Personal Equity Learning Journey, Part 4
At SVP, we are committed to advancing racial equity because race and ethnicity play an outsized role in determining kindergarten readiness and because we know that equity is essential for building a strong, vibrant community. One way that you can advance racial equity is to educate yourself and others about issues impacting communities of color. When we begin with personal learning and reflection, we can realize our individual responsibility, and better understand how we can work collectively to make positive social change. SVP Partners and staff share what they have been reading, listening to, and watching as a part of their personal equity journeys. We hope this will inspire you!
LB Yockey Jones:
I recently attended a conversation between Vijay Iyer and Nathalie Joachim that touched on the importance of storytelling, bringing new voices to the "classical" canon, and infusing heritage in composition. I reflected a lot on how audiences bring expectations to what's considered "classical" and how important it is to bring in stories of diverse backgrounds to performance, whether that performance is formal and staged or personal/intimate.
Carolina Castañeda del Río:
I recently read Nice Racism: How Progressive White People Perpetuate Racial Harm by Robin DiAngelo, a follow-up to her first book, White Fragility, which I also recommend. DiAngelo is excellent at identifying the subtle racist experiences that I often both experience and perpetuate (yes, even as a woman of color and, yes, even as a professional working in diversity, equity, and inclusion issues). It is great to read about examples of things that are intuitive – but that are sometimes hard to make conscious – and then recognize their impact, and learn to do better.
Dylan Hall:
I recently watched the documentary 13th on Netflix. This movie is centered around the 13th Amendment, and what has essentially been from its inception not an elimination of slavery, but an evolution of it to a profit-driven prison pipeline. The film opens with a powerful quote from Barack Obama: “…the United States is home to 5% of the world’s population, but 25% of the world’s prisoners.” I learned how the abolishment of slavery had an immediate (negative) impact on the economy of the south. To remedy this, the Black community was targeted en masse through a loophole in the 13th Amendment that allowed for incarceration of “criminals.” This loophole continues to shape the relationship the US has with its Black citizens to this day. The movie is powerful and eye-opening, especially for those like me who have been afforded the privilege of white skin color for the entirety of our lives. We do not have equal, shared experiences in this country, and we have a lot of work ahead in society to properly remedy that. That work starts with confronting the generations of programming that continue to drive racism, prejudice, and inequality of opportunity. In order to do that we must educate ourselves, and I recommend this movie as one small way to advance that education.
