Mass MisEducation - an invitation and update

Greetings!

It has been six months since I founded “At the Crossroads: Activating the Intersection of Art and Justice,” which has been produced in collaboration with amazing Rochester based artists, educators, and other creatives. These events have found space at Gallery Seventy Four, in alliance with its owner Ralph Thompson. Gallery Seventy Four has become the “home” of the Long Table in Rochester.

Saturday’s event, “Mass MisEducation: A Long Table Conversation and Installation” is the 7th installation and 10th event of “At the Crossroads.” Join us 4/14, 3 to 6 pm at Gallery Seventy Four, 215 Tremont Street (Door 3|Floor 3) in Rochester. Register at https://MassMisEducation.brownpapertickets.com.

Through this work, I discovered that lack of inclusion is a virulent form of erasure. This was a recurring issue raised at all the Long Tables. That Anna Murray Douglass was a formidable strategist with agency, beginning with the liberation of Frederick Douglass, despite her lack of formal education. And so much more -but most importantly, that this work has great meaning to the people who have participated as exemplified by the following, representative statement.

Rachel sets each table with intentionality, she manages to do so without setting parameters. This allows for the conversation to have both form and flow that emphasizes the power of the topics and gives room for the dynamics of each of the speakers to have a voice at the table. Once the conversation between myself and the other powerful, Black women around the table began, the challenge then was how to stop contributing, how to step back and listen, because the table came alive with inspiration, experience and personal stories-all making the art we’d witnessed come alive. Each moment I walked away from the table feeling deeply connected, wildly inspired and soulfully enriched from all the sharing that was rooted in a deep passion for the magnificence of the Black experience, mixed with the awe for how that experience consistently thrives despite the ever-present turmoil of racism. -Kristin Hocker, Ed. D

When I named Saturday’s Long Table Conversation and Installation, “Mass MisEducation,” I chose words carefully to encompass the following considerations. It is an homage to the great Carter G. Woodson, the father of African American history and author of “The Mis-education of the Negro.” MisEducation suggests some of what we have been taught as immutable facts were fabricated and should be more accurately framed as propaganda. The use of Mass recognizes that this propaganda is pervasive and embedded in every institution and individual consciousness in the United States of America – to further white supremacist objectives.

At “Mass MisEducation” we will view a few films/videos and play a game to provoke a conversation about our perceptions of who we are and challenge some of the facts we have been taught. We will play a quick “game” that illustrates that privilege is not simply black and white. The “game” we will play has been adapted from one used in Dr. Kimberleé Crenshaw’s TED talk on intersectionality.

The films/videos:

• A section of “Birth of a Movement,” by Susan Gray and Bestor Cram 
• “Danger of a Single Story,” Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – TED talk
• “Visual History of Social Dance in 25 Moves,” Camille A. Brown – TED talk
• Segment of talk by Cornell professor Edward E. Baptist that includes an economic analysis of slavery based on his examination of slave narratives

Then the conversation starters will go to the Long Table and start talking. Audience members can take a seat at the table or remain seated in the audience as witnesses. As usual, at the Long Table there will be an end, but no conclusion.

The conversation starters for “Mass MisEducation” are Mara Ahmed, Amanda Chestnut, Rachel DeGuzman, W. Michelle Harris, Kristin Hocker, Delores Jackson Radney, Annette Ramos, and Gaynelle Wethers.

The ongoing interrogation of art and justice continues with “Winnie: A Long Table Conversation and Installation” on April 27, South Africa’s Freedom Day, where we will Skype in from New York City -a live theatrical reading of Sarita Covington’s “Things Went Horribly Wrong.” Covington will remotely join the post-reading Long Table.

Sincerely,

Rachel Y. Deguzman - President and CEO - 21st Century Arts