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Each month, Discussions on Race watches a film or reviews a book related to race, race relations, or racial identity.
We gather monthly on the first Wednesday; films begin at 6pm and book discussions begin at 6:30pm. Locations vary depending on our host.
Interested in learning more or joining the discussion? Want to host an upcoming gathering? Contact Director of Racial Justice Mana Tahaie at mtahaie@ywcatulsa.org or (918) 858-2348.
2009 Discussions on Race Schedule
| Month
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Title
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February
Film
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Rabbit-Proof
Fence
An Australian drama based on the book by Doris Pilkington Garimara. It is a true story about the author's mother and two other young mixed-race Aboriginal girls, who ran away from the Moore River Native Settlement to return to their Aboriginal families. The film follows the girls as they trek/walk for nine weeks along 1,500 miles of the Australian rabbit-proof fence to return to their community at Jigalong, while being tracked by a white authority figure and an Aboriginal tracker.
[more]
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March
Book
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A Mercy by Toni Morrison
Set at the close of the 17th century, A Mercy details America's untoward foundation: dominion over Native Americans, indentured workers, women and slaves. Morrison's unflinching narrative is all the more powerful for its relative brevity; it takes hold of the reader and doesn't let go until the wrenching final-page crescendo.
[more]
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April
Film
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Persepolis
Filmmakers Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi collaborate to co-write and co-direct this adaptation of Satrapi's bestselling autobiographical graphic novel detailing the trials faced by an outspoken Iranian girl who finds her unique attitude and outlook on life repeatedly challenged during the Islamic revolution.
[more]
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May
Book
Note: the May gathering will take place on the second Monday, May 11th
|
Infidel
by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Somali-born Dutch parliament member Ayaan Hirsi Ali faced death threats
after working on a film about domestic violence against Muslim
women. Even before then, her attacks on Islamic culture as
"brutal, bigoted, [and] fixated on controlling women" had generated
much controversy. In this suspenseful account of her life and her
internal struggle with her Muslim faith, she discusses how these views
were shaped by her experiences amid the political chaos of Somalia and
other African nations, where she was subjected to genital mutilation
and an unwanted marriage. A powerful feminist critique of Islam informed by a genuine
understanding of the religion.
[more]
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June
Film
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Tim
Wise: On White Privilege
In this spellbinding lecture, delivered at Mt. Holyoke College in October 2007, Tim Wise, author of White Like Me: Reflections on Race From a Privileged Son offers a unique, inside-out view of race and racism in America.
Expertly overcoming the defensiveness that often surrounds these
issues, Wise provides a hard-hitting, yet non-confrontational
explanation of white privilege and the damage it does not only to
people of color, but to white people as well.
[more]
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July
Book
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Kindred
by Octavia Butler
Kindred utilizes science fiction in order to answer the question, "How could anybody be a slave?" A woman from the 20th century, Dana is repeatedly brought back in time by her slave-owning ancestor Rufus when his life is endangered. Forced to live the life of a slave, Dana realizes she is not as strong as her ancestors. For Dana, to choose to preserve an institution, to save a life, and nurture victimization is to choose to survive.
[more]
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August
Film
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Traces of the Trade Series Part I
 Traces
of the Trade
When Katrina Browne
discovered that her slave-trading ancestors
from Rhode Island were not an aberration (rather, they were just the
most prominent actors in the North's vast complicity in slavery, buried
in myths of Northern innocence), she took the unusual step of inviting 200
descendants, inviting them to journey with her from Rhode Island to
Ghana to Cuba and back, retracing the Triangle Trade that made the
DeWolfs the largest slave-trading family in U.S. history. Nine
relatives signed up. Traces of the Trade is Browne's account of the journey.
[more]
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September
Book
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Traces of the Trade Series Part II
Inheriting
the Trade by Tom DeWolf
In the summer of 2001, Katrina Browne led nine distant family members
on the triangular passage of their DeWolf
ancestors, the largest slave-trading dynasty in early America (see October).
Tom DeWolf, one of Browne's cousins, traces the journey in this
soul-searching memoir, beginning in Bristol, RI, the hub of the
late 18th-century trade, and continuing to Ghana, Cuba and back to New
England. At each station of the trip, the Family of Ten visits historic
sites, and historians address the group about aspects of
the slave trade. DeWolf's account gains immediacy as he reports these
presentations and the ensuing group discussions, along with their
personal struggles to come to terms with an ignominious family history
and his own sharp learning curve.
[more]
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October
Film
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 Which Way Home
Each year, thousands of Latin American migrants travel hundreds of miles to the United States, with many making their way on the tops of freight trains. Roughly five percent of those traveling alone are children. As the United States continues to debate immigration reform, the documentary Which Way Home looks the issue through the eyes of children who face the harrowing journey with enormous courage and resourcefulness.
[more]
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November
Book
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Neither
Wolf nor Dog: On Forgotten Roads with an Indian Elder by
Kent Nerburn
The author of the
acclaimed Letters To My Son presents a journey into the heart of Native
American experience. In the tradition of Black Elk Speaks, this book
records the thoughts and observations of Dan, an old Chippewa man. Dan
speaks eloquently on the difference between land and property, the
power of silence, and more.
[more]
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December
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No meeting due to YWCA Gala
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