Real and Not Real: The history of racialization in the United States

Session 6 of the 2018 Webinar Series.

Webinars are free to the staff and board of GIA member organizations. The fee for nonmembers is $35.

A recording of this presentation is available here, or view below.

Our nation has a long history of racism, discrimination, segregation, and cultural inequity. Since the 15th century, systems and structures were put in place which have perpetuated discriminatory practices. Now, in 2018, we see some of the same issues of discrimination rendering racialized outcomes — but why is this if so much time has passed? Ultimately, what does this have to do with arts philanthropy? Join Nayantara Sen, manager of Cultural Strategies and senior trainer, Race Forward, and Malcolm Shanks, Senior Training and Content Development coordinator, Race Forward, as they provide a foundational introduction to the social construction of race in the United States. This webinar will discuss the creation and perpetuation of the racial hierarchy, ideologies of whiteness, and how institutional strategies for diversity, inclusion, and equity often get conflated or confused.

It is GIA’s belief that ALAANA (African, Latinx, Asian, Arab, and Native American) individuals whose identities intersect with those of other “minority” social statuses often experience compounded mistreatment that is amplified by the interaction of race. We look forward to an evergreen presentation from Race Forward on how funders can address this issue.

*Note: This webinar serves as a preliminary requirement to all funders who wish to bring a Racial Equity workshop to their community.

For the deaf or hard of hearing, live captioning is available by request. Please contact Sherylynn Sealy, GIA program manager, at least three (3) business days prior to the webinar to request live captioning.

Nayantara Sen is an activist, network builder, oral historian, and social and racial justice educator and trainer. She is the manager of Cultural Strategies and a senior trainer at Race Forward: The Center for Racial Justice Innovation. At Race Forward, she produces curricula, facilitates racial justice workshops to support movement organizations and non-profits, develops narrative and cultural strategies for racial equity, and organizes the arts sector nationally. She is the program designer and manager of the Racial Equity in the Arts Innovation Lab in New York City, as well as the principal at Art/Work Practice (AWP). Sen has trained thousands of non-profit and philanthropic sector professionals, students, teachers, administrators, funders, and has curated interdisciplinary programs that address the intersections of race, gender, class, media, and art. Previously, she worked in arts administration in historical societies, independent film, and community theater.

Malcolm Shanks is lead trainer in the Network Department. They co-facilitate Race Forward racial justice trainings and provide coaching and consulting to organizations and institutions that need support in developing practice that produce racially equitable outcomes and promote racial justice. Prior to coming to Race Forward, Shanks worked as a political organizer at the National LGBTQ Task Force. He provided support to LGBTQ state and local campaigns, and created training and leadership development opportunities for organizers and activists across many movements around the country, specifically focused on those whose work combined racial, economic, and gender justice agendas. They are deeply committed to creating knowledge that is useful to organizers in social justice and anti-oppression movements — so far this has taken the shape of movement history workshops concentrating on organizing lessons learned from militant and radical leftist movements.