My name is Kiara, I have been an intern at Crossing Borders for almost three months now, and on Friday, October 25th, I had the amazing opportunity of attending the first (and possibly not the last) ACCT Anti-Racism Conference at Union.
I also had the chance of not only attending the event but watching the event slowly come together from designing posters for the events and boosting them on social media pages, on the day of I also had the opportunity of successfully moderating a panel on Grassroots to Global: Building Anti-Racist Movements. On the day there were a total of three emotional and upbeat dance, theater, and rap performances, as well as two panels and two keynote speakers who each touched on relevant themes related to racism in the performing arts, obstacles to funding, discriminatory immigration policies and the motivations that brought them to their work. On attendee and Crossing Border Intern, Egle shared her impression of the event stating, ““I think it was a good start for starting a conversation…I see this event as a comfortable starting point in the discussion about racism in Denmark.” Another attendee by the name of Laura, also shared her thoughts in reaction to the theater performance, of Blinkered, performed by Wanjiku Victoria Seest. In her words, “the performance made a big impression on me. It reminded me of the danger of a single narrative, how it simplifies and dehumanizes a whole continent and its people, by taking away the nuances and their and replacing them with assumptions and stereotypes. It was such a powerful performance, I had goosebumps the whole time!”
Ultimately, I would also agree with everyone at the conference on Friday that the conference provided a useful entry point to normalize conversations of race, racism, discrimination, and anti-racist organizing that is happening locally in Copenhagen and being acknowledged at the systemic level nationally.
