Day 2- Living in the Sixth, Living Do or Die

Tuesday.

9:41 AM
It is drizzling when we arrive by cab to the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond, for our workshop on racism. The institute is located in an unassuming house in North Carrolton—inside, the place has been converted to small homey offices and a study, where coffee, tea, a bunch of chairs and couches, and King Cake awaits. King Cake, as it is explained, is a traditional cake served to commemorate the gifts brought by the Wise Men for the baby Jesus. It’s sort of like a flat, sparkly bunt cake, a circular pastry that, we are told, contains inside it a small plastic baby. (Presumably, the baby Jesus, although the consequences for accidentally biting the lil’ Messiah are not elaborated on.) If you get the baby, you have to buy the next King Cake. (Christian, naturally, gets the baby.)
We meet the people who staff the center—chief amongst them Ron Chisolm, one of the cofounders of the center. He looks like a jazz musician on his off day—an older black man, with tinted glasses, pressed-pleated khakis, a brown newsboy cap. Next to him is Diana Duan, an grey-haired white woman with large silver jewelry, with a face that alternates between grandmotherly kindness and hard-boned activism. These two will lead the workshop, along with a third woman (Dr. Kim, who is late). The workshop, they explain, is different in that they are attempting to get beyond the verbal gymnastics of talking about racism, to get more into the practise of how to combat it.

10:31 AM
In the midst of getting to know each other, conversation flags. We talk about food.

10:40 AM
Two women peek their heads in through the door—Ron invites them in. (This, it should be said, is not a part of the workshop—they just happened to stop by.) One of them is a wire-thin older blond woman, dressed in pale clothes, who moves with a slight suddenness, almost birdlike. The other is a black woman, 50-something, in dark colourful clothing, short-haired, with an easy smile. They introduce themselves: Phoebe Plessy, descendent of Homer Plessy of Plessy vs. Ferguson, and Leona Tate—“one of the four little girls who integrated the school system.” They are here, in Leona’s words, to “undo history’s ghosts.” Instantly, the room dynamic changes.

11:10 AM
Leona tells her story, which, like all good stories, begins with “In the beginning…” Someone asks her if she was afraid of the hatred she encountered, of going to school—she says it’s not the point, really, whether or not she was. In her words—“Mama said I had to go. So I had to go.”
(Christal smiles and claps. G.J. is silent.)

11:20 AM
The workshop resumes. We discuss poverty, power—how poverty is more than simply a set of needs or problems, but that for active and lasting social change, the assets that it has must be recognized too. We also spend some time discussing who makes a definition—how words are created.

12:55 PM
After a 45-minute lunch break, our workshop resumes. Frustrations with the process are voiced. We discuss how culture is created as a method of solving problems, and also the concept of gatekeepers—those who make it their business to decide the fates of others, and what their obligations are—where their accountability lies. We also meet Dr. Kim, a black woman with graying hair wrapped in a colourful turban. She is soft-spoken, pronounces her words with great care, and youthful in her gravitas. She brings up the famous experiment “A Girl Like Me” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWyI77Yh1Gg) and internalized self-hatred—and makes the point that what we internalize is a two-way street. Both the oppressed and the oppressors are dehumanized by it.

We talk about how language determines reality, and the history of the words “white” and “black”. What gives her hope, she says, is that the concept of race is about 500 years old—young enough, she thinks, that it can be overturned. Finally, as the workshop winds down, they bring the People’s Institute definition of Racism, which they share with numerous others: that racism, at the end of the day, is Race Prejudice + Power.

6:00 PM.

We walk over to Ashé Cultural Center and rehearse the concert, with lights, for the first time in the new space. The new space is considerably smaller. As we mark the entire piece, there is only mild panic and fear. Christal lets us go home early.