On April 9, the Equity Justice Initiative at B-CC, Leadership Academy for Social Justice at Walt Whitman, and the African American Studies Academy at Montgomery Blair hosted #1 New York Times bestselling author Clint Smith. This book talk in B-CC’s auditorium began at 7 p.m. and included conversation about his book How The Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America, his time hosting Black American History Crash Course on YouTube, and everything in between.
The event was kicked off by Principal Dr. Mooney and IB English Teacher Mr. Louis. Louis, a sponsor of EJI, talked about how the student organizers wanted to enact positive change and reclaim joy in education by hosting a series of speaking engagements. Their wish: to engage the wider community in conversations about inclusion and the student body’s lived experiences.
Louis then introduced Griff Witte, managing editor of The Atlantic, to the stage to interview Smith. Smith joined him a few minutes later after a spoken introduction by Madeline Cortez and a montage video of Smith at various speaking events.
Smith started by performing a poem relating to his novel and then talked about everything from cognitive dissonance of the American project to how activism is intended to advocate for the potential struggles of generations to come. Smith said, “Our imaginations are being propelled by the people who came before us. Don’t stop fighting.” This conversation was supported by questions from Witte centering around How The Word Is Passed and the Black experience.
Following Witte, a panel of students sat with Smith to ask their own questions. He advised them, “The path to progress is uneven and doesn’t always feel linear … Our job is to try to do our best everyday to play a role in building a slightly better world than the one we live in now.”
