The Race Thing with Tori Paxon and Heena Paracha

The murder of George Floyd a few months ago caused an unparalleled awakening for millions of Americans who finally have started to come to terms with the harsh reality of racism in this country’s culture. From young to old, white to Black, gay or straight, it seems for many that an cathartic moment of reflection has arrived in the aftermath of that tragic moment in Minneapolis.

This was the case for Tori Paxon and Heena Paracha, two women of color who began their friendship when they attended Easton High School a few years back. While both Tori and Heena were all too familiar with racism in their community, the Floyd death was the kind of wake up call to move from passive resignation to becoming activists. The question was how to become proactive?

Luckily, Tori, who had interned with the Spy after high school, was well-versed in multimedia’s power. Within a few weeks, the women agreed that an ongoing video series on race was the most potent option. And by the end of June, they had become co-producers of “The Race Thing,” beginning with a powerful takedown of a recent Talbot County Council meeting where at least one council member seemed to marginalize the seriousness of the problem locally.

In their Spy interview from last week, Pack and Paracha talk about the process of awakening, their experience growing up and what they want to achieve through this creative tool of multimedia to bare witness to this evil agent in our society and ways to “unlearn” how a community thinks for generations to come.

This video is approximately four minutes in length. To watch episodes of The Race Thing please go here