Jason Reynolds discusses Stamped, racism, and writing with Wooster community

Racism, solidarity, and the importance of storytelling were all topics that author Jason Reynolds urged the audience to consider as he gave The College of Wooster’s annual Peter Mortensen lecture on Sept. 22.

Reynolds, author of books for young people and National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature (2020-2022), appeared at the College to discuss his book Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, written with co-author Ibram X. Kendi. Stamped, which discusses the history of racism in America and how racist ideas can be dismantled in the future, was chosen as the summer reading book for first-year students at the College.

Following an introductory speech by Jennifer Bowen, Dean for Curriculum and Academic Engagement, student moderators Kennedy Pope ’23 and Camron Love ’25 presented the questions, many of which were submitted by students in First-Year Seminar courses.

Among the highlights of the lecture was Reynolds’s discussion of race and the origins of racism, a topic at the heart of Stamped. Although he knows that discussions of race can make people uncomfortable, he also said, “Your discomfort does not offend me.” Reynolds encouraged the audience to come at every conversation from a place of empathy and curiosity, but also to recognize that the work of countering racism and other forms of oppression is never truly done. He stated that he has “always tried to be someone in process and in progress,” and urged the audience to do the same. Although he said that change in our society “is very slow,” he also told the audience “I’m okay with that,” as long as society continues changing for the better.

But perhaps the most significant topic of the lecture was the power of stories and language. Reynolds told the audience that, at the core of all his work, fiction or non-fiction, is a story. He encouraged the audience to never stop reading and expanding their horizons, especially about diverse groups of people whose lives may be very different from their own. As he neared the end of his lecture, he told the audience, “If you really want to build your empathy, read Black fiction. Read about the everyday lives of Black people. And queer people. And disabled people… Stories are literally what make our lives not statistics, not theories.”

Reynolds’s visit was made possible by The Peter Mortensen Endowed Lecture Fund, established in 2006 with a gift from Peter Mortensen ’56, with gratitude for the contribution of The College of Wooster to the success and happiness of four generations of the Mortensen family. Income from the fund is used to support one or more public lectures and/or performances related to the First-Year Seminar, or for similar purposes directly related to the academic programs.

Top photo 1: No. 1 New York Times best-selling author, Jason Reynolds, photo courtesy of Michael Schenk, The Daily Record

Photo 2: Kennedy Pope ’23 and Camron Love ’25 pose questions to Reynolds. Photo courtesy of Michael Schenk, The Daily Record.

Posted in News on September 28, 2022.