A prominent white anti racist speaker will lecture today at 12:30 p.m. in Saint Mary's Stapleton Lounge. Tim Wise will address "Beyond Diversity: Challen-ging Racism in an Age of Backlash," and will focus on race and the influence it has on society.
Assis-tant Director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs Marie Willis said this lecture will hopefully foster dialogue on campus.
"We want to provide different voices," Willis said. "The more information [students] have will help [them] understand."
Wise is one of the most well known white anti racist speakers. He has spoken to over 75,000 people in 46 states, including 275 college campuses about the issues of racist actions.
Wise is also well known for training labor, government, corporate and law enforcement officials on dismantling racism within their institutions.
Wise's discussion will focus on race and how everyone has a responsibility to help further dialogue, since race is an issue all people are faced with.
Wise will also touch on the controversial topic of affirmative action and reverse discrimination. His book, "Little White Lies: the Truth About Affirmative Action" and "Reverse Discrimina-tion," which will be a part of his discussion.
Multicultural Affairs feels it is important for students to see the various issues from a wide variety of speakers. Last week, "Race: The Power of Illusion" was shown as a precursor to the speakers that will be coming to Saint Mary's. Willis hopes the movie and word of mouth will help encourage people to attend the speakers.
"I hope students see the resources we have available to them," Willis said. "[Students become] interested in looking into the future speakers and the resources. Information out side the class can help understand what is going on inside the class."
Multicultural Affairs will also bring Hugh Vasquez to campus on Oct. 5 to discuss dismantling racism.
Vasquez created many documentaries dealing with racism and has also co-authored books dealing with moving beyond the face of race. He is currently working to eliminate institutional racism, sexism and classism.
