Well folks, the YW Talks: Community Social Justice Series has
coming to an end. It has been a wonderful season this year with a combination
of men and women speakers addressing social justice issues that are pertinent
to women and those of diverse ethnic backgrounds. We also changed the name of
our series from the “YWCA Brown Bag Lectures Series” to the new “YW Talks.” Why
did we change the name you ask? Turns out the term “Brown Bag” has a negative
association attached to it and here is why:
A “test”, which had the common use in the early
1900s among upper class Black Americans and families, was used to determine if
a Black person was “white” enough to gain admittance or acceptance. If your
skin was darker than a brown paper bag, you were not valued or included.
Thousands of Black institutions and schools including the nation's most well-known
Black fraternity, Phi Alpha Phi at Howard University, practiced this
discrimination. As an organization that has a racial justice initiative
incorporated in its mission, we were not interested in supporting this term any
longer by using it in the title of our community lecture series.
I have really enjoyed being the coordinator for YW Talks:
Community Social Justice Lecture Series this year. It has been a pleasure
engaging with Missoulians who present on such important topics and create a
space for dialogue and discussion for our community members. I hope that this
series continues to grow and expand as a predominant piece in creating social
justice in our community and even on the larger scale.
Our presenters
for this season included:
September: Anisa Goforth: Arab American Students
October: Helga Hosford: Personal experience in Nazi Germany
November: Tobin Shearer: Iceberg Theory to Racism
December: Phyllis Ngai: Intercultural Communication and Social
Justice
January- Anya Jabour: Women’s History and Racial Justice
February-Ruth Vanita: Hindu Goddesses
March-Mehrdad Kia: Islam and the West
April-Amber Gladney: Peace Corps experience in Africa
May-Suzette Dessault: Women’s Suffrage in Montana
Posted by Miranda, Transitional Housing VISTA
