Black cultural awareness, or “wokeness,” is a state of being that many believe can be achieved. However, attaining awareness is a journey – a continuous practice, in order to gain understanding. The study and acceptance of black history and culture is an ongoing process that is decided upon and then embarked upon. Everyone is at different points in the journey. Some are exploring it alone. Others join book clubs and study groups, and some enroll in degree programs, or pursue scholarly endeavors. Some are aware of black history and culture and its impact on our society; others are not. And still others have decided not to acknowledge the importance of other cultures at all. They seek, instead, to diminish or eliminate their very existence.
Through their collaboration with The Authors Speak Series, the Spady Cultural Heritage Museum, Arts Garage and Delray Beach Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) have decided to provide an exciting opportunity for those who are on the journey towards greater understanding. The Authors Speak Series is an opportunity to have interesting, enlightening conversations with writers who have cultivated a perspective on black cultural awareness through their research and personal experiences. Together, the Spady Museum, Arts Garage and CRA intend to create more pathways for people to make progress toward understanding others and hopefully welcome more people to join the journey along the way.
“We can always learn something new and hopefully see things from a different perspective. This series offers a space to explore the realities that others experience day to day. Supporting educational initiatives such this shines a light on causes of conditions that can contribute to slum and blight in communities. Hopefully, people will gain compassion for one another from the information shared through these informative talks.” -Renee A Jadusingh, Executive Director of the CRA
Generation Mixed Goes to School: Radically Listening to Multiracial Kids weaves together stories of mixed-race children and youth, teachers, and caregivers with perspectives and research from social and developmental psychology, Critical Mixed Race Studies, and education. This book investigates how implicit bias affects multiracial kids in unforeseen ways, impacting those who are read as children of color or not; how the silencing and invisibility of mixed-race experiences often create a barrier for mixed-race kids to engage in nuanced conversations about race and identity in the classroom; and how teachers are finding powerful ways to make meaningful connections with their mixed-race students. In addition, this book breaks out of the Black/White binary to include the perspective of mixed-race children from Asian American, Latinx, and Native American backgrounds; it also diverges from scholarship on mixed-race by providing the perspective of children who come from two or more communities of color, and not simply those who are from White-people of color backgrounds. Generation Mixed Goes to School provides stories, academic research, and tangible exercises that together create the opportunity for meaningful anti-racist change.
Dr. Ralina L. Joseph is a scholar, teacher, and facilitator of race and communication. She is Presidential Term Professor of Communication, founding and acting Director of the Center for Communication, Difference, and Equity, and Associate Dean of Equity and Justice in Graduate Programs at the University of Washington, Seattle. She received her B.A. in American Civilization at Brown University, and M.A. and PhD in Ethnic Studies at the University of California, San Diego. Ralina is the author of numerous articles and the three books, Generation Mixed Goes to School (with Allison Briscoe-Smith, 2021), Postracial Resistance: Black Women, Media, and the Uses of Strategic Ambiguity (2018, winner of the International Communication Association’s Outstanding Book of the Year), and Transcending Blackness: From the New Millennium Mulatta to the Exceptional Multiracial (2013). Ralina is currently writing Interrupting Privilege: Talking Race and Fighting Racism, a book of essays based on her public scholarship.
Dr. Briscoe-Smith earned her undergraduate degree from Harvard University. She then received her clinical psychology Ph.D. from University of California Berkeley. She then went on to continue her specialization in trauma and ethnic minority mental health through internship and postdoctoral work at University of California San Francisco/San Francisco General Hospital. She has combined her love of teaching and advocacy by serving as a professor and by directing mental health programs for children experiencing trauma, homelessness or foster care. Much of her work has been with schools, as a clinician, consultant and trainer. Currently she is the Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the Wright Institute where she is a professor. She provides consultation and training to bay area nonprofits and schools on how to support trauma informed practices and cultural accountability.