Lisa Albrecht
1/07
This collection of interviews is based on the premise that white educator activists who work for racial justice have many stories to tell about how we have been successful and how we have struggled to fight racism. The historical and contemporary practices of white supremacy in the U.S. have done tremendous damage to all peoples of color. I also believe that white supremacy has denied to white people our full humanity.
Beacons in the Storm takes at its starting point that white people need to learn about our own histories as educator activists. Mainstream history has taught us the history of being dominators. We have been denied the rich history of white antiracist activism, and the breadth of white people who have worked for racial justice. Today, too many white people still look to people of color for support and education when it comes to working for racial justice. This book counters that approach. I believe that the most important work that white people can do in the early part of the 21st century is to work with our own white brothers and sisters. We need to be humble, demonstrate love, be constructively critical and collaborate together to challenge white supremacy. We need to look for multiple ways to be allies with people of color.
In this collection, I want as diverse a collection of white voices as possible. Do you define yourself as an educator or an activist or both? Great! I’m not looking for just “famous” people. I want to talk with young people and old people. Poor, working class, middle or upper class. Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender. I’d also like to talk with white folks from different faith communities. Lastly, I’d like to talk with white people from different regions of the U.S.
I would like to interview people for approximately one hour on audiotape. Anyone interviewed will have full control over their interview. I’ll provide you with a transcript and you can delete or add to it. You have the final say.
Are you interested? Please email me at: lalbrech@umn.edu or call me at 612 824 6261 (h) or 612 624 3669 (w).
Who am I?
Lisa Albrecht is an activist educator and writer. She is Associate Professor and Morse-Minnesota Alumni Association Distinguished Professor of Teaching in the School of Social Work of the University of Minnesota, where she directs an undergraduate program in social justice.
She is a co-editor of (with Jacqui Alexander, Sharon Day & Mab Segrest), Sing, Whisper, Shout, Pray!: Feminist Visions for a Just World (Edgework Books, 2003). She also co-edited (with Rose Brewer) Bridges of Power: Women's Multicultural Alliances, (New Society Publishers, 1990.) She was the Managing Editor of Evergreen Chronicles: A Journal of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Cultures and Arts from 1986-1991.
She was a member of the Minneapolis Commission on Civil Rights for twelve years, and was its Chair from 1997-1999. She writes and speaks about feminist alliance politics, especially linking the fight to end racism with working for economic justice, and ending homophobia and anti-semitism. As an American Jew, she has been active in Middle East politics. She has traveled to Israel and the Palestinian occupied territories and supports a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. She is a co-founder of Minnesota Jews for a Just Peace, a group that works to educate Minnesotans about the conflict. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of Project South: Institute for the Elimination of Poverty and Genocide, in Atlanta, Georgia.