The classroom isn’t the only place for learning honest history. In various community spaces—including virtual ones—many people are reckoning with our nation’s history of anti-Blackness and white supremacy. They are making connections between the past and present, as well as searching for liberatory ways forward.
“If white people must be self-taught about racism, they can too easily opt out of engagement beyond the text. The deepest, most impactful learning is interactive, and for white people to really understand what Black people often experience, they must be in the same space with Black people—engaging in difficult conversations, listening, asking, learning, and, perhaps most importantly, feeling. Feeling is where empathy begins.”
“Safe Saturday” Conversations About Race
On March 13, 2020, Breonna Taylor was shot and killed by police in her apartment in Louisville, Kentucky. Days later, my workplace, the University of Louisville, transitioned to remote operation in response to the coronavirus pandemic.