Racism-20 during Covid-19: Open Forum

Racism-20 During Covid-19

Monday, June 1st | 8pm - 9pm Eastern

An online open forum gathering where you can share, process, and witness the stories of experiences with racism and inequality at this time.

PArticipate in the "Racism-20 during Covid-19" Open Forum

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Faqs

1. What is an Open Forum?

An Open Forum is a community experience bringing together people from different walks of life together to share, voice, and witness the stories and experiences of individuals.

2. How does an Open Forum work?

While each Open Forum is uniuqe, the central guidelines of the experience are set up so one person at a time can share a story or experience relevant to the broader topic at hand. This is NOT a discussion though. Our role is to simply be in witness without responding, defending, or adding to anyone else's share.

This Open Forum will be held on Zoom, and will not be recorded.

3. What is the meaning of the title "Racism-20 during Covid-19"

This Open Forum was created in response to the killing of George Floyd this week. However, this is not the focus of the experience. The focus is on helping all participants process, express, and witness what they need to about their own experiences with Racism during 2020 and during Covid-19, regardless of whether you consider yourself part of the black community or not.

The intent is to be inclusive and address the shared experiences around Racism and Inequality.

4. Will the Open Forum be recorded?

No.

5. Will this be the only conversation on this topic?

We are planning to hold a follow-up session in the near future. This session is focused on past and present experiences. The next session will be focused on the future we would like to create going forward and the roles we can play.

6. Who is Niiamah Ashong?

Niiamah Ashong is the founder of the Next Era Odyssey Mastermind. His life and soul's purpose is to Champion the Leaders who are Shaping the Next Era of Humanity.

He does this as a Coach and Sherpa to high-perfoming Trailblazers who are on the journey of making their unique contribution to create new paths to success for themselves and others.

Visit https://niiamahashong.com/resources to access recorded coaching conversations and more.

7. Is there a tl;dw (too long; didn't watch) transcript of the invitation video?

Yes - Click Here to Expand Text

This morning I really spent, as I was going on my walk, I spent a lot of time familiarizing myself and diving into the death of George Floyd, and a black man who was killed in Minnesota earlier this week.

And it was really, it was really the experience for me. It was really about watching as much as I could. I’m a video person.

So I watched. I felt like I needed I had the responsibility ability I needed to honor him by watching the footage of of his last few minutes and then is really just spending time just diving into the world and the coverage that’s around it.

And you know, I mean, as a black man, I can. I know I was just seeing myself there and the number of things, the different scenarios I was playing in my head.

As to how I would react know, if, if I was on the ground or if I was bystanders that came by like asking myself like, would I throw myself into the mix and take on, like, would have the courage to do that to try and save someone else’s life.

There’s a lot that was going on a few years ago, when I was working in New York City at a tech company, and there was there was an instance of police brutality in particular, and we ended up creating what was called an open forum.

And the forum brought together different people in the organization to come together for an hour and really express some of their stories and some of their experiences.

What was beautiful about it was that it wasn’t about it wasn’t a conversation around police brutality at all. Instead, it was about a conversation around equality. And our experiences with equality and equity as well.

And for an hour, a number of us, somewhere between 80 and 100 of us came together and just shared various stories, various experiences that we had, and really just used that, that opportunity to both be witnessed and witness others as we were processing, what was happening, and also finding different ways to be courageous enough to share and listen to other people’s stories.

For me, right now, the idea of an open forum like it’s what it’s what some of the most powerful things that I’ve done just to be with community and to have those spaces.

My invitation is if you have something that’s on your heart, not just on your mind, but on your heart, that you love, to, to share, and to be witnessed. If you would love to, just Show your solidarity with others, maybe there’s nothing that comes to mind.

But you’d like to let others know that they’re being heard being seen, and that their experience matters. You’re invited to come and join us on June 1, at 8pm. Eastern, in this open forum conversation, Racism-20, during COVID-19.

Now normally these conversations that I have are recorded, and then they’re distributed on YouTube and my other platforms, but I want this open forum to be something different.

I want this open forum to be an experience where we can create even more safety even online, so won’t be recorded. It won’t be shared. Either you’re there or you’re not. And that’s, that’s entirely perfect.

So you’re invited to come and be a part of that experience here.

My invitation is if you know anyone who would benefit from being a part of this, whether they’re sharing their story, Whether they’re choosing to participate as a witness, just please invite them. Let them know.

This is the game here, the game here. So really keep coming together and keep finding ways that we can make an impact. And it starts with us being able to express it.