“The Dream Deferred: A Community Conversation on the Black Lives Matter Movement”

In recognition of Black History Month, Tompkins County Public Library, A Writer’s Alchemy and Cornell University’s John Henrik Clarke African Library will present “The Dream Deferred:  A Community Conversation on the Black Lives Matter Movement,” Thursday, February 25 at 6:30 p.m. in the BorgWarner Community Room.

Facilitated by Patrice Lockert Anthony, writer, community activist and founder of A Writer’s Alchemy, this program will provide a forum for respectful, engaging community conversation about the impact of the Black Lives Matter movement, its successes and shortcomings, and local issues of race and equity.

This program will include a panel of local educators and social justice advocates, including Dubian Ade, Phoebe Brown, Rev. Kenneth Clarke, Ph.D., and Belisa Gonzalez, Ph.D..

Ade, a diversity and inclusion educator for the Multicultural Resource Center, is an accomplished poet, spoken word performer and writing workshop facilitator.  As a student in Ithaca College’s Center for the Study of Culture, Race and Ethnicity, Ade was actively involved in on-campus and community protests in support of equity and social justice.

Brown, the 2016 recipient of the Community Foundation Women’s Fund’s Lisa Holmberg Award for selfless community service in support of women, is the founder and facilitator of Women’s Healing: Mind, Body and Spirit, a series of gatherings for women of all ages, cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds designed to strengthen ties and unify women through support and sharing.  She currently serves as the mentor coordinator for Multicultural Resource Center’s Ultimate Re-Entry Program and has organized several local Black Lives Matter events.

Clarke is the director of Cornell University’s United Religious Works (CURW) and serves as chair of its Multi-faith Advisory Council, Cornell’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemoration Committee and the Task Force for the Retention of Black Men, a subcommittee of the university’s Diversity Council of the Division of Student and Academic Services.

As associate professor and director of Ithaca College’s Center for the Study of Culture, Race and Ethnicity, Gonzales works to promote inclusiveness.  Her research and teaching focus on inter and intra group dynamics between and within communities of color in the United States.  She also conducts workshops on micro-aggressions and how to have difficult conversations in the workplace.

All four panelists will provide experience-based insight and reflection on the successes and shortcomings of the Black Lives Matter Movement and offer opportunities for audience participation through ongoing dialogue,

This program is free and open to the public.  For more information, contact Carrie Wheeler-Carmenatty, public programming and community outreach coordinator for the Tompkins County Public Library, at cwheeler@tcpl.org or (607) 272-4557 extension 248.