FARA Discussion: “King: A Life”: Frankfort Anti-Racism Advocates

Name: FARA Discussion: “King: A Life”: Frankfort Anti-Racism Advocates
Start: 2025-02-25T18:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-02-25T19:30:00-05:00
Location: Paul Sawyier Public Library

Schedule

Tue Feb 25 2025 at 06:00 pm to 07:30 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

Paul Sawyier Public Library | Frankfort, KY

FARA invites you to a discussion of the book “King: A Life” by Jonathan Eig (2023) It is the first major biography in decades of the civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. It is vividly written and exhaustively researched
We are meeting in the Community Room of the Paul Sawyier Public Library, near the front entrance.
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Upcoming Discussions, March – July 2025:
March 25 – “The Never-Ending Cycle of Racism” Anthony Walton, a poet, professor and the writer-in-residence at Bowdoin College, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why gains in Black life have so often come with periods of reckoning, why racial trauma in this country so often repeats itself, and why the country wasn’t prepared for its first Black president. Podcast from KERA public radio aired November 13, 2024. https://think.kera.org/2024/11/13/the-never-ending-cycle-of-racism/
April 22 –“Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom” by Ilyon Woo (2023). The true story of a young, enslaved couple, who in 1848, made a journey of self-emancipation and joined the abolitionist movement.
May 27 – “In Jackson Heights: One of America’s Most Ethnically Diverse Neighborhoods” (2015) Documentary, 3 hours, 10 minutes. Jackson Heights, Queens, New York City is one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse communities in the United States and the world. The subject of this film is the daily life of the people in this community—their businesses, community centers, religions, and political, cultural and social lives—and the conflict between maintaining ties to traditions of the countries of origin and the need to learn and adapt to American ways and values. https://www.kanopy.com/en/pspl/video/2008548
June 24 –“The Message” by Ta-Nehisi Coates (2024). The author journeys to three resonant sites of conflict in West Africa, South Carolina, and Palestine to explore how the stories we tell—and the ones we don’t—shape our realities. Coates exhorts readers, including students, parents, educators, and journalists, to challenge conventional narratives that can be used to justify ethnic cleansing or camouflage racist policing. Brilliant and timely.
July 24 – “Driving While Black: Race, Space, and Mobility in America” (2020) Documentary, 2 hours. Chronicling the history and personal experiences of African Americans on the road from the advent of the automobile through the seismic changes of the 1960s and beyond, this documentary explores the background of a phrase rooted in realities that have been a part of the African American experience for hundreds of years – told in part through the stories of the people who lived through it. https://www.kanopy.com/en/pspl/video/11372537
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Our regular meeting time will continue to be the fourth Tuesday of each month. We will email a reminder notice before each meeting with the meeting location. An event notice with the meeting location will also be posted on our Facebook group page.
Frankfort Anti-Racism Advocates (FARA) is a multi-racial community group that meets regularly to discuss books, films, and podcasts about racism in America. Their goal is to educate participants about racism in order to have meaningful conversations, take action, and ultimately to heal racism. All are welcome to join.
Most of us feel somewhat uncomfortable talking about the topic of race. FARA believes that it is important to engage in conversation despite this discomfort. Racism has historically been and continues to be a pervasive and persistent force in our society. It influences the country at the top levels of government down to our local communities, and is destructive even in its more subtle forms. Before we can end our country’s legacy of racism, we have to be open to learning and talking about it.