UW Alum hopes to spark conversations about race

Kimberly Harden, a moderator for the RACE: Are we

so different? exhibit at the PSC.

(Photo by Rebecca Gourley)

She never thought attending an undergraduate class would change her life, but it did.

Kimberly Harden of Kent, who is pursuing her doctorate at Gonzaga University and holds a bachelor’s in Communication from the University of Washington, says that a class on race, ethnicity and gender at UW fueled her passion for race and social justice.

Harden is a moderator for group discussions at the RACE exhibit. She is looking forward to her first group later this month. Prior to seeing the exhibit, the groups discuss current assumptions about race, and then they have another conversation after going through the exhibit.

The City of Seattle’s Race and Social Justice Initiative (RSJI) is organizing the group discussions by providing local and regional groups with trained moderators like Harden to help lead discussions about race and racism. The RSJI chose volunteers based on their comfort level talking about race and racism.

Diana Falchuk, RSJI outreach specialist, says that the facilitators’ professions vary widely, but most work with nonprofits and community organizations. Everyone has experience with race and racism discussions. Groups, also, can be any organization, employer or agency that wants to share the experience of the exhibit with their people.

As a doctoral student, Harden piloted an eight-week media literacy course at Meadowdale High School in Lynnwood in January. She is now putting together a proposal to keep the class as a part of the social science curriculum at the school.

“My first day of class, I walked in, and I had on a hoodie and jeans and was kind of looking rough,” said Harden. She said she asked the class, “Based on what you see, what are your assumptions about me?” They had a theory about where she lived, what kind of car she drove, and even how many kids she had.

The result of that experiment was that it made the students more aware of their own biases. Harden says that her class focused on race, gender and social injustices in media and tried to break down the stereotypes that media has created.

Claire Beach, 62 and a media arts teacher at Meadowdale High School, got Harden involved with the RSJI. Two facilitators are chosen for each workshop discussion, a Caucasian and a person of color. Falchuk says that they structure it this way so that every lived experience is covered. Whenever there is a conversation about anti-racism, there needs to be voices from all walks of life, she says. They don’t just want one perspective.

Beach hopes that she and Harden will be assigned to a group together because of their similar backgrounds. Beach grew up in Mississippi and remembers segregation in the South, including separate water fountains for people of color and whites. She says that people never talk about white privilege, but she hopes that the exhibit will start that conversation.

Harden’s experience with race has never taken a back seat in her life either. Her parents are from the South. To an outsider, she may be described as “African-American,” but she identifies herself as simply “American.”

“I do not like the term “African-American,” said Harden. “That’s just a label that I’m not comfortable with. I have been to Africa, but I don't really relate to that culture.”

Being comfortable, Harden says, is something that has to be inherent in talks about race. “People are uncomfortable talking about race,” she said. But, as a moderator for groups going through the exhibit, she hopes that she will be able to fuel the conversation and get people talking.

Harden also feels that racial problems have not been improving in the U.S. They have actually gotten worse since President Obama took office in 2008, she says.

With Halloween recently passing, Harden says that she sees more racism in the media in particular. This year, people, mostly white celebrities, were dressing up as black stereotypes and other famous black people. But, Harden pointed out, not a single black person dressed up as a white person. Why? It goes back to white privilege.

Harden recalled an incident in her first class at Gonzaga University in the doctoral program. It was a leadership and diversity class, and she was doing a project on racism in cinema. One classmate of hers was a white woman in her early 20s from North Carolina. When Harden gave her presentation and explained that from her perspective the movies Mississippi Burning, The Blind Side and The Help were racist, her classmate argued that Harden was wrong.

“She was livid,” explained Harden. “She said, ‘Well, I don’t understand why you’re saying that these movies are racist. Black people need our help.’ So I just let the other classmates jump in and intercede and let them run the discussion from there.”

Harden said that the heated discussion ended with the young woman from North Carolina, who was a public-speaking teacher at a community college there, breaking down in tears. She got that job, normally a master’s-required position, after graduating with her bachelor’s degree, says Harden.

Harden says the students in the class were trying to explain to the young woman that the fact that she got the job with just a bachelor’s degree highlighted her white privilege, something she was not willing to acknowledge.

“She would not look me in the eye for the rest of the term,” Harden added.

Harden feels that her experience, both professionally and personally, has helped her become a good leader and therefore a good moderator for the RACE exhibit.

She hopes that the experience will help change people’s thinking about race and give them the confidence to speak up.

“They need to have courage,” said Harden. “Courage to change, courage to speak up when they see something that’s wrong. Fear is stagnating, it’s procrastination and you’re not going to get anything done; you’re not going to change anything by being afraid.”