i visited Berkeley's Lawrence Hall of Science's exhibit on RACE on Saturday, March 27th. It was a beautiful day, and the view from the Hall was spectacular, looking out towards the Golden Gate bridge with the Marin Headlands on the right and San Francisco on the left. The fresh air blowing in from the Pacific was intoxicating!
i went with my friend eva marie, who is from sweden, and a friend of hers who is also a hospice nurse in san francisco. Some of our favorite parts of the exhibit included the Hapa Project, and the many video-taped interview with people of all perceived-races talking about their own experience with 'race' and their own process of relating to these experiences. Their voices, words and faces were memorable and quite remarkable really. I mean, it is remarkable to hear people talking cogently, with feeling but without rancor, about race in America.
you can link to the exhibit: here. The exhibit runs until May 2, 2010.
the exhibit made me feel good about the many attempts i've made on my blog to discuss my own experience of race, my mother's experience, and also to explore and learn more about the various ingredients that went into that stew.
the panelists on the exhibit were far more articulate than i could ever be, but basically they were saying that there are many principles, laws, practices and procedures that have had to come to the fore in our social evolution, but the real key to 'racial' harmony lies in personal connections. until people can share their personal experiences in a non-judgemental atmosphere, we won't be able to move forward. when people connect personally, so many of the various prejudices, fears, pre-conceptions and so forth fall away, or at least can become contextualized in a way that laws and policies will never achieve.
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