If this year’s Truth and Joy event is anything like last summer’s experience, get ready for some meaningful conversation, and a lot of fun. Organized by the Martha’s Vineyard Diversity Coalition, the free daylong event features food, art, discussions, and musical performances on Saturday, July 22, at the Tabernacle in Oak Bluffs, to celebrate the Island’s rich cultural diversity and explore its complex racial history.
Come stroll around the perimeter of the Tabernacle starting at 12 noon, feasting at the marketplace featuring food, art, and tables of information celebrating the Island’s many cultures, as well as organizations dedicated to equity, inclusion, and diversity. Nibbles will be provided by Vineyard Caribbean Cuisine, Orange Peel Bakery, Aquila MV, Gino’s Backyard BBQ, and others. Artists and artisans will sell Native American and African American art and jewelry. Just some of the organizations participating include the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, MVY Radio, Martha’s Vineyard Community Services, the Councils on Aging, Healthy Aging Martha’s Vineyard, Martha’s Vineyard NAACP, Chappaquiddick Wampanoag Tribe, Martha’s Vineyard Youth Pride, Martha’s Vineyard Vegan Society, and the Aquinnah Cultural Center.
At 2:30 pm, there will be a panel discussion with white, Brazilian, Wampanoag, and Black students from the Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School and MVRHS. It will be facilitated by Kyle Williams of A Long Talk About the Uncomfortable Truth — an antiracism activation experience that aims to cultivate empathy and educate to end hate. Williams worked intensively with Charter School students in grades 8 to 12 over the course of six weeks, as well as teaching them and some 300 to 400 MVRHS students the organization’s protocol on how to interrupt racism. Williams emphasized that it was important to provide young people with a chance to say their piece. “A lot of times, kids’ voices get drowned in some of this,” he says. “And a lot of time, they demand to know the truth. We’re going to talk about how truth impacts them. How it affects them on the Island, or the world in general.” There will be time for a Q and A at the end, followed by a dance performance around the theme of social justice from some of the high school students.
At 4 pm, Jim Thomas, founder of the U.S. Slave Songs Project and the Thomas Spirituals Choir, will share his endless knowledge about the history of the spirituals. Then, Saturday evening from 5 to 8 pm, there will be a plethora of fabulous performances, starting off with a jazz set by Boston Music awardwinning musician and Berklee College of Music professor and saxophonist Tim Hall, who was recognized by WBUR’s Artery 25 as one of 25 millennials of color impacting arts and culture in Boston. Laurel Redington of MVY Radio, who produced the night’s events, explains, “He not only plays music, but speaks and tells stories while he’s playing about African American history. He’s an extraordinary saxophone player.”
Next up will be flutist Carole Vandal, who, Redington says, “will ground us in the history of the land and bring us all into acknowledging that this is Wampanoag land. Then Jim Thomas will return, leading us in another slave song, and decode it for us.”
Then writer-composer Walter Robinson will offer a video of a concert performance of the gospel musical “Look What a Wonder,” an inspiring and heartbreaking fictionalized account of the Denmark Vesey Slave Conspiracy of 1822. It reflects “truth” in the choices of real-life Black leaders Morris Brown and Denmark Vesey in their quest for freedom.
The well-known American gospel singer Theresa Thomason, who was spine-tingling good at last year’s event, is sure to get the entire audience on their feet once again. Thomason’s musical career reached the airwaves after a winning performance at the Apollo Theater in New York City. Her moving and powerful voice has been featured in performances televised on PBS and NBC. She has also performed live at the U.N. for the Dalai Lama and others.
After the performances, you can dance the night away with music from DJ Sterling Bishop to cap off the festivities.
“One of our goals for this event is to highlight our ability to come together, share our diverse talents with each other, and take pride in expressing who we are as a multicultural and historically rich Island,” said lead event coordinator Chrissie Laury, who is also on the board of trustees of the Diversity Coalition. “In essence, the truth and the joy become an expression of the people who have worked hard to bring this event to fruition.”
For more information, and to register for Truth and Joy events, visit the M.V. Diversity Coalition at mvdiversitycoalition.org, or eventbrite.com/e/645291071967.