Indigenous Rights and Equity Concerns Across the Board

Hi Friends!

I was so sorry to hear of the passing of John Lewis. He was one of the voices I knew I could count on speaking up with power and experience and his voice will be missed. You can learn more about his life and legacy at “John Lewis: Good Trouble — Virtual Cinema” from the NAACP (rental fee supports the NAACP). Many tributes were written in his memory:
- The NAACP wrote a tribute
- Barack Obama wrote a tribute
- Lecia Brooks at the Southern Poverty Law Center wrote a tribute
- Black Lives Matter wrote a tribute, including for Revered Dr. Cordy Tindell “C.T.” Vivian

TRAININGS AND ACTIONS:
- EmbraceRace is hosting a two-part “Conversation about Raising Multiracial Kids” (July 23 and July 28)
- Arlington Democrats are hosting a “Town Hall: Criminal Justice Reform in Special Legislative Session” TONIGHT from 7:00–8:30 pm, which will be streamed live on Facebook.
- PBS has a Virtual Professional Learning Series, which is created for teachers, but has a broad focus that is useful to anyone, particularly about “Tools for Anti-Racist Teaching” and “Talking to Children Authentically about Race and Racism”
- Service Never Sleeps has two upcoming Allyship Snapshot Trainings on July 31 and August 11.
- SURJ NoVa Community Hour TONIGHT from 7:00–8:00 pm
- SURJ NoVa is hosting “Collecting Our Cousins: Engaging Friends + Family in Anti-Racism” on July 26 from 7:00–9:00 pm.

LOCAL RESOURCES:
- The Columbia Pike Revitalization Organization (CPRO) highlighted some local history in “Honoring the Proud African American Legacy on the Pike” (2/13/19)
- Lee Highway Alliance announced that it’s working with Arlington County to rename Lee Highway. (7/17/20)
- Virginia is the first state in the South to have passed the CROWN Act, which “explicitly added discrimination on the basis of natural hairstyles to the definition of race discrimination under these [civil rights] statutes.” (ACLU Virginia, 7/16/20)
- Sydney Johnson interviewed Samia Byrd, Arlington’s new Chief Race and Equity Officer (Arlington Magazine, 7/19/20)
- From SURJ NoVa, “Thanks to the sustained work of LaColectiVA and the efforts of the For Us Not Amazon coalition, Arlington County PD is no longer seeking a partnership with Amazon Ring!” There’s a map you can check to see if your local police are partnering with Amazon Ring.

GENERAL RESOURCES:
- Karen Grigsby Bates “What’s In A ‘Karen’?” (NPR, 7/15/20)
- Fredrick C. Harris writes about “The Rise of Respectability Politics” (Dissent Magazine, winter 2014), which I would like to pair with Whitney Alese’s “7 Reasons Why Respectability Politics are BS” (Medium 7/6/18)
- The Othering & Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley has some really interesting resources and conversations to peruse.
- The Meyer Foundation has a Racial Equity Toolkit with lots of resources, including white culture, equity lens in action, hiring and employment practices, and anti-racism.
- Destiny Thomas writes that “‘Safe Streets’ Are Not Safe for Black Lives” (Bloomberg CityLab, 6/8/20)
- Darnell Grisby writes “To Fight Racism, Transit Has a Key Role” (Bloomberg CityLab, 7/20/20)
- Daniel Bergner writes “‘White Fragility’ Is Everywhere. But Does Antiracism Training Work?” (New York Times, 7/15/20)
- Shawn Donnan writes “Black Neighborhoods Miss Out on Stimulus and Fall Further Behind” (Bloomberg CityLab, 7/15/20)
- Robert Samuels writes “Stumbling towards wokeness” (Washington Post, 7/15/20)
- The Washington Post published “Resources to understand America’s long history of injustice and inequality” (7/14/20)

INDIGENOUS RIGHTS:
- The Lakota People’s Law Project, among others, has been fighting the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) for years (remember Standing Rock? It’s still going on.), and while they had a ruling in their favor earlier this month, the oil company continues to fight back.

If you’re interested in learning more about indigenous rights, here are some resources:
- Cultural Survival “envisions a future that respects and honors Indigenous Peoples’ inherent rights and dynamic cultures, deeply and richly interwoven in lands, languages, spiritual traditions, and artistic expression, rooted in self-determination and self-governance.”
- The exhibition IndiVisible: African-Native American Lives in the Americas is a collaboration between the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the Smithsonian Institution Travelling Exhibition Service (SITES).
- Indigenous Peoples Movement
- Indian Law Resource Center and “The American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples”

HOUSING:
- The Alliance for Housing Solutions has a recent Eviction Update (7/16/20). They also advocate for missing middle housing and coordinate the AHS Missing Middle Network, which you can apply to join here.
- Arlington For Everyone has a recent interview with Stephen D’Alessio about his experience volunteering with Arlington Community Corps. (7/10/20)
- Arlington County released the third research bulletin in its Missing Middle Housing Study
- Margaret Barthel writes “Northern Virginia Clergy Urge Northam To Put Pause On Evictions” (DCist, 7/18/20)

CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND POLICING:
- I want to highlight our local organization, Arlington for Justice, which is quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with.
- Arlington Launches Review of Police Policies and Practices and the resulting Police Practices Work Group includes wonderful representatives of our community! This will be a group to watch. (7/16/20)
- David Hughes writes “I’m a Black Police Officer. Here’s How to Change the System.” (New York Times, 7/16/20)

EDUCATION:
- Symone Walker writes “We Need to Address Redlining in Education” (Arlington Magazine, 7/16/20)
- Michael A. DiNapoli Jr. writes about “Making School Budgets Whole and Equitable During and After COVID-19” (Learning Policy Institute, 7/17/20)
- Cory Turner shares his concerns about “A Looming Financial Meltdown For America’s Schools” (NPR, 5/26/20)
- For your awareness, “Devos Sued by Public School Parents, NAACP, and School Districts to Block Illegal Rule that Diverts Critical COVID-19 Aid from Public Schools to Private Schools” (SPLC, 7/22/20)
- Laura Meckler and Hannah Natanson write “For the parents who can afford it, a solution for fall: Bring the teachers to them.” (Washington Post, 7/17/20)

I’m currently reading So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo — I’d love to discuss it with you!

Emily
Listen. Amplify. Follow.

Local Resources and Actions, plus Conversation Guidance

Hi Friends!

First, a huge THANK YOU to Frank Rusco, one of our group members, who wrote “Make This Moment a Movement!” in Arlington Magazine. What a wonderful, honest, thoughtful, encouraging piece. And he mentions us!

I did want to remind everyone that my weekly posts (not the other group email traffic) are posted on Medium and at White Folks Facing Race. We also have a Facing Race in Arlington Facebook page. The Blogger website also has an awesome Resource List, a Start Here page, and an About Me page now. If you’re looking for a resource about something in particular, the Resource List is broken into sections. There’s also a search function on the site. Keeping the Resource List updated with all of the resources I have shared is a time management challenge for me, so if anyone wants to help with that, just let me know.

I want to strongly suggest that you sign up for Symone Walker’s campaign updates. She’s a friend of mine and a group member and is a colleague with me at the NAACP (and co-chair of the Education Committee). But honestly, even if you have already decided who you’re voting for in the School Board race this November, her campaign updates have so much valuable information in them that everyone should read them. I learned key things about school reopening and changes in state legislation that affect students and discipline in our schools. She is already doing the work of advocating and educating our community members about issues affecting our students and families. She’s also hosting “Let’s Talk About It — Getting Real About Racism” tomorrow, Thursday, July 16 at 7:00 pm. You can find out more about her and the event (and her campaign) at Symone for Students.

MORE LOCAL OPPORTUNITIES:
- Webinar: Asserting Special Education Rights in the Time of Coronavirus — Thursday, July 16 from 12–1 pm, presented by Juliet Hiznay, an Arlington local and Special Education Advocate-Attorney.
- APS Diversity, Equity & Inclusion office’s Community Engagement efforts, including the Summer Student Series — the next one is on July 22.
- Exciting local news — The Black Heritage Museum of Arlington has reopened! I highly recommend a visit and/or a donation.

RELATED TO POLICE AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE:
- Nia Evans and Kayla Patrick write about why “Black Girls Need Police-Free Schools” (Education Post, 7/8/20)
- I’m sharing an action posted by Arlington for Justice — Arlington County Chief Jay Farr is retiring before the end of the year.
- Kunlyna Tauch writes “I Am Not Your ‘Other’” (The Marshall Project, 7/9/20)
- David Marchese discussed defunding the police with Lori Lightfoot, mayor of Chicago (New York Times, 6/22/20)

RELATED TO HEALTH DISPARITIES:
- Linda Poon writes about a lack of data on disease outbreaks in high poverty neighborhoods and how systemic racism is present in medical care.

HOW TO HAVE DIFFICULT CONVERSATIONS:
- A group member shared: Sara M. Moniuszko writes a guide for “How to talk to your family, friends about racism and white privilege” (USA Today, 7/6/20)
- Megan McArdle (not someone I normally read) writes “How to explain systemic racism to non-liberals like me” which gave me more ideas for how to have some of these difficult conversations (Washington Post, 7/14/20)
- A group member recommended the Beyond Diversity Resource Center, which offers great resources for conversations and group discussions. They are hosting a virtual, two-day Summer Institute on Race on August 6–7.

CONTINUING OUR SELF-EDUCATION ABOUT RACISM:
- Arturo E. Holmes II writes “I’m a black doctor. I wear my scrubs everywhere now.” (Washington Post, 7/10/20)
- Nneka McGuire writes about Bakari Sellers’ new book, My Vanishing Country: A Memoir, and its connection to James Baldwin and his essential words and work (Washington Post, 6/19/20).
- Christian Cooper wrote an op-ed about “Why I have chosen not to aid in the investigation of Amy Cooper” (Washington Post, 7/14/20)
- Maura Judkis writes about how “Anti-racism trainers were ready for this moment. Is everyone else?” (Washington Post, 7/8/20)
- Nahliah Webber writes “If You Really Want to Make a Difference in Black Lives, Change How You Teach White Kids” (Education Post, 6/29/20)
- Kailee Scales with the Black Lives Matter Global Network writes that “Information is Power. Disinformation is Dangerous.” (Medium, 7/8/20)
- Jeffery Robinson writes “It’s Time To Tell the Truth About the Confederacy and its Symbols” (ACLU, 7/3/20)

Emily
Listen. Amplify. Follow.

Housing is the Foundation for Everything

Hi Friends!

I don’t know if it’s the oppressive heat and humidity July has produced, but I’m feeling tired this week, friends. It is so uplifting to me to see the resources you’re finding and hear your thoughts about what you’re reading and learning. Thank you for sharing your journey with me.

Also, a warning — waiting until Friday to send you an update means this one is extra long. Enjoy!

One of you gave me permission to share your thoughts after my update a couple of weeks ago. They said, “I would add hopelessness to the pitfalls of confronting racism and trying to figure out what to do about it. In my own case, as I reconnected with this struggle after many years of largely ignoring it I found myself falling into periods of hopelessness. After expressing this to friends and colleagues who are people of color and getting back the consistent message that one must always remain hopeful I reflected on what my feelings were about and discovered yet another layer of white privilege. As a white person my hopelessness was really a defensive mechanism to allow me to emotionally distance myself from the struggle and that is something I could only do because I am white. And sharing it with people of color was just a selfish act that caused them to spend energy to prop me up. There is so much to be hopeful about and most are in accounts of people of color enduring despite all the systemic and other barriers.”

One of our partners in this work, Whytni H. Kernodle, had her op-ed published in the Washington Post, “Arlington has to do more to improve the lives of its black children” (6/26/20)

Congratulations to Samia Byrd in her appointment as the Chief Race and Equity Officer for Arlington County! I am very excited to see her impact on the work the County is doing. It will also be interesting to see how she coordinates with Arron Gregory at APS, who holds a similar role.

A friend shared a museum created by one of his previous professors called the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia, which includes a resource list and educational/curriculum materials.

I wanted to share the National PTA’s Diversity & Inclusion Toolkit information again because I believe its guidance can be used in many kinds of organizations. PTAs are not known for their diversity or inclusion, and there are steps we should be taking to be more representative of our school communities and to be more aware of the barriers preventing marginalized groups from participating. Simply inviting more people to attend doesn’t make your organization more welcoming.

— — — — — — — — — — — —
I was lucky enough to manage to listen to the webinar hosted by the National Low Income Housing Coalition with Nikole Hannah-Jones on July 7. It wasn’t recorded, unfortunately, so I wanted to share some of my major takeaways paraphrased from what she said:

- Housing is the foundation of well-being and opportunity. There’s a reason real estate agents focus on location. People with choices will forego a larger/nicer house for the advantages of location. That’s because your neighborhood comes with opportunities, resources, schools, shopping, parks, etc. This is why segregated housing has such a big impact over so many aspects of people’s lives. Controlling where Black people could/can live controlled everything else about their lives.

- Housing is more segregated in northern states than southern because the South had Jim Crow laws to control its very large Black population, whereas the North had a much smaller Black population (before the Great Migration at the turn of the 20th century). This meant that the North worked to contain Black people, largely through housing rules, led by the federal government. These mechanisms of social control avoided explicit laws enforcing segregation like the South had. But that meant that when segregation was outlawed, the South was more integrated than the North because they had never segregated their housing.

- The federal government and local governments have generally never enforced the Fair Housing Act of 1968, which is why housing and school segregation persists. White northern liberals have been a huge part of the resistance to the lack of enforcement, which continues today in opposition to low income housing as a method of integration — the resistance is too great in areas where there is not currently mixed income level housing, so it ends up being increased in areas where it already exists, furthering the persistence of segregation. Redlining harmed everyone — white people with choices moved out of integrated neighborhoods because the redlining laws limited their options for growing their wealth through housing.

- A tension exists between low-income housing advocates and fair housing advocates. Low-income housing advocates focus on the short-term immediate needs of low-income people who need housing. Fair housing advocates focus on systemic segregation and put their resources towards a smaller number of housing units built and take the time to fight to get those units in areas that resist integration. We need both efforts, but I imagine that they are sometimes at odds with each other.

- Most white Americans are fine with about 10% of Black people in neighborhoods and schools. The tolerance for low-income Black people is even lower. Black people currently make up about 13% of the American population. In order for integration to happen, a large population of white people has to decide that the change is worthwhile and has to work to make this change happen.

- Housing is directly connected to the wealth gap (separate from the income gap) because housing is the biggest generator of modern wealth. Home values in white and Black areas of a community are artificially controlled. And a lack of wealth means that income loss is particularly devastating for people because there is no safety net for covering basic costs.

- This is where the call for reparations comes from. The federal government has a societal debt to Black people in this country because of its theft from generations of their ability to build wealth — funds should be transferred to those communities to rectify this. Reparations means repair. It doesn’t mean that every white person has to get out their checkbook or lose something they have. Her three priorities for reparations are: (1) targeted investment in Black communities and schools; (2) commitment to enforce existing civil rights laws (including the Fair Housing Act); and, (3) individual cash payments to replace the wealth that was stolen and to give people the freedom to choose how to spend the funds. Opposition from white people is what is standing in the way of making this happen.

- When the face of a crisis becomes Black, there is a loss of sympathy for those affected by the crisis. We saw this happen with the current pandemic as well.

- White Americans are very fickle about supporting change. There have historically been periods of retrenchment after racial progress, including the 2016 election. She appreciates that individuals are trying to help, but believes that lasting solutions have to happen through the federal government. HR40 is a bill for reparations that has been in committee for 30 years. Local/municipal laws can address some of these issues, like segregated housing. Her suggestion was to mandate an equitable % of housing choices throughout the county/municipality, connected to new housing construction having to build multiple income levels of housing (not just a community of single family homes).

ADDITIONAL HOUSING RESOURCES:
- Andrew Van Dam writes about how “Black families pay significantly higher property taxes than white families, new analysis shows” (Washington Post, 7/2/20)
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) published “Worst Case Housing Needs: 2019 Report to Congress” (June 2020)
- Zach Tilly at the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) writes “New analysis from CDF: Housing Is a Racial Justice Crisis: Solutions for Children and Families During COVID and Beyond” (6/17/20)
- Watch a recording of the June 29 “National Call on COVID-19 Homelessness and Housing” from the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) and read their statement supporting “Calls to Divest from Criminal Legal Systems, Invest in Black Communities” (7/6/20)
- Ailsa CHange and Jonaki Mehta talk about “Why U.S. Schools Are Still Segregated — And One Idea To Help Change That” (NPR, 7/7/20)

— — — — — — — — — — — —
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
- The Hechinger Report has a series called “Critical Condition: The Students the Pandemic Hit Hardest”
- Joe Heim writes about a “Nonprofit project offers cash lifeline to District’s poorest” (Washington Post, 7/7/20) — I’m working to learn more about a similar effort here in Arlington, at least in the coordination of nonprofit organizations, and maybe even moving forward with a model like this one!
- Until We Are All Free — Racial Justice Art & Story Sessions activity guide
- From a recent Black Lives Matter email blast:
— Support Black Owned — listings of black-owned businesses in the country, organized by state and searchable by type and zip code
— EatOkra app — listings of black-owned restaurants
— Caroline Bologna collected a list of “50 Amazing Books By Black Authors From The Past 5 Years” (HuffPost 2/21/19)
— Njera Perkins collected a list of “10 Black-Owned Online Bookstores to Support White at Home” (AfroTech, 4/7/20)
- Leslie Mac is offering Allies in Action Virtual Bootcamp starting July 28
- White Awake is offering an online course for white men beginning August 16
- Jeannie Oakes, Anna Maier, and Julia Daniel at the Learning Policy Institute share “In the Fallout of the Pandemic, Community Schools Show a Way Forward for Education” (7/7/20)
- Black Lives Matter at School has released a 2020 National Student Voter Toolkit, in collaboration with The Electoral Justice Project (EJP), which is also sponsoring The Breathe Act.
- The John Mitchell Jr. Program for History, Justice, and Race has recorded videos from their Mondays in June series of conversations, and is a great resource.

RELATED TO POLICING:
- LaColectiVA shared their Defund NOVA Police Demands (via SURJ NoVa)
- Black Lives Matter shared “What Defunding the Police Really Means”

Dig in and learn something new.

Emily
Listen. Amplify. Follow.