Next time, we’re going to stage a “world cafe” — a discussion format where small groups of discussants build upon one another’s work, allowing us all to contribute to the whole group’s learning. I’d like you to develop the questions that form the foundation of the discussion.
So please watch the documentary below, about Malcolm X (leader of the Nation of Islam) and Stokely Carmichael (a SNCC leader who went on to become a leader in the Black Power movement), and then, in your learning journal, post TWO questions for our world cafe.
- Your first question should address contrasts between the nonviolent contingent of the Civil Rights Movement (as represented by the people and campaigns we’ve been studying up to now) and the self-consciously revolutionary contingent represented by Malcolm and Stokely.
- Your second question should address connections to the present, i.e., to ways in which Malcolm’s and Stokely’s lives and ideas speak to struggles against systemic racism today.
Some words of advice: Aim to craft genuinely open-ended questions that invite deep and rich discussion. Such questions tend to be of the “how” and “why” variety. Definitely avoid yes/no questions, simple factual questions, questions that assume an answer, or “guess what I’m thinking” questions. In short, your questions should ask the rest of us to stretch our minds
On Tuesday, I’ll select a small number of questions from the pile to use in the world cafe. We won’t address all 44 questions, but please don’t be hurt if your question isn’t one of those selected — I’ll be looking for questions that seem to sum up themes that are common across the group.
(If the video isn't working, try here.)
