 Our Moment is Here: A Letter from the President and Executive Director, Rinku Sen
At the risk of negating the new day, I’m starting this note with a story from last year. It was November 14, the Sunday after our enormous and inspiring-and, yes, exhausting-Facing Race conference in Oakland. After a deep sleep, I went out early to get coffee and buy The New York Times from DeLauer’s, a well-known downtown newsstand. I parked illegally and hoped to avoid police attention, thinking only of small things after a job well done.
As I rounded the corner of 14th Street onto Broadway, I was stopped short by a scene that is common enough, but not in my daily life. White cop, gun pulled. Black man against the wall. A lady who’d made herself a home on a concrete bench by the entrance to the BART station. Eventually, Black man in car, more cops, high fives and pats on backs. The bench lady asking plaintively, “Officer, what did he do?” Read More>>
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SCHEDULE OF COMPACT FOR RACIAL JUSTICE PHONE FORUMS
March 3
Race and Health
March 17
Race and Immigration
March 31
Race and Civil Rights
April 14
Race and Recession
April 28
Race in Review: The First 100 Days |
THE COMPACT FOR RACIAL JUSTICE
Proactive agenda for fairness and unity in our communities, politics, the economy and the law. It seeks to engage a broad multiracial base of activists, opinion leaders and policymakers in making government and powerful institutions accountable for eliminating racial inequality.
Read more about the Compact and RSVP for the phone forums at arc.org/compact
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INAUGURATION REFLECTIONS
RaceWire, the ColorLines blog, went to Washington, DC where millions gathered to experience the inaugural ceremonies of the first Black president. Braving the cold, we took cameras and microphones to the opening concert, to the swearing-in on the National Mall and to all the hottest parties we could finagle our way into.
Check out racewire for inauguration videos, photos and blogposts.
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 THE ACCIDENTAL AMERICAN
In September 2008, Berrett-Koehler Publishers released The Accidental American: Immigration and Citizenship in the Age of Globalization, authored by ARC executive director Rinku Sen. The Accidental American is a narrative nonfiction account of the life and political experiences of Fekkak Mamdouh, a Moroccan immigrant who was a waiter and shop steward at Windows on the World, the restaurant that was at the top of the World Trade Center’s North Tower.
If you haven’t purchased your copy of The Accidental American yet, please visit amazon.com
Check out accidentalamerican.us |
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 2008 FACING RACE CONFERENCE
ARC held our fourth Facing Race Conference only nine days after the historic election of President Barack Obama. More than 900 people attended the conference, the largest post-election gathering of racial justice advocates in the country to date. Participants were still intoxicated from the election and excited to have a strategic space in which to celebrate, mobilize and plot our next steps in a newly complicated racial landscape. Here is some of the feedback we received from attendees:
• I’m glad we had a space for thoughtful and provocative discussion that actually moves people into action; we need more of this nationally.
• ARC has the best frame in the country for facing race in the U.S. and is probably the best at teaching activists and advocates how to use that frame to create racial justice. See the post-conference reflections at http://arc.org/facingrace
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ARC RESEARCH UPDATES
The Research Department celebrates the new year with the early 2009 release of two reports on the persistent racial disparities in family income and employment opportunity. Here are some of our research highlights: Check the ColorLines, Racial Inequity in the Restaurant Industry and Race and Recession.
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ARC’s MEDIA WORK
ARC’s media program worked hard to capture the first massive national events in this landmark year for racial justice work. We were out in force for the historic Presidential inauguration on January 20th with video teams in DC, New York City, Chicago and Oakland documenting the hope of everyday people and leaders of social justice organizations, and getting the dope on what they are doing in their own communities to make change happen. That same day, we had videos, photos and blogs online at racewire.org that were very popular and well-received.
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