In response to the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minn. May 25, The Aurora Public Library will be host to an event to address racism, the intersection of race and gender, and social justice in our current social and political climate both nationally and locally. We are inviting leaders of color from our community to talk about these difficult topics in a safe, virtual, space designed to inform, illuminate, and connect the people of Aurora to each other and themselves.
Please join us at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 20 for the virtual discussion, which will take place through the Zoom Webinar platform and stream live from the Library Facebook page at www.facebook.com/APLibraryIL. For Zoom access information, please visit our website at www.aurorapubliclibrary.org/events.
Krista Danis, events and program coordinator said, “We know how important this conversation is to have in Aurora, and are excited to welcome multiple voices to the discussion. Race-based violence is legitimized by implicit mechanisms of power that render racism invisible, so this conversation will help to illuminate and name those mechanisms. Having several voices at the table increases the depth of dialogue that is so necessary right now.”
It is our honor to welcome these esteemed panelists to share their invaluable perspectives on the structures and matrices of power that continue to enable race-based violence and other forms of oppression in our society. Dr. Adrienne Coleman is the director of equity and inclusion at IMSA and has shared her expertise with the Aurora Public Library community in several past initiatives, most notably at the 2019 Aurora United We Read Women in Leadership Panel and as keynote speaker for the Aurora Public Library Staff Development Day in 2018.
As a nationally-recognized and highly engaging-speaker, Dr. Coleman’s work illuminates the ways in which structural barriers operate to undermine individual and organizational success in all spheres, particularly public health and education. By bringing awareness to the mechanisms of implicit bias, including those that silence the voices, stories, and experiences of people of color, Dr. Coleman’s work exposes the logic of racism denial and subsequent cultural complicity in race-based violence.
We are excited to welcome Dr. Vincent Gaddis, criminal justice chair of the DuPage County NAACP and history professor at Benedictine University. As an impassioned advocate for racial justice, Dr. Gaddis connects the history of racism to the present day narratives that perpetuate violence and oppression toward people of color. Frequently speaking to these issues, he speaks to issues of race, class, and social justice to audiences of all ages and backgrounds. Gaddis serves on the advisory board of Northern Illinois Jobs with Justice, the African American Family Commission, and is an ordained minister serving at River Valley Community Church in Aurora.
A community moderator will invite each panelist to speak independently to the topic for 10 to 15 minutes, followed by discussion and questions from the moderator, and closing with questions from the audience.