SubscribeCombating Racism with Sounds of Change
March 20th, 2007 by JP
On Wednesday, March 21 the University will be holding its second annual Sounds of Change – a campus celebration of music, spoken word, performance and other creative sounds challenging racism and other inequities. (Oh, did you know March 21st is the International Day for the Elimination of Racism?)
Performances at the St. George Campus will be held at five location from 11:50am to 5:10pm. You can see the complete schedule here. To experience everything from erhu to guitar to sound poetry to rap, drop by one of the following five locations on Wednesday:
- Flavelle House (Faculty of Law beside Coffee Shop)
- Hart House (Front Entrance – Rotunda)
- MedSci Cafeteria (between Terrance Donnelly and MedSci)
- Reznikoff’s Café, UC (Morrison Hall Residence)
- Robarts Library (2nd Floor Cafeteria)
Aside from the main event of musical performances on Wednesday, there are other events going on during the week, including free film screenings and a photography exhibition. For details, check event website.
When: Main event March 21, other events March 19th to 22nd.
Where: All three U of T campuses.
Details: The event page is here. Click through the links to find listing of all the events at each campus.
March 20th, 2007 at 6:40 pm
It’s amazing how much music and spoken word can help social issues like that. Thanks for posting it!
March 22nd, 2007 at 1:09 am
I don’t get events like this.
If anyone ever manages to write a song or poem that will stop a person from being racist, I’d be amazed.
Who will be attending these events? What benefit is there to somebody who is already against racism in attending these events?
The problem with racism is that there are people out there who hold these beliefs. You need to directly interact with *these people* if you want to combat racism. Songs, poems, and paintings are nice, but they don’t do squat unless you point them at the right people (and even then, I’d say they are ineffective).
March 22nd, 2007 at 1:40 am
Well, I agree that calling the saxophone “one of the loudest voices for combatting racism” is a bit of a stretch.
But I believe the general idea of this event is well founded. I think one of the main causes of racism stems from lack of understanding and lack of exposure to different cultures. That’s why racism tends to be more apparent in some backwards country side than metropolitan cities.
So by exposing people to different cultures and enhancing understanding, it’s at least chipping away at a very large and complex problem.
March 22nd, 2007 at 4:10 pm
“That’s why racism tends to be more apparent in some backwards country side than metropolitan cities.”
So let’s take the show to the sticks! Toronto doesn’t need it!