Holding the Moment: A Speaker Series
Rainier Arts Center
3515 S Alaska Street
Seattle, WA 98118
Plan Your Visit
In the face of rising censorship and cultural erasure, storytelling is resistance.
Mirror Stage, in collaboration with Humanities Washington, presents Holding The Moment: A Speaker Series—a bold new series for voices fighting to be heard, featuring artists, educators, journalists, and activists who challenge systems of silence and invisibility through the power of story.
These interactive events explore identity, memory, politics, and art—connecting personal truth to collective liberation. From confronting anti-LGBTQIA+ rhetoric to exposing cultural appropriation and reclaiming erased histories, each talk invites us to resist oppression and build belonging.
Free and open to all ages, each 90-minute talk includes time for Q&A. Come listen. Speak up. Take part.
LaToya Brackett
They Want Our Rhythm, but Not Our Blues: African American Innovation through Pop Culture
Saturday, November 8 @ 7:30pm
The freedom often denied to African Americans to move and express themselves has meant that they have had to be especially creative in building their culture. The innovations created under oppression are often appropriated by the oppressor—they want our rhythm. And such culture and creativity has been forged from their everyday struggles—but they do not want our blues.
Reflecting on music, sports, language, food, and even hair, this talk calls audiences in beyond the rhythm to recognize the blues that made African American popular culture. It serves as a guide to appreciating the art of Black pop culture by understanding how and why African American culture was created, and when and where it appears across multiple platforms of popular culture—never without a unique artisan style.
LaToya Brackett (she/her) is an associate professor of African American studies at the University of Puget Sound, where she also serves as a member of the leadership team for the Race & Pedagogy Institute. A scholar with two degrees in Black studies, one from Cornell University and the other from Michigan State, she is an interdisciplinarian who centers the Black experience. Brackett lives in Tacoma.