The Africana Studies program at UNC Asheville invites you to an inter-institutional virtual panel of “Bare Feet, Bootstraps, and Liberation: Exploring the Complex Journey to Reconciliation in the USA.” This Truth, Empowerment & Healing: An Inter-Institutional Africana Studies Discussion will invite Western North Carolina scholars to converse and discuss their work dismantling white supremacy, reparations, reconciliation, and addressing generational trauma.
Featured panelists include Tiece Ruffin, interim director of Africana Studies and professor of Africana studies & education (University of North Carolina Asheville); Rima Vesely-Flad, director of Peace and Justice Studies and associate professor of philosophy (Warren Wilson College); David Walton, director of Global Black Studies Program and assistant professor of history (Western Carolina University); and Jonathan McCoy, director of the Center for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and an instructor of history (Mars Hill University). The group will discuss the scholarly and lived experience of the Black and African diaspora from their positions at various institutions around Western North Carolina. The panel will discuss the history of harm in the United States for Africana peoples, the arguments and movements surrounding reparations, highlighting community work and leaders towards equity, and the road to healing these inter-generational traumas.