Mixed Race Studies

Twin Cities Artists And Organizers Host Conference On Mixed Race Identity

Press Release
For Immediate Release: June 26, 2016

Twin Cities Artists And Organizers Host Conference On Mixed Race Identity
Midwest Mixed Conference
Amherst H. Wilder Foundation
St. Paul, Minnesota
August 4-6, 2017

Minneapolis, MN – What began as a space for community dialogues about mixed race identities and experiences, has grown into a unique conference centered around art, community, and courageous conversation. From August 4th to 6th, 2017, artists and community organizers from the Twin Cities will host the first MidWest Mixed Conference, to explore themes connected to multiracial identities with art at the center. According to conference organizers “In a nation and a world with a growing number of people who identify as mixed race, we see the urgency of shining light on the diverse experiences of mixed people, youth, and families, as well as putting forward stories that can unite us, and deepen our analysis of racial issues.”

The conference will provide spaces to explore mixed and multiracial experiences through art, activities, presentations, and conversations. The call is currently open for conference presenters and registration will open at the end of June. In addition to conference presenters, featured speakers include Rebecca Polston and Ricardo Levins Morales. The conference will also include a screening of Mixed Match, an acclaimed animated film about mixed race blood cancer patients navigating ancestry and genetics as they search for bone marrow donors.

While many conversations and events around mixed and multiracial experiences happen in East Coast and West Coast cities, little attention has been paid to the unique experiences and histories of multiracial people and/or transracial adoptees across the Midwest. Multiracial individuals, transracial adoptees, and youth are all welcome.

ABOUT MIDWEST MIXED | As members of communities that are deeply polarized around race and other measures of identity, the goal of MWM is not to divide, but to provide safer spaces to move deeply into our authentic selves, both during and beyond the conference. We are a group of parents, youth, artists, teachers, community organizers, and friends all dedicated to courageous conversations. After two years of hosting a space known as “The Mixed Dialogues”, members of the group formed a committee to plan the first MidWest Mixed Conference, in hopes of reaching more people.

View the Press Kit here.

Media Contacts

Alissa Paris | MidWest Mixed, Co-founder
Lola Osunkoya | MMW Conference Organizer

Website | midwestmixed.com
E-Mail | midwestmixedconference@gmail.com

The Fluidity

Neither/Both: my mixed-race experience
2013-10-19

Lola Osunkoya

I went to the skating rink on a night I don’t usually go, and found myself to be the only female of color there.  It was unusual to me because on my regularly night, it’s a predominantly Black crowd.  In this stage of my identity development, I’m very conscious of my racial surroundings when I am one of the few.

Today I identify primarily as Mixed, but also as Black.  That has changed over the years as Mixed identities are inherently fluid… if we choose that route – static is another choice.  I have been militantly Mixed, not White enough, begrudgingly Black.  All of them had a certain frantic energy on them because I felt like they were dependent on outside validation.  Today I feel more at peace with my chosen identity.  Will it remain this way now that it feels peaceful?  Maybe.  But the fluidity could push me in a new direction sometime in the future…

Read the entire article here.