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W42ST Daily 6/6/2020
Lili Steifel has spent a week dealing with mixed emotions; “trying to process responses from black folks saying, ‘You’re not part of the conversation because you don’t live it, so we don’t want your voice,’ or ‘You should be sitting down and listening.’”
But, she says: “I live this every day. I’m just as angry as you.”
Lili is biracial. She identifies as black but can “pass” as white. Could or should she be part of the conversation?
Her conclusion: “Every human being makes a difference. And telling someone to sit down and be quiet, for me, is taking out the opportunity to engage that person and ignite that person and invite them to be active.”
As CEO of The Mixed Space, she is opening up that conversation this afternoon, “holding space,” she says, “for folks to do that really hard part – to ask the thing. Like, ‘I don’t know if this is wrong or right. I don’t know if this is hurtful or not.’ You can’t be an activist if you’re busy being ashamed. So let’s just leave all of that outside and open our hearts, even when it feels like they’re going to bleed and be really vulnerable.”
Read her full story, how her black trans cousin was beaten up and arrested by cops; why she believes we’re looking at a class issue, not a black issue; and why activism looks like many things – not just marching.
STREAM
The Met Opera’s nightly streams continue tonight with its October 2015 production of Otello, featuring Sonya Yoncheva, Aleksandrs Antonenko and Željko Lučić, and conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Watch here.
RISE UP
The Resistance Revival Chorus Rise Up Rally takes place tonight, a special edition aimed at addressing the “deep wounds of racial injustice.” Joy is an act of resistance and both are much needed right now. Start here.
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