Salon Description: Race matters. In this your community is no different than most places in America. How we speak about race matters too. In order to recognize and critically discuss both systemic and internalized racism we need to practice speaking through our own racial lens. We believe that by acknowledging, engaging with, and opposing white supremacy we can better recognize that racial lens.
BLIND SPOT curates a content rich environment to practice this discourse. Our salons are a series of facilitated discussions where videos spark small and large group conversations that lead participants to build new skills to confront racism. Through these discussions, participants learn to articulate their thoughts and feelings about race, recognize systems and ideologies that contribute to racism and analyze their own actions as contributing to or working against systemic oppression.
Regardless of our primary identities, how we are perceived also intersects with our race, gender, sexual orientation, and a myriad of other characteristics and histories that make up who we are. The better we understand those intersections, and the more practiced we are at talking about these issues, the better community members—indeed, the better collaborators—we will be.
Length: Each Salon Series varies from 3 to 9 Salons and each Salon is 2.5 hours.
Target Audience: Members of the entertainment and education communities.
Objectives: Participants will be able to use precise vocabulary to speak accurately about race, power and privilege.
Participants will be able to think critically about privilege in all its forms.
Participants will be able to articulate their personal relationship with White supremacy.
Participants will decide as a community what action steps they will commit to.
What are some other goals you would like to meet?
Presenter Bio: Russell G. Jones has worked as teaching artist for nearly two decades. He works on stage, film and television and is an Auldeco, Obie and SAG Award winning actor. Russell has been a member of The Labyrinth Theater Co. since 1995, and through that community he is also known as a facilitator, an emcee and a director. Contact: navigate@blindspotexperience.com
CLICK HERE to see some of the video and visual prompts we have used.