2021 Voices Conference: Inspiring Leaders of Color
By: Zoditu Schwind
Photographed by: Victoria Prieto
The Voices Project Conference aims to empower students of color to become leaders in their communities. This past weekend, the Voices Conference was held at the George Fox University (GFU) campus. Leaders committed to multicultural engagement, Lisa Sharon Harper, Tiffany Henness, Gabe Veas and Sharon Irving were invited to speak. On Oct. 15 and 16, Bauman auditorium became a space where students of color were encouraged to enter as their unassimilated selves.
The Voices Project Conference photographed by Victoria Prieto.
The conference began with spoken word poetry presented by GFU students. The beauty of spoken word is that it challenges poet and audience alike to evaluate reality without filters. The honesty of the poems spoke of the pain of being forced to fit the mold of the dominant cultural identity. The words echoed the fatigue that stems from never feeling like enough. While the poets explored this necessary tension, Michelle Lang and Still Water played worship music that was a mélange of Soul, Hip-Hop and R&B.
Leroy Barber, the founder of The Voices Project Conference, was the opening speaker. Barber highlighted the biblical figure Daniel’s refusal to culturally assimilate to the Babylonians, which allowed him and his friends to retain their cultural identity. He acknowledged the parallel between this biblical account and the present cultural climate. Barber asserted that students of color are living under a cloud of oppression every day. Instead of aiming to feed the white ego, these students must seek freedom in retaining their stories, as Daniel did. “It is this resistance,” Barber said, “that shows your power.”
The bulk of the content in the Voices Project Conference came from the workshop sessions. There were four topics to choose from and each was led by a guest speaker. The topics included the healing power of music in the Black community, the full embodiment of humanness, navigating trauma, and understanding identity formation. Participants could choose two out of the four offered workshops to attend. These sessions allowed students to directly engage with speakers on these topics of interest.
The Voices Project Conference photographed by Victoria Prieto.
The closing speaker, Tiffany Hennes, discussed her struggle in the evolution of her family, ethnic, and faith identities. She talked about her journey in navigating life as a mixed Chinese and European adoptee in a white, rural Oregonian family. Growing up, she had internalized her anxieties and believed that she was the problem, not her surroundings. In her adult years, she has worked to relieve her angst and come to realize that her identity in Christ and her cultural identity aren’t mutually exclusive. Hennes admits that she is still in the process of living out her identity. She ended with the refrain that, indeed, “we are, and we are becoming.”
The goal of the 2021 Voices Project Conference at GFU was to create a transformative space: a space where students could lean into vulnerability, a space to worship, and a space to challenge the students to become the leaders the GFU community needs.