Call for Submissions: SwirlBlog – Let’s Talk About Race (ongoing)

  

We are soliciting content for Swirl’s new blog on race. We’re looking for intellectual, creative, politically-minded pieces of writing that challenge the status quo! Submissions should be aimed at provoking discussion about race and identity and catalyzing the eradication of racism. We are interested in essays that take up questions of race with special attention to gender, class, sexuality, age, culture and ethnicity.

We are open to all media:

Position Papers
Book and Film Reviews
Advocacy Calls to Action
Reprints of Op-Eds and Letters to the Editor
Photography
Poetry and Creative Fiction
(and possibly webcasts or audio pieces – coming soon)

Deadline: 15th day of the month. Chosen submissions will be posted during the following month on a predetermined and rolling basis.

Format for Content: Word document, single-spaced, between 400 and 600 words. Include contact information and short bio. Hyperlinks and images should be submitted seperately with clear indication of placement. 

Send to: blog@swirlinc.org

Jen Chau
Executive Director, Swirl, Inc.
Email: jenchau@swirlinc.org

Kathrin P. Ivanovic
Director, SwirlPhilly
Email: kathrini@swirlinc.org

The Painted Man #2 – First Day of School

Desmond Williams is a JUNO magazine columnist, freelance writer and dad living in Brooklyn, New York. He is currently putting the finishing touches on his book, The Painted Man: What My Young Son Taught Me About Race, a collection of coming of race memoirs that finds a dad confronted by racially charged questions posed directly by his young son and the people with whom they come into contact.

Let’s find the racist! And then let’s shame the racist!

by Jen Chau, originally published at The Time Is Always Right

This is – I think – our favorite game to play when it comes to race. Locate the racist, focus on the racist, blog and tweet the crap out of that racist, and shame that racist as much as possible. The racist shouldn’t be able to carry on life as he knew it. I too hope for change in the person who took a misstep, but I think we are missing the bigger picture. We use magnifying glasses to focus on individual events rather than seeing the connections and the patterns that point to larger societal problems.

The False Positive

by Leotis Martin

Acquaintance: “So what are you doing in Florence?”

Me: “Spring vacation…I’m studying in Paris.”

A: “Oh, so where are you from in the States?”

Me: “Well, I’m originally from South America, but I grew up in the Bronx…”

A: “Oh, how is that?”

Me: “It’s the Bronx, so all the rumors you’ve heard are definitely true.”

A: “Hah. Well you made it to [insert private institution of higher learning here], right?  That means you had to be, like, extra super smart huh?”

Making the 2010 Census Count

by Lynda Turet

The 2000 census marked an apparent victory for multiracial America. By gaining the ability to “check all that apply,” many gained legal recognition for racial identities which were formerly rendered invisible by rigid “check one only” rules.  Many in the multiracial community heralded the change as one of the few tangible advocacy gains of the emerging community’s efforts for recognition. The “check all that apply” rule allowed self-identifying mixed-race people the ability to count, and thus recognized as both ingredient and evidence of this complex and messy racial plutocracy we call America.

Separate and Unequal: A structural analysis of educational inequality in America

by Jeff Garrett

Fifty-five years ago, the United States Supreme Court ruled in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case that school segregation policies are unconstitutional.  Yet despite the moral victory of the Brown decision, in the decades since 1954 we have failed to create educational equality in America.  Despite countless initiatives, hundreds of billions of dollars invested in various school improvement efforts, and the passage of a federal law that mandates that no child be left behind, we continue to see gaps in educational opportunity that disproportionately impact the lives of low income communities and communities of color across the fifty states.  

Three Swirl Members’ Thoughts on Race, Life, and Why You Should Care: An Introduction to the next three blog posts

We’ve been running an experiment. What happens when you put five people in a room to read, learn, debate and struggle with how to translate our multiracial community into a catalyst for action? (I know what you’re thinking, and no, arm-wrestling was not involved). Five brave SwirlNYC members gave four afternoons of their lives (and then some) to collectively developing an analysis on race, justice, and what it means to do something about it. Led by Jen Chau (Founder and Executive Director of Swirl) and Lynda Turet (former Managing Director of Swirl), we piloted a semester of learning called “SwirlCamp,” meant to serve as a boot camp for Swirl members ready to take their involvement to the next level. Our sessions ran the gamut of exploring structural racism to discussing the impact (or lack thereof) of having a black and multiracial president. We also sharpened our leadership skills through self-reflection and skill-building. Our purpose was simple: how do we make our collective need for community into a tool to change what has impacted us all–racism?

The Painted Man #1 – Parents’ Night Out

Desmond Williams is a JUNO magazine columnist, freelance writer and dad living in Brooklyn, New York. He is currently putting the finishing touches on his book, The Painted Man: What My Young Son Taught Me About Race, a collection of coming of race memoirs that finds a dad confronted by racially charged questions posed directly by his young son and the people with whom they come into contact.

Act Now! Stand with Atlanta’s LGBT Community

From time to time we are compelled to stand up for what is right and condemn what is wrong. Swirl is a committed ally of the LGBT community. Therefore we felt compelled to voice our outrage about the recent Atlanta Police Department raid of the Atlanta Eagle, a long-standing LGBT establishment in the Atlanta community.

 

 

Dear Citizens:

As directors of the Atlanta and Philadelphia chapters of Swirl Inc, a national multi-racial organization focused on challenging notions of race through community building, education and action, we are outraged by the Atlanta Police Department’s raid of the Atlanta Eagle on September 10, 2009. We are troubled by the lack of transparency from City Government and Law Enforcement, as there has been little clarity about the charges filed against the owners of the Eagle or those who were arrested.

SwirlPhilly Commemorates Loving Day 2009 – Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Each year, Swirl partners with Loving Day to commemorate the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision legalizing inter-racial marriage in the United States.  This year, SwirlPhilly, Swirl’s newest chapter brought the Loving Day celebration to the City of Brotherly Love by hosting a viewing of the Franklin Institute’s RACE: Are We So Different? More than 25 mixed race individuals, couples, and families attended the inaugural event.