21 minute read
New direction at Stonewall Center
from c-2021-04-08
New direction
Stonewall Alliance Center appoints leader focused on inclusion, advocacy
by Ashiah Scharaga ashiahs@newsreview.com
Andrea Mox vividly remembers her first experience with Chico’s Stonewall Alliance Center. Just talking about it brings back the butterflies in her stomach from that day over 20 years ago, when she walked through the organization’s doors and said out loud for the first time in public that she is a lesbian.
Mox told the CN&R that she was immediately welcomed. Stonewall offered her a lot of support and helped her navigate a challenging time in her life.
That’s why, for Mox, being appointed as the organization’s executive director in late February is an honor. She knows firsthand the difference that the center has made in people’s lives, and she’s passionate about its mission: to cultivate a safe, inclusive environment; and to unite, strengthen and affirm the LGBTQ community by providing support, resources, education, advocacy and opportunities for celebration.
“It feels really good for me to be able to give back and to be involved with an organization that was so helpful for me at a pivotal time in my life and a scary time, and I remember that,” Mox said. “Anything that I can do to create safe spaces and meaningful connection for the LGBTQ population, it just means a lot.”
Since coming out, Mox has pushed for positive changes for the community, instituting programs for transgender students as a staff member at both Chico State and Butte College. Her vision as Stonewall’s new director is to focus on education and advocacy while drafting a road map for the nonprofit’s future, exploring ways to implement new programs to help the center grow.
Stonewall has gone through significant turnover in the executive director role, with Mox being the fourth to officially take on the title in less than three years. Alyssa Larson, the organization’s events coordinator, said it has been challenging for the staff to adapt to constant changes in leadership. Mox has been engaged with the team, Larson said, watching, learning, participating and making suggestions—trying to figure out how her role can support and improve
Take Pride Stonewall Alliance Center is hosting its annual Chico Pride celebration in June and is seeking artists, musicians, performers and sponsors. Visit stonewallchico.com for more info. Andrea Mox is the new executive director of Stonewall Alliance Center in Chico.
PHOTO BY ASHIAH SCHARAGA
upon Stonewall’s current programs.
Longtime advocate
Mox grew up in Cupertino but has lived in Chico for decades, choosing to stay put after graduating from Chico State because of the love she felt for the town.
In 2000, Mox had been married to a man for 16 years and was raising two young children. She was well-established in her career in information technology at Chico State. That was the year she came out, turning to Stonewall for strength and encouragement.
Today, in addition to her new role with Stonewall, she operates
the Rainbow Rescue Ranch, caring for animals with disabilities with her wife, Lindsay Briggs; son, Trevor; and ranch-mate, Danny.
Before taking on the executive director position full-time, Mox worked at Chico State for 25 years and at Butte College for nearly eight years, “doing nerd stuff,” she said, starting in technical support positions and working her way up to Chief Technology Officer at Butte College before her departure.
In addition to her personal connection, she also has a professional history with Stonewall. She was a founding member of the Gender and Sexuality Equity Task Force at Butte College and worked closely with Stonewall staff to plan transgender awareness and remembrance events and student panels.
Throughout her career, Mox recognized the influential positions she held, she said, and looked for opportunities to push for significant, positive changes for the LGBTQ community. Inspired by student activism at Butte College, Mox led a campus-wide project that implemented legal and chosen name changes for transgender students throughout the college’s internal systems, such as classroom rosters, student learning programs and health services. Students can now enter their chosen name, gender identity and pronouns, and the system affirms as well as protects student identities, avoiding outing them in official communications, for example.
While at Chico State, Mox spearheaded a similar initiative, working with colleagues to incorporate chosen names for transgender students within the university’s virtual learning and class management system.
Mox has also presented at statewide workshops, speaking on LGBTQ issues and how technology can be utilized to create safer spaces and experiences for students.
Wider reach
Stonewall Alliance Center offers a variety of services to the LGBTQ community, including low- to no-cost counseling; social and support groups; free HIV and Hepatitis C testing; assistance with legal-name and gender-marker changes; gender-affirming chest binders and bras; and referrals to LGBTQaffirming health care, legal assistance and other services.
It also hosts the annual Chico Pride celebration, which will be held in June this year (see infobox opposite page), Trans Month (which just concluded in March), Trans Day of Remembrance and other art and performance-based events.
Recently, Stonewall has focused creating new programs and support systems
A crowd sings and dances along to live music in the Chico City Plaza during Chico Pride’s Downtown Festival in 2019.
PHOTO COURTESY OF STONEWALL ALLIANCE CENTER NEWSLINES CONTINUED ON PAGE 15
Did you know:
USED MOTOR OIL NEVER WEARS OUT?
Used motor oil never wears out. It just gets dirty but can be recycled, cleaned, and used again. Recycling used motor oil conserves a natural resource (oil) and is good for the environment, too. Motor oil poured onto the ground or into storm drains, or tossed into trash cans (even in a sealed container) can contaminate and pollute the soil, groundwater, streams, and rivers (and it’s illegal!). When you take your used oil to a certified center for recycling, you are protecting the environment and conserving a valuable resource. For more information, visit www.buttecounty.net/recyclebutte/usedoil
BUTTE COUNTY CERTIFIED OIL RECYCLING CENTERS: These locations will accept your used motor oil
( ** ) These locations will also accept your used oil filters.
WHERE TO GO IN CHICO
• AutoZone, 136 W. East Avenue** • AutoZone, 1843 Park Avenue • Chuck Patterson Toyota-Scion-Dodge, 200 East Avenue** • Jiffy Lube, 1218 Mangrove Avenue** • Jiffy Lube, 2452 Notre Dame Boulevard** • O’Reilly Auto Parts, 1618 Mangrove Avenue** • O’Reilly Auto Parts, 2485 Notre Dame Boulevard** • Pep Boys Automotive Supercenters, 1555 Mangrove Avenue • Pick-N-Pull/ Chico #82, 397 E Park Avenue • Pro Lube, 2485 Notre Dame Boulevard • Butte Regional Household Hazardous Waste Facility, 1101 Marauder Street
Open Friday 9:00 am to 1:00 pm & Saturday 9:00 am - 4:00 pm.
WHERE TO GO IN GRIDLEY
• AutoZone, 1636 Highway 99** • Household Hazardous Waste Recycling, Ord Ranch Road** • Ord Ranch Transfer Station (Weekends only) • O’Reilly Auto Parts, 1590 Highway 99**
WHERE TO GO IN OROVILLE
• AutoZone, 1970 Oroville Dam Boulevard** • Avery’s Lube & Oil, 3034 Olive Highway** • Butte County Public Works, #9 County Center Drive** • Jiffy Lube, 1450 Oro Dam Boulevard** • O’Reilly Auto Parts, 2525 Oroville Dam Boulevard East** • Recology, 2720 S 5th Avenue, Due to COVI-19, please call to schedule an appointment. (530) 533-5868
WHERE TO GO IN PARADISE
• AutoZone, 7542 Skyway Road** • Jiffy Lube, 6081 Clark Road** • O’Reilly Auto Parts, 7368 Skyway**
for LGBTQ people of color. Last summer, the organization launched the Safer Action Support with Stonewall (S.A.S.S.), a team of volunteers focused on providing safety at protests and other local events led by people of color. Stonewall also established the QT*POC Direct Aid Fund to provide emergency financial support to queer and trans people of color. Since then, Stonewall has granted approximately $8,000 to about 17 people, according to Larson, paying for essential needs such as transportation, onetime rental assistance and energy bills.
Stonewall received seed funding from United Way to establish the QT*POC Fund and just received another grant from the organization to expand its efforts. It will be collaborating with local leaders and teachers who are people of color to create a cultural competency training on anti-racism. This will be similar to Stonewall’s cultural competency training centered on LGBTQ issues and identities, which it offers to local businesses, nonprofits, government offices and classrooms.
These issues are important for the organization, Mox said. She had already hit the ground running two weeks into the job by attending a digital conference with LGBTQ center leaders across the U.S., sharing best practices and ideas on how to improve and grow their programs, including a focus on intersectionality and serving people of color.
Drag star J Lau makes her way to the stage for a performance during Chico Pride 2019.
PHOTO COURTESY OF STONEWALL ALLIANCE CENTER Mox says advocacy work is far from over, especially in rural towns like Chico, where representation, inclusivity and the safety of LGBTQ community members is still a significant issue.
Stonewall must prioritize creating welcoming, safe spaces for LGBTQ people of color, Mox said, “but we have to do it in a way where we’re not just putting another emotional tax on that population.”
Moving forward, Mox says she is a cautious optimist when it comes to the strides that are being made with the causes that Stonewall supports. She was thrilled about last year’s “rainbow wave,” when a recordbreaking number of LGBTQ people ran for political offices and the United States saw historic political wins among transgender people and LGBTQ people of color.
“To me, that is so exciting, to see some actual representation that mirrors what our society really is. And my hope is that, absolutely, we kind of have broken a little bit of that glass ceiling … and maybe we’re actually going to be coming into a space where that will start becoming more of the norm and we will see more representation across all of our communities,” Mox said.
“This is life or death for some people, what Stonewall does and what we provide,” Mox said. “I really believe that Stonewall is headed in the right direction. … We definitely want to educate and do it in ways that will gain positive momentum for us, but yet we also want to, I think, stand our ground where we need to stand our ground and be OK with that as a center, and be prepared for any kind of potential repercussions from that. And I think as a strong center, as long as we are committed and focused on what our mission is, then we can stand that ground.” Ω A WORD…not often heard in everyday conversation. A CRIME…that is devastating and impacts everyone differently. A LOCAL STATISTIC…90-95% of our clients are adults who were Sexually Violated as Children. INCEST SURVIVORS…struggle with addiction, depression, domestic violence, guilt, low self-esteem, shame and the list goes on. If you or someone you know has experienced INCEST or any childhood sexual violence…
…it’s not your fault. ...we offer counseling …you are not alone. and support groups.
We are open and affirming to all regardless of ability, gender, gender identity or sexual orientation. Butte/Glenn: 530-891-1331 | Tehama: 530-529-3980 Corning: 530-824-3982
Virtual Business Hours: M–F 10am-6pm (excluding Holidays) 24hr CRISIS LINE: 530-342-RAPE (7273)
Collect Calls Accepted Rape Crisis Intervention
of North Central California
aka Rape Crisis Intervention and Prevention
Serving our Tri-County Community Members since 1974
CHANGING THE CONVERSATION
Book in Common How to be an Antiracist aligns with the times
by Evan Tuchinsky evant@newsreview.com
When Mechoopda Tribal Council Chairman Dennis Ramirez concurred with Chico State and Butte County on the 20202021 Book in Common, then gave a short testimonial, he endorsed the overarching message contained in the title, How to be an Antiracist.
He didn’t reflect on deeper subtexts to the memorandum of understanding he signed—with the university, which sits on land his ancestors inhabited, or with the county, which contested the legitimacy of his people in a series of court cases spanning a decade.
As covered extensively in the Chico News & Review, previous iterations of the Board of Supervisors pursued legal challenges to stop the Mechoopda from developing property along Highway 149. The county’s case questioned whether they constituted a tribe—an argument that, ultimately, did not persuade a federal judge (see “Tribe on top,” July 21, 2016) or hold up on appeal. A new set of supervisors ceased litigation (see “Change of heart,” August 16, 2018), and the Mechoopda are now working on an agreement with the county to build their casino.
Five years ago, thinking back over the legal fight that went back to 2008, Ramirez expressed pain both personal and tribal.
“I think of my mother, my grandmother—my goodness, how can you not say that [the Mechoopda are a Native tribe]?” Ramirez told the CN&R then. “It just blows my mind how people think. Yeah, I could understand it a hundred years ago, but not today.”
Some wounds never fully heal.
Speaking with the CN&R last Wednesday (March 31), again at the tribal office on Mission Ranch Boulevard, Ramirez said the divisiveness “softened after the political part” of the dispute ended, “but as personal thinking, yeah, it still hurts. It will always hurt. Those comments are not going to go away.
“But as a political person for the tribe, I have to make things happen, economically. With that thought, I have to keep that [emotion] to the side and not let it get personal on this economic development portion of it.”
Ramirez’s perspective meshes with key concepts in Ibram X. Kendi’s book. How to be an Antiracist does not focus simply on the individual, though it is written as a memoir; it defines racism more broadly, as a function of policies and systems. Kendi, through his (self-)examination, calls for a reckoning: with personal prejudices, with society, with inequality. He also calls for change.
This message resonates with Ramirez, along with those involved with selecting the Book in Common as a centerpiece for education across county schools for the 2020-21 school year. Kendi will participate in an online discussion April 21 hosted by Chico State English professor Kim Jaxon and AS President Bre Holbert (see infobox). The conversation takes place against a backdrop of racial unrest in the country—on the heels of a mass shooting of Asian-American women in Atlanta and the murder trial of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for the asphyxiation of George Floyd, whose killing sparked a wave of protests, including large ones in Chico last June.
“Those who are going to read it are going to understand it and those who won’t read it are not going to understand it—but that’s the reason for the book, to be aware of what’s still happening in this beautiful country we still have,” Ramirez said. “From major cities to a small community, you’ll always get that hate. It’s a lack of understanding or a lack of communication.”
Ongoing work
Jaxon’s roots with Kendi’s writing trace beyond How to be an Antiracist, published in 2019. She discovered his work via his 2016 National Book Award winner Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America. Jaxon drew further insights from Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019.
Yet, when the Book in Common committee asked her to co-moderate Kendi’s talk, she had strong reservations.
“My first thought, of course, was, ‘You know I’m white?’—and not wanting to center whiteness in this conversation,” Jaxon told the CN&R by phone. “Ultimately, the decision for me became, ‘Yes, this also isn’t just the work for people of color. This is everybody’s work.’ Then it felt more appropriate.
“Of course: This is a conversation we all should be having, not just, ‘Hey, people who aren’t white are having this conversation.’” She sees the book as a catalyst for that conversation.
Kendi weaves seminal history of Black Americans into his treatise, starting with a high school speech he gave in a Martin Luther King Jr. oratory contest. That day 21 years ago, before an audience of 1,000 in a Virginia chapel, Kendi delivered lines that, upon re-evaluation, he’s come to regret. He writes about the different lens through which he views the past—King’s, his, others’—and the world.
“Americans have long been trained to see the deficiencies of people rather than policy,” he writes in How to be an Antiracist. “It’s a pretty easy mistake to make: People are in our faces. Policies are distant. We are particularly poor at seeing the policies lurking behind the struggles of people.”
As such, Kendi redefines terms in his book: “The opposite of racist isn’t ‘not racist.’ It is ‘anti-racist.’ What’s the difference? … One either believes problems are rooted in groups of people, as a racist, or locates the roots of problems in power and policies, as an anti-racist. One either allows racial inequities to persevere, as a racist, or confronts racial inequities, as an anti-racist. There is no in-between safe space of ‘not racist.’”
His call to action connected with Jaxon. She’d already made the commitment to start the reading list for each of her courses with an author of color, but now she’s determined to initiate more widespread institutional changes at the university, where she feels she has the ability to make the biggest impact.
“I really appreciated that this was presented as an ongoing story, that this work was never done—that’s what struck me first,” Jaxon said. “I think I needed in some way permission to not know everything all the time, to know that the work of being an anti-racist is constant and in progress, and that you can wobble on a given day or a moment.
“I think his narrative woven in with policy really helps you put yourself in that narrative and where you are in your own journey.”
A resident of Capay, Jaxon raised her adult children in the 30-mile radius of Chico where her family has lived for seven generations. She noted a proverbial rite of passage for young people coming to terms with attitudes “pervasive” in the rural North State.
“It is a hard lesson … when you recognize the [racial] issues in the community that you also love,” she said. “Especially being white here; it would be so easy to ignore.”
Jaxon hadn’t spoken to Kendi as of last week, and the CN&R wasn’t able to secure an interview with him, but the author has expressed familiarity with at least one local issue of race: He recently retweeted, with commentary, an article last month in the Guardian about unresolved aftermath of Chico police fatally shooting Desmond Phillips, a Black man suffering a mental health crisis, in 2017.
Far left: Chico City Plaza was the site of multiple police-violence protests last June in the wake of George Floyd’s killing.
CN&R FILE PHOTO BY KEN SMITH
Mechoopda Tribal Council Chairman Dennis Ramirez attributes racism to “a lack of understanding or a lack of communication.”
PHOTO BY EVAN TUCHINSKY
Bigger than oneself
Holbert came to Chico from Lodi, where she recalls her ethnicity raising few, if any, eyebrows. She has African
ANTIRACIST CONTINUED ON PAGE 18 Book discussion:
Chico State will host a virtual event with the author of How to be an
Antiracist, Ibram X. Kendi,
April 21, at 5:30 p.m. Visit www.csuchico.edu/bic to register, submit a question and learn more about the 2020-21 Book in Common.
“Race is a mirage but one that humanity has organized itself around in very real ways. Imagining away the existence of races in a racist world is as conserving and harmful as imagining away classes in a capitalistic world—it allows the ruling races and classes to keep on ruling. … If we cannot identify racial inequity, then we will not be able to identify racist policies. If we cannot identify racist policies, then we cannot challenge racist policies. If we cannot challenge racist policies, then racist power’s final solution will be achieved: a world of inequity none of us can see, let alone resist.” —Ibram X. Kendi,
from How to be an Antiracist
and Latin heritage; with her uncle and mother well-established in the Central Valley town, Holbert recalls no overt discrimination.
That said, she might not have recognized it. Chico State has expanded her awareness of racial issues—and, unfortunately, Chico has demonstrated racism. Besides the occasional look askance, Holbert relayed her experience in a store self-checkout lane one night when an employee asked if she intended to pay for all her items, then hovered. She left feeling “a bad energy” and that she was profiled.
“Growing up as an Afra-Latina, I didn’t feel like I fit into really any box,” Holbert, a senior, said by phone. “I didn’t fit with brown students, I didn’t fit with white students, I was just kind of like this mixed child going through my life and my days, not having a solid group of people I could say, ‘Oh, I relate to them culturally and ethnicity-wise.’
“I mean, I relate to people in my community. But it’s different coming to Chico, because there are people who are like me. Even though this is a more conservative area, the school itself has a wealth of different cultures and perspectives that I identify with.”
The closer she is to campus, the more comfortable she feels. That physical proximity coincides with shared ideas—operating within the same spaces of inclusion, for which she advocates not only within Associated Students but also within the College of Agriculture and statewide Cal State Student Association.
“A lot of times, folks who don’t come from a diverse or ethnic background or a predominantly marginalized group oftentimes will feel this jump to feel guilty about something that is way bigger than them,” she said. “We’re so small in the fabric of this issue, all issues related to race and ethnicity, [that] we all have a part in it and a part to change it.”
Ramirez agrees. During the Black Lives Matter protests last summer, a man came up and screamed at him, “You need to go back where you’re from!” Ramirez replied, “You know, brother, this is where I’m from. I’m Native American.” The man said nothing more and walked away.
“I don’t know if he was looking to instigate trouble,” Ramirez reflected, “but before you open your mouth, know who you’re talking to by simple dialogue.”
Communication—to bridge rifts that cleave our country—is something he hopes will flow from How to be an Antiracist.
“It depends on how many hands that book gets into,” Ramirez said. “Right now, with that trial [of Chauvin], and others, it’s [looking like racism is] going to keep going on.
“Growing up as a brown man, we were never taught to be racist to anybody,” he added. “But then again, a lot of people are embedded by that from generation to generation.” Ω
Bre Holbert, Associated Students president at Chico State, will co-moderate a How to be an Antiracist discussion April 21.
PHOTO COURTESY OF CHICO STATE Kim Jaxon, English professor at Chico State, will co-moderate Ibram X. Kendi’s discussion April 21.
PHOTO BY JASON HALLEY, COURTESY OF CHICO STATE
