Speaker confronts and achieves racial acceptance

Asian Heritage lecture to explore diverse intersections of faith, race and identity

APPROACH ISSUES OF LEADERSHIP AND DIVERSITY — Robyn Afrik from Holland will present Asian Heritage lecture in Martha Miller on her interactions with diversity and racial inclusion. (Hope College)

The intersection of faith, race and identity will be the focus of Hope College’s 2017 Asian Heritage Lecture on Tuesday, March 14, at 4 p.m. in the Martha Miller Fried Hemenway auditorium.

The presentation will be by Robyn Afrik of Holland. Using an intersectional approach to diversity and inclusion, she will share her cross-cultural experiences and faith journey towards healing and reconciliation.

The public is invited. Admission is free.

Afrik speaks publicly on various issues surrounding, leadership, diversity, international adoption and race relations.

She received the City of Holland Human Relations Commission Government and Community Relations/Social Justice Award in 2008 for advancing the cause of racial and cultural acceptance among the Holland community.
She has been featured in Mark DeYmaz’s 2010 and 2013 Multiethnic Church Conference, hosted by Outreach Magazine and Christianity Today.

She was also featured as the 2011 Martin Luther King keynote speaker for the city of Dubuque, Iowa, and co-planned and presented at the 2012 and 2013 Global Leadership breakout sessions for the Presidential National Prayer Breakfast (NPB) held in Washington, D.C., with Dr. Barbara Williams Skinner and Ambassador Tony Hall.

In 2018, she will publish a new release, co-authoring “The Church in the 21st Century: The Creolization of Women of Color for Leadership,” with Curtiss Paul DeYoung, in “Becoming Creoles: Theology and the Intersections of Injustice, Culture and Religion” (Minneapolis Fortress Press).

Afrik is a national certified global career facilitator, holds a master’s in management, leadership and strategy from Michigan State University and a bachelor’s in business science management from Cornerstone University, and studied social work while attending Valparaiso University.

The event is being co-sponsored by the college’s Center for Diversity and Inclusion, the student Hope Asian Perspective Association (HAPA) and the campus-wide GROW (Growing Relationships through diverse Opportunities to strengthen involvement in an ever-changing World) initiative.