“Raising the Curtain on Race,” a conference about the country’s past and present and with an emphasis on Alabama history, ended with a challenge to meeting participants: “What are you going to do when you leave?”
To foster an open discussion at the April 6 meeting at Troy University, organizers presented two films about racism, institutions and slavery to more than 150 people, according to the Federation of Child Care Centers of Alabama (FOCAL). 
The conference goals: To acknowledge oppression, discuss the idea of privilege and build better community ties.
Shakti Butler, a lecturer and filmmaker, explained that race can produce different experiences for people. In her film, “Cracking the Codes,” she makes the case that race – and the disparities associated with it – extends beyond just a personal experience and links to a larger “system” of inequality that needs to be acknowledged. Bias, institutions and race are part of that equation.
Talking about the “wounds” of race on a deeper level, she and organizers said, can help with finding solutions to equality in the country.
Earlier, meeting participants were introduced to “Slavery by Another Name,” a film which examines how false charges led to the imprisonment of African Americans after slavery. That imprisonment actually led to forced labor and, essentially, continued slavery.
Without an open discussion about race in the United States, meeting participants said it would remain difficult to analyze the criminal justice system, immigration reform, wealth and the issue of privilege.
FOCAL hopes the conference will launch a public conversation about race and has educational resources in its library to help communities heal from the country’s legacy of inequality.
The Federation of Child Care Centers of Alabama (FOCAL) pursues the goal of improving the lives of families and children. Some of its founding members were African American women, who ran child care programs in rural parts of Alabama. FOCAL, based in Montgomery, started in 1972.