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NOTO kicks off black diversity weekend with storytelling theme

The Topeka chapter of the links held an event tonight to kick off ‘celebrate black diversity weekend’.

In North Topeka where you’ll see more confederatre flags per person than you will in Missouri, NOTO struggled to convince anyone that any of the property OWNERS actually care about “Diversity”. North Topeka’s school District, named after “Dr” Frank Seaman recently refused, with a vote, to change the school and school distracts name, being well aware that Seamn was proudly the Grand Poo-Bah of the Areas Ku Klux Klan and personally gerrymandered the district lines to excluse black families from attending “His” schools. This is how they celebrate diversity north of the river And this is how WIBW WHITE Washes it.

By Victoria Cassell

Published: Apr. 14, 2023 at 10:42 PM CDT|Updated: 4 hours ago

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – The Topeka Chapter of the Links held an event Thursday night to kick off ‘celebrate black diversity weekend’.

Storytelling, conversation and Afro-futurism were the themes celebrating black diversity weekend in observance of April’s Diversity Awareness Month in NOTO.

“One of the things that we thought that most entities think of us as a monolith especially when you think of the African diaspora and so what we wanted to do was take this opportunity to express and model that blackness is unique and very diverse,” says Monice Crawford, President of the Topeka Chapter of the Links Inc.

Friday night’s “a storytelling salon” featured award-winning writer Rita Woods, and playwright and Topeka native Darren Canady.

“We’re going to sit and talk and kind of speak with them and talk with them and encourage them about what makes a good story, how can you get your thoughts across, what’s important, what the universality of themes that draw people in. So that’s what we’re going to do tonight, kind of see what kind of thoughts and perspectives people have inside of them and maybe help them bring that out,” says writer, Rita Woods.

The weekend’s events also include live music, networking and food.

“We’re looking forward to a great weekend of events and this is just one way of showcasing that variety of community members that are interested in arts and letters and history and culture in this town and that’s a treasure,” says Darren Canady, Playwrite Professor at KU.

“I personally believe that diversity is the truth. If anyone wants to spread the narrative or promote the narrative that the United States looks one way, sounds one way, is one way, that’s not the truth. The truth of the matter is that this country and everything that we know and recognize is actually a result of an amalgum of all kinds of cultures, all kinds of languages and if you really want to know that true history and be cognizant of where we’ve been and where we’re going to then you have to be honest enough to celebrate the diversity that created this country,” says Woods.

Saturday’s diversity events will be held at the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library.

Registration for the breakfast is closed, but you can still take part in a storytelling conversation starting at 10 am, followed by a reception and music.