2022 Elinor Williams Hooker Tea Talks

A virtual and in-person series | Sundays, February 6 – March 13, 2022 | 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM

The last two years saw an upheaval in race relationships. As Black Lives Matter protests grew across the country and anti-Asian violence surged, latent fears about “the other,” seeded in a history of racial injustice and mistrust, resurfaced.

Increasingly in states across the country, including New Hampshire, we face growing controversy over the teaching of the uncomfortable truths of our local, state, and national histories that continue to drive a wedge between different racial and ethnic groups. Aspects of our past that deal with racism have often been downplayed, ignored, or erased.

For the 2022 Elinor Williams Hooker Tea Talks Series, together we will create a safe space for meaningful interchanges, grounded in history and lived experience between different segments of the Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) community. We will also investigate the current issues that continue to create tension in the community. 

The Winter Tea Talks are a series of participatory panel presentations and discussions related to New Hampshire’s Black history and African American culture.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2022 (2:00 PM)

Tea Talk #2 | Absented Presence: “They All Died Off” and Other Myths About Native Americans

Many organizations across the state have been using “Land Acknowledgments” raising awareness of the first nation status and original presence of Native Americans in our state. However, New Hampshire is one of only 15 states that have no federally recognized tribes.

For this panel, presenters will explore various issues in New Hampshire’s Native American community including, inadequate representation, invisibility, access to education, and tribal non-recognition.

Presenters:
Paul & Denise Pouliot, Chief Speakers for the Cowasuck Band of the Pennacook and Abenaki People 
Kathleen A. Blake, Retired Educator 
James Edgell Jr., Mohawk/Mi’kmaq and Micmac/Newmarket Chick Wabanaki Relation
Anne Jennison, NH Commission on Native American Affairs, Affiliate Faculty Member for the UNH Native American & Indigenous Studies Minor, Northeast Native American storyteller.

Moderator:
Svetlana Peshkova, Associate Professor of Anthropology & Coordinator of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Minor, UNH

Watch Video:

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2022 (2:00 PM)

Tea Talk #3 | The Myth of The Model Minority

The mass shooting in Atlanta last year and the rise in anti-Asian attacks during the Co-Vid 19 pandemic have brought to the forefront the long history of discrimination and injustice toward Asian Americans. Since the end of World War II, the perceived success of Asian Americans -- who have been wrongly portrayed as a monolithic group -- has led white apologists to cast this group as the “model minority.”

This panel will address how this idea has been used to drive a racial wedge between Asian Americans and African Americans, and to allow some white Americans to continue to ignore the ravages of racism and racist policies.

Presenters:
Pawn Nitichan, Executive Director, City-Year New Hampshire
Samuel Hyun, Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) Advocate, and Public Speaker
Sandeep Bikram Shah, Senior Program Officer at New Hampshire Charitable Foundation

Moderator:
Delia Konzett, Professor of English and Women’s and Gender Studies, UNH.

Watch Video:

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2022 (2:00 PM)

Tea Talk #4 | The Lingual Divide: ¿Y Tu Abuela Donde Esta?

Traditionally, Black and Brown American populations have seen themselves in a natural alliance in a country historically dominated by whites — an alliance of mostly poorer, darker-skinned minorities whose struggles are similar. However, in recent times the Black/Brown coalition has grown more and more strained with the influx of immigrants into neighborhoods that were, in many cases, previously dominated by Blacks. Many Blacks resent what is seen as Hispanics leapfrogging them up the socioeconomic ladder and point to the strong skin-color prejudices and colorism that divides the two communities. “¿Y Tu Abuela Donde Esta?” (Where is Your Grandmother?) by the Puerto Rican poet Fortunato Vizcarrondo explores this tension within the Black/Brown community.

This panel will explore the issues of colorism, for people within this vast group of ethnicities that although joined together by a common language and culture, experience racism within their own group.

Panelists:

Andres Mejia, Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice, Exeter Region Cooperative School District (SAU 16)
Shantel Palacio, Administrative Education Officer, New York City Department of Education
Wildolfo Arvelo, Executive Director of Cross Roads House

Moderator:

Larissa Baia, President, Lakes Region Community College, Laconia, NH

Watch Video:

SUNDAY, MARCH 6, 2022 (2:00 PM)

Tea Talk #5 | Conflicted by Race: Family Structures & Racial Identities

According to the 2020 Census, the fastest-growing group in the United States is the multiracial community, and nationwide studies show that 44% of adoptions in America are transracial. Coming from households reflecting more than one race or ethnicity, these individuals face a variety of stresses that demonstrate how far we are as a nation from embracing multi-culturalism.

This panel will address the issues facing transracial adoptees and mixed-race Americans and explore how their circumstances help us to understand the social construction of race and what it is like to discover, cope with, and overcome barriers to developing a strong sense of one’s self and one’s cultural identity/identities.

Presenters:
Gene Martin, Nonprofit professional, Teaching Lecturer, and Ph.D. student
Elizabeth Lahey, Attorney and former head of the Civil Rights Unit of the NH Department of Justice
Sharon Tarleton, Bias Response & Support Coordinator, UNH

Moderator: 
Anthony Poore, Executive Change Agent, and Consultant

Watch Video:

SUNDAY, MARCH 13, 2022 (2:00 PM)

Tea Talk #6 | Shades of Black: Connected by Color, Culture & Community

Black folk in predominantly white environments have often found it “exhausting” to continually describe for others the negative impact of racism on them. They have also felt it a burden to serve in the position of “teacher” representing the wider Black community, instead of being viewed as individuals with their own unique stories and needs.

For this panel, Black Americans from diverse backgrounds will share their stories on what it means to live in and love their own skin.

Presenters:
Deo Mwano, Deo Mwano Consultancy
Selina Choate, Vice-President of BHTNH Board, Associate Director for McNair Scholars Program, University of New Hampshire
Dottie Morris  Associate Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion, Keene State College

Moderator :
Nadine Petty, Chief Diversity Officer, UNH

Watch Video: