Race relations expert to speak at WFU

By Pam Barrett
336.758.5237
January 15, 2004

Tim Wise, renowned social activist and senior advisor at the Race Relations Institute at Fisk University will speak at Wake Forest University Jan. 29 at 7 p.m. in Annenberg Forum in Carswell Hall. The topic of his lecture is “Beyond Diversity: Challenging Racism in the Age of Backlash.”

According to Wise, who is white, “racism is a white problem, and a problem that all whites must address.”

For the last two decades, the Nashville-based activist has spoken across the United States on more than 275 college campuses and to hundreds of community groups. In the early 90’s while working as the Associate Director of the Louisiana Coalition Against Racism and Nazism, Wise was instrumental in the political defeat of former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke.

Wise has trained labor, government, corporate and law enforcement officials on methods for dismantling racism in their institutions and has served as a consultant in federal discrimination cases. As a visiting faculty member at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla., he has also trained journalists in how to eliminate racial bias in reporting.

He has appeared on hundreds of television and radio programs to discuss
and debate the influence of racial prejudice on public policy. A prolific columnist and essayist, Wise’s most recent collection of essays, “Speaking Treason Fluently: Anti-Racist Reflections From an Angry White Male” was published in 2003.

The lecture is part of Wake Forest’s theme year, “Fostering Dialogue: Civil Discourse in an Academic Community,” which is dedicated to exploring how free people with passionate interests and beliefs can communicate openly without turning dialogue into discord. It is sponsored by the 2003-2004 Theme Year Committee.

Admission is free and the public is invited to attend.

For more information, contact Amanda Smith at 336-758-4854.

Download Text File