Ep. 1: Conversation with Lara Scott

This episode is a conversation with Lara Scott, a visual artist living in upstate New York. We begin by talking about Lara's background, with the conversation centering around her thoughts on growing up in a mixed family: the families of both her mother and father have been multi-ethnic/multi-racial going back many generations. The conversation then turns to current events. Among other things, we discuss whether the notion of whiteness needs to be retired (and what that means) and the Black Lives Matter movement. Our conversation was recorded on July 25,  2020.

If you would like to provide feedback or let me know that you'd like to come on the podcast for a conversation, you can contact me at [e-mail].

The image for this episode is a photo of the painting Orchid Study by Lara Scott.

You can find out more about Lara and her art—and how to purchase her work—by visiting https://themetamerquarterly.blogspot.com/.

Here is a list of people, readings, websites, and quotes that Lara selected as being relevant to our conversation:

People: Jessica B. Davenport, Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, Opal Tometi

Readings: Our Kind of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class, by Lawrence Otis Graham; Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination, by Toni Morrison

Websites: http://occupywallst.org/ — https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/ — https://blacklivesmatter.com/

Quotes:

“The world found nothing sacred in the abstract nakedness of being human.”
 Hannah Arendt, quoted by Lyndsey Stonebridge

“Identity would seem to be the garment with which one covers the  nakedness of the self: in which case, it is best that the garment be  loose, a little like the robes of the desert, through which one's  nakedness can always be felt, and, sometimes, discerned. This trust in  one's nakedness is all that gives one the power to change one's robes.”
 James Baldwin, from The Price of the Ticket: Collected Nonfiction, 1948-1985

"Oh, yes, they do. We have a fantastic time as we  try to figure out, 'And now, what are the new songs, and what are the  new words?' For instance, let me just mention one word that we’ve been  working with lately. I’ve been on a campaign encouraging people as we  think about the beloved community to stop using this word 'minority,'  that there is something negative about that terminology because it  always suggests that somebody else is the majority. The fact is, we are  all now creating a new majority. We are all part of this beloved  community. In community, the concept of minority simply doesn’t work.  You don’t have a minority in a family. So we have got to get new words,  new songs, new possibilities for ourselves."
Vincent Harding, https://onbeing.org/programs/vincent-harding-is-america-possible/

Music for this episode:

Good Night by Siobhan Dakay (c) copyright 2019 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/SiobhanD/60107 Ft: MyVanillaworld