Skyline College and the CTTL are pleased to announce “Cultural Competency: A Cross Race/Gender Conversation,” an all-employee Flex Day/Professional Development event that will offer the opportunity to learn strategies for beginning difficult conversations about race and gender. This special event will feature Lee Mun Wah, an internationally renowned Chinese American documentary filmmaker, author, poet, Asian folkteller, educator, community therapist and master diversity trainer.
Stolen Ground, Lee Mun Wah’s first documentary about the experience of Asian Americans, won honorable mention at the San Francisco International Film Festival and is his most famous film about racism. The Color of Fear, won the Gold Medal for Best Social Studies Documentary, and Part Two of this film, Walking Each Other Home, won the Cindy Competition Silver Medal for Social Science. In 1995, Oprah Winfrey did a one-hour special on Lee Mun Wah’s life and work that was seen by over 15 million viewers internationally. In 2005, Lee Mun Wah directed and produced the film, Last Chance for Eden, a three-part documentary on sexism and racism. His book, Let’s Get Real—What People of Color Can’t Say & Whites Won’t Ask About Racism, was released in 2011, and in 2013 he released his latest film, If These Halls Could Talk, a documentary that focuses on college students and their dialogue about race and racism, as well as other diversity issues, in higher education.
Diverse institutions offer tremendous potential for learning and enrichment, yet there are also moments of conflict and tension over differences in perspective. It is Lee Mun Wah’s belief that we cannot wait until tomorrow for some charismatic leader to appear who will bring us all together. We each must take a stand and personally participate in this important journey of confronting our fears and beginning a conversation not only with those we love, but also those we have been taught to fear. We cannot continue being separate and unequal without there being a cost to each and every generation. Our survival and the very future of our children depend on all of us embracing our differences as well as our mutuality. If we can accomplish this in our lifetime, we can then look back and know that we have found a way to live together authentically and harmoniously, using and honoring all of our gifts and special contributions. To Lee Mun Wah, this is the true meaning of multiculturalism.
Join Lee Mun Wah and Skyline College colleagues at this special, all-employee Flex Day/Professional Development event on November 26, 9:00-12:00. RSVP via Eventbrite at https://culturaldialogue.eventbrite.com by Monday, November 24. For more information, contact Nina Floro, Professional Development Coordinator, at floro@smccd.edu.
For a trailer of Lee Mun Wah’s latest documentary film, If These Halls Could Talk, go to http://youtu.be/o_81DwriCNc.
Article by Nina Floro (some article content from www.stirfryseminars.com)
