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GREENSBORO, NC
Guilford hosts The Color of Fear workshop March 15
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"why are they standing, and
why am I sitting?"
Then Wah addressed the
crowd as a whole. "You're all
here for a lecture on diversity,
and look who you're sitting
next to," he said. The audi
ence then laughed as they
realized his point; blacks
were sitting with blacks, and
whites were sitting with
whites.
Wah then instructed every
one to get out of their seats,
and partner "with someone
who doesn't look like you."
When the shuffling stopped,
the "color lines" had dis
solved.
Ten minutes were allotted
for each pair to talk, answer
ing the questions, "What is
your name, and what is your
ethnicity? Can you explain
the fear on your nametag?" If
the dialogue stopped, Wah
instructed participants to sit
quietly rather then fill the
silence with idle chatter.
For 10 minutes, Bryan
Auditorium was filled with
people betraying their her
itage to complete strangers,
via sharing full names, birth
places, and life experiences.
Senior Carolyn Ryan Brady
told me about growing up
Irish in New York City. I,
Matthew Charles Wong
Haselton, told her about
growing up half-Chinese in
rural New Hampshire. She
was afraid of not knowing
enough about racism to dis
cuss it; I was afraid of not
being able to discuss it impar
tially enough.
This was the strength of
Wah's program. The Color of
Fear's unmediated conversa
tions were average people
talking one-on-one, making
the exchanges spontaneous,
honest, and enlightening.
Nobody at the workshop
had the same experience,
though everyone was able to
connect. This theme extend-
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Ed to Wah's film, which
focused on eight men, all
highly educated, who were
asked the same question the
audience was. "What is your
name, and what is your eth
nicity?"
This question sparked argu
ments between the eight that
turned an early-evening dis
cussion session into an early
morning discussion session,
which Wah captured using
three cameras, running simul
taneously.
The audience watched as
the drama of two white men,
two black men, two Latino
men, and two Asian men
unfolded, and erupted. Wah
said he purposely didn't
include any woman so as to
keep the focus on race, with
out including the issue of gen
der.
It was brutal to watch racial
hurts and prejudices not only
surface, but rip open. The
men in The Color of Fear can-
NEWS
MAGGIE BAMBERG/GUILFORDIAN
Lee Mung Wah with members of his workshop on The Color of Fear on March 15 at Guilford
didly discussed racism not
only as the perpetual "whites
oppress-
i n g
blacks,"
but also
the less
addressed
sides of
racial
strife in
"I love this country,
but God I wish it
would live up to its
promises."
America.
A white man earnestly stating
that he had never oppressed
anyone in his entire life. A
Hispanic man talking about
being afraid of driving in front
of pickup trucks with gun
racks. Stereotypes were
openly declared, from Asians
as "the model minority" to
blacks as "lazy, violent, dan
gerous."
But despite all of this emo
tion, it never escalated
beyond shouting. Wah reflect
ed on this, saying "one of the
reasons I wanted to make this
film is because there are very
WWW.GUILFORDIAN.COM
few examples of men in a
room getting angry without
becom
pening, a truly rare occur
rence in these days of talk
show therapy.
Watching a man realize that
just because he has never
experienced prejudice doesn't
mean that it doesn't exist was
one of the most affecting
moments ever to grace a
screen.
Once the film ended, the
discussion resumed, culmi
nating with audience mem
bers sharing memories that
the film had brought to the
surface.
Wah shared his own experi-
MARCH 19. 2004
ences overcoming his own
racism, from prejudices hand
ed to him by his father to
racism encountered while dis
embarking at the Greensboro
Airport.
Wah's father had been a
restaurant owner who con
stantly warned him to discour
age blacks from entering. In
1985, Wah's mother was mur
dered by a black man during
an attempted burglary.
But Wah was able to talk his
way through his anger and
hate, and asked the audience
to be able to do the same. He
ended with a message of
hope that his son would be
able to live in a world free of
racism, of sadness that it
would not happen within his
own lifetime, and of regret
that racism was so prevalent
in the most multi-racial nation
on the planet.
u l love this country, but God
I wish it would live up to its
promises," Wah said.
ing vio
lent."
It
works,
with
gen
uine
healing
ha p -