Stephanie van Reigersberg
- Title
- Stephanie van Reigersberg (Abstract)
- Interviewer
- Eli Bastiaansen
- Date
- November 12, 2023
- Location of the Interview
- The narrator was located in McLean, Virginia while the interviewer was located in Sewanee, Tennessee. The interview took place over Zoom with the audio recorded using “Voice Memos.”
- Length
- 53 minutes, 34 seconds
- Abstract
- Born in a small conservative town in St. Joseph Missouri, Stephanie van Reigersberg moved to Poughkeepsie, New York, to attend Oakwood Friends, a progressive Boarding School where van Reigerbserg first met the Chief Interpreter of the United Nations and began her path to becoming an interpreter. Van Reigersberg discusses her service with the United Nations in newly independent African nations including Ethiopia where she worked at the Economic Commission for Africa. Additionally, van Reigersberg articulates the importance of education and social media in broadening people’s perspectives despite the threat of fake news. Van Reigersberg outlines her outrage at hearing the news of a lynching in her hometown as well as the immediate downplaying of the event by family members and members of her community. She states the importance of contemporary media and technology in emphasizing the gravity of the murders of individuals including Trayvon Martin and George Floyd. Conversations with friends as well as Isabel Wilkerson’s book, “Caste: The Origins of our Discontents” informed van Reigersberg on systemic racism in the United States, helping frame her understanding of racial relations and the Black Lives Matter Movement. Van Reigersberg identifies the failures of education as part of the reason why systemic racism and police brutality continue to define race relations in the United States. Van Reigersberg cites an increase in the number of individuals of color in government as evidence of the success of the Black Lives Matter Movement. Moreover, she alludes to the relationship between the struggle for Black rights and the struggle for gay rights. Black Lives Matter emphasized the need to understand one’s positionality and privilege; everyone being part of this racial caste that subjugates Black individuals. This interview is part of the Black Lives Matter Oral History Project (BLMOHR) to document reactions, opinions, and interpretations of the Black Lives Matter movement.
- Description
-
Stephanie van Reigersberg
Part of Stephanie van Reigersberg