Institutional Equity, Diversity & Inclusion

Watch and discuss these three short TED talks:

• My Identity Is a Superpower (American Ferrara)
• I've Lived As a Man and a Woman--Here's What I Learned (Paula Stone Williams)
• What I Realized About Men--After I Transitioned Genders (Paula Stone Williams' 2020 follow-up)

Read "To My Fellow White LatinX: It's Time To Decline the 'Get Out of Whiteness' Card" then listen to the follow-up NCPR story "I Am a White Mexican." Thought/discussion questions:

• “In the end, race is not an essential truth about us or our ancestors, it is a biased reading of our bodies that places us along a hierarchy.”
• What do you think the author means by this? Is race a real thing or a sociopolitical construct? What are the definitions of--and differences between--race, nationality, ethnicity, culture?
• “How can I be privileged if I am poor? Or if I have experienced oppression due to my class, national status, gender, or sexual identity? The key here is that racial privilege, though two words, is really one concept and is centrally about race. All of the other injustices that we have experienced —while important— do not cancel out our racial privilege.”
• Do you think poor White people have privilege? Why or why not?
• “But if we have ever, anywhere been identified as white, then we carry the moral responsibility of dismantling white supremacy as members of the group that benefits from it.”
• What can White folks do to help dismantle White supremacy? As a Black or Brown person, what advice would you give White people?
• Have you ever seen, heard or had a similar experience where someone told you, "You don’t look ________"? What were your initial thoughts? How did it make you feel? How did you respond?

Traditionally spanning November 1-2, Día de los Muertos remembers and honors family and friends who have died. We also recommend the Disney Pixar film Coco and Yuly's Bakery in Albany for all your pan de muerto ("dead bread") needs. (Scroll down to Video Tutorials to watch Vanessa and Evie make traditional Abuelita hot cocoa.)

Watch our student-led presentation on Black Friday, International Buy Nothing Day, and the global impacts of "fast fashion."

The 博天堂官方 Foundation has over $150,000 to distribute to our students, who are in greater need than ever. Awards will pay out Winter and Spring terms 2021. Students can apply for scholarships by using their 博天堂官方 email to access the Scholarship Database and Application System.  Once set up, students prepare and submit one General Application, and the system will automatically match them to any opportunity for which they qualify, based on their field of study, GPA etc.

博天堂官方 scholarships are available to all students, regardless of citizenship status. The application cycle closes on Wednesday, October 21.

Watch and discuss the 1989 movie Do the Right Thing. Read two supporting articles Riots Threaten to Undo Progress on Police Accountability and Riot or resistance? How media frames unrest in Minneapolis will shape public's view of protest, as well as these thought questions:

•     One of the critiques back in 1989 when this film first came out was that it was "a call to racial violence." Looking back at what the film depicted then and what has happened over the summer of 2020 involving Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Jacob Blake and the police, how much have society, policing and race relations grown as of today?
•     Using the film as a reference point, how did race affect the way lives were lived in America then, and how does race affect this now?
•     Going beyond the race riot portrayed in the film, how does the tragic dynamic of racism, racial tension and miscommunication witnessed in the vacuum of a multi-racial setting impact how people connect with one another on a real level? How do we as a society in Oregon find empathy for people we do not know or have very little chance to be in relationship with?
•     Mookie works for Sal's pizzeria. They have a relationship and know each other very well. Yet at the end of the film, Mookie is the one who throws the trash can. How could he do such a thing to Sal? After all, Sal is his employer.
•     Today, the destruction of property gets a lot of play when racialized manifestations take place. Many people seem to believe that the protection of property supersedes the reason for the discontent of those that have experienced historic prolonged marginalization and systemic oppression. Why do you think that is? How do we explain the dissonance that occurs when property is damaged vs. accountability of the dominant power structures carrying out the assaults?

Brush up your cover letter-writing skills, and learn some tips and tricks to save time and energy. Practice by writing a cover letter applying for your dream job, whatever that may be. Date it several years in the future, save it, and refer back to it whenever you need a pick-me-up, or want to improve or modify it in any way--your dream job may change over the years. Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab) is one of the most helpful online resources you'll find on writing cover letters.

Watch IEDI student leader Nathali Coyazo report back on her participation in the October 2020 National Student Leadership Diversity Convention. Watch our October 29 Día de los Muertos presentation. (For a more authentic experience, you can get pan de muertos--"dead bread"-- at Yuly's Bakery in Albany. We also recommend the Disney Pixar film Coco.)

This week, student leaders researched and presented Gen-Z Trivia for the Library's weekly Trivia Tea on November 12.

We hosted two fascinating programs this week.  Watch the November 16 program The Behavioral Composition of a "Karen": Exploring Whiteness & Its Power Dynamics, you can view/download Sharece's presentation slides. Then watch Culture Vultures: Appreciation vs. Appropriation.  Each recording is about an hour long.

Visit Undocumented Migration Project (HT94) website
Watch "Border South" documentary (not available for public view yet)

Discussion/thought questions:

1. How did this film make you think about your own lived experiences? Do you have a similar story?  What kinds of testimonies do your family members have about what they lived?  What did you learn from them?
2. Children of immigrants often hear from their parents or grandparents, “We made this difficult journey so you wouldn’t have to--so you would have opportunities we didn’t have.”  What are some of the challenges you and your family still face?  What are some privileges you now enjoy as a result of the immigrant experience?
3. What story within the film impacted you most?  Why?
4. This movie offers very few answers and can leave you feeling unsettled.  What are some actions you can take to help immigrants in the U.S. or on their journey to the U.S.?
5. What are your goals for the upcoming Hostile Terrain event/exhibit?  What do you hope others take away from this exhibit?

Watch the TedX talk by Paula Stone Williams “I’ve lived as a man & a woman - here’s what I learned”
Queer, Punk & Latin: A Discussion About Sexual Identity
Read the short article, and listen to the podcast.

Discussion/thought questions:

1. How common is it for you to think/talk about LGBTQ+ issues?  Are you comfortable talking about this topic with friends or family?
2. What do you think about the use of the word “queer”?  Does that word have positive or negative connotation?
3. The musicians in the podcast each talked about their experiences “coming out” to their families.  Do you have friends who have come out?  What was their experience like?

Watch Robin DiAngelo's 5/9/15 presentation, "White Fragility"

Discussion/thought questions:

1. How racially diverse was your neighborhood growing up?  What messages did you get about race from these neighborhoods?
2. When was the first time you had a teacher the same race as you?  How often did that happen?  When did you first have a teacher a different race than you?  How often did that happen?  Why is that important?
3. Which part of Robin’s presentation impacted you the most, and why?
4. Do you remember a time when you realized you were not White?  Or, if you are White, when did you realize you were?  What were the circumstances?

Watch How To Be the Smartest in the Room (Ibram Kendi), My Identity is a Superpower (America Ferrera) and The Danger of a Single Story (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie)

Discussion/thought questions:

1. Have you ever decided to change or shelter who you are to satisfy others?  Why?
2. When you were a child in school, were there times when you felt you weren’t “smart enough”?  How old were you?  What was that like?
3. What is your understanding of the term stereotype? When was a time that you were wrong about a stereotype?

Watch the 5/5/16 "Beyond Bars: Alternatives to Incarceration" presentation by Walidah Imarisha.

Discussion/thought questions:

1. Oregon’s roots are based in intentional racial exclusion.  What is the legacy of this practice today?
2. Ms. Imarisha makes the case that the U.S. prison system has essentially replaced slavery as a means of controlling, containing and exploiting people of color.  Given her arguments, what do you think?
3. What is the “school to prison pipeline?”

Watch the May 14 Advising DACA/Undocumented Students recording.

Watch the May 20 Virtual Resource Panel presentation, featuring CFAR, Parent Resources, Learning Center, Adult Basic Skills Roadrunner Resource Center, First Resort and LB Lunchbox.

Watch the May 27 Essential But Unwanted presentation.