This virtual event will be held over Zoom Webinar. Registration is required HERE.

This program is part of a series, Libraries Working Towards Social Justice, offered in collaboration with Courageous Conversations and eight Merrimack Valley libraries - Burlington Public Library, Haverhill Public Library, Lawrence Public Library, Memorial Hall Library, Nevins Memorial Library, Stevens Memorial Library, Tewksbury Public Library & Wilmington Memorial Library.

Using historical and media images, racial justice educator and writer, Debby Irving, examines how she used her white-skewed belief system to interpret the world around her. Socialized on a narrow worldview, Debby explores how she spent decades silently reaffirming harmful, archaic racial patterns instead of questioning the racial disparities and tensions she could see and feel. This program is designed to support white people in making the paradigm shift from ‘fixing’ and ‘helping’ those believed to be inferior, to focusing on internalized white superiority and its role in perpetuating racism at the individual, interpersonal, institutional, and cultural levels. Debby's presentation is followed by an interview and Q&A with a panel of local residents from two organizations working on social justice issues. Panelists include Bria Gadsen, Elizabeth Walther-Grant, and Mayara Reis of Merrimack Valley Black & Brown Voices, and Amaryllis Lopez of Elevated Thought.

Mayara Reis was born in Brazil and raised in North Andover. She is a paralegal and attends UMass Lowell where she studies Criminal Justice and Crime and Mental Health. Elizabeth Walther-Grant was born in Florida and grew up in Andover. She is a licensed Esthetician and published makeup artist. Bria Gadsen grew up in Boston and resides in North Andover. She graduated from UMass Amherst with a B.S. in Science in Nutrition and earned a Master's in Community Health from Merrimack College.

Amaryllis Lopez (she/her) is Elevated Thought's program director. Lopez is an Afro-Puerto Rican cultural worker, born and raised in Lawrence, MA. Her work explores themes of womanhood, colonialism, and Blackness. Lopez holds a B.A. in English with minors in Latin American & Caribbean Studies and African American Studies from Bridgewater State University.