Rethinking Race Face-2-Face Conversations

Face-2-Face Conversations

Face-2-Face (F2F) conversations are discussions dealing with race and racial conflict. Because race is a sensitive and controversial topic, F2F conversations provide a forum for interesting, illuminating and real conversation—student to student—without reinforcing tired stereotypes, amplifying hostility, or spreading more misinformation about the very real and complex racial conflicts playing out in America today.

The hope is that participants are ready to move outside their comfort zones, ready to examine implicit assumptions and thoughtfully challenge those of others. Even more basic, participants should be willing to listen without interruption, to someone expressing a view that you may not initially agree with, or may not fully understand; to let others tell their story and be heard with the same patience and attentiveness and respect others will demonstrate when you share your thoughts or concerns.

Everyone should be prepared to speak honestly, openly, and with decency and respect; to think critically about what is being said and heard; to try to place yourself in the position of those speaking, to feel what it might be like to walk a mile in their shoes so that you might better understand how the speaker came to hold the views that they are sharing. And for those who really want to learn something, there must be a willingness to expand consciousness about an uncomfortable and divisive subject, a topic that cannot be discussed without facing the very real pain and hurt and harm central to racial conflict, and to share an aspiration as old as America itself, that we might find ways to work together with everyone in the group toward justice, reconciliation, and redemption.

The conversations are held in a casual setting that encourages open conversation. There are no formal rules or format to a F2F conversation; it simply begins with a facilitator or moderator making a few opening statements, reading a selected passage, or posing a question, and then encouraging participants to join the conversation.

TITLE	TIME / LOCATION	FACILITATOR
I Don't Think We're Supposed to Talk About That	Monday, Feb. 4 1 to 2 pm Student Union 335	Gregory Ladewski
How to Tell Someone They Sound Racist	Monday, Feb. 4 2:30 to 3:30 pm Student Union 335	Bill Lyons
Checking the Box: The Census and Being Multi-racial in America	Monday, Feb. 4 3 to 4:30 pm Polsky 313	Michelle Byrne
African-Americans in the Classroom: Are There Unspoken Rules toward Academic Success?	Tuesday, Feb 5 12 to 1:30 pm Student Union 335	Naomi White
College students' opinion of artist William Pope L. in the 21st century	Tuesday, Feb. 5 2 to 3:30 pm Polsky 313	Maria A Spence
EVENT CANCELLED DUE TO ILLNESS  - Native Americans	Wednesday, Feb. 6 10 am to 11 am Student Union 335	Lana Samaniego
Akron committee of Rise, Sister, Rise	Wednesday, Feb 6 12 to 1 pm Polsky 313	Angela Cooper
I Have an Accent and So Do You: Navigating the Immigrants Journey in Their Multilayered World	Wednesday, Feb. 6 1:30 to 2:30 pm Student Union 335	Rosa Githiora
I am NOT MY Hair: Acceptance and Understanding	Wednesday, Feb. 6 3:30 to 5 pm Student Union 335	Malcolmnette Green
Ebonics: Dis a Language?	Wednesday, Feb. 6 7 to 8 pm Student Union 312	Student African American Brotherhood
"Just Like Me" The Challenge to Avoid Sameness	Thursday, Feb. 7 10 to 11 am Student Union 335	Bruce Freeman and Jean Stang
Who am I? African-American Genealogy workshop	Thursday, Feb. 7 1 to 2 p.m. Student Union Ballroom C	Student African American Brotherhood
Class Warfare	Thursday, Feb. 7 2 to 3 pm Student Union 335	Terry O'Sullivan and Rob Schwartz
"The Social Greening of America": Bridging the Black/White Divide	Thursday, Feb. 7 4 to 5 pm Student Union 335	Myriam Kadeba and Michael Cadaret
Racism in Children's Media	Friday, Feb. 8 10 to 11:30 am Student Union 335	Sabine Gerhardt
Minorities in Cartoons	Friday, Feb. 8 12 to 1:30 pm Student Union 335	Peggy Richards and Jim Wallace
Researching Your Roots	Friday, Feb. 8 2 to 3:30 pm Bierce Library, Room 61	Litsa Varonis
Islamophobia	Friday, Feb. 8 6 to 7 pm Student Union 335	Shammas Malik
Discussion of Film "Under the Same Moon"	Friday, Feb. 8 7:30 to 8:30 pm Student Union 335
The Curious History of U.S. Immigration Policy	Monday, Feb. 11 10 to 11:30 am Student Union 335	Litsa Varonis
Hair and Identity	Monday, Feb. 11 4:30 to 6:00 pm Student Union 335	Kimberly Moss
Race & Christianity: Are they mutually exclusive?	Tuesday, Feb. 12 12 to 1:30 pm Student Union 335	Naomi White
Cultural Intolerance	Tuesday, Feb. 12 2 to 3 pm Student Union 335	Rob Schwartz and David Licate
An American Abroad:  The Life of a Peace Corps Volunteer	Wednesday, Feb. 13 10 to 11:30 am Student Union 335	Annabel Khouri
The Biracial Experience in America	Wednesday, Feb. 13 1:30 – 3 pm Student Union 335	Shanda Gore
Checking the Box:  The Census and Being Multi-racial in America	Wednesday, Feb. 13 2:15 – 3:05 pm Polsky 339	Mary Williams and Kelly Webb
Race and the 2012 Presidential Election	Wednesday, Feb. 13 3:30 – 4:30 pm Student Union 335	Bliss Institute
Can We Redefine Race?  Supreme Court Case on Race in College Admissions	Wednesday, Feb. 13 5:30pm to 7 pm Student Union 335	Deborah Wallace
African-American Socioeconomic Climate	Wednesday, Feb. 13 7 to 8 pm Student Union 312	Student African American Brotherhood
Researching Your Roots	Thursday, Feb. 14 12 to 1:30 pm Bierce Library, Room 61	Litsa Varonis
Who am I? African-American Genealogy workshop	Thursday, Feb. 14 2 to 3 pm Student Union 312	Student African American Brotherhood
International Perspectives on Race in America	Thursday, Feb. 14 3:30pm to 5 pm Student Union 335	Carolyn Behrman and Steve Cook
Promoting Diversity Within College	Friday, Feb. 15 11 to 11:45 am Honors Complex, Room 83	Multicultural Honors Society