Ithaca College

On April 3rd, 10th and 17th, from 3:00 – 5:00 pm, in Friends 304, Ithaca College will be joining an community initiative across Ithaca and Tompkins County that is over 1,000 members strong, to view the eye-opening and powerful three-part series (one hour episodes, one episode each night) PBS documentary, Race: The Power of An Illusion. Each episode will be followed by a discussion about the film and its relevance today, that will be facilitated by a representative of the Multicultural Resources Center of Ithaca, in affiliation with Cornell’s Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County.

On April 3rd, 10th and 17th, from 3:00 – 5:00 pm, in Friends 304, Ithaca College will be joining an community initiative across Ithaca and Tompkins County that is over 1,000 members strong, to view the eye-opening and powerful three-part series (one hour episodes, one episode each night) PBS documentary, Race: The Power of An Illusion. Each episode will be followed by a discussion about the film and its relevance today, that will be facilitated by a representative of the Multicultural Resources Center of Ithaca, in affiliation with Cornell’s Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County.

It is not easy to talk about or make sense of race. Ask 10 people to define it and you’re likely to get 10 different answers. On few topics have there been so many assumptions, myths and misperceptions. And yet the ramifications of race- the meaning that we place on the color of one’s skin- continues to be real, and still has very real consequences for our country and our community.

Race: The Power of an Illusion examines the biological myth of race, and its social and political construction. Until we understand the myths of race and see its lasting impact on society, and in our community today, we cannot have the important conversations to move forward. First we must understand, then we can overcome.

This is a three part series.

Episode One: The Difference Between Us examines the contemporary science that challenges our common sense assumptions that human beings can be bundled into three or four fundamentally different groups according to their physical traits.

Episode Two: The Story We Tell uncovers the roots of the race concept in North America, the 19th century science that legitimated it, and how it came to be held so fiercely in the western imagination. The episode is an eye-opening tale of how race served to rationalize, even justify, American social inequalities as “natural.”

Episode Three: The House We Live In asks: If race is not biology, what is it? This episode uncovers how race resides not in nature but in politics, economics and culture. It reveals how our social institutions “make” race by disproportionately channeling resources, power, status and wealth to some.

RSVP by sending an email to mriosdominguez@ithaca.edu. This event is free and open to the public!

This event is co-sponsored by the Diversity Awareness Committee and the Office of Diversity and Incluison.

Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations should contact Michelle Rios-Dominguez atmriosdominguez@ithaca.edu or (607) 274-1506. We ask that requests for accommodations be made as soon as possible.