One metro Atlanta professional group is stirring a bit of controversy for a networking event that encourages white people to come meet black people.
Urban Mediamakers, a consortium of content creators in a variety of media, is hosting "Come Meet a Black Person" at 5 p.m. at Cornerstone in Lawrenceville to celebrate its 16th anniversary.
Cheryle Moses, the organizations's producer, said the affair was inspired by a 2014 study from Robert Jones of the Public Religion Research Institute, which found that 75 percent of whites do not have black friends or friends of any race other than white, for that matter.
“It blew me away because as a black person you kind of know most white people don’t have black friend, but to actually see a number, that quantifies it,” Moses said. “I know everything about white people, but a lot of white people don’t know much about our culture or our community. Not real stuff anyway...My goal is really to start conversations.”
The organizer, who is a black woman, certainly has people talking as many have headed to social media to express their opinions on the idea of the meetup.
Many were shocked that some white people may not have interacted with black people.
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Others thought the occasion was reminscent of slavery, where blacks were auctioned off for free labor or put on displays as exhibitions.
On the other hand, a couple had some ideas about what they would wear or eat at the celebration.
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Then a few suggested “normal” ways to meet black people.
And some said people were blowing things out of proportion and highlighted the organizers’ intent.
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