By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews
YACHATS – The conversations started after the first year of their weekly Saturday Black Lives Matter protests along U.S. Highway 101 in Yachats. “Is there something we could do to have a greater and longer-lasting impact,” several group members began asking.
Then Karla Scott, an author, consultant and professor of communication at St. Louis University and a regular visitor to Yachats, joined the vigils during their second year while staying here during a month-long sabbatical.
A meeting of group leaders followed, said Morgen Brodie, and the idea of an educational forum and conference took form where people “could talk to one another about race without making it accusatory.”
And so the First Annual Yachats Conference for Racial Equality and Understanding was born.
Sponsored by Yachatians for Social Justice, the two-day conference beginning Saturday will feature a keynote address by Scott, talks by a Pacific University expert on race, and conversations with Doc Slyter, chief of the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua Indians and Alex Llumiquinga of Arcoiris Cultural of Lincoln County.
“It was all so spontaneous,” said Brodie of the planning group. “We figured out who had what skills and who had the patience to try to put this together.”
Brodie describes the program choices as “an organic group process” worked out with twice-a-month (and now weekly) Zoom meetings.
“What is it that we want people to hear from people of different races,” she said. “We want to pull back the covers on how we view different races.”
Speaker’s connections to Yachats
It’s by a stroke of luck that Scott is involved – and that she and Yachats had also connections to an international opera singer who is providing a program of music Saturday night.
Cheris Kramarae of Yachats served as Scott’s thesis adviser while Scott was getting her doctorate at the
University of Illinois. Scott visited Kramarae in Yachats in 2008 and “instantly fell in love with it,” Scott said in an interview with YachatsNews.
Scott then began attending the yearly Yachats Music Festival and making connections in the community. Then came a sabbatical in March 2022 when she came to Yachats to finish work on her latest book – “A Primer to Talk about Race and Dialogue Across Identity Divisions.”
During conversations with Brodie and others, Scott suggested a conference using the book she was writing. A return trip last August cemented the idea.
Scott said her talk Saturday will focus on elements from the book – each attendee will get a copy.
“It’s no secret that we don’t know how to talk about race,” she said. “The primer is a very accessible way to help teach and learn about race … a guide to keep going with the work.”
Scott is also responsible for bringing Alison Buchanan back to Yachats to perform a concert of justice-themed music Saturday night. Buchanan, who lives in New York City, Washington D.C. and is the artistic director of an opera company in London, used to perform in the Yachats Music Festival. That’s where Scott met her.
“I went up to her at the end of one festival and said ‘I want to bring you to my university,” Scott said. “And I did.”
Scott reached out to her last year about coming to Yachats to perform what organizers are calling a concert of “Justice and Love.”
“Alison loves Yachats and misses the music festival,” Scott said.
Conference details
The conference begins at 9 a.m. Saturday at Yachats Community Presbyterian Church and involves joining the Highway 101 protest group from 10-11 a.m. Scott will give the keynote address at 11:15 a.m.
Registration costs $90 per person through EventBrite and includes breakfast and lunch both days, a copy of Scott’s book, and a ticket for Buchanan’s concert. The conference-only cost is $80, and the cost of attending only the concert at 7 p.m. Saturday in the church sanctuary is $25.
In addition to ticket sales and individual donations, the organizing group received $5,000 from the city of Yachats and $8,000 from the Presbytery of the Cascades to help stage the conference. That’s allowing the group to offer registration discounts by calling Mike LaBare at 503-539-4941.
Brodie said the group expects about 75 people to attend.
“We are seeing this as an annual event,” she said. “Our intention is to build a platform of knowledge and resources.”
Saturday schedule
- 9 a.m.: Conference kickoff, Yachats Presbyterian Church sanctuary;
- 10-11 a.m. Highway 101 vigil;
- 11:15 a.m.1 12:30 p.m.: Keynote address by Karla Scott, YCPC sanctuary;
- 12:30-2:00 p.m. Lunch, YCPC Fellowship Hall;
- 2-3 p.m.: Presentation by Daniel Eisen, Pacific University sociology professor and expert on critical rate theory, YCPC sanctuary;
- 3-3:15 p.m.: Breakout/discussion groups, YCPC sanctuary;
- 3:30-4:45 p.m.: Breakout/discussion groups, YCPC and Commons
- 5-5:30 p.m.: Wrap up the day’s talks; YCPC Fellowship Hall
- 7-9 p.m.: Concert with Alison Buchanan and Kamilla Akru, YCPC Sanctuary.
Sunday schedule
- 9:30-10:30 a.m.: Reconvening to recap Saturday and Q&A; Commons multipurpose room;
- 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.: Presentation by Chief Doc Slyter, Commons multipurpose room;
- 12:30-1: Pause to visit Yachats Farmers’ Market;
- 1-2 p.m.: lunch, Yachats Community Presbyterian Church;
- 2-3 Alex Llumiquinga: History and issues faced by Latino/Mesoamerican citizens in Lincoln County
- 2:30-3:30 p.m. Structured, facilitated conversations; Commons;
- 4- 5 p.m.: Presenters panel, Commons multipurpose room.