On Protest and Mourning is a virtual exhibition that includes a junior high and high school student curriculum designed by the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute to help young New Yorkers make sense of our current reckoning with systemic racism and police violence at onprotestandmourning.digital through June 30, 2021.
#onprotestandmourning
On Protest and Mourning
“It is important, even critical, for our young Black, Brown and even white children to put the horrifying events of the last year in a context they can understand. So many of our children are experiencing fear that they might be next. Teachers help students process issues in society. On Protest and Mourning gives teachers the toolkit to help our children process, heal and navigate these events and the aftermath, with guidance and context.” said Melody Capote, Executive Director of CCCADI.
The exhibition is curated by Grace Aneiza Ali 🇬🇾, Assistant Professor and Provost Fellow in the Department of Art & Public Policy at the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU, New York University.
Educators interested in the high school curriculum for 7-12 graders, a 13-lesson study guide, sh0uld contact CCCADI Education Consultant Benjamin Knight by email at bknight at cccadi.org
We Need to Talk
The racial, health and economic reckonings of the last year have been hard enough on adults, but much harder on our children. They see all the violence and structural racism and are wondering what chance do I have in such an unequal society?
Children are innocent. How do you explain to an innocent that they can be abused, arrested and even murdered for no reason at all, just because they are people – people of color minding their own business?
The George Floyd murder was the tip of the tip of the iceberg, yet despite all the terrible news of the last year, we are making progress. It was the first time you could say “systemic racism” and most Americans of the United States understood what you meant and understood that you were speaking the truth.
But we need to talk through this, and we need to get our kids to talk through this a lot. Trauma can lead to withdrawal and depression, or it can give you the energy to overcome the situation. Honest talk can make the difference. “We shall overcome.”
On Protest and Mourning Talks
Thinking through all the violence is really heartbreaking. We should never have to have these kinds of conversations, but we do and we can’t turn away. This is America. This is our country, our home.
The only way forward is to be honest about who we are, and clear about who we want to be.
Terrence Jennings: I saw honor and dignity, too!
THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED
Photographers Terrence Jennings and Jamel Shabazz talk with curator Grace Aneiza Ali about photographing Black Lives Matter protests and the dignity they witnessed on Thursday, May 13, 2021 at 6pm ET.
Jennings photographed the protests. Shabazz is known for his portrayals of Black life.
Dee Dwyer: Justice for Deon Kay
Photographer Dee Dwyer speaks with Educator Keyonna Jones about trying to counter the misrepresentations of her Southeast community, the murder of Deon Kay, and how images of Black suffering actually show the systemic failure of government on Tuesday, May 25, 2021 at 6pm ET.
Jones was one of the artists who helped get Black Lives Matter mural painted on the street in front of the White House.
Carlos Javier Ortiz: We All We Got
Filmmaker Carlos Javier Ortiz talks about his 2014 documentary “We All We Got” with Lawrence Ralph, Professor Anthropology at Princeton University and Director of the Center on Transnational Policing, hosted by curator Grace Aneiza Ali on Tuesday, June 8, 2021 at 6pm ET.
“We All We Got” explores how Chicagoans are responding to violence and rebuilding their communities.
Nadia Alexis: What Endures
Photographer and poet Nadia Alexis talks with curator Grace Aneiza Ali about her series “What Endures” on Thursday, June 24, 2021 at 6pm ET.
“What Endures” is a series of Southern landscapes that contrasts the presence and absence of self, of Black women.
So let’s talk and talk and talk On Protest and Mourning until beautiful things start to grow out of it.