I received a few important announcements from the schools in the last few days.
The first is of interest to anyone who’s planning to enter this year’s Reflections Contest as part of Community Arts Day. Due to the wicked weather we had this week, the deadline for entries has been extended one week. All art work is now due by Wednesday March 22.
Click here to review the rules and instructions for entering, and good luck!
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Next is news about a very important and thought-provoking presentation coming up next Tuesday.
Community members, staff, parents, and high school students are invited to a Webster screening of the documentary, “I’m Not Racist… Am I?,” on Tuesday, March 21 from 6 to 9 p.m. in the Willink Middle School cafetorium, 900 Publishers Parkway. Light refreshments will be served from 5:50 to 6 p.m.
Here is how the “I’m Not Racist… Am I?” website describes the movie:
“I’m Not Racist… Am I? is a feature documentary about how this next generation is going to confront racism. We asked 12 teenagers from New York City to come together for one school year to talk about race and privilege in a series of workshops and in conversations with friends and family members. We hope that by documenting their experience, the film will inspire others to recognize and interrupt racism in their own lives.
None of these teens think that the racial rules of their parents’ generation apply to them today. They know the US is not post-racial – and they don’t want it to be. They know there is no such thing as being colorblind – and they don’t want to be. But they’re also very clear that the most sought-after schools in New York have mostly white and Asian students and the neighborhoods they want to get out of are black and Hispanic. They know. They just don’t know why.Join them as they plunge into a year-long journey to get at the heart of racism. What unfolds over the course of the year will challenge their relationships with their friends, within their own families and, most of all, within themselves. We’ll watch as they have the conversations most of us are too afraid to have and we’ll struggle right along with them as they try to make sense of it all in their daily lives. As they push through naiveté, guilt and some tears, we’ll see these remarkable young people develop deeper bonds, a stronger resolve and a bigger, more significant definition of racism than any of us ever imagined.”
There will be opportunity for small group discussion during and immediately following the movie. The documentary is NOT recommended or students in middle school or younger.
Please RSVP by clicking here. Community members may also access this link by visiting the district website news story on the screening at websterschools.org.
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