A publication of the INTERCOMMUNITY PEACE & JUSTICE CENTER
Education Equity The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the inequities in our education system, laying bare our collective failure to meet both the needs of students and educators. Lack of access to equitable resources and support has created a reality where students are unable to flourish. The exacerbated inequalities of systemic racism and class in our education system revealed truths many of us already knew. As a young student at Morehouse College, Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote, “We are prone to let our mental life become invaded by legions of half-truths, prejudices, and propaganda. At this point, I often wonder whether or not education is fulfilling its purpose.” Dr. King begs us to reflect critically on our current educational system. Why is access to education available to some but withheld from others? True education is an act of resistance, but how can we work to make our educational system more liberating? In this issue of A Matter of Spirit, we have asked three educators and one student to give us their perspective on our education system. Marcos Gonzales provides a compelling narrative on what it is like to teach through a pandemic amidst racial inequalities. Bry’onta Thomas shares truths about learning during the pandemic as a student. Beth Clarke shares her experience of teaching in China. Finally, Dr. Mary J. Wardell Ghirarduzzi lays out how institutions and individuals can use the three D’s of Equity and Inclusion to be in solidarity with those on the margins. We hope this issue will challenge and inspire you to act for justice in our community and the world.
NO. 130 / SPRING 2021
TEACHING in the Era of COVID-19
Empty Halls, photo by author
A
BY MARCOS GONZALES
s we prepared to start the new school year this past August, I walked through the school halls with the feeling that I was stepping into a moment frozen in time. Signs of our school’s Pi Day Celebration hung on bulletin boards. Posters announcing the field day and the competitions that wouldn’t come to fruition. We left the school in March, not knowing for how long. Many students and teachers have yet to go back. As we move past the one-year mark of education during the COVID-19 pandemic, I find myself reflecting on the impact this year has had on transforming the future of education. I still hear our younger students asking, “When will things go back to normal?” If there is anything that these pandemics have shown us, it is that things were never normal for many students in the United States.
In our school community, we are careful to name the two pandemics that our country is facing, that of COVID-19 and the pandemic of systemic racism that has long plagued BIPOC1 communities. The inequities became quickly apparent and remain now a year into the global health crisis. From the ways in which the digital divide highlighted the gap in access to high-speed internet, to the safety net that schools provide in feeding young children throughout the week, the need to socially distance has revealed the social injustice that so many families had faced far before the global pandemic began.
Bulletin board from last year, photo by author
Dr. Nadine Burke Harris described the experience of trauma well in her Ted Talk given in 2014. Our natural fight or flight response is helpful and necessary when we are walking through the woods and we encounter a bear. The body’s response will save our lives in these dangerous situations. She then invites the audience to think about what happens if that bear comes home every single night. The collective trauma that we have all been facing during the pandemic has made experiences like going to the grocery store or walking in public feel as
2
though we might run into a bear. The constant uncertainty that we have all faced has significant impacts on our physical and mental health. Dr. Burke Harris shares that children are more at risk to these high-stress scenarios due to their brains and bodies still being in development. Over the course of this past year, young children have been subjected to far more than just the global pandemic. The racial reckoning following the murders of Breona Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd, among far too many other of our Black sister and brothers, highlights the trauma that police violence has inflicted on BIPOC communities since the arrival of colonizers to this land and the founding of our nation. The climate crisis rages as it creates extreme weather conditions like the wildfires that ravaged the West Coast, the energy and water crisis that befell communities across the southern United States—all displacing families and leading to further interruption in school learning. The uncertainty that led up to and followed the November election and the painful, racist insurrection on the Capitol contributed to the fear of the bear coming home, as Dr. Burke Harris describes. All of these experiences of ongoing collective trauma have had a major impact on us all. Because of that, we have a responsibility to be attentive to the way in which we are caring for and responding to children now and in the immediate future. This will help guard against the lasting impact that these traumatic events may have on their lives. As teachers, we commit ourselves to our students, inspired by their brilliance and creative imaginations. We have had to tap into that creative well so frequently over these last 12 months. I still recall the initial announcement from our principal, asking us to have at least 10 days of lessons prepared for the possibility that we would be moving to remote instruction. As we moved through the beginning weeks, then months of the pandemic, we continued to lose out on more and more of the
Racialized or Racial Trauma
De-colonized or Decolonization
Emotional or mental injury caused by racial bias, discrimination, racism, and hate crimes to BIPOC by white counterparts. Racial trauma can often manifest in the body. Resmaa Menakem, in his book My Grandmother's Hands, outlines four categories of racialized trauma: Historical Trauma, Intergenerational Trauma, Persistent Institutional Trauma, and Personal Trauma.
The process by which BIPOC folks reclaim their identity by honoring their ancestral history that is subject to erasure by settlers, colonizers and systems set into place to dehumanize BIPOC. Decolonization is a conscious and deliberate pathway towards liberation by resisting or rejecting colonized mindsets (i.e. perfectionism, time orientation) in order that individuals live in their authentic fullness.
NO. 130 / SPRING 2021
1
Black, Indigenous, People of Color
“ It is my hope that we never return to the way things were. If we do, that will be a failure of our prophetic imagination to respond to the call for greater equity and justice that our education system has needed for so long.”
Hybrid learning, photo by author
dynamic that drew us to the vocation of being educators. The most difficult has been the sense of losing connection with our students, many of whom struggle due to lack of quality internet, or the need to care for their siblings and support them in their learning. Students are losing out on the traditional transition moments like graduation and opportunities to engage in clubs and sports. Author Adrienne Maree Brown shared the comparison of the concept of sleep debt to what these pandemics have given us, what she terms “grief debt.” She states that we are all dealing with direct or circumstantial loss and are not often given the time to attend to all this loss. As educators, we can find ourselves overwhelmed and needing to be the beacons of hope and light for our students. We are asked to be engaging, animated, technologically savvy, and provide grace to all of those around us while at the same time juggling our personal lives and care for ourselves and loved ones. It is in these times, that schools with already limited resources are stretched even more, asking teachers to do
even more. And as we enter this new phase of the COVID-19 pandemic with vaccines being rolled out and the conversations of returning back to the classroom, we are hit with trying to balance institutional expectations while simultaneously navigating the desire for physical and psychological safety. I am grateful to be in a state that has placed educators in the early phases to be vaccinated. The constant need to pivot, which will likely carry into the end of this academic year, will continue to demand much of teachers, students, and the families who are equally navigating the challenges of these times. I am grateful for the opportunity to accompany my school community in reflecting on how to create a more traumainformed learning environment for our faculty, staff, and students. The shifting focus towards creating more traumainformed and anti-racist schools feels like a silver lining during these times. It is my hope that we never return to the way things were. If we do, that will be a failure of our prophetic imagination to respond to the call for greater A MATTER OF SPIRIT
3
Word Cloud created in December 2020 from the Chicago Jesuit Academy faculty
equity and justice that our education system has needed for so long. One of the most important practices of traumainformed education is establishing and maintaining positive relationships. In this time of social distancing, it is important more than ever that our students are able to remain connected and know that they are loved, and that there will be a place for them to return to that can provide for the psychological safety that is critical for learning. This requires us as educators and adults to critically reflect on how we approach our teaching, ensuring that all components of our curricula are rooted in decolonized and anti-racist practices. The other critical element is ensuring that we as adults remain regulated. The most important support in helping young people regulate is having a regulated adult. Knowing that we as educators and adults are facing this collective trauma, it is our duty to be attentive to how we are caring for
ourselves. Incorporating practices of mindfulness, physical and spiritual exercise become far more necessary. These practices take time, like building up muscle. As we have had our hearts and compassion stretched over these last months, I take hope in knowing that the moments of having my heart broken open wide have made room for more to fit. I trust God will continue to fill in those spaces, when I take the moment to pause, to slow down, to rest in the resilience of the students who continue to log on to Zoom each day, despite all adversity. cc Marcos Gonzales serves as the Director of Trauma-Informed Education at Chicago Jesuit Academy. His pursuit of a faith that does justice has taken him from the islands of Micronesia as a Jesuit Volunteer to the streets of Los Angeles working at Homeboy Industries as a case manager. He received his BA in theology and master’s in education from Loyola Marymount University and completed his master’s in social work at Loyola University, Chicago.
2019-2020 Child Mental Health-Related Emergency Department Visits Comparison
Proportion of mental health-related ED visits per 100,000
4000 3500 3000
2020
2500
2019
2000
Data from 2019 (Pre COVID-19) compared to 2020 (during COVID-19) demonstrates a respective 24% and 31% increase among children in the age categories 5–11 and 12–17*
1500 1000 500 0
All age groups<18
Ages 5–11
Ages 12–17
National Syndromic Surveillance Program (NSSP), United States, 2019–2020; (average number of ED visits for children’s mental health of the same age or sex population x 100,000). All numbers have been rounded to the nearest whole number. *
4
NO. 130 / SPRING 2021
LEARNING through a
pandemic Inverview via Zoom, Bry’onta Thomas and Samantha Yanity
These excerpts are drawn from an interview with Bry’onta Thomas (BT) by AMOS editor, Samantha Yanity (SY).
A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of sitting down with Bry’onta Thomas, a member of Community Passageways (CP), a Seattle-based nonprofit with a vision for zero youth incarceration. In addition to working towards racial equity and centering youth voices, Community Passageways grounds its work in four central principles:
Prevention: Keep youth on a good path; show them paths
Diversion: Keep people out of the prison system and in the community
Support: Support people already in the prison system
Reintegrate: Ensure a smooth, successful integration into the community
Here is Bry’onta’s story. SY: How did you get involved with Community Passageways? BT: I got involved with Community Passageways because I grew up being a rough kid. You know, I had guidance, but I didn’t really. It wasn’t the good guidance that I needed. I was a reckless kid. I didn’t really care about what I was doing. I didn’t really care about if I was living to see tomorrow or, you know, what the case may be. I was caught up with a group of people. I loved somebody—somebody I was very close to. They gave the police information and they told the police that they got the case on me. They wanted to charge me as an adult. So, when this was going on, it was about a year or so ago. I was either a sophomore or it was the beginning of my junior year. SY: They wanted to try you as an adult? BT: That’s because the case was serious. We did a lot of serious stuff. So yeah, it was around that time. It was like a few of my cases was like juvenile charges and then the other ones were adult charges—a mixture. When I got connected to Community Passageways, I didn’t know Coach Dom. I didn’t know Auntie Toyra. I didn’t know Uncle Paul.
I didn’t know Uncle Brandon.1 I didn’t know none of them at all. When we first met, I didn’t know nobody; they just showed up. They talked for me. With them being who they are, they were able to have such a good relationship and good understanding of everyone around them. It came to the point where the judge got me into the program. My first day at the program, I’m like, “I know a lot of people here. There’s a lot of people I grew up with. I’m not really with all this. I’m not a people person. I don’t like really caring about getting to know people.” You know, that’s not me. But I want to say they opened up my eyes. They made me realize, that I am a people person. SY: So, you’re in school right now? BT: Yes, ma’am. I am a senior. SY: What has this time been like for you to learn and adjust to learning online? BT: I am trying to take classes and do all this stuff now. When it comes to the school, the school is difficult, but if you put the time management in the best CP staff mentioned: Dominique “Dom” Davis, Toyra Tate, Paul Sutton, and Brandon Shell
1
A MATTER OF SPIRIT
5
time frame, it can be the best of situations. It can also be the worst. SY: What has been the challenge during this time—adjusting to being online, as opposed to being in person? BT: I’m going to be real with you, Ma’am, I’m not going to sit here and act like I was the best doing [school] when it came to being in person. When it came to being in person, I was never really never at school. I was really skipping and stuff and all that, and that’s not the best thing, you know? CP helped because once it was like, “I have to be online for school.” I was more actually on to doing school. “I’m going to be really true.” Last year, I was very far behind. I wasn’t supposed to be able to graduate. But now, I was able to finish. I caught up with maybe like five classes in less than maybe three months. Complete recovery. I feel like in school, learning is better in school. Learning is always going to be better because you’re interacting with people like right now, kids that are younger kids that are growing up. I don’t feel like this is a good for them. Reasons are a lot of kids don’t want to be in class no more. Due to them being in COVID, it’s, it’s becoming a normal…isolation. There is certain criteria where they have to do or how they should do it. And I feel as if in the future is impacting, cause some aren’t going to be as social. So being away from school makes you really miss it. Cause it’s like, the time that you’ve taken advantage of you realize is a time that you should really be paying attention. Because when you’re out of school is like, yeah, you’re at home. You’re on your computer. Yeah, you can type up everything. Yeah, you can reach out to your teachers. But it’s not like being in person. You get that by, you get the, the realization of with school. But if I would choose to, I wish I could do certain things in person. You’re missing that part. You’re missing that 6
NO. 130 / SPRING 2021
Community Passageways 4 Focus Areas Teach individuals and communities how to respond to trauma and conflict through restorative justice practices and healing circles. Provide an alternative to the educational and juvenile justice systems that disproportionately punish black and brown youth. Create innovative approaches to leadership development for young adults. Connect organizations and agencies to partner, collaborate, and share services for the advancement of young adults.
5 Youth Protective Factors Individual
- Youth’s self-esteem, high intelligence, resilient temperament, positive social orientation
Family
- Parental supervision, positive relationships with family members, opportunities and reinforcement for pro-social involvement
Peer - Pro-social peers, parent’s positive evaluation of peers
School - Commitment to school, bonding positive
relationships with teachers, aspirations and expectations to go to college, reading and mathematics scores, opportunities and reinforcement for pro-social involvement
Community - Opportunities and reinforcement for pro-social involvement
part of the experience. I’m a senior, so this is my last year and everything’s canceled for us. We don’t have sports. We don’t have, we don’t have a prom. This is the last year for me to do all this and that, of all these important things in my life. And you, you feel like you’re experiencing some kind of loss, like, “Oh, I don’t have these things, these memorable things.”
stay six feet apart because we’re humans we’re going to need to socialize.
Realization is not a loss. It’s actually a lesson being taught that, you know, right now being six feet apart is the nice thing for the world. When actually at the same time, we can’t expect the world to
Some people will get distracted or something or, just certain learning disabilities that they face. But for me, it was different. School wasn’t my problem. I liked being in class. I think as if I wish I
But if you asked me, I feel as if they both have their good and their bad, and now I have, I had to choose one. I would say I’ll choose more in-person cause you know, there’s kids that have problems in school and then there’s kids that have problems online.
could have paid more attention, I wish I would have wanted some more classes. It’s kind of challenging, but it’s also good at the same time. It’s basically like shooting dice. You know, you’re going to run with seven or you’re going to crap out. SY: One of the things that I was wondering, is what do you think, in our current system, is our biggest problem? How are we failing students? BT: This is a good question. How are we showing up for students? Yes. We’re learning things, but we’re not learning the things that we need to be learning. And I feel as if we need to take back our community. We need to let kids know that they have more opportunities in a world than just being a Doc. Not just being a doctor, being a sports player. Like a lot of people don’t know you can be a garbage man and make just like the money, just like the doctors making, you know? So, I just say new opportunities, new experiences, more guidance in more knowledge that should actually be given and not stop that, you know, we don’t really need it. SY: I think that’s really insightful. BT: I say we could take back by letting people, letting kids know that their dreams are beyond measure, no matter what. No matter what the criteria is, no matter what your situation, you bounce back from anything. It’s not about the way you started. It’s about the way you ended it. SY: You said, you can bounce back from anything. Do you find that’s what has been true about your life? Do you feel like you’re resilient because of the things that you’ve experienced when you were younger? BT: Resilient. Are you asking when you said the things that I have experienced made me the person I am? Most definitely. That’s human. You’re not hearing it, you’re not able to do both—accept your mistakes. I do truly feel as if the mistakes that we make,
“ I feel as if we can make a change in this world by making our change within ourselves, making a change within others around us. And as we’re making changes within others around us and within ourselves, try to feed each other the best positivity.” make us the people that we are, I truly do feel like that. And this is coming from a person that made a lot of bad mistakes, you know? So when we making them mistakes, yes, I’m uh, yeah. At that time it was bad to do. And am I ashamed or afraid for what I did? No, I’m not. Am I, do I feel bad at times? I do. I shouldn’t have done it. I was very wrongfully, but if I didn’t make that decision, if I didn’t make that move, I wouldn’t be who I am today. And sometimes mistakes are the greatest teachers.
others around us. And as we’re making changes within others around us and within ourselves, try to feed each other the best positivity.
SY: So, how do you think our society or a larger society can center young voices? BT: Society can help young voices take back young voices. And when I say take back young voices, I’m not talking about, take back their rights, take back to speak. When I say take back young voices, put young voices back in your hands, teach young voices new knowledge.
You let me change within you to help us change into a better way. So, basically, we rely on each other to change; you’re changing and growing together. Not by yourself. Yes, but not just growing by ourselves, because once again, the older people have more experience in life.
Take back the guidance to lead them the right way for more empowerment. More models, less villains. Growing up, we didn’t have a lot of, a lot of role models. We looked up to the villains. That’s what we looked up to and that’s, and that’s the truth. It’s sad, but it’s the truth. So, give people something that they can look for. SY: If you were to give a message to the older generation about younger people, what would you want them to take away from all of this? BT: I feel as if we can make a change in this world by making our change within ourselves, making a change within
I’m going to be real with you growing up right now. There’s a lot of trauma. There’s a lot of PTSD, a lot of younger youth and a lot of older youth are going to experience the worst that they ever experienced in life. Right now reasons are due from COVID, due to just personal danger, just doing a life situation.
About the 50 to 70 years old, to be honest. It’s not what I would want them to know. I will actually want to know what I can know from them. I would want to understand their process and I would want them to understand my process, but something that I would tell them really is that just because we’re misunderstood, doesn’t make us the worst, which is lacking and we just need healing in process. SY: Yes, I think that is the biggest misunderstanding. There’s generational wisdom in youth and in aging and that is the something that is shared between us. For more information see communitypassageways.org/ A MATTER OF SPIRIT
7
Questions and Problems resolution to be had (as one would imagine given their different contexts). However, what we ultimately discovered in our debates was that not only were the matches highly competitive, full of the direct clash due to an abundance of common ground, but they became fascinating exchanges of ideas full of dialogue about both our shared and contrasting cultures. In China, what I discovered as an educator was that perhaps the ideal way to help my students (and me) engage brokenness is not by rushing to heal it. Instead, it is by leaning into the brokenness a bit, unpacking it, dialoguing about it, even debating it, and coming to the new common ground altogether as a result. This understanding deepened for me years later with my students in Phoenix, Arizona, as I worked with undocumented students in efforts to lobby the State of Arizona to allow the Arizona Board of Regents to grant in-state tuition to undocumented students. After initial failed efforts, we partnered with a wide variety of students, non-profit organizations, and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle. We were Photos by the author, author pictured on the right able to make tremendous progress towards our BY BETH CLARKE goal. We learned that we could not heal our fractured tuition system alone. We had to lean into it altogether, dialogue with In 2015, I was invited to bring students from Phoenix, AZ, to many others, many whose opinions dissented from ours, but Chengdu, China for the “Chengdu Debate Challenge.” During together, leaning into the brokenness, we came to higher this 3-day event, a dozen students from the United States common ground as a result. and a similar number from the Chengdu area of the Sichuan Province came together for debates about electronic media. Today, I live in Taiwan and teach public speaking, rhetoric, and Initially, for me, the debate tournament was a secondary part debate at an American high school, a career change that has of the trip, I saw the opportunity as an outlet for me and my challenged my pedagogy in many ways, especially in how to students to see China. Still, when we arrived, the endeavor engage critical questioning with my students. I noticed very early quickly took on a much more significant meaning. on in my tenure at the school that my students were hesitant to ask questions of me in class. When I consulted with a colleague China and America, as countries, often fail to see eye-to-eye of mine, they explained that in Mandarin (the first language on a great many cultural and political issues; many may even of most of my students), the words “question” and “problem” say that our nations have a broken relationship. Predictably, are the same word. Instead of asking students for questions, I these differences played-out in our debates, but they prewas advised to find other ways to check for understanding. This sented themselves in remarkable and unpredictable ways. I experience turned my world upside down. In the U.S., students assumed that the American students and the Chinese students are encouraged to ask questions; teachers constantly remind would present very different views on social media with little their students that there are no “dumb” questions. In Western 8
NO. 130 / SPRING 2021
“ Young people can and must be empowered to use their minds and voices to navigate paths to higher ground together.” dialogues that prompt and reward students for engaging one another). Another method has been to direct students in highly organized debates. In these debates, I allow students to select their own topics, and I work closely with them to find suitable, academically credible research with which to present their arguments. Most importantly, though, in class, I never announce a winner or a loser. Instead, I discuss with them how it’s inappropriate to have “winners” and “losers” in a dialogue in which the goal is to come to a greater understanding of an issue even though the vehicle is debate.
philosophy, we are encouraged to question everything. I wondered, how am I going to teach critical thinking skills in a context so different from the one in which I was raised? So I again leaned into the lesson I learned in China, but this time, I realized that the brokenness was in me. Initially, I wanted to “repair” my students’ understanding of questions and problems; I wanted them to see the more “Western” way of thinking. Still, when I reflected more, I realized that I needed to unpack my own cultural bias and needed to immerse myself in my new context. I did this by means of conversations with students and faculty, taking Mandarin lessons, and observing classes. I, first, of course, discovered that when students were more comfortable, they became eager to ask questions, which disrupted my “question/problem” notion rather quickly. Second, and more importantly, for both the students who were still a bit hesitant to engage in discussions (and even for those who were not), I found that I needed a new curriculum that could organize structured explorations of societal brokenness. This helped empower students to ask critical questions in ways that could not be perceived as disrespectful. One such way has been to lean heavily on Socratic seminars (student-organized
I do understand, however, that many teachers today may be reticent to have students argue, in any way, be it well-organized or not, in their classes. This is understandable. Covid-19, racial and gender intolerance, wealth inequality, a climate crisis, a broken immigration system—the fractures in our society are legion and depleting many of us. So why introduce an activity like a structured debate, one that superficially appears to engender only more bad feelings at a time like this? My argument, and hopefully my small contribution to thinking on the question of how we teach critical thinking to young people in this fractured society, is this: We need to facilitate activities in which we can all lean into the brokenness in a responsible way via structured debate and Socratic-style seminars. Ideally, I would want to couple these activities with intentional service-learning, but given current health and safety concerns, service-learning can be difficult to organize. Debates and discussions, however, are adaptable to in-person or remote learning. Structured debates and seminars offer high levels of equity along with a deep encounter with the reality that our society is, in fact, fractured. Young people can and must be empowered to use their minds and voices to navigate paths to higher ground together. cc Beth Clarke teaches in the Political Science Department at the Taipei American School in Taipei, Taiwan. Prior to her time in Taiwan, she earned a B.A. from Illinois State University and then moved to Phoenix, Arizona beginning 16-year teaching career at Brophy College Preparatory, an all-boys Jesuit secondary school, at which she taught religious studies and English. A MATTER OF SPIRIT
9
SOLIDARITY, with and for, whom? A Call to Conversion for Anti-racism and Social Justice BY DR. MARY J. WARDELL GHIRARDUZZI
This article is adapted from a presentation given at the Discerning Solidarity Panel on February 2, 2021.
T
he concept of solidarity has been part of our Catholic tradition of both ministry and education for a long time. Yet, some people who have gone through our institutions—and we are fortunate when they are comfortable sharing their feelings with us— have not felt a sense of solidarity in a way that made them feel liberated. They have not been able to fully experience Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. I think the present calls us to a higher standard, all of us who are educators and leaders, to think more critically and holistically about the question, What does solidarity mean now? There is a gap between our intent and our impact, and it lies in our understanding of solidarity. Solidarity for whom? Whom are we seeking to fulfill in our works? As I write, I can see a photo of two beautiful people, my parents, who have now passed on. I think back to countless lessons that I learned as a little girl, not only in the Church but at the family kitchen table. I was raised by descendants of enslaved people who reared me in the Black Church. All the people who taught my four sisters and me were descendants of these people who had a complex and nuanced understanding of inequity and justice. Much of that learning, that early spiritual formation within a Black community context, informs my work today as a leader of diversity, equity, and inclusion at Christian institutions. My parents were part of the Great Migration; they left the segregated South and arrived in California in 1953. My father was born in 1918 and grew up in rural eastern Texas in Texarkana, which is right on the Arkansas border. My mother, born in 1934, was from central rural Arkansas, not that far outside of Little Rock. They grew up in a society where public policy and the law were unfair and unequal. Neither of them was able to go to college, and my father left school after the eighth grade. Still, they passed on powerful lessons to me at that kitchen table, stories of liberation that came through the Gospels of Christ and the parables of Jesus, how our Lord and Savior was 10
NO. 130 / SPRING 2021
Author’s parents
always with the most dispossessed, the furthest at the margins. My parents were refugees within their own country who had to leave their own communities and move to another place to gain a measure of freedom. With limited formal education, they had a discerning awareness of the cognitive dissonance in our institutions that grounds the work that I do. My recent thinking about solidarity is inspired by Father General Arturo Sosa, and his introduction to the Universal Apostolic Preferences, a ten-year discernment process for the Society of Jesus. In a recorded presentation,[1] Father Sosa talks about the “strong call to personal, communal, and institutional conversion” that he mentions in his letter. [2] He says, “We have a lot of institutions with a long tradition and, as you know very well, to change an institution is not easy…that means the restructuring of minds and
Equity:
Inclusion:
Each person receives what they need in order to be successful and reach full human flourishing
All peoples are able to bring their full selves, experiences, and dignity to a space
“ I think we must continue to interrogate our own selves and struggle to understand all the ways in which we have not walked in solidarity with communities that have been left out: Black, Indigenous, and other communities and persons of color; gender non-conforming folks; anyone who feels that they are at the margins of our institutions and thereby, at the margins of our ministries.” hearts, these preferences want to be a conversion inspiration: to do something different.” That call to conversion really got my attention. This call leads us to the question: Who are the violated among us today in 2021? If Jesus were among us, where would he be doing the justice work that we’re engaged in? I believe that he would be comforting those families devastated by the ways in which Black bodies and Brown bodies are being slain in the streets of the United States. I believe that he would have a piercing message around anti-Black racism. I believe he would be among the multi-racial coalition to end racial injustice. Placing the traditions and the language and the gifts of our own ministries in a 2021 context is to understand that we’re being asked to uproot the racism deeply embedded in our institutions and consciousness in unknown ways—anti-racist work is the act of solidarity against injustice. Part of our thinking is to rethink, as Fr. Sosa says, How are we living and working for justice within our institutional context? How are we relating within our institutional context to the people we serve?
My context is students and faculty, staff and alumni, the communities in which we are located in San Francisco. How are we, as an institution, engaging in this conversation? I think the conversation is not for the individual alone; it is institutional work that we have to grapple with. I think we must continue to interrogate our own selves and struggle to understand all the ways in which we have not walked in solidarity with communities that have been left out: Black, Indigenous, and other communities and persons of color; gender non-conforming folks; anyone who feels that they are at the margins of our institutions and thereby, at the margins of our ministries. I believe that we’re being called in and called up to a higher understanding of engaging these communities that have been left out and left behind. In the work that I do around equity and inclusion, I’m oftentimes reminded that Martin Luther King would say that it wasn’t the works of our enemies but the silence of our friends that would hurt us the most. And so, when I think about solidarity, I think in terms of, How are our friends and colleagues maintaining these systems of inequity? Who has been called and, in their calling, hasn’t yet had that full conversion? Of the many scriptures that they made us memorize as children, one, in particular, teaches the idea of not to “throw your pearls before swine[3],” not to give your best to someone who continues to deny or not be receptive. To be honest, I’m not focused on the person openly seeking to harm others. I spend my time on those who say that they want to do good work, who say they are good people, who say they are committed to these ideas of consciousness, equity, solidarity, and help them understand where they are falling short. I believe that the greatest work can happen when those individuals have an even higher level of conversion and begin to see that the ways in which they’ve responded to things in the past are not fully following and fulfilling the promises of Christ. If you want to do racial equity work, you have to call a war on inequity and racial injustice. You have to understand what is fundamentally maintaining that inequity. And there's one way to easily remember it: the 3Ds of Maintaining Inequity. A MATTER OF SPIRIT
11
The 3Ds of Maintaining Inequity 1. The first one is called dysconsciousness, which is known as the
Diversity
uncritical habit of mind.[4] It’s the way in which we accept things as the order of “how things are”. When children come into the world, they are highly conscious and will tell you when something doesn’t seem right to them. For instance, when my daughters were little, they would ask, “How come that person is lying there?” when they saw somebody that was experiencing homelessness.
I would try to explain, and then they would have more questions. “How come?” and “Why?”. I could see their degree of consciousness. This consciousness changes through the ways in which we’re socialized, and we become numb and begin to say, “Well, that is the order of things. There’re some people that have, and there’re some people that don’t, and the poor will always be among us.” As opposed to saying, “No, there is a lack in the social safety net within society and, baby girl, all of us are responsible for that person who’s without a home.” That’s part of the work that we’re trying to do, trying to create a consciousness that does not allow a child to think that would be normal.
2. The second D is the idea of denial.
I don’t mean denial of facts but the denial of justice and how all that plays into maintaining inequity.
3. The last D of maintaining inequity is derailment, and I think this is often the
tool of smart, liberal, and sometimes even religious folks, who derail whatever the issue is at hand to focus on something else. When we try to focus on racial justice, it will sometimes be co-opted by other issues such as gender or class, as if we cannot acknowledge that we are intersectional beings and at the same time focus on the single issue of race and racism. Solidarity, for me, is oriented to the notion of calling the people of God to higher consciousness, helping them face and amend their own dysconsciousness, even as Christians, and helping them find how they deny power to others.
12
NO. 130 / SPRING 2021
Equity
Inclusion
When Dr. King wrote his “Letter From a Birmingham Jail,” he addressed all the religious leaders. They were not using their privilege and positionality to help the disenfranchised and oppressed within the public realm of society. I sat for years and years on church benches listening to sermons of liberation from a people who were stolen and then sold in a country that had left them behind, and yet, believed in the promises of America. My Jesus was very liberatory, and that is what I bring into my work in diversity, equity, and inclusion, and racial equity and racial justice—that liberatory message of Christ. We are always being called to our highest selves, and that while we are sinners, the focus is not on our sin but on how we become more Christ-like. In 2021, I believe our work lies at the intersection of the liberatory message of Christ, the conversion of people who say they are committed to solidarity, and for those that are experiencing racism at a profound structural level in society. cc Dr. Mary J. Wardell Ghirarduzzi is the Vice Provost for Diversity and Community Engagement at the University of San Francisco.
Address to the Discernment and Leadership Meeting 1-5 April 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FT13oWT6jCY [2] Universal Apostolic Preferences of the Society of Jesus, 2019-2029. https:// www.jesuits.global/sj_files/2020/05/2019-06_19feb19_eng.pdf [3] Matthew 7:6 [4] See, for example, the work of Joyce E. King at Santa Clara University [1]
Reflection process “ I hope that you come to find that which gives life a deep meaning for you. Something worth living for — maybe event worth dying for, something that energize you, enthuses you, enables you to keep moving ahead. I can’t tell you what it might be—that’s for you to find, to choose, to love. I can just encourage you to start looking and support you in the search.”
— ITA FORD, MM
Andraz Lazic
Readers are invited to use the following reflection to process the contents of this issue, and to move into action to bring about equity in their lives, and in our world.
WW Bry’onta Thomas addresses the complexities of being
1. Begin the reflection process by taking the time to read and reflect on the quote by Ita Ford, MM.
WW As Beth Clarke wrote about the necessary interrogation
• As you read the quote, prayerfully consider what thoughts and emotions came up for you. How do Ita Ford’s ideas tie into your approach toward education equity? 2. After reflecting on the words of Ita Ford, MM, read, reflect, and discuss the following questions:
WW Marcos Gonzales writes, “It is my hope that we never
return to the way things were. If we do, that will be a failure of our prophetic imagination to respond to the call for greater equity and justice that our education system has needed for so long.” As persons of faith and individuals of goodwill, how can we transform society in a way that we don’t return to old ways? As we have each had our “hearts ripped open by COVID” how are we making space for something new? Generative? Different?
young in this age of racial division and social isolation, how can we amplify voices of youth? What does it mean to listen to youth? and deconstruction of her cultural bias, what are your own cultural biases that might need exploration and deconstruction?
• What are the barriers that might be preventing you from working with those that have different experiences or ways of thinking than your own?
WW Dr. Mary J. Wardell Ghirarduzzi challenges us to look at
the present moment and ask for something better. How do we imagine a different reality grounded in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) that is orientated toward critical thinking, skill mastery, and responds to trauma in a restorative way? What part of the three Ds of equity and inclusion work do you struggle with most? How can you embrace that specific area?
• How can you hold your institutions accountable to DEI standards?
• How can we offer support to our educators and our students? A MATTER OF SPIRIT
13
``Join
us for our Spring Benefit and 30th Anniversary!
``Strategic
Planning Process
IPJC is in the midst of a “prophetic planning process” led by John Reid of The Reid Group. This is a pivotal moment in our society, the Church, and for IPJC that offers a powerful opportunity for reimagining. A number of public drafts will be shared with the community for feedback and input, culminating with final board approval. If you are interested in participating in the process and you have not already been contacted, please reach out to Will Rutt at wrutt@ipjc.org
``Vote Your Proxies! Northwest Coalition for Responsible Investment
IPJC hosts it’s first ever virtual Spring Benefit. Gather with us to celebrate and hear from the IPJC community and our founding Director, Linda Haydock, SNJM.
Register now at ipjc.org!
NWCRI and Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility members have filed 244 shareholder resolutions at 152 companies for 2021 corporate proxies. Issues include racial justice and diversity, the climate crisis, human rights and worker rights. If you are a stockholder in a company, vote your proxy or management will vote for you. If an investment firm manages your 401K or pension plan, inquire about its proxy voting polices. RESOURCE: ICCR 2021 Proxy Resolutions & Voting Guide - https://bit.ly/3bwlzEt
``Seattle
CORE Event
IPJC, in conjunction with Seattle CORE (Collaborative Organizing for Racial Equity), an initiative of Jesuits West, hosted a panel on restorative justice that over 150 people attended. The event was co-moderated by Jack Matter and Rieko Wellington from Seattle Preparatory School. Panelists included:
WW Jennifer Kelly, Jesuit Restorative Justice Initiative
Northwest WW Bobby Garcia, Jesuit Restorative Justice Initiative LA WW Joe Cotton, Catholic Mobilizing Network
Visit ipjc.org for a recording of the event.
14
NO. 130 / SPRING 2021
NEWS • ANNOUNCEMENTS • UPCOMING EVENTS
``Justice Café March - Criminal Justice
TM
IPJC
During this café, we considered the question: How can we reimagine a more just criminal justice system?
April - Earth Justice
Join Samantha for a virtual Justice Café on Sunday, April 18 at 1 pm PT, to discuss ways in which we can work towards eliminating environmental injustices that intersect with systemic racism. This will be the last Justice Café of the cycle. Register at ipjc.org. To use this resource in your community, email Samantha Yanity at syanity@ipjc.org Women from Colquepata, Peru at their virtual Circle meeting via Zoom
``Women’s Justice Circles Online Circles are thriving! WWWomen in Colquepata, Peru are raising
awareness about domestic violence and advocating for gender equality.
WW Women in Mt Vernon, WA advocated in
their school district for language access and translation services for all Latino parents, including those who speak Triqui or Mixteco as their first language.
WW Circle participants in Tigard, OR launched a social media
campaign on mental health for Latinos and requested their church to have a mental health counselor.
WW Everett, WA Circle participants moved their organization,
Connect Casino Road, to hire a mental health counselor to serve low-income Latinos. They got funded!
``2040
Movie & Discussion: Ecological Justice
The first event of the newly formed Creation Care Network of Catholic leaders throughout Western Washington hosted a viewing of the film “2040” and a discussion on February 7th. Motivated by practical solutions to the climate crisis with technologies that exist today, people left the discussion asking, “What’s next?”. If your parish or organization is interested in joining the Creation Care Network, contact Judy Byron, OP at jbyron@ipjc.org
``Donations
“ All life holds within itself a promise of resurrection.”
In Honor of: Judy Byron, OP, Anne Ellis, IPJC & NWCRI, Bob Mattingly, Virginia Pearson, OP, Samantha Yanity & Justice Cafés, Sisters of St Francis, Hermitage Place
In Memory of: Kathleen Carr, BVM, Mary Fleming, CSJP, Patricia Isaksen, Marjorie Kowalski Cole, Marian Malonson
—GABRIEL MARCEL
Blessings of life and peace in this Easter season, IPJC Staff A MATTER OF SPIRIT
15
Intercommunity
NON-PROFIT ORG. US Postage PAID Seattle, WA Permit No. 4711
Intercommunity Peace & Justice Center 1216 NE 65th St Seattle, WA 98115-6724
Peace & Justice Center
(206) 223-1138 • IPJC@IPJC.ORG • IPJC.ORG SPONSORING COMMUNITIES Adrian Dominican Sisters Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace Jesuits West Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, US-Ontario Province Sisters of Providence, Mother Joseph Province Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia Tacoma Dominicans
Spirit, Let the wisdom of God come alive among us. Awaken the awareness and compassion of our community leaders and legislators to the disparities within our current education system. Convict the hearts of those who are not performing their duties with integrity and fairness.
AFFILIATE COMMUNITIES Benedictine Sisters of Cottonwood, Idaho Benedictine Sisters of Lacey Benedictine Sisters of Mt. Angel Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose Dominican Sisters of Racine Dominican Sisters of San Rafael Sinsinawa Dominicans Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Sisters of St. Francis of Redwood City Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon Society of the Holy Child Jesus Sisters of the Holy Family Sisters of the Presentation, San Francisco Society of the Sacred Heart Ursuline Sisters of the Roman Union
Help them to become more diligent and focused on their obligation to protect the rights of all students to have access to the best academic experience possible.
Editor: Samantha Yanity Copy Editor: Gretchen Gundrum Layout: Sheila Edwards
Callum Shaw
EDITORIAL BOARD Judy Byron, OP Gretchen Gundrum Vince Herberholt Kelly Hickman Tricia Hoyt Nick Mele Catherine Punsalan-Manlimos Will Rutt
— ADAPTED FROM THE PRAYER INSTITUTE