World Council of Churches
Thank you, Madam Moderator. My name is Mitchell Anderson and I'm here on behalf of the World
Council of Churches, a fellowship of many of the world's Christians for collaboration, mutual
understanding and action for social justice. (?) Good morning. I’m (?) and I'm proud of that. I'll
highlight two common experiences for minority youth in my own Canada and throughout the world.
The first is that many of us as minority youth experience intergenerational trauma, or the inherited
effects of past and ongoing experiences of marginalization, oppression, and dispossession.
And the second is that many of us as minority youth have an aspiration for the revitalization of our
cultures, our (?) as both an individual and a collective project. By cultures, I mean at the deepest level
our lifeways, ontologies, epistemologies, spiritualities, and languages. And I say revitalization rather
than preservation because our cultures are living. Storytelling is a powerful way of both addressing
intergenerational trauma and of revitalizing cultures.
New media and digital technologies provide powerful and valuable tools for storytelling for minority
youth. To this end I have three recommendations. First, is that this forum celebrate and encourage
the work of minority youth to engage in the ongoing work of addressing intergenerational trauma
and the revitalization of our cultures for new contexts and in our time through storytelling and digital
media.
The second is that this forum call on civil society, including arts and cultural groups, businesses and
communities of faith, to support the work of minority youth and cultural revitalization through
providing space, resources, and engaging in self-transformation to be more inclusive minority youth
and our stories.
And the third is that this forum call on governments, including educational systems, cultural funding
organizations, and public broadcasters to fund and make space for the digital media work of minority
youth. Together, we can build more inclusive societies where no one is left behind.