Diversity & Inclusion Workshop Series: Acknowledging the Dividing Lines: Race & Real Estate

In conversation with KC Real Estate Attorney, Shomari Benton, Tanner Colby, the author of Some of My Best Friends Are Black: The Strange Story of Integration in America, discusses the history of race and real estate practices and how our communities continue to be impacted today.

Colby’s book Some of My Best Friends are Black is a narrative history of modern race-relations in the United States, and was nominated for the American Library Association's 2013 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Non-fiction. After the election of America’s first black president, Tanner Colby realized that not only had he had no black friends, but he’d never even had a black teacher, college professor, or workplace mentor. Nearly everyone he knew and interacted with was white. Colby sought to discover how half a century after the Civil Rights Movement true integration has made few in roads in so many Americans’ lives. The Strange Story of Integration offers an honest portrait of race in America, and specifically traces the history of housing discrimination in Kansas City neighborhoods.”

The conversation between Colby & Benton is facilitated by Educator Marlee Bunch. Marlee Bunch holds two graduate degrees—one from DePaul University and the other from Emporia State University. Her background includes fifteen years of experience in teaching and education. She has taught literature, Advanced English, Reading/Writing Workshops, Adult Education, Gifted Education, and poetry. She facilitates and implements writing workshops for Race Project KC (Cultivating Writers), and is the Senior Director of Diversity and Culture for Comprehensive Mental Health. She is completing her Ph.D., in Diversity and Equity, from the University of Illinois.

This facilitated conversation is made possible in part through a grant from Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area. The mission of Freedom’s Frontier is to tell the stories of our struggle for freedom. Freedom’s Frontier promotes heritage conservation, recreation, and economic development through it’s partnerships with organizations across Kansas and Missouri.
Thank you to our 2021 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Sponsors!

Our Diversity & Inclusion Workshop Series Presenting Sponsor is Commerce Bank.

Our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Presenting Sponsors are CommunityAmerica Credit Union, Evergy and Hallmark. Our Cornerstone Sponsors are American Century Investments, Bayer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation JE Dunn Construction, Lockton Companies, REACH Healthcare Foundation, Saint Luke's Health System, T-Mobile, UMB Bank and Waddell & Reed. Our Regional Diversity Sponsors are Black & Veatch, FleishmanHillard, Grant Thornton, Heavy Constructors Association, Honeywell FMT, Kansas City Royals, McCownGordon Construction, Spire, SS&C, State Street and VanTrust Real Estate. Our Supporting Diversity Sponsors are Accenture, Bank Midwest, Bardavon Health Innovations, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, CBIZ/MHM, Cerner, Children's Mercy, Enterprise Holdings, Ernst & Young, Garmin, Google Fiber, HNTB Companies, Husch Blackwell, H&R Block, Kansas City University, KVC Health Systems, Lathrop GPM, Lead Bank, Mazuma Credit Union, McAnany, Van Cleave & Phillips, Shook Hardy & Bacon, Southwest Airlines, Stinson, The Builders' Association, The University of Kansas Medical Center, Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor, The University of Kansas Health System and Turner Construction Company.

This event series is in partnership with:

Blue Springs Chamber of Commerce
Grandview Chamber of Commerce
Independence Chamber of Commerce
Liberty Area Chamber of Commerce
Mid-America LGBT Chamber of Commerce
South Kansas City Chamber of Commerce