The last of the Cultural Conversations Series for this year was facilitated by Dr. Becca Richards and titled, “Feminism’s Race Problem.” During this conversation, Dr. Richards addressed particular topics concerning different feminism’s race problems such as fight of sexist oppression, institutionalized structural racism, micro-aggressions and others. Dr. Richards explained that building feminist coalitions across different perspectives to combat these problems is achieved by listening, acknowledging, following the leadership of those most impacted by the issue, and accepting that there are times to have separate spaces and break down groups to approach different issues. Many students were engaged by the information and raised additional questions related to feminism, not only from past movements, but also current issues and situations involving feminism and race. Many of these movements, as well as working across boarders require a variety of skills and, as mentioned by Dr. Richards, it is sometimes important to “get comfortable with being uncomfortable.”
-Jeannyffer Campos Gomez ‘16