Race exhibit comes to Kalamazoo to foster discussion

The Kalamazoo Valley Museum is asking the community to consider: “Race: Are We So Different?”

Kalamazoo will be the 17th stop on the national tour of the exhibit that is on its way to the Smithsonian. 

Through film, still photography, interactive components and programming, the exhibit invites people to explore race as well as the impact of race as an economic, political and cultural construct.

It will be hosted by the Kalamazoo Valley Museum downtown Oct. 3 through Jan. 2.

The exhibit was created by the Science Museum of Minnesota, in conjunction with the American Anthropological Association, to educate the public and be a catalyst for discussions about race.

It explores three themes: the everyday experience of race, the contemporary science that is challenging common ideas about race and the history of this idea in the United States.

Throughout fall and winter of 2010-11, with support from the Kalamazoo Community Foundation, Western Michigan University will work in partnership with community groups on projects that complement the RACE exhibit and provide the community with opportunities for creative dialogue and healing around race in the greater Kalamazoo area.

Community events begin with the “YMCA Kalamazoo Summit on Racism,” from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 7, in the Radisson Plaza Hotel in downtown Kalamazoo.

The exhibit, based on scientific research, explores how DNA strands twisting through the cells of any individual — whether black, white, Asian or Latino — bear similar patterns to all other humans.

Writer: Kathy Jennings
Source: Deanne Puca, Western Michigan University