Social Justice is a Value
Is charity Social Justice? Volunteering? Service Learning? If Social Justice is a living, breathing thing, then our understanding of it, our relationship with it, affects our actions around it. Our values aren't immune to our weaknesses and prejudices. In this talk/workshop, we explore Social Justice as a Value, a value that we place on living systems. So come use a little scholarship, a little Hip-Hop, and a little laughter to explore the Social Justice that lives in you.
12 Steps Towards Appreciating Diversity
Have you ever been misunderstood due to cultural differences? Have you ever longed for everyday, logical, concrete steps for communicating and forming strong, lasting friendships with people from different cultures (i.e. difference genders, ethnicities, abilities, sexualities, etc.)? Former MTV Real World star and diversity consultant, Mohammed Bilal, has helped thousands of people move beyond the sheer tolerance of difference. His 12 Steps Towards Accepting Diversity is a fun, interactive presentation sprinkled with scholarship, hip-hop, and self-reflective narratives that equip the participant with easy, valuable, and powerful tools for appreciating the wondrous diversity around us.
Preference & Prejudice
Do you prefer pink or blue, car or bike-- black man or white woman? When choosing A over B- how do preconceived socio-cultural notions affect our daily choices and what role does prejudice play in our preferences? Preference & Prejudice is a engagin, insightful examination of preference and its role in the ways we move toward and away from one another. Using his own personal narrative, Mohammed Bilal blends scholarship, rap and spoken word into a playful exploration of preference and desire, elucidating everyday methods for open interactions.
Spatial Awareness
While people of any composition are allowed equal treatment under US law, do Black Americans occupy the same space as White Americans? Hurricane Katrina, the Digital Divide, the death of Trayvon Martin, and the Federal abandonment of (un)affordable housing in big city America, all shed light on the ways in which "space is proscribed, denied, and ascribed" for people of African descent living in America. Using scholarship, personal narratives and Hip-Hop lyrics to highlight the ongoing quest for equity and inclusion in America, Mohammed Bilal explores Blackness and Space, offering practical solutions toward greater understanding and a freer America.
Toward Excellence
Toward Excellence is a short film that explores diversity and equity at American independent schools. It looks closely at the problematic 80's, when many private schools intentionally/experimentally increased admittance of African-American students to meet self-imposed quotas. Through interviews with some of today's top administrators - Al Adams (Lick-Wilmerding High School), Lucinda Lee Katz (Marin Country Day School) and others - the film offers valuable insights for building vibrant and inclusive school communities. Director Mohammed Bilal, who attended, taught and led independent schools, facilitates the interactive Q & A, vicariously using the film and personal narratives as tools to unravel power and privilege, race, gender and space.
