MSU Denver
Film Screening and Discussion (Healing Justice) | RSVP here
Tivoli Turnhalle
900 Auraria Parkway
Denver, CO 80204
Film Screening and Discussion (Cracking the Codes) | RSVP here
Campus Keynote followed by Lunch | RSVP here
Tivoli Turnhalle
900 Auraria Parkway
Denver, CO 80204
Community Event and Awards | RSVP here
Shorter Community AME Church
3100 Richard Allen Court
Denver, CO 80205
Films can be watched online or a DVD is available from the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.
Over the course of eight months, sixty-four women representing a cross-section of cultures (Indigenous, African-American, Arab/Middle Eastern, Asian, European-American, Jewish, Latina, and Multiracial) came together to share their experience of racism in America. With uncommon courage, the women speak their hearts and minds about resistance, love, assimilation, standards of beauty, power, school experiences, and more.
The Way Home is rich with stories and experiences that will provoke conversation, and is designed to be viewed and then discussed using the download-able Conversation Guide.
The stories in the film reveal what is often required to move through the stages of denial, defensiveness, guilt, fear, and shame into making a solid commitment to ending racial injustice. This film catalyzes powerful dialogue to support the learning, change and healing of all people who want to undo race-based oppression. Featuring: Tim Wise, Joe Fahey, Peggy V. McIntosh, Marguerite Parks, Gary Howard and many more.
Use this groundbreaking film and conversation guide in your organization to help bridge the gap between good intentions and meaningful change. Featuring stories from white men and women on overcoming issues of unconscious bias and entitlement, it is an powerful and unique tool in diversity work.
This film asks America to talk about the causes and consequences of systemic inequity. Designed for dialogue, the film works to disentangle internal beliefs, attitudes and prejudgments within, and it builds skills to address the structural drivers of social and economic inequities. Cracking the Codes supports institutions and communities to deepen and shift the framing of racial disparities. The current conversation is not only shallow, but actually harmful. We continue to primarily focus on individuals, when institutional and structural inequities are the bigger problem.
Cracking the Codes is a systemic approach to understanding racial inequity as a precursor to building strategies that address racial and socio-economic barriers. It is designed to aid in understanding the system of racialization and the network of relationships that must be considered if we are to build a society that provides equitable, sustainable access to resources in community where all members can thrive.
Healing Justice explores the causes and consequences of the current North American justice system and its effect on marginalized communities. The film walks back through the history of violence that has led to our current system, bringing into focus the histories of trauma - on a personal, interpersonal, community, and generational level. This powerful documentary addresses the school-to-prison pipeline, the need for comprehensive criminal justice reform, and the importance of healing and restorative practices.
The guide is designed to provide a flexible menu of choices for approaching, exploring, broadening, and sharing what is of significance to you. To build the base for healthy communities, we must shift our consciousness to expand our awareness of our deep interconnectedness. We need to heal the deep divides that produce the fragmentation that is so unhealthy and dangerous to us as human beings.
Shakti Butler, Ph.D, is a visionary filmmaker, transformative learning educator, and Founder and President Emeritus of World Trust Educational Services, Inc., a non-profit transformative educational organization whose films, curricula, workshops, and programs are catalysts for institutional, structural, and cultural change.
As an inspirational speaker, skilled facilitator, and engaging trainer, Shakti is sought after by schools, universities, public and private organizations, and faith-based institutions. Rooted in love and justice, her interactive presentations serve as a catalyst for transformative learning about systemic inequity. Through multi-media, dialogue, case studies, and other participatory methods, Shakti supports participants to reframe and deepen the national conversation on race, foster collective engagement, and build leadership skills that can illuminate pathways towards healing, equity and a more sustainable future.
Shakti has produced five documentaries – The Way Home; Mirrors of Privilege: Making Whiteness Visible; Light in the Shadows; Cracking the Codes: The System of Racial Inequity, and her most recent, Healing Justice, which helped popularize a national conversation about justice, healing, and the youth-to-prison pipeline. These films form the core of World Trust’s teaching tools and have experienced increased exposure – over 30 million views of one clip alone – generating national dialogue and critical thinking that is impacting institutions and communities across the country. Dr. Butler also served as diversity consultant and advisor on the Oscar-winning Disney animated film, Zootopia, which focuses on challenging bias and systemic inequity.
The Rachel B. Noel Distinguished Visiting Professorship was initiated in 1981 to foster multiculturalism, diversity, and academic excellence at Metropolitan State University of Denver. The professorship brings renowned scholars and artists of distinction to MSU Denver to conduct classes, seminars, performances, and lectures for students, faculty, and the larger Denver community.
Rachel B. Noel Distinguished Professors have included such luminaries as Princeton Professor Cornel West, pianist Billy Taylor, author Iyanla Vanzant, former president of Spelman College Johnetta Cole, jazz singer Diane Reeves, the late actor and civil rights activist Ossie Davis, and executive editor of Ebony magazine Lerone Bennett Jr.
Shakti Butler: 2022-23 Calvin Mackie: 2021-22 Phoebe A. Haddon: 2020-21 Joy-Ann Reid: 2019-20
Rachel B. Noel Past ProfessorsThis film was sponsored by the MSU Denver Foundation’s Rachel Noel Endowment to share her story with the larger community. This film aired on PBS, channel 6, January 13, at 7:30 p.m.
This film was created by MSU Denver in the mid-2000s to celebrate the life and legacy of Rachel Noel.
A champion of the civil rights movement in Denver and in Colorado, Rachel Noel was the first African American woman elected to public office in Colorado, the first African American elected to the Denver Public Schools’ (DPS) Board of Education, the first African American to be a member and chair of the University of Colorado Board of Regents, and the first African American woman elected statewide in Colorado.
On April 25, 1968, she presented the DPS board with the Noel Resolution, recognizing that the “establishment of an integrated school population is desirable to achieve equality of educational opportunity.” It directed the superintendent to develop “a comprehensive plan for the integration of the Denver Public Schools.” Under a cloud of threats to Noel and her family, the resolution passed on May 17, 1968. The U.S. Supreme Court would eventually affirm Noel’s position in its landmark decision of 1973, Keyes v. Denver School District No. 1, making Denver the first city outside the American South to be instructed by the country’s highest court to address de facto segregation with school busing.
Noel also played a critical role in MSU Denver’s history. She came to MSU Denver as a teacher of sociology and African American Studies in 1969 and served as chair of the African American Studies Department from 1971 to 1980.
Noel died at the age of 90 in 2008. During her lifetime and after, Noel’s legacy has inspired the MSU Denver community and beyond. In 1981, the University created The Rachel B. Noel Distinguished Visiting Professorship to honor Noel. A recipient of many awards and distinctions, Noel also lived to see a Denver Public Schools middle school named in her honor. Although that middle school was closed, the building and campus is still called the Rachel B. Noel campus and is home to various charter programs. The Noel Community Arts School, housed in the former Montbello High School building, consists of both a high school and a middle school.
Noel was awarded honorary doctoral degrees from the University of Denver in 1993 and the University of Colorado in 2004 and an honorary degree from MSU Denver in 1981. She held a bachelor’s degree from Hampton University and a master’s degree from Fisk University. Noel’s other commendations and accomplishments were many, including:
