This discussion was focused around situating Black feminism in the current moment. The goal was to discuss why, when we think about state violence against Black people we immediately think about Black men and not Black women? Why is the oppression of Black women and their activism being erased? Black feminism is a way to upend the current world we live in and create a new world with a new base that is more inclusive and achieves liberation for all. The conversation analyzed ways we are still enacting patterns of erasure against Black women; we see that they are doing the work, but still they are not getting the acknowledgement. Black women are pushed to the side as the center is placed on someone else. The #MeToo movement was overtaken by white women celebrities, but before it was a widely used hashtag it came from Tarana Burke, a Black woman activist. Moments like the brutal murder of George Floyd can be seen as overshadowing the death of Black women such as Breonna Taylor. The talk ended with recognizing the way in which Grace Livingston, Renee Simms, and Regina Duthley feel they can do liberatory work in their own writing. The focus was on the ability to connect unlikely topics and use writing to explore new worlds, create new bases in writing that reflect the characteristics our world lacks.

A conversation led by:
 Regina Duthely, PhD (Assistant Professor, English)
Grace Livingston, PhD (Professor, African American Studies)
Renee Simms, JD, MFA (Associate Professor, African American Studies)

This discussion led by Ameera Nimjee and Wind Woods focused on the politics within music in a contemporary context. Woods began the discussion with an overall focus on the difference between artistically good music and politically misguided musicians behind the music. Woods provided commentary on female rapper Noname’s song, “Song 33,” where she called out male rapper J. Cole for his disses (insults) about her and his lack of attention on major civil rights issues. Woods argued that through her music, Noname paved a new “political path” with her introduction of political issues such as police brutality into her songs. Nimjee shifted the focus of the discussion to a case study of Caroline Shaw and the creative project Roomful of Teeth, with an overall focus on appropriation. Nimjee discusses the issues within the performing arts community of how appropriation and appreciation of music becomes difficult to differentiate between, especially in cases where performers do not give credit to their source of musical inspiration whether it be from source material (teachers) or creatives (composers). Overall, this session revealed the ways in which performing arts and politics are intertwined and how one rarely exists without the other.

A conversation led by
Ameera Nimjee, PhD, (Assistant Professor, School of Music)
Wind Woods, PhD (Assistant Professor, Theatre Arts)

Moderated by Grace Livingston, PhD, (Professor, African American Studies)

This space allowed people who identify as Latinx, Chicana/o, or Hispanic to engage in a private nonrecorded conversation about Blackness in Latinx Communities. Gaining insight from the hosts, the space aimed to emphasize that the Latinx experience is not a singular experience, additionally the focus of conversation was on white supremacy and its innate effect to cause individuals to internalize their challenges in these triggered systems. Participants were reflective of their own positionality and experiences with anti-Blackness within Latinx communities and the need to support Afro-Latinx.

Hosted by Jairo Hoyos Galvis, Ph.D. (Assistant Professor, Hispanic studies)
Puget Sound alumni:
Amanda Diaz ’18
JC Esquinca ’18
Arcelia Salado Alvarado ’19
Soli Loya-Lara ’20

PLEASE NOTE: There is no recording of this event.

This discussion aimed to center how damaging stereotypes of the Asian and APIDA communities, such as the “model minority” myth about AsianAmericans, perpetuate white supremacist and anti-Black sentiments. Bringing these individuals together, to interrogate how Asian and APIDA communities must work to dismantle oppression toward Black folks in their own communities, remained the goal of this conversation. Nguyen, Lee, and Nimjee discussed their personal and lived experiences as members of marginalized groups who have extremely lacked representation on Puget Sound’s campus. In telling their stories, the hosts provided representation for many individuals in attendance – a principle desire of those who could take part in this conversation.

Hosted by:
Vivie Nguyen, Director for Intercultural Engagement
Kariann Lee ’13, Assistant Director of Academic Advising
Ameera Nimjee, Ph.D. (Assistant Professor, Ethnomusicology)

PLEASE NOTE: There is no recording of this event.

This session explored the ways in which both public and private libraries can be allies to their community through their work in obtaining and distributing resources. In conjunction with this, this session also discussed how this allyship between communities and libraries can and should be improved to promote an even more inclusive institution. Each of the three panelists acknowledged that libraries as institutions are predominantly white dominated spaces and each addressed different ways in which this affects the materials and resources libraries have available. Angela Weaver, addressed issues she has found with narratives being excluded, marginalized, or even erased completely from library collections. Amita Lonial addressed how lack of adequate resources and staffing affects public libraries’ ability to increase racial literacy and competency. Ben Tucker discussed the university’s retention issues with “minoritized” library staff and recurring issues he had found with former staff feeling as if the university has repeatedly failed to address issues of race. At the end of this session, a question came about from a viewer asking the librarians if they had any radical visions for the future of libraries. Each panelist agreed that more engagement with the public is a major idea that they would like to see come into fruition. Along with that, they agreed that in a system that is oppressive, they would like to see more allowance, space, and access to assist in community engagement.

A conversation led by:
Angela Weaver, MFA (Fine and Performing Arts Librarian)
Ben Tucker, MLIS (Digital Services and Outreach & Reference Librarian)
Amita Lonial, (Tacoma Public Library Assistant Director)

Moderated by Lori Ricigliano, MLIS (retired Associate Director, Collins Memorial Library)

During the panel we heard from students of color that they are not only experiencing and witnessing racism and oppression within our classrooms, but also that they are expected to do excessive unpaid labor in the name of diversity and inclusion for the University. Students of color at UPS feel uncomfortable, unwelcome, lonely, and unable to access the same institutional privileges as their white peers. While the panelists reflected on how some of those feelings have faded over time, they still feel hypervisible on campus, tired, overwhelmed, and exhausted by the weight of the work they are doing for an institution that ultimately does not listen to or meet their needs. Faculty of color and some offices and departments on campus like AFAM do a lot of work supporting these students and trying to create spaces like Race Matters to compensate for this inequity, but ultimately feel tired and exhausted, too. These experiences on campus are contrasted with experiences of belonging in spaces like Black Student Union (BSU), the African American Studies department and Coalition Of Multiracial and Biracial Students (COMBS). Students reflected on the ways that they take care of themselves physically and mentally, through yoga, meditation, journaling, surrounding themselves with people who validate their lived experiences, self affirmations, music, time with nature, making good food, and acknowledging and loving their ancestry who made it possible for them to exist in spaces like these.
 

Hosted by Puget Sound students of color and alumni:
Jaylen Antoine ’22
Jade Herbert ’21
Julia Lin ’18
Helena Marlowe ’22
Maija Petterson ’22
Aldrin Villahermosa II ’21, MPH ’23

Click Here to Watch the Recording
Requires university credentials

Jonathan Stockdale opened the discussion with an explanation of why such a conspicuously white panel was part of the Race Matters series, saying, “Let’s be accountable as white faculty and staff for initiating and holding some of these conversations. Or to go a bit further, if white supremacy was created by white folx and continues to sustain white folx, it shouldn’t be the burden of people of color to have to dismantle that. It should be on the white folx to work to dismantle that.” Geoff Proehl, Lori Ricigliano, and Mary Boer all provided examples of their experiences with anti-racist work in higher education. Proehl described his work with Dr. Livingston in the production of multiple plays by C. Rosalind Bell. He acknowledged that Livingston and Bell had to do extra work to compensate for his own lack of expertise, as well as that of his white colleagues. He ended with a reading from Bell’s work, “The New Orleans Monologues.” Former librarian, Ricigliano, shared her personal progression through awareness of her white identity to antiracist action and discussed multiple endeavors to incorporate anti-racist work into her career at Puget Sound. She described her work creating library exhibits and events, including the Black Panther Party exhibit; her work teaching with historical university records in the archives; and her work producing the open access Race & Pedagogy Journal. Lastly, Boer described her anti-racist work as a part of the School of Education over the past three years. She recounted how Education and African American Studies worked together on shared grants in a mutually beneficial way. This process prompted Education to examine their racist history, reevaluate their goals, and fully rethink their curriculum.

A conversation led by:
Geoffrey Proehl, PhD, (Professor Emeritus, Theatre Arts)
Mary Boer, MAT, (Clinical Instructor, School of Education)
Lori Ricigliano, MLIS (retired Associate Director, Collins Memorial Library)

Moderated by Jonathan Stockdale PhD, (Professor, Religious Studies).

The conversation began by locating the classroom as a space which is not immune to racism. Rather it is a space with the potential to disrupt racism. Dean Ryken, moderator for the session, explained the relationship between the Race and Pedagogy Institute and Tacoma Public Schools by citing the necessity of anti-racist education and pedagogy in adolescent educational contents. It was shared that these two entities have facilitated multiple efforts that address race and the criminal justice systems, the achievement gap, student engagement, and the building of a larger anti-racism coalition in the Tacoma community. Following her introduction, the session panelists, all educational professionals of color, discussed the necessity of anti-racist and culturally responsive teaching in the classroom. Their discussion dissected the presence of white supremacy in education curriculum. Additionally, they proposed various modes for anti-racist disruptions and teaching centered in equity. They asserted that institutions of education are built on eurocentrism and racism, and that educators must commit outwardly, and on-goingly, to ending racism. Panelists addressed and reflected on various policy efforts, the need for cultural interrogation, their experience as teachers of color and how to foster hope throughout this work. This session spoke to the potential power of classrooms and the responsibility of teachers and institutions to dedicate themselves to anti-racism.

A conversation led by a panel of Tacoma Public School Educators
Justina Johnson, EdD
Jess Stella, ‘08, MAT ’10
Audrey Wilson, MAT ‘13

Moderated by Amy Ryken, PhD, (Professor and Dean of the School of Education)

Maija Petterson ‘22 began the conversation by acknowledging the lands of the Puyallup and Salish people. As an Indigenous woman, Maija shared some of her own experiences of feeling lonely and lost on campus because of the lack of an Indigenous presence at Puget Sound. Kim Richards led the main discussion by posing the question: “How Indian are you?” to Danica Miller, opening up a discussion about the harm and violence in the demand to identify oneself as “Indigenous enough,” and the pain in attaching blood quantum to one’s identity. The two spoke about how colonialism facilitates questions like these, as well as the process of racializing and harming Native bodies. Both women touched on their experiences with shame, identity, and the dissonance between the insulation of majority Native spaces and homes, and the violent external world. Miller asserted that colonialism is and always has been designed to disconnect Native people from their family, land, and communities, and that there has been a push by national and state level governments to encourage proximity to settler whiteness, and to erase Indigenous peoples and their cultures. In response to these cultural issues, Kim Richards proposed a reimagining of Native identities by engaging with the languages, customs, and traditions that different lands foster.

A conversation led by:
Danica Sterud Miller, PhD, (Puyallup Tribe of Indians)Assistant Professor, University of Washington Tacoma
Kim Richards, PhD (Santa Ana Pueblo, Mescalero Apache) Director of Community and Organizational Development, Salish School of Spokane

Introduction by Maija Petterson ’22