Learning to Engage in More Meaningful Conversations About Race and Racism
White people, like me, have a hard time talking about racial issues, but we can no longer remain silent.
For too long, we have acted like Black people must solve the problems of racism. In reality, white people are the only ones who can break this cycle.
But, then, the question I have heard often this summer from the white people in my life is, how? Maybe the answer starts with doing the things we can, in our immediate communities and in the world around us.
For me, that has meant accepting an offer from the YWCA’s Barbara Johnson to co-host Among Neighbors, a Podcast About Race, Power and Privilege (read more about it below). Will I say all of the right things? I’m sure I will not. Am I an expert on these issues? No, but Barbara encouraged me to see that we’re all experts on our own perspective.
As we embark on this project, Barbara and I have simple goals: To get more people – yes, even white people – talking about issues of race and finding ways that we can work toward change.
By many people taking small but significant steps to acknowledge prejudices and privilege, to call out racism when we’re alone with our white family and friends, to be deliberate in our actions to be inclusive, and to have more intentional conversations with people who don’t look like us, our small efforts may accumulate into something none of us could accomplish alone.
Our ability to impact change is greater than we imagine.
– Director Andrew Conte and CMI staff
Header: "Among Neighbors" co-hosts Barbara Johnson and Andrew Conte record a session with Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter, Alexis Johnson. Graphic created by Olivia Valyo.
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