AUBURN - If racism is Auburn's festering wound, a group of community stakeholders and members said Monday that it's no longer acceptable to just adhere a Band-Aid.
Jill Connor / The Citizen
Sean McLeod leads the audience at the “Moving Past Racism” forum to bow to themselves at the Holiday Inn in Auburn on Monday.
Sean McLeod leads the audience at the “Moving Past Racism” forum to bow to themselves at the Holiday Inn in Auburn on Monday.
Rather than just talk about racism and its entrenchment in local spheres, numerous people from the various sections of the Auburn community assembled at the Holiday Inn to discuss tangible ways to move past it.
The “Moving Past Racism” community forum, organized by the Auburn Enlarged City School District, Auburn/Cayuga NAACP, Cayuga Community College, Change International and the New York Institute of Dance and Education, brought together individuals from government and education, community advocates and Auburn residents who would rather create change than sit idly by as racism continues to exist in their neighborhoods.
“When we're talking about racism,” forum facilitator Sean McLeod said, “it's not just identifying the pain that racism brings to the surface, because it's too monumental to try to embrace ... because every person that I know that has been affected by racism can not put it into words. And so we only choose not to...
“It's a profound type of pain,” he continued. “It's the kind of pain that it is so absolutely raw that even the thought of looking at it makes it throb. And so we don't. We do not look at it and we imagine that it is not throbbing. But in order to truly address racism, you must be ready to move past it.”
But in order to move past racism, people must know what racism is, what it looks like, he said. For more than an hour, audience members discussed what constitutes racism and what inclusion truly means.
According to various voices around the convention room, characteristics of racism are blatant exclusion, stereotyping, dismissive behavior, degradation, inequity, discrimination, cultural bias and hate.
The easiest way to combat racism, McLeod and others said, is to simply acknowledge and accept that every person has the right to exist. Validation, he said, is key to building a tolerant and understanding community.
Community members also identified and debated the need for free-flowing, honest, clear and consistent information when informing the public about the world around them. That too, they said, is crucial for a community free of hatred and bigotry.
But solving racism alone is not going to solve the intolerance that permeates society, McLeod said. He believes the cure for racism must also cure the other levels of discrimination.
“That's the key,” he said. “You see, when I put on my coat, it keeps the water off me. It keeps the snow off me. It keeps the leaves - it keeps the elements off me.”
“At the end of the day, we have to make sure that the process we come up with actually takes care of everything. At least it gives us a shot of taking care of everything.”
Staff writer Alyssa Sunkin can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 239 or alyssa.sunkin@lee.net
The “Moving Past Racism” community forum, organized by the Auburn Enlarged City School District, Auburn/Cayuga NAACP, Cayuga Community College, Change International and the New York Institute of Dance and Education, brought together individuals from government and education, community advocates and Auburn residents who would rather create change than sit idly by as racism continues to exist in their neighborhoods.
“When we're talking about racism,” forum facilitator Sean McLeod said, “it's not just identifying the pain that racism brings to the surface, because it's too monumental to try to embrace ... because every person that I know that has been affected by racism can not put it into words. And so we only choose not to...
“It's a profound type of pain,” he continued. “It's the kind of pain that it is so absolutely raw that even the thought of looking at it makes it throb. And so we don't. We do not look at it and we imagine that it is not throbbing. But in order to truly address racism, you must be ready to move past it.”
But in order to move past racism, people must know what racism is, what it looks like, he said. For more than an hour, audience members discussed what constitutes racism and what inclusion truly means.
According to various voices around the convention room, characteristics of racism are blatant exclusion, stereotyping, dismissive behavior, degradation, inequity, discrimination, cultural bias and hate.
The easiest way to combat racism, McLeod and others said, is to simply acknowledge and accept that every person has the right to exist. Validation, he said, is key to building a tolerant and understanding community.
Community members also identified and debated the need for free-flowing, honest, clear and consistent information when informing the public about the world around them. That too, they said, is crucial for a community free of hatred and bigotry.
But solving racism alone is not going to solve the intolerance that permeates society, McLeod said. He believes the cure for racism must also cure the other levels of discrimination.
“That's the key,” he said. “You see, when I put on my coat, it keeps the water off me. It keeps the snow off me. It keeps the leaves - it keeps the elements off me.”
“At the end of the day, we have to make sure that the process we come up with actually takes care of everything. At least it gives us a shot of taking care of everything.”
Staff writer Alyssa Sunkin can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 239 or alyssa.sunkin@lee.net
