“When I walk down Boylston, sit

in a classroom, or stand around at

a party, I am drowning. Drowning

in a sea of white people.”

- Page 6

The Dialogue

O F F I C E O F M U L T I C U L T U R A L S T U D E N T A F F A I R S & G L B T Q R E S O U R C E S

The snow is melting!

2014-2015 Cultural Leadership Winter Retreat at Camp Hayward

Emerson College Amigos held

their Inaugural Spring 2015 La-

tino Summit: Comunidad, Con-

vivencia y Conversación Feb-

ruary 18th in the Bordy Theater.

The Inaugural Latino Summit

had the purpose of uniting the

growing on-campus Hispanic/

Latino community. Through

networking and collaborating

on shared experiences, we can

learn about the variety of His-

panic/Latino identities. In addi-

tion, the Summit hopes to teach

the community about the avail-

able resources for being active

participants through on-

campus Hispanic-related or-

ganizations such as NAHJ,

WEBN Noticias, and UNITE. As

the first event of its kind at Em-

erson, the Inaugural Summit

served as a space for dialogue

and community-building with

hopes of strengthening ties.

Keynote speeches were by

Professor Christina Marin, Mar-

io Osorio and Angelika

Romero. There was also a spe-

cial dance performance chore-

ographed by Victoria Sagardia

Calderon and a spoken-word

performance by Jonathan Men-

doza.

Taken from Amigos’ Facebook page

First Annual Latino Summit

“Through networking and

collaborating on shared

experiences, we can learn about

the variety of Hispanic/Latino

identities. “

Page 2 The Dialogue

A screening of Dar He: The

Lynching of Emmett Till helped

shed light on Emmett Till and his

impact on the Civil Rights Move-

ment. Actor Mike Wiley joined to

discuss his 36 roles for the film.

To end the month, EBONI held a

fashion show to travel around the

world to showcase an array of

Black fashions and performances

that displayed the diversity of

Black beauty and style.

EBONI celebrated Black History

Month with a variety of events to

celebrate black culture. Professor

Michael Brown helped students

understand the acquittal of George

Zimmerman and other cases where

black men have been murdered.

EBONI celebrated the artwork of to-

day’s young black artists from around

the Boston area at Black Light Art

Show and celebrated intersectionality

with a workshop and discussion in the

Cultural Center.

“EBONI held a fashion show to travel around the

world to showcase an array of Black fashions and

performances that displayed the diversity of Black

beauty and style. “

Page 3

Sponsors:

Amigos

ASIA

Bright Lights Series

Career Services

Dean of Students

Emerson Christian Fellowship

Emerson Peace and Social

Justice

Office of the President

Student Life

Zeta Phi Eta

Page 4 The Dialogue

4/2 - Bubble Tea Series: Our Reflections MPR 6:00pm - 8:00pm 4/7 - Asian Pop Culture Night! MPR 7:00pm - 9:00pm 4/21 - Dan “DANakaDAN” Matthews “Korean Adoptee Story” Documentary Screening w/Dan Matthews Cultural Center 12:00 pm - 1:30pm (Lunch served) 4/21 - The Break Down: Hip Hop meets Culture w/E.BO.N.I. Discussion w/Dan Matthews Cultural Center 7:00pm - 9:00pm 4/24 - David’s Tea Cultural Center 1:00pm - 3:00pm 4/27 - Mulan Screening w/EAGLE Cultural Center 8:00pm (tentative) 4/28 - Lit by the Moon Open Mic Night Cultural Center 7:30pm - 9:00pm

Join ASIA for their heritage

month as they reflect on their

culture and celebrate with

everyone!

Page 5

EAGLE celebrates Queer

Spring in April, so join them

for fun throughout the

month!

4/1 - Concert: Anjimile and The Hip Hop Transformation MPR

7:00pm

4/6 - Vogue & Runway Workshop MPR

7:00pm

4/9 - Roaring 20s Drag Charity Show Cabaret 7:00pm

4/15 - Oh Megan! Sex Toy Workshop Beard Room

7:00pm

Page 6 The Dialogue

Saturated in a Sea of Whiteness Willie Burnley Jr.

When I walk down Boylston, sit in

a classroom, or stand around at a

party, I am drowning. Drowning in a

sea of white people. This may sound

harsh. Scholars (including Robin

DiAngelo who coined the phrase

“white fragility”) have documented

that calling out whiteness, especially

as something potentially negative,

often elicits defensive and angry

reactions from people of European

descent. Furthermore, no one’s to

blame for the results of their genetic

lottery ticket. But my social and

emotional exhaustion from being

surrounded by white people makes

sense, in context.

A question I’ve recently been

asked to consider is how students

can keep up their energy after we’ve

seen such a tumultuous semester of

non-indictments and protesting. The

cyclical nature of being beaten

down, picking ourselves up through

strength of will and righteous anger,

only to be beaten down again

eventually pulls me toward a swell-

ing mass of gray hopelessness like it

does so many others – a twisted part

of systematic oppression’s calculus.

As an individual, I’m forced to stand

upright by the knowledge that

apathy or surrender are forces of

empowerment to the very attitudes

and institutions that I would like to

see reformed. I have to do that in a

society where race is ever-present

and hardly acknowledged.

At the same time, in my

personal life at Emerson, I am

eternally a minority. I am in the

gifted-cursed position to see how

pervasive race and racism are around

me when they are not talked about

and to feel the brunt of their cruelty

when they are. The bite of these

interactions catches me off guard

more than I’d like to admit. I’ve

been at parties where people have

walked up to me to talk about

slavery, white guilt, unprompted.

Even well-intentioned white people

have asked me how I feel when songs

with the N-word are being played at

venues that are almost exclusively

white with the knowledge that

people have me on their mind while

they grudgingly hold their tongue.

In this kind of environment,

what space is there for self-care

Page 7

while I know the same force

partially responsible for my isola-

tion is destroying lives? Let’s be

clear, race is a social construct. In

actuality, like national borders,

gender, and Santa Claus, it doesn’t

exist. However, its salience in our

world is no less real for it. In that

same way, I am caught in a

paradox. How am I supposed to

live comfortable when I can find no

respite from this social poison while

knowing engaging with it is the

only way to find a cure?

Recently, after coming from a

party in which I was one of few

people of color, I vented my

frustration in a Facebook group

chat jokingly named “All the brown

ppl” (it’s made up of approximate-

ly 30 Emersonians).

“Confession: I’ve gotten to the

point where I’m tired of going to

white people parties,” I said. The

reaction: immediately approval.

Other students said they felt the

same and we eventually decided we

needed to throw our own parties.

And, to me, that’s a big part of

self-care. I’m not advocating

segregation or separation. I’m not

saying people can’t survive on their

own, either. But finding a

community that you know you can

trust, that you can talk with in a

language that everyone

understands, and that will support

you through your struggles because

they are their struggles, too, is

invaluable.

So, entire Emerson’s diversity

plan starts showing some stronger

results, there will be students like

me who feel outnumbered. But

that doesn’t have to be something

that makes us feel alone. There are

other students out there that we

can band together with and bond.

When the world tries to sure we

fall, we can hold each other down.

That’s at least something I’m

looking forward to, until the revo-

lution is over.

Office of Multicultural Student Affairs & GLBTQ resources

Piano Row: Student Life Office

Phone: 617-824-8637

Email: emersonculture@gmail.com