Emerson College’s Teach-In on Race is an annual event hosted by Academic Affairs and the President’s Office in coordination with the Social Justice Collaborative. Featuring nine sessions on Feb. 7 and 8, the event intended to engage the Emerson community in discussion around a themed topic related to diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and social justice, as well as questions about racism, white supremacy, and oppression. This year’s theme was “A ‘New Normal’ Just Won’t Do: Intersectionality in the Arts and Communication.”

The two-day hybrid event kicked off with a faculty-only session led by Jae William ’08, executive-in-residence of business of creative enterprises, in the SPC Black Box. The session focused on organizing an inclusive and vibrant classroom and fostering curiosity and a passion for learning in students.

Grace Talusan, author and lecturer at Brown University, gave this year’s keynote address. She is the author of “The Body Papers,” which won the Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing and the Massachusetts Book Award for Nonfiction and was a New York Times Editors’ Choice selection. The keynote address was an invite-only event in The Judee Wales Watson Theater, but was professionally recorded and live-streamed to the rest of the Emerson community. 

In one of Wednesday’s sessions, the Dean’s Fellows for Racial Equity and Leadership Development hosted a Jubilee-style discussion on race. The student leaders kicked off the discussion by raising the question “Is a hotdog a sandwich?” and helped facilitate open and respectful conversations about controversial topics. Participants moved to stand in different areas of the room depending on their level of agreement with each statement and then talked about what led them there. 

On Thursday, Emerson Prison Initiative (EPI) Director Mneesha Gellman hosted a Teach-In on the opportunities education provides incarcerated people and how it is necessary to disrupt the social hierarchies that often lead to people being left behind while in the criminal legal system. The talk featured views from a former EPI student and a question segment for community members to ask questions.