Stories from the Redline
Documenting Experiences of Housing Discrimination in Omaha
To schedule a time to share your personal Redline testimony, reach out to Stuart Chittenden directly at stuart@u-ca.org.
The Undesign the Redline exhibit seeks to create a space where truth-telling can flourish. A new phase of the exhibit has now begun as The Union and conversationalist Stuart Chittenden invite community members to share their testimony on how the legacy of Redlining has impacted their personal lived experiences.
The new project, Stories from the Redline, begins this December, with the mission of further deepening community connection and bringing long-hidden truths to light with the hope of inspiring change.
Community members are invited to join Chittenden in creating a recorded testimony of their personal experience. Individuals of all generations who have been impacted by Redlining and other forms of institutionalized racism or who have visited the exhibition and been touched by its emotional and moral resonance are invited to participate.
Chittenden notes: “The practice of Redlining was inherently damaging to communities and our sense of being connected to each other. Sharing stories enables us to perceive the impact of this on people’s lives, to bear witness to people’s experiences, and to begin the process of dismantling the barriers – social, economic, and geographic – erected between us.”
An archive of the recorded interviews will be held publicly online, serving as an extension of the Undesign the Redline exhibit. Selections of testimony will also be integrated into the exhibit itself, allowing visitors to situate national patterns of discrimination within the personal lived experiences of Omaha residents. Most importantly, though, the “Stories from the Redline” project seeks to contribute to a community-wide conversation about race, racism, and systemic inequity while outlining steps toward building a better future.
As Chittenden says: “We affirm the dignity of our neighbors by listening and sharing.”
To share your personal Redline testimony, please fill out the short questionnaire at the link below to start the process.
Meet Stuart Chittenden
Omaha residents may be most familiar with Stuart Chittenden’s “Lives” radio talk show which has aired weekly on KXNB Mind & Soul since January 2017, featuring interviews with numerous prominent community members engaging in awareness-raising dialogue.
Chittenden observes: “I’ve learned that everyone has a deep need to be heard; to be really seen and appreciated as a person. Everyone has a story. Everyone matters. People just need a space in which they can share something of themselves with someone who is there with one purpose: to listen.”
Follow the link here to learn more about Stuart and his work.
