By: Emily Pate Staff Writer
Anti-racism activist Tim Wise came to Western Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2015 to speak to students in the WUC Pacific Room about racism and inequality in modern day America.
His website, www.timwise.org, describes Wise as “among the nation’s most prominent antiracist essayists and educators.” Wise has written six books, covering topics including poverty and racism.
Wise’s website states that he has spoken at over 1,000 high school and college campuses. This week, it was Western’s turn.
As Wise explained during his talk, this was his second visit to Western.
The first visit, where he spoke before a small class of only eleven students, took place in Oct. 1995, almost twenty years to the day before his 2015 return.
In the two decades since his last trip to campus, much has changed with regards to racism, but much has also stayed the same.
Wise brought to attention the fact that, though the United States now has an African American as president, we are not living in a “post-racial America.”
Barack Obama’s presidency and the current debate over immigration have only intensified the nation’s attention towards issues of race.
Melissa Evangelista Vargas, a first year student studying pre-nursing, though attending the event primarily because her diversity class required it, said, “I also wanted just to hear the speaker and his opinion on racism.” She also stated that racism is “still a huge problem today.”
While Wise focused his talk on racism, he also discussed its intersectionality with poverty, sexism, ableism, and the struggles of the LGBTQ+ community.
When asked if the issues Wise discussed are important today, Shelby Brooks, a first year majoring in elementary education, said, “Yes, extremely. Growing up low-income as a child … a lot of issues he talked about hit home. I’m also a feminist so a lot of things he talked about apply to my life.”
Truth was also one of the overarching themes in Wise’s talk.
He stated that one of the ways to begin fighting racism is to interrogate our position in the world and share stories with honesty and belief in the experiences of others.
After his talk, Wise accepted questions from the audience.
The final question Wise asked was, “What information do you trust? How do you find the truth?” He answered that the key is to be critical of all information, even his, and especially the information that you are inclined to believe.
The fight against inequality, Wise said, needs people who are willing to seek out the truth for themselves, and then have the courage to speak up.
