The Miami Music Project, on Thursday, continued their webinar series aimed at eliminating racial disparities and raising awareness to achieve racial equity and equality on Zoom and Facebook Live.
Miami Music Project President Anna Klimala briefly introduced the project’s mission and set the stage for lead visionary at ReEnvision Harmony and Social Equity, Maria Victoria Ramirez and the panelists Valencia Gunder, Dr. Valerie Taylor, Dr. Cheryl Holder, and Reverend Andy Oliver, who discussed implicit bias and anti-racism.
“I think we need to self-examine the institutions that we are a part of. As a white person, every institution, including the good ones, especially the “good ones” like progressive circles and churches, if they are white-dominant, that institution, part of its purpose is to do the maintenance of maintaining white supremacy. So we have to self examine, we have to shut up and listen, and look for what things we need to do, give up, and change to be constantly moving on towards better things”, said Reverend Andy Oliver when asked what can a person do in order to check their privilege.
The conversation brought about the idea that racism isn’t just about the bias, but is something systemic, with the idea of race coming into play as a means of oppression.
Panelists agreed that race has no relevance in terms of biology as a means to look at people differently, but does have relevance for socio-political reasons and that anti-racism is a means to fight that social construct actively. Key points brought up in being proactive against racism were that change in practice ultimately leads to change in belief, so for there to be any progression, people in the community must work together to normalize the differences between each other.
