Dear participants — past, present, future — in Not in Our Town’s “Continuing Conversations on Race and White Privilege” at the Princeton Public Library. Our next conversation will be Monday, March 1, at 7:30 p.m. in the conference room, and we are also set for first Mondays in April and May. Please also put Thursday, March 11, on your calendar for the showing of the documentary “Traces of the Trade.”
Last month we focused on Jennifer Baszile’s “The Black Girl Next Door” and some of us were able to come to her presentation the following Sunday. She spoke of how stories remain untold, unpleasant things are simply not discussed. She told her story from the child’s viewpoint. “Childhood is a more inviting and less intense place, where people find a lot more places to connect, and it tends to make them less defensive.”
A posting on NIOT Princeton’s blog compared that book with the movie “Precious” quoting Ishmael Reed who pointed out the big differences between black reaction and white reaction to the movie.
So in the “safe space” that Continuing Conversations provides, perhaps we can each tell of some event, or movie, or book that we experienced during Black History Month, and what it meant to us.
Was it a useful story (and how) or was it hurtful? Would someone from a different background agree?
And, do you have a frequently repeated story — or a previously untold story? As a result of seeing/hearing during this month, are you encouraged to tell that story, and why?
We aim to have an enlightening, useful, and safe discussion. We hope you can join us, and anyone, everyone, is welcome.
Fern Spruill and Barbara Fox