Facing Race 2012 National Conference Nov 15-17 Baltimore

SEE PROGRAM

Some of the many great workshop topics:

Cross Racial Alliance Building for Social Justice and Immigrant Rights
With Opal Tometi, Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI); Gustavo Andrade, CASA de Maryland; Abraham Paulos, Families for Freedom
Leading advocates and organizers will share about building cross-racial and ethnic alliances for immigrant rights and racial justice fights in their communities across the country. We'll be speaking about key areas and best practices we've found in our collaborative work amongst African American, Latino, Chinese, Afro-Diasporic, and Caribbean communities as well as offering examples of our work. The workshop will be interactive and we will offer take-home tools and materials for people who are interested in doing the work.

DREAMers and Freedom Riders: Racial Justice Across Generations
With Sam Fulwood, Center for American Progress
Members of the Freedom Riders group, civil rights activists who challenged segregation in South in 1961, will join in discussion with DREAMers, activists working to pass the federal DREAM Act. They will engage in inspired conversation about history and organizing for a progressive future. Session participants will view a partial screening of the Stanley Nelson film Freedom Riders and engage in conversation with panelists. The session is multi-ethnic, crosses generations, and links activism in ways that's rarely done nowadays.

Addressing Racism Using Theater of the Oppressed
With Nayantara Sen, Applied Research Center; S. Leigh Thompson, The Forum Project
Through Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) games and activities, participants will sharpen their skills in recognizing structural racism, and learn ways to break mechanized thought patterns that perpetuate oppression. This highly interactive workshop is fun, fast-paced and playful, and has a participatory approach that enables activists, educators, and racial justice advocates to grow their toolbox for affecting social change. Theatre of the Oppressed facilitates a centrally shared experience of dialogue, critique and self-reflective learning around the nature of oppression. Games and conversations will revolve around issues of structural inequities, intersectionality and allyship, intentionality and impact, and systems analysis on levels of racism. No previous TO experience necessary.

Art & Agitation: On the Power of Cultural Strategy
With Favianna Rodriguez, Co-Founder of CultureStrike & Presente.org
Culture is the realm of ideas, images and stories; it is where people make sense of the world and where they find meaning and forge community. History shows that when the culture changes, politics follows. Culture can reach audiences beyond the bounds of what community organizing and policy-based organizing can do. While the media is laced with myths, stereotypes and misrepresentation of grassroots movements, cultural interventions can play a key role in pushing forward stories that help shift the public debate. A growing movement of artists around the country are using cultural tools to fight economic inequality, corporations, banks and anti-migrant hate. In this session, artist-activists, writers, cultural leaders and creative institutions will discuss models for connecting artists to movements for social change.

Tell It Like it Is and Have Fun Doing It: Improvisations for Racial Justice
With Soyinka Rahim, Arts Facilitator
Do you have something to say about racism? Want to learn ways to help others mine their personal stories and messages about social justice? In this action-oriented workshop, we'll use improvisational tools of movement, song, story and stillness to become bolder spokespersons for challenging racial norms and promoting social justice.