greg said...

my trip in WI, at a glance!

-17th annual building unity conference at uw-milwaukee
-referendum campaigning for united council at uw-milwaukee with nicole, erika, josh & omer
-eating fresh cheese curds (that weren't fried) for the first time--they were so fresh, they squeaked
-making spray paint shirts that have the united council logo and "vote yes" on them
-tour of milwaukee with nicole, erika & josh
-first time eating fresh frozen custard

HIGHLIGHT FROM WI!
one of the best parts about the trip though was hearing from speaker tim wise. he spoke about racism and the importance of being an ally to people of color. it was such an inspirational speech that called folks out and spoke truth to the internal, external, individual and insitutional oppression that exists in society and in our everyday lives. specifically, he talked about race as it relates to the election of the first black president, barack obama.

he just released a new book: betwen barack and a hard place: racism and white denial in the age of obama. definitely going to be on my reading list. you should check this book out or any of the other books he wrote before. i havent read any of them but i heard they wer amazing.

the take away point was that we do not talk about talk race enough and we, especially as people of color, need to do push ourselves to share our stories , own our stories and not let anyone take that away. tim wise described our stories as "true-isms", things that could not be argued for the fact that those were our experiences and we knew best what happened and how these experiences impacted our lives. not even the most ally of the allies would be able to understand and relate, no matter how many people of color they grew up with or knew. period.

it was definitely an eye opening speech. check out a clip from one of his similar speeches here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3Xe1kX7Wsc

in solidarity,
greg