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The Cincinnati Museum Center is currently featuring an exhibition that encourages dialogue about race issues and challenges the grounds of racism as an institution.
"RACE: Are We So Different?," is now situated in Cincinnati until April 26 after being launched in St. Paul, Minn. and touring through eight cities in the country.
Exhibit project manager, Joseph Jones of the American Anthropological Society, said the exhibition itself is part of a larger public education program.
"The project is used to convey three key messages," Jones said. "One, race is a recent human invention; two, race is about culture, not biology, (and) these are ideas that are not found in nature but are socially constructed; three, race and racism (are) embedded in institutions and everyday life."
Chad Mertz, director of public relations for the Cincinnati Museum Center, said the message of the "RACE" exhibit is important.
"We felt it was extremely important to bring this exhibition to Cincinnati because the city is highly diverse," Mertz said. "It also came at a great time (Jan. 17), three days before the presidential inauguration."
The exhibition has a modern layout with three major focuses-the science behind racism, the history and personal everyday experiences, Jones said. There is no formality to the exhibition as students and families bounce between stations.
A particularly popular station within the exhibit is in the everyday experiences section. The station features a movie about how students are affected by racism in the classroom, along with a stack of note cards encouraging students at the exhibit to write about their own personal experiences of racism in the classroom.
"At my other school, people didn't want to play with me or do anything with me cause I'm black," a young student who visited the exhibit wrote anonymously. "Once, we had a play. I wanted to be George Washington, but they said I couldn't cause I'm black. I'm Jewish, German, black, white and Indian but people think I'm just black because of my skin."
Although many students question the idea of racism, or if it still exists, Juanita Tate, director of divisional diversity initiatives at Miami University, said she believes the exhibition is extremely important for the education of Miami students.
The Center for American and World Cultures, department of Anthropology, office of diversity affairs and the office of fraternity and sorority life and leadership is sponsoring a trip for interested Miami students to visit the exhibition March 28.
"I don't know if it was a lack of knowledge about the trip, but we only had two people sign up, and we can't take a trip with just two people," Tate said. "If we don't see more interest soon, we will have to cancel the trip."
Mertz said he hopes people of all backgrounds can visit the exhibit and learn from its lessons.
"Right now the issue of race is coming to the forefront (of our culture) and this exhibition allows a comfortable place for people with different backgrounds to come together and have conversations about race," Mertz said.
