Who We Are: Exploring Racial Justice & Identity
Join us in April and May for a series of workshops and presentations that explore the intersection of our individual and collective identities.
In its second year, the Who We Are: Exploring Racial Justice & Identity series seeks to create space for community members to engage with important and sometimes uncomfortable explorations of the ways justice, race, and identity intersect. It is the goal of this series to inspire conversation and exploration, to provide safe spaces to ask questions, and to offer the opportunity to learn and grow.
Who We Are invites participants to engage with their community in a series of workshops and presentations. The series culminates with Voices from the Our City, Our Stories project, which is an antiracist history project that seeks to address gaps in the historical record by uplifting individuals from marginalized backgrounds who have contributed to Beaverton's story.
Events
An Evening with Portland Author Emilly Prado
Saturday, Apr. 8 | 7-8 PM
Main Library, Auditorium
Emilly Prado, DJ, journalist, and author of the award-winning collection of personal essays Funeral for Flaca, will share how her intersecting identities have shaped her life as a writer. Funeral for Flaca is an exploration of things lost and found - love, identity, family - and the traumas that transcend bodies, borders, cultures, and generations. Prado will read a selection from the book and discuss her experiences as a first-generation Chicana, college student, and self-proclaimed troublemaker.
Working on Our Whiteness: An Oregon Humanities Conversation Project
Tuesday, Apr. 18 | 6:30-8 PM
Virtual
THIS EVENT IS FULL
An Oregon Humanities Conversation Project facilitator will lead a discussion about how we as white people can show up more effectively in struggles to interrupt racism in our community. This conversation is for white people to reflect together on what it means to "do our work" as allies in ways that do not reproduce or place unfair burdens upon people of color. Participants will have an opportunity to engage in dialogue with each other as we explore this topic.
An Evening with Slam Poet Alex Dang
Thursday, May 11 | 6:30-8 PM
Main Library, Meeting Rooms A & B
Alex Dang is a poet from Portland. A former TEDx speaker, Dang competed at the National Poetry Slam, was a Portland and Eugene Poetry Slam grand slam champion, and has performed in seven countries. He has strong opinions about burgers and wants to know what your favorite song is. His performance - followed by a writing workshop for attendees - will focus on his identity, the different ways he sees himself, and how that may or may not align with the way the world perceives him.
Voices from the Our City, Our Stories Project
Thursday, May 25 | 6:30-8 PM
Main Library, Auditorium
THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELED. Please check back for a future date.
Our City, Our Stories: An Expanded History of Beaverton focuses on how Beaverton has been shaped by the experiences and stories of those who have lived, worked, or passed through this city. Hear the voices of some of the current-day individuals featured in the project during this interactive panel discussion with the researchers. Learn about how the city and Five Oaks Museum are working together to expand Beaverton’s narrative, why it matters, and how we’re redefining whose stories are considered history.