Grand Island Urged to Join YWCA’s Stand Against Racism

Posted on April 27, 2012 by admin

Anita Lewandowski Brown

In an op-ed in The Grand Island Independent, YWCA Grand Island’s executive director Anita Lewandowski Brown speaks out on the tragic Trayvon Martin shooting and urges the community to answer the call to Stand Against Racism on April 27.

Read more: “Urged to join YWCA’s ‘Stand Against Racism’ effort”

 


Stand Against Racism logoThis post is part of the YWCA Stand Against Racism blog carnival on issues of race, justice and diversity. We invite you to join the dialogue! Post your comment below, share your story and follow the conversation on Twitter with the hashtag #StandAgainstRacism.

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Moving Beyond Stereotypes

Posted on April 27, 2012 by admin

by Camille Taylor
YWCA McLean County, Illinois

(Blank) are usually good dancers, (Blank) people smell, special classes are for???

If you’re human, you couldn’t help but fill in the blanks with an image or a word that popped into your mind. A stereotype is a popular belief about a specific type of individual based on prior assumptions. When singer Susan Boyle came on the stage of “Britain’s Got Talent,” people snickered, and no one took her seriously until she sang her first note.

When contest judge Simon Cowell asked the 47-year-old woman why her dream of being a singer hadn’t been realized, she said she’d never been given the chance before. When the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building exploded in Oklahoma City, initial reaction was this was the work of an international terrorist. No one dreamed it was the work of a Caucasian, U.S. Army Veteran who hated the federal government.

When the character Mona Lisa Vito took the stand as an expert witness in the film “My Cousin Vinny,” no one expected this gum chewing, tight skirted woman to give a detailed description of a specific car which helped free the accused.

And who could forget actress Julia Roberts in “Pretty Woman” when she tried to buy outfits on Rodeo Drive wearing her “street clothes,” and the store clerks wouldn’t give her the time of day. Stereotypes lead to prejudice, which is a preconceived judgment because of race, class, age, etc. Prejudice leads to discrimination and actions like racial profiling. Trayvon Martin’s killing is a result, I believe, of George Zimmerman’s prejudice.

It is hard to imagine that someone carrying skittles and an iced tea could meet the “stand your ground” law’s litmus test of posing a threat. Or was it the hoodie he wore or being a young, black male walking in a gated community? President Obama said if he had a son, he would look like Trayvon. I have a son who looks like Trayvon.

Now 38, my son has some not so fond memories of being racially profiled growing up here. Unlike his white friends, I had to accompany him to Eastland Mall, so that he could shop without fear of being followed around and/or possibly arrested. I worried about him when he started driving. He was an artist, and when a lot of the black kids started wearing anti-apartheid medallions he made out of wood, his school called me thinking he was in a gang.

I had to bring them the Pantagraph article titled, “Young Entrepreneur” which showed him at Culture Fest selling his artwork. Susan Boyle told Simon she was never given a chance. Sadly, neither was Trayvon.

Camille Taylor, counselor at Normal Community High School in Normal, Ill. has been an educator for 33 years. In addition to being recognized by the YWCA McLean County as a Woman of Distinction in the field of education, she is a Martin Luther King Jr. award winner for the City of Bloomington, a Distinguished Alumna by the College of Education at Illinois State University, a Human and Civil Rights award winner for the Illinois Education Association, and the H. Councill Trenholm Award recipient from the National Education Association for her work with diversity. She lives in Bloomington with her husband, Arthur, and is a mother and grandmother.


Stand Against Racism logoThis post is part of the YWCA Stand Against Racism blog carnival on issues of race, justice and diversity. We invite you to join the dialogue! Post your comment below, share your story and follow the conversation on Twitter with the hashtag #StandAgainstRacism.

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Anti-Discrimination Training as a Response to Racism

Posted on April 27, 2012 by admin

by Paulette T. Cross, Ph.D.
Transitional Housing Economic Empowerment Specialist, YWCA Salt Lake City

If someone or anyone had responded to the Trayvon Martin incident, perhaps he would still be alive today.  Response methods are critical in doing “social justice” work.  When do you respond?  What do you say?  What if the intervention is wrong?  Or, what constitutes whether or not response or intervention is the right thing to do? To address these types of inquiries, one has to understand the notion of racism and its impact on society in the U.S..  Therefore, it is not only incumbent upon everyone to participate in social justice work, but also it is critical to understand the historical roles of race and racism in the U.S. Once this knowledge is rooted, it inevitably provides a foundation – a way in which ordinary people can begin to participate in the social justice movement for equity and equality for all.

The Salt Lake City YWCA has embarked on providing anti-discrimination response trainings that begin to unravel the underlying myths that support racist and discriminatory attitudes.  More specifically, these trainings explain, direct and introduce us to responses that address discriminatory actions. The training is critical, because the notion of racism surfaces through unsuspecting scenarios that becomes identifiable among those who would argue that they are not racist; however, their actions betray them.  I would argue that George Zimmerman, before becoming Trayvon Martin’s alleged perpetrator, probably did not consider himself a racist or a detriment to society.

Finally, the Trayvon Martin case contradicts the myth that we live in a “post-racist society” in the U.S., and more importantly exemplifies and the age-old adage that “racism is alive and well”. This translates to the question of how do we counter racism with anti-discriminatory actions?  The Salt Lake City YWCA’s Racial Justice Task Force has set its agenda on racial justice through events such as the YWCA’s national Stand Against Racism by presenting a Week Without Racism April 27 through May 4, 2012.  Throughout the week, a variety of events will be ongoing — such as films, discussions, poetry and literature readings, and financial empowerment activities — to begin conversations and promote understanding about racism, discrimination and oppression.  The project exercises consciousness-raising, not only among YWCA employees, but also becomes a campus-wide event as it includes residents, volunteers and their families.

Paulette T. Cross is the Transitional Housing Economic Empowerment Specialist for the Salt Lake City YWCA.  She has 20+ years of leadership roles in government, non-profits and academia.  Currently, she holds a leadership role in the Racial Justice Task Force in the Salt Lake City YWCA, and she facilitates trainings and advises residents on education, employment, housing and finances.


Stand Against Racism logoThis post is part of the YWCA Stand Against Racism blog carnival on issues of race, justice and diversity. We invite you to join the dialogue! Post your comment below, share your story and follow the conversation on Twitter with the hashtag #StandAgainstRacism.

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How Racism Survives in Race-Neutral Policies

Posted on April 27, 2012 by admin

by Martin Friedman
Associate Director, Social Justice Initiatives, YWCA Seattle | King | Snohomish

What is the difference between equity and equality? As we prepare to participate in this year’s Stand Against Racism, our second one, I’m reminded of a conference call I was on several years ago with other coordinators of social justice and race initiatives. Knowing that we all had adopted the logo of “eliminating racism and empowering women,” I asked if the YWCA had a common definition of racism. I was told no. That is left up to individual associations.  This reflects a common issue when dealing with racism: What is it?

For today, let’s focus on racial equity and how disparate outcomes can arise from seemingly race-neutral policies. Let’s take, for example, two seemingly race-neutral policies, such as not hiring anyone with a felony conviction or not renting to anyone with a felony conviction. On the surface these appear to be race-neutral policies because NO individual will be hired or rented to with a felony conviction.  However, according to the 2005 Sentencing Project, the state of Washington had an incarceration rate of 393 per 100,000 for whites compared to an incarceration rate of 2,522 per 100,000 for African Americans.  And, according to the Becket Report published in 2007, if you are African American and living in Seattle, you are more than 10 times more likely to be contacted by police than if you are white, regardless of income or prior criminal conviction. Whatever the reasons for these disparities in the criminal justice system, they will lead to inequitable results in hiring and renting due to a seemingly equal policy.

For this year’s Stand Against Racism, our regional YWCA will host a panel discussion on reducing racism in the criminal justice system. We are doing this with this thought: “How can we, a large nonprofit agency with multiple employment and housing programs, work toward the elimination of racism while such huge racial disparities exist in the criminal justice system?”

Our panel will include a Seattle City Council member, a member of the American Civil Liberties Union, a federal law-enforcement officer, two judges and an expert on the school-to-prison pipeline.  Our invited guests will include our agency partners, board members and concerned community members.  Our focus will be how to achieve more equitable results from our criminal justice system and especially how to improve results that directly affect the women and families we serve.  This is just one of many efforts we engage in as we strive to eliminate racism and empower women.

Martin Friedman has been the Social Justice Initiatives director at YWCA Seattle | King | Snohomish since March of 2007.  His experience includes 15 years of working for the Upward Bound program for the City of Seattle Human Services Department. Friedman assisted in the development of the Undoing Institutional Racism Group (UIR Group) of employees organizing against institutional racism in the department and city practices, and the white caucus of the UIR Group, European Americans Against Racism.  He has been involved with organizing for equity in numerous institutions in the Seattle area, including the Seattle School District and the Washington State Reformatory.


Stand Against Racism logoThis post is part of the YWCA Stand Against Racism blog carnival on issues of race, justice and diversity. We invite you to join the dialogue! Post your comment below, share your story and follow the conversation on Twitter with the hashtag #StandAgainstRacism.

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Why are Women of Color Still Dying in Childbirth?

Posted on April 27, 2012 by admin

by Jasmine Burnett
Community Organizer
Raising Women’s Voices-NY

Jasmine Burnett

African-American women have been dying in childbirth at rates three to four times that of white women for more than six decades. That shocking statistic is where I begin the conversation with women of color about how the Affordable Care Act can help address persistent health disparities. These disparities, I explain, must be approached from an intersectional frame of analysis that takes into account both race and gender.

I have given this presentation to such community-based organizations as the Caribbean Women’s Health Association, the Brooklyn Young Mothers Collective and members of Bronx Health Link network, as well as to members of the Black, Puerto Rican, Asian and Latino Caucus of the New York State Legislature. These audiences know about the problems of maternal mortality and morbidity from experiences in their families and neighborhoods. Still, they are outraged to learn that in 2008, African-American women in New York City had a maternal mortality that was seven times higher than white women.

Hispanic women also suffer from high rates of maternal mortality, I explain. They account for 24 percent of maternal deaths in New York City, more than twice the percentage for white women, even though the two groups of women account for the same percentage of live births in the city.

Both African-American and Hispanic women are suffering from a related problem: pre-term births, which can lead to infant mortality and morbidity. That point was underscored at an event Raising Women’s Voices-NY co-sponsored with the Brooklyn Perinatal Network on March 22. The event, which marked the second anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, was held at Brookdale Hospital in central Brooklyn, where the rates of pre-term birth are extraordinarily high. Advocates, policy leaders, health providers and community representatives came together to focus on how some of the chronic health conditions neighborhood women experience – such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension, stress, and alcohol, drug and tobacco use – go untreated and lead to tragic pregnancy outcomes.

What can we do to address this problem? How can health reform, and the creation of New York State health exchange, help to address egregious disparities like maternal and infant mortality and morbidity?

The obvious starting point for change is recognizing that too many women can’t afford the health care they need. Women of color are disproportionately un-insured and under-insured. We stand to benefit enormously from the expansion of Medicaid and the offering of subsidized private insurance plans in state exchanges like the one that Governor Andrew Cuomo has just created in New York State through an executive order. But there are also specific steps we can take in creating our state exchange that will begin to bring down the high rates of maternal and infant mortality and morbidity. Here’s the priority list we have at Raising Women’s Voices-NY:

  • Offering affordable health coverage that can help reduce the current high rates of un-insurance among women of color.
  • Requiring Qualified Health Plans to prioritize the reduction of maternal and infant mortality and morbidity as a health outcome that will be measured, tracked and used in determining whether a plan can continue to be offered in our state exchange.
  • Requiring Qualified Health Plans to include in their provider networks a strong complement of reproductive health providers qualified and experienced in serving women who are at risk of pregnancy complications.
  • Including preventive services needed to help women plan and space healthy pregnancies in the Essential Health Benefits Package of services that must be covered by all Qualified Health Plans approved for offering in New York State’s health exchange.
  • Ensuring that such services are delivered in a manner that is culturally and linguistically competent and accessible to women with low literacy.

Founded by founded by the Black Women’s Health Imperative, the National Women’s Health Network and the MergerWatch Project of Community Catalyst, Raising Women’s Voices is a national initiative working to make sure women’s voices are heard and women’s concerns are addressed as policymakers put the new health reform law into action. Reach Raising Women’s Voice-NY on Facebook and Twitter at @RWVNY.

Jasmine Burnett serves as a community organizer for Raising Women’s Voices-NY where she is charged with advocacy, education and support on the New York State Health Exchange and how it can address health disparities for women of color.  Based in Brooklyn, N.Y., she is also the lead organizer for SisterSong NYC and the National Mobilization Chair for the Trust Black Women Partnership.


Stand Against Racism logoThis post is part of the YWCA Stand Against Racism blog carnival on issues of race, justice and diversity. We invite you to join the dialogue! Post your comment below, share your story and follow the conversation on Twitter with the hashtag #StandAgainstRacism.

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Standing for Racial Equality

Posted on April 27, 2012 by admin

by Sylvia Ferrell-Jones
President and CEO, YWCA Boston

Sylvia Ferrell-Jones

This week marks Boston’s third year participating in a national YWCA movement – Stand Against Racism.  We join with YWCAs across the nation to show that racism still exists and that it cannot be ignored or tolerated.  I am a positive and pragmatic person, so like to think not only of what I’m against, but also what I’m for.  What is the positive side of the equation?  In Boston, we emphasize our stand for and pursuit of racial equity.  Through all of our racial justice programs, leadership programs, and health and wellness programs, we work to create racial and gender equity and to build greater social cohesion throughout our community.

What would racial equity look like?  How will we know when it has been achieved?  One answer is found in the words of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:  We will have racial equity when we are all judged not by the color of our skin, but by the content of our character.

I can think of many other measures. We will have racial equity when teachers believe that all children can learn and achieve, no matter their race or ethnicity.  We will have racial equity when our law enforcement officers don’t experience heightened suspicions (conscious or otherwise) when they observe people of color driving fancy automobiles.  We will have racial equity when sales associates in stores no longer ignore black customers who have been waiting and hurry to serve white customers who have just arrived.  We will have racial equity when we stop granting unearned privilege to those who happen to be white.

Boston’s 2012 Stand Against Racism will be bigger than ever, with 130 registered participating organizations, along with several dozen unofficial partners.  If you’re in the Boston area, please join the Human Chain of Diversity across the Fort Point Channel at 1 p.m. on Friday, April 27, 2012. The chain was originated by Neighborhood Health Plan three years ago, and NHP is joined by the Boston Children’s Museum, Argus and Solomon McCown.  Come to the atrium at 10 St. James at 1:45 p.m. on Friday, April 27, to hear rap scholar Dr. Emmett Price of Northeastern University, musicians from Josiah Quincy Upper School, and Paul Grogan of The Boston Foundation at the Stand organized by Holland and Knight.  Stop by the Winchester Town Center at noon on Saturday, April 28, for a Community Rally.  With over 100 Stands in and around Boston, opportunities abound.  YWCA Boston is working toward the day when all people have equal opportunities in life.  Join us as we work toward racial and gender equity and build social cohesion throughout our community.

Sylvia Ferrell-Jones has served as President and CEO of YWCA Boston since January 2007.  She has served on boards and worked in board development for 25 years.  Sylvia’s background in investment management for institutions spans the public and private sectors, and she’s especially glad to have found a home in the nonprofit sector.

Stand Against Racism logoThis post is part of the YWCA Stand Against Racism blog carnival on issues of race, justice and diversity. We invite you to join the dialogue! Post your comment below, share your story and follow the conversation on Twitter with the hashtag #StandAgainstRacism.

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Standing Against Racism in Rockford

Posted on April 27, 2012 by admin

Kris Kieper

“Just think if whites marched and cried racism every time a white was attacked, held up or robbed by a black person. I would have blisters on my feet! So who are the racists?” ~Facebook user

In her column in the Rockford Register Star Kris Kieper, CEO of YWCA Rockford, Illinois, doesn’t shy away from tackling tough racial issues: Trayvon Martin, Acura’s ad agency’s casting call for a “not too dark” African-American actor, racial stereotypes in the media, and more.

Read more:http://blogs.e-rockford.com/kriskieper/2012/04/26/standing-against-racism-in-rockford/


Stand Against Racism logoThis post is part of the YWCA Stand Against Racism blog carnival on issues of race, justice and diversity. We invite you to join the dialogue! Post your comment below, share your story and follow the conversation on Twitter with the hashtag #StandAgainstRacism.

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Island Screening: A Reminder of Racism’s Unfairness

Posted on April 26, 2012 by admin

by Kimberly Miyazawa Frank
CEO, YWCA of O‘ahu, Hawai‘i

Kimberly Miyazawa Frank

“It is not fair.”

Those were reportedly the last words of Vincent Chin: a 27-year-old Chinese American who lost his life at the hands of two angry white autoworkers in 1982. The tragedy took place in Detroit, America’s Motor City, where many believed the increasing market share of Japanese automakers led to massive layoffs of American autoworkers. Vincent was not looking for trouble that evening. The dashing groom-to-be was simply having a night on the town with his friends celebrating his upcoming wedding.

This year, Vincent would have been 57 years old, celebrating his birthday with his wife and children. That prospect was shattered 30 years ago as of one the assailants smashed his skull with a baseball bat. Vincent went into a coma and died just five days before his wedding.

This horrific act ended Vincent’s life but created a new movement in America as Asian Americans united in their efforts to fight for their civil rights.

Although the incident took place far from Hawai‘i several decades ago, the treatment and rights of racial minorities resonate deeply in our local community. We are one of the five states in the U.S. with a “majority-minority” population, where more than 50 percent of the population belongs to a minority. According to the U.S. Census, Hawai‘i has the highest percentage of minorities in its overall population – 77 percent belong to some minority category. Asians are the most common group, making up 57 percent of the entire population.

Blue sky and ocean are not the only natural resources which make Hawai‘i a unique island paradise. The diverse population of various racial backgrounds creates a spirit of “Aloha” and helps to extend a friendly and warm welcome to anyone who visits our beautiful state. Yet, thirty years after Vincent’s death, how do we measure up in our efforts for racial equality?

The May 1 showing of a documentary, Vincent Who? is part of our commitment to fight racism here in Hawai‘i. The loss of Vincent Chin became a catalyst for another civil rights movement in this country and it is our responsibility to keep the discussion out in the open as we continue our efforts.

Racism does not always take such an obvious form as a vicious attack with a baseball bat. But the story of Vincent Chin reminds us of the importance of keeping the conversation alive about racial equality and civil rights. To take these ideas for granted would not be fair to the memory and legacy of Vincent Chin.

Kimberly Miyazawa Frank is the CEO of YWCA of O‘ahu in Hawai‘i. Founded in 1990, YWCA of O‘ahu is the oldest woman’s organization in the state with membership of 2,500. Learn more about YWCA of O‘ahu at www.ywcaoahu.org.

Stand Against Racism logoThis post is part of the YWCA Stand Against Racism blog carnival on issues of race, justice and diversity. We invite you to join the dialogue! Post your comment below, share your story and follow the conversation on Twitter with the hashtag #StandAgainstRacism.

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Amidst the Turmoil of Events, Do Not Lose Your Presence of Mind

Posted on April 26, 2012 by admin

by Diana Gorham
Executive Director, YWCA Greater Austin

Diana Gorham

Is anyone else noticing the recent and increasingly blatant attacks on women – our health, safety, prosperity and wellbeing?

Anyone know who fills the ranks of the army that is waging this “war”?

Looking at all of the reports and headlines, we at the YWCA Greater Austin have identified almost all of them as individuals who occupy relatively powerful positions in our society in the eyes of many: legislators, clergy, and members of the media!

How have they have managed to incite such passion that justifies attacking one of the most fundamental issues that affect women’s health, safety, prosperity and wellbeing, i.e., our reproductive rights?

Is it coincidence that the overwhelmingly vast majority are white, middle-to-upper class males?  Is it coincidence that the overwhelmingly vast majority of those who will be affected are women, especially women of color?

Their behavior began to look interestingly familiar to us.  We have observed repeated attempts to control – to intimidate – to even resort to verbal name calling (“slut”).

Because of the work we do at the YWCA Greater Austin, we help women and girls overcome such behavior in their lives, and we have a name for it:  BULLYING.

When a person or group “repeatedly tries to harm someone who is weaker or who they think is weaker”, that behavior is defined by the National Institutes of Health as bullying:

Sometimes it involves direct attacks such as hitting, name calling, teasing or taunting. Sometimes it is indirect, such as spreading rumors or trying to make others reject someone.

Sound familiar?

Interestingly, the federal Departments of Education and Health and Human Services define bullying as “aggressive behavior…that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time. Bullying includes actions such as making threats, spreading rumors, attacking someone physically or verbally, and excluding someone from a group on purpose.”

Sound familiar?

The power imbalance and repeated attacks make it closely related to, and sometimes difficult to distinguish from racism, especially when the perpetrators are overwhelmingly white males.

How can we combat these attacks?  Don’t give in.  Don’t lose your presence of mind.  Use your VOICE AND VOTE!!

Diana Gorham is the Executive Director of the YWCA Greater Austin, overseeing its award-winning community-based mental health center and prevention/intervention services for youth, with a particular focus on adolescent girls.  In the almost 18 years that she has been with the YWCA, she has served on regional and national YWCA boards, as well as on numerous committees at both levels.  She is most proud of her participation in the creation of a foundation for the intentional involvement of women of color and young women in YWCA leadership positions throughout the USA.


Stand Against Racism logoThis post is part of the YWCA Stand Against Racism blog carnival on issues of race, justice and diversity. We invite you to join the dialogue! Post your comment below, share your story and follow the conversation on Twitter with the hashtag #StandAgainstRacism.

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Was the Tulsa Shooting Spree About Race?

Posted on April 26, 2012 by admin

by Paula H. Penebaker
President/CEO , YWCA Greater Milwaukee

Paula H. Penebaker

Two white men drive to a black neighborhood in Tulsa, Okla., and randomly shoot five black people, killing three and injuring two.  One of the two white men had suggested, as his possible motive before the act, that he was angry because a black man was responsible for his father’s death.  Authorities were quick to suggest they could not say the shootings were racially motivated.  What?  Really?

In common legal parlance the term prima facie is used to describe the apparent nature of something upon initial observation.  In the Tulsa case, what else can we say, but that the case was racially motivated?  Why, when it is so apparent, would we need to look for another explanation?  Sounds like a prima facie “case” of racism to me.

Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun once stated, “In order to get beyond racism, we must first take account of race. There is no other way.”  What would he think of how tenaciously we avoid discussing race and racism, today?  Why would we look for another explanation for why white men would go hunting black men in a black neighborhood and shoot five of them?

The Tulsa incident is like backward time travel, to a time in our nation’s history that most people would like to believe was behind us.  That time when midnight marauders in sheets with hoods galloped through neighborhoods looking for some poor black man who had looked at some white person the wrong way earlier in the day.

Many white people think blacks should put a sock in it, now, when it comes to discussing race.  After all, we have a black President; we live in a post-racial society.   Black people are often concerned to talk about it in mixed company for fear of being labeled militant or worse yet, uppity.  Other people targeted by racism can’t get the proper attention to address their concerns because blacks and whites are by some accounts “obsessed” with just black/white issues.  My goodness!  We’re a mess.

Now, the naysayers will say, “You act like things haven’t improved and they have” and they would be right.  But when things like the Tulsa case happen, should we just chock it up to one bad incident and move on, especially since the two suspects have confessed to their bad acts?  That will be the temptation, but what will we learn from the easy way out?  Shouldn’t we jump at a chance to discuss in communities all over the nation the racial implications of the incident to ensure that silent, budding extremists think twice before considering another such heinous act?

We HAVE to talk about race and we NEED to start NOW.  What better topic than the Tulsa case to start with?  The problems associated with race and racism are not going away just because we wish they would.

Paula H. Penebaker has been with the YWCA Greater Milwaukee for nearly 13 years and has served as the executive since 2005.  YWCA Greater Milwaukee offers “Unlearning Racism: Tools for Action” a public training program that Penebaker co-facilitates with the association’s racial justice director.  YWCA Greater Milwaukee also provides customized trainings on race/racism to local area nonprofits. Learn more about their programs and services at http://www.ywcamilw.org.


Stand Against Racism logoThis post is part of the YWCA Stand Against Racism blog carnival on issues of race, justice and diversity. We invite you to join the dialogue! Post your comment below, share your story and follow the conversation on Twitter with the hashtag #StandAgainstRacism.

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