Abram to lead discussion on ‘Defeating Racism Today’ at community center on Thursday

Published 10:59 am Friday, October 9, 2015

With major construction and development occurring throughout the city on a regular basis, it’s safe to say Redmond is changing.

But it is not just the city’s landscape that is changing. Redmond’s demographics are changing and the population has become much more diverse.

“The city from the last census has seen the changing demographics of Redmond and we want to be proactive in how we support our residents,” said Ken Wong, teen programs administrator for the City of Redmond.

Some of that support will come Thursday as the city will be host storyteller and speaker Eva Abram. Her talk — “Defeating Racism Today: What Does it Take?” — is a conversation about institutionalized racism and what can be done to eradicate it. Abram will be giving two talks, one at 3 p.m. for adults and one at 6 p.m. for teens. Both talks will be held at the Old Redmond School House Community Center, 16600 N.E. 80th St.

Abram’s talk is part of the Humanities Washington Speakers Bureau program, which according to its website, offers “a roster of 31 cultural experts and scholars provides low-cost, high-quality public presentations across the state, encouraging audiences to think, learn, and engage in conversation.”

“As the hot topics are bubbling up in the headlines with Ferguson and Black Lives Matter, we thought it would be a great time to have a conversation about race,” Wong said. “We have a well-educated community and we hope that this would be the start of a discussion about a controversial issue.”

BUILT UPON A HISTORY

Abram came by her profession after wanting to fill a void she saw in how history was being taught in schools. She said there was a lack of African American stories and so she decided to do something about it.

Abram said in the past, the talks and conversations she has given have been more about sharing those stories and combining that with history to give them context. She said they touched on racism in a roundabout way, but next week’s conversations will be the first time she will “just get to it” and talk about how past events and policies have shaped racism today.

For example, Abram noted that the frequency of unarmed black men and women being shot and killed by the police stems from laws and policies from the past that allowed police — or anyone — to shoot a black person and get away with it.

“That mentality has persisted,” Abram said. “Things just don’t pop out of the blue. We build on what has happened before.”

In other words, she said, the group in power still believes they have certain privileges and act accordingly.

“We wanted to place the race card on the table first so we don’t have to dance around it and Eva, with her sharing of the historical perspective, will work on putting it into context,” Wong said. “Doing work in our community has changed in the last 10 years, and as a city, we would like to be proactive and celebrate our diversity and we do that by creating a community that can help us do that. To make this change happen, then we need to work with our citizens and address needs, issues, concerns and benefits as they come up, but also look into what we want Redmond to be for all.”

REAL WORLD IMPLICATIONS

Wong added that he wanted to have this discussion before a major issue came up or incident occurred.

But while such occurrences have not happened in Redmond, they have in other places throughout the country. One recent incident happened in Irving, Texas, where Ahmed Mohamed, a 14-year-old high school freshman, brought a homemade clock to school to show his teachers. One of the teachers mistook it for a bomb and Mohamed was arrested. The incident made its way onto social media and Mohamed’s school was accused of racial profiling and Islamophobia because the teen is Muslim.

Moumin Gani, who attends the Muslim Association of Puget Sound (MAPS) mosque in Redmond, said he has grown used to hearing such stories. But the 16-year-old Inglemoor High School junior said he found Mohamed’s story more on the extreme side and was outraged as well as disappointed.

“I don’t like it at all,” he said.

Afifah Farooque, who also attends MAPS, said people who commit acts of terror in the name of Islam are not Muslims, despite calling themselves so. And as a result, Muslims as a whole are lumped in with these groups and individuals.

“I think we have a bad reputation,” Farooque said. “What they’re doing is not what Islam is about.”

The 14-year-old freshman from Eastlake High School said ignorance leads to fear, and because people do not know much about her religion, they act and react out of fear.

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

Both she and Gani said educating others on their religion is important to dispel that ignorance and fear. Farooque said work needs to be done on a more personal level, while Gani feels if public figures came out to explain and educate people about Islam, it would give the religion more visibility.

Abram agreed with the teens. She said the more informed people are about each other, the better we can understand the world we live in today. And while Abram is doing her part to further the cause, she acknowledges it will take time — just as it took time to build up to the way things are today.

“It doesn’t happen fast,” she said.

Wong added, “Redmond is changing and we need to be proactive in what we do. (Abram’s talk) is one of the many things that will bring our community together because we have a vibrant and diverse city and to keep it that way we have to learn from our citizens.”