60-minute presentation followed by 30 minutes of facilitated discussion.

“Mixed babies are the cutest! Too bad they grow up to be such confused adults.” Chances are you’ve heard others talk about mixed race people using simplistic stereotypes like this. The reality is that being multiracial is a complex, multi-layered experience. In this seminar, Carmen Van Kerckhove identifies some of the common assumptions made about mixed race people, points out why these are untrue, and discusses some of the implications that the growing multiracial population has on communities of color.

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PowerPoint Slides From This Workshop:

City of Tallahassee
May 17, 2005
“On behalf of Mayor John R. Marks III, the City Commission, City Manager Anita Favors, and the Department of Equity and Workforce Dvelopment, I would like to express our sincere appreciations to you for your part in making summit 2005 a tremendous achievement.”
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New York University (NYU)
March 28 , 2005
“I thought New Demographic combined the interests of BAMSA’s members with the university’s Black History Month activities, presenting an often taboo topic in a very informative and organized fashion… Jen Chau and Carmen Van Kerckhove are respected experts in the field of mixed race studies and community organizing, and I found their resources to be invaluable.”
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Central Reform Congregation
March 24, 2005
“I really enjoyed having Jen Chau and Carmen Van Kerckhove come speak to Central Reform Congregation’s confirmation class on March 19, 2005. The teenagers were really intrigued by the conversation and began thinking deeply about their Jewish identity and the diversity that exists within the Jewish community. Jen and Carmen are skilled at leading a thought-provoking discussion and are aware of the different facets of a person’s identity. I thank them for stimulating the teenagers’ minds by facilitating this wonderful dialogue.”
Betsy Goldberg
Hebrew School Principal & Youth Coordinator

Stuyvesant High School
January 16, 2005
“Jen and Carmen’s lecture presented a whole new aspect and many new complexities to the idea of a mixed race identity that I had not yet thought of. First was the complexity of their own experiences of discrimination as children, second was their presentation of nuanced—or even outright—prejudice in our media towards children of mixed race, and third was their demonstration of stereotypes that we each hold onto in our long term memories, even if we know them to be untrue, about people of mixed race backgrounds (i.e. they are “exotic”).”
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