(Photo: Interracial family, via FreePhotoStack.com)

Located in Brooklyn Heights in a landmark building, the Brooklyn Historical Society is a multi-offering institution allowing visitors to delve into Brooklyn’s history, community and culture through its museum exhibits, library collections and educational seminars, tours, projects and events.

In today’s society, are White people treated better than Black people? Treated better than Asians and Latinos? How do you feel about interracial relations?  How do you identify with society and vice-versa?  Are people accepting of your mixed heritage?  Are your family and friends accepting of your interracial relations?  Would you date outside your race?  An attempt to discuss and address these questions and more takes place with one of Brooklyn Historical Society’s current projects - Crossing Borders, Bridging Generations - which through a series of films, programs and discussions, brings awareness to and examines the history, experiences and culture of “mixed-heritage people and families, cultural hybridity, race, ethnicity, and identity.” 

The first and free event (a film and discussion) of the series took place January 26 at 7pm in one of Brooklyn Historical Society’s event spaces.  Seats were arranged theater-style and light refreshments included popcorn and pretzels.  Brooklyn Brewery beer and wine were also available.   Guests appeared to be of Black, White, Asian and Latin descent and spanned in age from a teenager to senior citizens.  Before the film began, Sady Sullivan - Director of Oral History at Brooklyn Historical Society - welcomed us and guest speaker and sociologist Erica Chito-Childs.  Chito-Childs summarized the film, engaged us with a few questions and informed us we’ll be discussing the films’ scenes once it was done.  The film shown was Something New, which told the story of a Black woman - for the first time - dating and falling in love with a White man.  Throughout the movie, the characters addressed  the ‘angry Black woman’ syndrome, made mention of how Black people must work two times harder than their White counterpart to succeed in society, discussed acceptance or non-acceptance of their interracial relations by friends and family and how comfortable they were while in public.

During the film you heard some audience laughter and comments and once it was over, Chito-Childs wasted no time informing us of statistics and studies done about race relations.  She also engaged us with questions like, “What was our favorite scene?” “Was reality depicted in the movie?” “Did we enjoy the characters?” and other thought-provoking questions.  At first, the audience was a bit trepid to respond to the questions surrounding such a sensitive topic, but once one audience member did, it was like a domino effect.  My purpose in attending was simply to hear the overall post-discussion and the diversity of opinions was very enlightening.  The microphone was passed around from one audience member to another as people discussed their opinions about the movie, their current and past relations, their acceptance in society, their behavior in society, their favorite film scenes and more.  One female guest said “I just want to be accepted as me”.  It was extremely interesting to hear people voicing their strong thoughts and opinions on whether or not the film depicted reality vs. entertainment, the 'cuteness' of the characters, how they can or cannot relate to the characters, etc.  In my opinion, some people responded directly to Chito-Childs’ questions, while others went a bit off track discussing a multitude of other topics, which not necessarily involved the film, but did involve interracial relations.   A female audience member was very passionate while discussing her role as a female activist and what the film meant to her.  The Black wife of a couple represeting Swirl stood in front of the room and passionately discussed her 45-year marriage to her White husband. 

Overall, the film resulted in an excellent, enlightening and thought-provoking discussion.  At some point in life, we all may struggle with our identity, ethnicity and have been directly or indirectly affected by interracial people and families.  Crossing Borders, Bridging Generations is the perfect platform to share and discuss your relevant concerns and/or opinions about these sensitive topics.

Future events are free to low-cost admission and with the exception of the April 14 event, they all take place at Brooklyn Historical Society, 128 Pierrepont Street, at Clinton Street:

• February 1: Watch and Discuss Vin Diesel’s short film, Multi-Facial, 7pm, Free
• March 11: Watch and Discuss the groundbreaking 1967 film Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? 2pm, Free
• April 4: Bridging the Gap: Poetry Showcase, 7pm, $4/$7
• April 14: Identity and Oral History Workshop at Brooklyn Museum, 2pm, Free with museum admission
• May 5: Watch and Discuss Long Way Home: The Loving Story with filmmaker Nancy Buirski, 3pm, Free with museum admission
• May Sneak Preview: Season Two of acclaimed web series Black Folk Don’t, details to be announced
• June: The Loving Day Flagship Celebration in New York City, details to be announced