Reflections on the Critical Mixed Race Studies Conference (CMRS) 2017 |
Reflections on the Critical Mixed Race Studies Conference (CMRS) 2017
Multiracial Media: Voice of the Multiracial Community
2017-03-22
Thomas Lopez, President
Multiracial Americans of Southern California (MASC)
Back in February 2015 I met with Duncan Williams, Fanshen Cox DiGiovanni, Sonia Smith-Kang and Shannon Haugh over Vietnamese fusion food in Atwater Village to kick-off the site planning meeting for the Critical Mixed Race Studies 2016 conference to be held at the University of Southern California (USC). It occurred to me then that fusion food gets its name from the people eating it as much as what is on the menu. As the President of Multiracial Americans of Southern California, I knew my involvement would be more oversight than direct action since seeing to the management of MASC keeps me busy enough. Still, I sat-in in part because I needed to know in what direction we were moving and also in-part for the good eats.
 Thomas Lopez with Maria P. P. Root |
We quickly realized this conference would be unlike any of the ones before. For starters, one of the first things we did was review dates in the Fall to hold the conference to maintain the biannual schedule set by the initial organizers. It soon occurred to us that many dates were unavailable due to USC’s football schedule. For those that don’t know, you don’t want to be anywhere near USC on a game day, unless you’re going to the game. As we started striking out dates due to conflicts we eventually settled on a shift of the conference to the Spring and thus was born the new Critical Mixed Race Studies Conference of 2017…
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Tags: MASC, Multiracial Americans of Southern California, Multiracial Media, Multiracial Media: Voice of the Multiracial Community, Thomas Lopez, University of Southern California, USC