Keeping Up With Colorlines at the Facing Race Conference in Baltimore

The Facing Race Conference--the largest national, multi-racial gathering of racial justice leaders, educators, journalists, artists, and activists--starts today!

By Jorge Rivas Nov 15, 2012

The Facing Race Conference–the largest national, multi-racial gathering of racial justice leaders, educators, journalists, artists, and activists–starts tonight! Close to 1,400 people are expected to gather in Baltimore and you can keep up with the conference and Colorlines.com writers online.

If you’re on Twitter you can use the #FacingRace hashtag to keep up with conference goers.

Also videos from the conference will first be posted on the Applied Research Center’s Facebook Page. You can "like" them using the widget below to stay up to date. (If you’re not Facebook, you can follow @racialjustice on Twitter.)

Colorlines staff will be participating in the following panels:

Jamilah King will moderate "Can You Hear Me Now? How Activists and Artists are Rebuilding the Media" 

Friday, November 16, 11:15am -12:45 pm

People of color generally pay more for fewer communication services and are sometimes left on the sidelines of some of today’s biggest tech innovations. This session will focus on how people of color are using public policy and art to push forward a new media framework. What are the promises — and the pitfalls — of today’s do-it-yourself ethos? What organizing strategies yield the most effective results? And how are communities responding?

Seth Freed Wessler will moderate "Shattered Families: Racial Justice and Systemic Change in Child Welfare" 

Friday, November 16, 2012 11:15am – 12:45 pm  

The child welfare system is tasked with protecting children from harm. Yet the system targets families of color in unfair ways. Hundreds of thousands of children in foster care are there because the child welfare system feeds off of the effects of poverty and of structural racism embedded in other systems like criminal justice and immigration and inequity embedded in tribal relationships to U.S. institutions. This panel will explore child welfare practices in communities of color, solutions for more equitable policy and strategies for protecting families.

Channing Kennedy will moderate "Like Racism, But Funnier: Social Change Through Internet Jokes" 

Saturday, November 17, 2012 11:00 am – 12:30 pm

 How do we reclaim comedy from the status quo? In this no-holds-barred workshop, three of your favorite social justice joke scientists (W. Kamau Bell, Negin Farsad, Samhita Mukhopadhyay) lay out case studies and strategies for making people laugh (and think), for putting dehumanizing comedy on blast, and for turning the inevitable backlash into positive change.

Julianne Hing will moderate "Tell Your Story, Move Your Campaign" 

Saturday, November 17, 2012 11:00 am – 12:30 pm

Stories, well-crafted and honestly told, have the ability to move people to action. But they can be tricky for progressives, who often get hung up on facts and complicated dynamics, and as a result, it can be harder to share solutions and reach possible allies. Learn strategies from organizers including the Drop the I-Word campaign who have developed a strong narrative as a core component to their campaigns, and are using new media strategies to communicate with more people because of it.

Franchesca Ramsey.

Jorge Rivas will moderate "No Budget? No Problem! 2013’s New Tools For Creating Content and Telling Your Story"

Saturday, November 17, 2012 1:45 pm – 3:15 pm 

Video and audio experts will discuss their best practices, what tools they’re using and what platforms you should be considering. SoundCloud fellow Will Coley and YouTube sensation Franchesca Ramsey will be speaking.