Diversity Equity Inclusion Committee
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About Diversity Equity Inclusion Committee
The LWV Duluth Diversity Equity Inclusion Committee is dedicated to including all voices in League activities. This committee works to advance cultural awareness and appreciation through educational programs, dialogue and action. We encourage conversations within LWV Duluth and the community at large about the reality of racism and racial inequities. We place a special emphasis on working with the Voter Service Committee to bring voter registration, voter education and get-out-the-vote efforts to all populations of Duluth, including those that are under-represented. Committee Co-Chairs: Gail Schoenfelder, Kay Allen The committee meets one Saturday a month, September through May. Upcoming Committee Meetings/Events
Monthly Meeting September 9, 2023 10:00 AM First United Methodist Church ("Coppertop") 230 E. Skyline Pkwy., Duluth |
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Past Events and Meetings
Monthly Meeting
Saturday, May 13, 2023
The Diversity Equity Inclusion Committee sponsored a 2-part series on the topic of reparations. In February, the committee explored what are reparations, why are reparations need, what is HR 40 and its history. In May, the committee explored what communities around the nation are doing related to reparations.
Click here to view the recording of the May 13, 2023 meeting.
February 25, 2023
Black History Month film viewing and discussion of documentary film “Fannie Lou Hamer: Stand Up”. In this documentary film civil rights legend Fannie Lou Hamer is remembered by those who worked side by-side with her in the struggle for voting rights. An African American sharecropper from the Mississippi Delta, Hamer’s difficulty registering to vote in 1962 led to her career as an outspoken activist, congressional candidate, and fierce fighter for the rights of all.
Link to documentary “Fannie Lou Hamer: Stand Up”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxTReRmH2jA
Event co-hosted at Universalist Congregation of Duluth by LWV of Duluth and Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Duluth: Racial Justice Team with co-sponsors: St. Mark AME Church, Health Equity Northland, Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Duluth, Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, AAUW (American Association of University Women), First United Methodist Church, African Heritage Commission, Clayton Jackson McGhie, Inc, The Acting for Justice Hub of Peace UCC Church, AICHO, Duluth Superior Area Community Foundation Unity Fund Committee.
Black History Month film viewing and discussion of documentary film “Fannie Lou Hamer: Stand Up”. In this documentary film civil rights legend Fannie Lou Hamer is remembered by those who worked side by-side with her in the struggle for voting rights. An African American sharecropper from the Mississippi Delta, Hamer’s difficulty registering to vote in 1962 led to her career as an outspoken activist, congressional candidate, and fierce fighter for the rights of all.
Link to documentary “Fannie Lou Hamer: Stand Up”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxTReRmH2jA
Event co-hosted at Universalist Congregation of Duluth by LWV of Duluth and Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Duluth: Racial Justice Team with co-sponsors: St. Mark AME Church, Health Equity Northland, Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Duluth, Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, AAUW (American Association of University Women), First United Methodist Church, African Heritage Commission, Clayton Jackson McGhie, Inc, The Acting for Justice Hub of Peace UCC Church, AICHO, Duluth Superior Area Community Foundation Unity Fund Committee.
Monthly Meeting
Saturday, February 11, 2023 at 9:30 on Zoom
The Diversity Equity Inclusion Committee members invited everyone to join them their monthly meeting on Saturday, February 11th at 9:30 am on Zoom to discuss the topic of reparations in the first of a 2-part series. February explored, through video and discussion, what are reparations, why are reparations needed, what is HR 40 and its history.
Saturday, February 11, 2023 at 9:30 on Zoom
The Diversity Equity Inclusion Committee members invited everyone to join them their monthly meeting on Saturday, February 11th at 9:30 am on Zoom to discuss the topic of reparations in the first of a 2-part series. February explored, through video and discussion, what are reparations, why are reparations needed, what is HR 40 and its history.
"How Duluth is Addressing A Shortage of Affordable Housing"
Tuesday, April 12, 2022, 6:30 pm on Zoom
Jason Hale, Senior Developer, City of Duluth
Jeff Corey, Executive Director,
One Roof Community Housing
Q and A Follows
Please click below for more information about the event:
https://www.lwvduluth.org/april-12---how-duluth-is-addressing-a-shortage-of-affordable-housing.html
Tuesday, April 12, 2022, 6:30 pm on Zoom
Jason Hale, Senior Developer, City of Duluth
Jeff Corey, Executive Director,
One Roof Community Housing
Q and A Follows
Please click below for more information about the event:
https://www.lwvduluth.org/april-12---how-duluth-is-addressing-a-shortage-of-affordable-housing.html
"Redlining in Duluth. It Happened Here."
February 24, 2022 via Zoom
6:30 - 7:45 pm
February 24, 2022 via Zoom
6:30 - 7:45 pm
Kathy Wilson, AICP certified planner for the City of Duluth, spoke to our membership about the
research she did to document Duluth’s history of redlining. These redlining practices created and existed
over 8 decades resulting in racial inequities that persist to this day.
Knowing the uncomfortable truth of our past helps us understand our role in the present to undo these unjust policies.
research she did to document Duluth’s history of redlining. These redlining practices created and existed
over 8 decades resulting in racial inequities that persist to this day.
Knowing the uncomfortable truth of our past helps us understand our role in the present to undo these unjust policies.
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Redlining maps from all over the country here: https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/#loc=5/39.1/-94.58
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Click here to view the recording of Redlining in Duluth
To view the video that is mentioned at minute 16 in this recording, please click below:
The Disturbing History of the Suburbs | Adam Ruins Everything
To view the video that is mentioned at minute 16 in this recording, please click below:
The Disturbing History of the Suburbs | Adam Ruins Everything
Raising Awareness and
Visibility of Asian Americans
Saturday, November 13 at 10:00 AM.
Click link below to listen to the recording of this event.
https://youtu.be/kZ-lWnpNzNY
We heard from members, of the Twin Ports APIDA Collective, a group of Asian Pacific Islander Desi Americans. Join us to learn about what they are doing in the Duluth/Superior area to advocate for awareness and equity of the Asian American community and what League can do as allies to support their work.
Join us to welcome our guests, Pakou Ly and Julia Cheng.
"Reshaping Policing and Public Safety in Duluth"
Saturday, September 11,10:00 am via Zoom
Police misconduct disproportionately affects Black and Indigenous people and people of color. During the past year groups across the country studied and considered options to reshape policing and public safety in their communities so that public safety systems work for everyone.
Find out about the policing reforms that the Duluth’s Community Safety Initiative (DCSI) is proposing for Duluth on Saturday, September 11, 10:00 AM, Zoom. Email Gail at gail4duluth@gmail.com for the Zoom link. Guest speaker Blair Powless will discuss DCSI’s “Proposals for Community-led Police Accountability in Duluth” and what the response to these proposals has been to date.
Saturday, September 11,10:00 am via Zoom
Police misconduct disproportionately affects Black and Indigenous people and people of color. During the past year groups across the country studied and considered options to reshape policing and public safety in their communities so that public safety systems work for everyone.
Find out about the policing reforms that the Duluth’s Community Safety Initiative (DCSI) is proposing for Duluth on Saturday, September 11, 10:00 AM, Zoom. Email Gail at gail4duluth@gmail.com for the Zoom link. Guest speaker Blair Powless will discuss DCSI’s “Proposals for Community-led Police Accountability in Duluth” and what the response to these proposals has been to date.
LWV Duluth Cross Cultural Equity and Inclusion Committee Book Read
“Waking Up White and Finding Myself in the Story of Race”
November 9 and December 14
Building For Women
10:00 - 12:00
All LWV Duluth members are invited to join us for a discussion of Waking Up White and Finding Myself in the Story of Race by Debby Irving. This book takes a thoughtful look at how the average white person in the US learns about race. Since cultural competency is necessary to effectively take part in advocating for democracy for all, our committee believes that discussing this book can advance our work as LWV Duluth.
Please join us on Nov.9 for a discussion of the first half of the book through page 111. The second half will be discussed on Dec. 14. Both discussions will be held at the Building for Women, 32 E. First St., lower level from 10:00 – 12:00.
LWV Duluth is one of many local Leagues that are participating in a statewide book read of Waking Up White and Finding Myself in the Story of Race by Debby Irving.
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National Memorial for Peace and Justice Tour
The Cross Cultural Committee met on Saturday, September 22, 2018 for a special program to learn more about the new National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama. Speakers were Henry Banks, Teresa Koenig and LWV Duluth member, Portia Johnson. Several of those who rode the bus to Montgomery shared their experience and how it impacted their lives. A busload from Duluth traveled to Montgomery in April 2018 for the opening week of the Memorial to remember the 4400 African-Americans murdered in lynchings between 1877 and 1950. Their names are engraved on duplicate sets of columns, two for each county where a lynching was documented, including the 1920 lynching in Duluth of Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson, and Isaac McGhie. |
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Civil Rights Presentation
On May 20, 2017, Kandi Geary and LWV members Gay Trachsel and Gail Schoenfelder shared their experiences on the 2017 UMD Civil Rights History Tour at a meeting hosted by the LWV Cross Cultural Committee. Important sites in the African American Civil Rights Movement were brought to life, including sit-ins, marches, boycotts, and voter drives. Among the high points shared were crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, on the 52nd anniversary of Bloody Sunday; visiting Medgar Ever's home in Jackson, Mississippi; and hearing about the questions used to prevent African-Americans from voting in Lexington, Mississippi, (e.g., “Recite the Constitution of the United States“).
The trip reinforced how critical the League's voter registration work is to our own community.
Book Resource List:
"Waking Up White and Finding Myself in the Story of Race," by Debby Irving, 2014
Note: This book was an "all LWVMN" read for 2019-20.
“The Myth of Race, The Reality of Racism: Critical Essays," by Mahmoud El-Kati, 2014
Mahmoud El-Kati, a historian who taught at Macalester College and the University of Minnesota.
"Witnessing Whiteness," by Shelly Tochluk, 2007
What it means to be white, to avoid race issues, and the detrimental effect of avoiding race on cross-race collaborations.
"Just Mercy," by Bryan Stevenson, 2014
Memoir that documents career defending disadvantaged in criminal justice system.
"My Grandmother’s Hands," by Resmaa Menakem, 2017
Racialized trauma and the pathway to mending our hearts and bodies.
"Onigamiising: seasons of an Ojibwe year, " by Linda LeGarde Grover, 2017
"A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota," edited by Sun Yung Shin, 2020
Minnesota writers provide perspectives on what it is like to live as a person of color.
"The Cultural Toolbox: traditional Ojibwe living in the modern world," by Anton Treuer, 2021
"Waking Up White and Finding Myself in the Story of Race," by Debby Irving, 2014
Note: This book was an "all LWVMN" read for 2019-20.
“The Myth of Race, The Reality of Racism: Critical Essays," by Mahmoud El-Kati, 2014
Mahmoud El-Kati, a historian who taught at Macalester College and the University of Minnesota.
"Witnessing Whiteness," by Shelly Tochluk, 2007
What it means to be white, to avoid race issues, and the detrimental effect of avoiding race on cross-race collaborations.
"Just Mercy," by Bryan Stevenson, 2014
Memoir that documents career defending disadvantaged in criminal justice system.
"My Grandmother’s Hands," by Resmaa Menakem, 2017
Racialized trauma and the pathway to mending our hearts and bodies.
"Onigamiising: seasons of an Ojibwe year, " by Linda LeGarde Grover, 2017
"A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota," edited by Sun Yung Shin, 2020
Minnesota writers provide perspectives on what it is like to live as a person of color.
"The Cultural Toolbox: traditional Ojibwe living in the modern world," by Anton Treuer, 2021