July 10, 2015, Friday - Secret Colors Revisited: A Dialogue on Race & the Arts at The Loft

Time: 7:00pm

Location: The Loft Literary Center, at Open Book (Performance Hall), 1011 Washington Ave

Secret Colors Revisited: A Dialogue on Race & the Arts
Alexs Pate in conversation with David Mura

Writers Alexs Pate and David Mura are long time collaborators who have written fifteen books between them, in multiple genres, all examining the issues of race and African American and Asian American identity respectively. This conversation will explore their work as Minnesota writers of color; the creative writing workshop they co-teach, “Writing on Race;” the relationship between their communities; and other current issues regarding race and the arts. They will also discuss Pate’s work on the Innocent Classroom, a program designed to address the racial achievement gap in education by training teachers to improve their relationships with students of color.

Over twenty years ago, Alexs Pate and David Mura created a performance piece, “Secret Colors,” in response to the video of the Rodney King beating and the violence in L.A. following the ruling that found the police innocent of any wrong doing. Their piece explored the issues arising out of those events, and, in light of the interracial tensions in L.A., the relationships between the African American and Asian American communities. This conversation enables these two to explore the issues of that piece and their PBS film, Slowly This, in light of the events of the past year, including the Black Lives Matter and Million Artists movements.