WeRISE launches WeREAD project involving Westerville community read, special events
A community racial-justice organization called WeRISE for Greater Westerville, established in 2020, has announced a new project involving a community read, along with special events that continue through June.
What’s being called WeRead 2022 will feature conversations around Clint Smith’s New York Times Best Seller book, “How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America,” according to Vashitta Johnson, WeRISE executive director.
"WeRISE is hoping that WeREAD will inspire our community to come together for serious conversations and actions to move forward towards racial equity,” Johnson said. “We believe our community is ready to address these issues plaguing our community and to show our young people that we are here to support them. We are thankful for the incredible partners we are working with on this project, and we hope this type of collaboration will allow us to make a greater impact together as we seek to uplift the greater Westerville."
The project, hosted by WeRISE, is in partnership with Otterbein University, the Westerville Public Library, the Westerville Education Foundation and Birdie Books & Café, with funding for the books provided by 100+ Women of Westerville.
Johnson said book distribution will start in February, and anyone who is interested in taking part, including teachers, students and the community, may receive a book.
Book discussions will be from April 18 through May 29, she said.
Anyone interested in the community read and receiving a book should register by going to the WeRISE website at werisewesterville.org and clicking on WeRISE WeREAD, and then going to “Register here.”
A reservation may be made for one of the donated copies, or participants may purchase a copy from Westerville’s local bookstore, Birdie Books, which will donate 20% of sales to WeRISE.
“The Westerville Education Foundation is proud to be a part of WeREAD 2022,” said Colleen Moidu, WEA executive director. The WEF looks forward to joining the greater Westerville community in the reading of this book, examining our own local history and learning through community discussions and enriching special events.”
Some of those events will include an African cooking class, a family-centered African dance class, a film screening, a Black history mobile museum and a Juneteenth event June 19 that includes a presentation of WeRISE’s local history project.
Johnson said the Black History 101 Mobile Museum, founded by Dr. Khalid el-Hakim, will visit the Westerville Public Library on June 24.
Dr. Tiyi Morris, WeRISE president and an associate professor of African American and African studies at Ohio State University Newark and a cofounder/codirector of the Ohio Prison Education Exchange Project, said she envisions the project as a way to build community through a shared learning experience about the nation’s history.
“We hope that this community read will bring us together through dialogue and activities while inspiring people to advance WeRISE’s mission of transforming our community through racial justice,” Morris said.
Johnson said WeRISE doesn’t have any special events for Black history month in February, but it will uplift the events of other organizations and support students in any way while planning and executing the events scheduled for this year.
An interactive calendar for event details, tickets and pricing is online at Werisewesterville.org, facebook.com/werisewesterville on Instagram, @werisewesterville, and Twitter, @werisewestville.
mkuhlman@thisweeknews.com
@ThisWeekMarla
This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: WeRISE launches WeREAD project involving Westerville community read, special events
