{"id":1793,"date":"2015-10-16T13:08:48","date_gmt":"2015-10-16T21:08:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wou.edu\/westernjournal\/?p=1793"},"modified":"2015-10-16T13:09:04","modified_gmt":"2015-10-16T21:09:04","slug":"speaker-on-campus-tim-wise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/speaker-on-campus-tim-wise\/","title":{"rendered":"Speaker on campus: Tim Wise"},"content":{"rendered":"
By: Emily Pate \r\nStaff Writer <\/pre>\n
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. <\/p>\n
His website, www.timwise.org, describes Wise as \u201camong the nation\u2019s most prominent antiracist essayists and educators.\u201d Wise has written six books, covering topics including poverty and racism.<\/p>\n
Wise\u2019s website states that he has spoken at over 1,000 high school and college campuses. This week, it was Western\u2019s turn.<\/p>\n
As Wise explained during his talk, this was his second visit to Western. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
In the two decades since his last trip to campus, much has changed with regards to racism, but much has also stayed the same.<\/p>\n
Wise brought to attention the fact that, though the United States now has an African American as president, we are not living in a \u201cpost-racial America.\u201d <\/p>\n
Barack Obama\u2019s presidency and the current debate over immigration have only intensified the nation\u2019s attention towards issues of race.<\/p>\n
Melissa Evangelista Vargas, a first year student studying pre-nursing, though attending the event primarily because her diversity class required it, said, \u201cI also wanted just to hear the speaker and his opinion on racism.\u201d She also stated that racism is \u201cstill a huge problem today.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Wise focused his talk on racism, he also discussed its intersectionality with poverty, sexism, ableism, and the struggles of the LGBTQ+ community. <\/p>\n
When asked if the issues Wise discussed are important today, Shelby Brooks, a first year majoring in elementary education, said, \u201cYes, extremely. Growing up low-income as a child … a lot of issues he talked about hit home. I\u2019m also a feminist so a lot of things he talked about apply to my life.\u201d <\/p>\n
Truth was also one of the overarching themes in Wise\u2019s talk.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
After his talk, Wise accepted questions from the audience.<\/p>\n
The final question Wise asked was, \u201cWhat information do you trust? How do you find the truth?\u201d He answered that the key is to be critical of all information, even his, and especially the information that you are inclined to believe.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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