On July 30, 2020 Ready to Rise and VANtalks partnered together to host a critical conversation for our community called Listen to Learn and Lead: Stories from our Black Community.
Tyler Monk from The Underdog Mentality hosted this important conversation. We heard from four local Vancouver community members who shared their stories of their experience of living and working in Vancouver as a Black person.
Hearing a story is one of the first steps to gaining a new understanding.
The invitation to us as listeners is…
The social unrest in our country isn’t anything new. It has been there all along. We don’t have nearly enough spaces where the black voice can be highlighted, uninterrupted, and not dismissed or discounted. With heightened tension on social media and digital platforms, we can become desensitized to the injustices that have plagued the black folks in our community for years. Unfortunately, there are still too many people in our community who are unwilling to take off their personal lens of life so they gain clarity from another perspective. Our hope is that people walk away with a growth in empathy and understanding from a black person's point of view.
This is why we are creating a space... to listen, learn, and take action. VanTalks has partnered with Ready to Rise to provide a platform for 4 Black community members to share their stories of being Black in Vancouver/Clark County, WA. This will be an uncomfortable dialogue for some, and that is okay.
We need to take time to marinate in the stories of others so we can gain perspective and empathy from folks who don’t share our same lived experience. This conversation will be guided by the premise of storytelling, sharing unfiltered experiences, and telling the truth of 4 Black Lives who live, work, and are pillars of change and empowerment in our community.
Our storytellers:
Tyler Monk, Founder, Speaker, Trainer tylermonk@theunderdogmentality.net TheUnderdogMentality.net 503-432-9577 Linktr.ee
Rashida Willard, Rashida@collectiveworkconsulting.com www.collectiveworkdei.com
Nathan Webster, Vancouver Native and Business Owner (LinkedIn)
Erykah Weems, A Researcher, Storyteller, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advocate (LinkedIn)