DEC. 7 - DEC. 13, 2021
sonomastatestar.com
Student Life 7
Conversations with Black and Brown in Blue concludes informational events
JEFFREY AVIÑA STAFF WRITER
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his past Weds., Dec. 1, Dr. John Brown Childs opened the finale of “Conversations wih Black and Brown in Blue” with a powerful quote to set the tone. “If we can learn how to disagree with respect, we can work on issues we agree on,” said Dr. John Brown Childs at the beginning of the event. He was also joined by Cynthia Renaud, retired Chief of Police for the Santa Monica Police Department, to speak about the challenges they had to overcome existing alongside the justice system and as well as how to improve upon it. The event was hosted by Chief Nadar Oweiss of Sonoma State Police and as well as Dr. John Sawyer, Vice President of Student Affairs. The lecture began with Dr. Sawyer recounting the need for students and faculty to be having conversations with individuals inside law enforcement. As has been said many times throughout the lecture series, “If you don’t have a seat at the table, then you invariably are on the menu.” He also mentioned that it was important to have a police presence in more dangerous communities but that there also needs to be a “transformation” of the police instead of the more popular policy belief of reform or defunding the police. The theme of the evening was transcommunality, a word that Dr. Brown Childs uses to speak more specifically on the subject of working together from a place of commonality or agreement instead of focusing on the parts of ourselves that’s different. In his work at the Soledad Correctional Training Facility, Dr. Brown Childs teaches transcommunality to the men incarcerated there and has noticed a difference in their behavior since he began instruction. “The men with whom we work there come from all different walks of life, vocations, and affiliations but we can sit there and work on common tasks together and they really do emphasize the mutual respect, and if you have mutual respect, then you can disagree.” Said Dr. Brown Childs on his work within the correctional facility. “You can disagree, but you don’t have to be disagreeable.” Dr. Brown Childs, along with being present for the 1965 Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee protest in Alabama, is also a celebrated author and has one book on the subject of transcommunality. “Transcommunality: From the Policies of Conversation to the Ethics of Respect.” was published in 2003 and has since been an excellent source of information on the subject. Chief Renaud added upon Dr. Brown Childs’s words on transcommunality and said that now more than ever, with the importance of transcommunality, we need to “help each other live within a unit,” and to make strides towards understanding each other by way of transcommunality. She also made the point to describe that, “community policing isn’t something that you do, it’s a philosophy.” After retiring in October of last year, Chief Renaud has since continued her work by becoming the Immediate Past President of the International Association for Chiefs of Police. The IACP is the world’s largest and most inf luential professional association for police leaders with its mission being to enhance community safety by shaping the future of law enforcement. In addition to the conversation with both speakers, the lecture series also served as a way to help out students by raff ling off a sum of money that could be used on books next semester. One of this week’s winners, Terra Bransfield, had previously attended all of the lectures but had only attended one this semester. “There were a lot of different folks with different perspectives and stories and I definitely found myself not necessarily agreeing, but it allowed me to hear all the different perspectives that I might not have considered,” said
STAR // Ileana Aleman Earlier in the Fall 2021 semester, FBI Special Agent Darryl Thornton opened the “Black and Brown in Blue” event for students, which came to a close this week.
Bransfield about the lecture series. “I think that changing the term from reform to transform is an interesting way to think about it.” The Conversations with Black and Brown in Blue began on campus as a way to better involve the students and faculty in tough conversations around policing and biases that some hold against law enforcement. The lecture series aims to “encourage open and honest dialogue in order to reduce barriers and misperceptions.” To watch this lecture and the last four, visit the Student Involvement page on the Sonoma State website and go to ‘Conversations with Black and Brown in Blue.’
Sonoma State aims to boost donations for Giving Tuesday E PEDRO ORTEGA PEREZ STAFF WRITER
very November, along with Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday, there is another special day that is meaningful to those that care about spending time with those they care about and giving back to the community. While Black Friday and Cyber Monday are more so considered “consumer holidays”, Giving Tuesday is a special day that lands every Tuesday after Thanksgiving. This year, Giving Tuesday fell on Nov. 30, and it is a national movement in which a number of international and national nonprofits participate to raise funds for their different organizations. This global day of giving started back in 2012, and has since generated more than 1.9 billion dollars for nonprofits all over the United States. Senior director of alumni engagement and annual giving, Tiffany O’Neil, mentioned that, “Sonoma State participates by inviting donors and alumni to donate in an effort to support SSU. The suggested place to give to is The Fund for Sonoma State, which supports various different programs and initiatives on campus. It is also part of our end-of-year solicitation and an opportunity for alumni to give back to the university”. The money raised through the Sonoma State Fund is unrestricted, meaning that there isn’t a specific way in which the money needs to be used. The funds are mostly used for anything that is considered of “high priority” amongst the students. That being said, the usage always fluctuates. For example, it can be used for, “student basic needs, food, security, housing, and even the emergency care fund through ‘Associated Students’,” according to O’Neil. According to the Giving Tuesday website, “The Giving Tuesday Data Commons estimates that 35 million adults participated in many ways on Giving Tuesday 2021 throughout the U.S., which is a 6% increase over 2020. Giving in the United States alone totaled $2.7 billion, representing a 9% increase compared to Giving Tuesday 2020, and a 37% increase since 2019. With unprecedented levels of giving in 2020, these totals represent a significant continued trend of increased generosity.” As mentioned previously, the event is focused on reaching communities all over the world. Giving comes in various forms, like the “pass the bread” campaign that allowed for one million loaves of bread to be donated in order to help with hunger in the Philippines. In Nepal, doctors and volunteers visited rural areas and offered eye and ear screening and checkups at no cost. Whether it be monetary or by offering skill and overall willingness to help, events like this demonstrate that the special holiday is all about giving. Larissa Hernandez, a student at SSU, expressed that she had recently learned of Giving Tuesday, and she is grateful that this movement was founded. “I think it’s pretty nice that this global movement exists. I honestly had never heard of it before this year. But I like that it comes after some hectic times, like all the shopping. Especially this year with all those “smash-and-grabs” at the stores, it’s good to see people giving back and participating in acts of kindness. Also, since not everyone gets to be around family for the holidays this year, it’s a great way for people to get their minds off of that.” Stephanie Bautista, also a student at SSU, said she’d wished she’d known
COURTESY // @sonomastateuniversity on Instagram Sonoma State encourages students and faculty to participate in Giving Tuesday, a relatively recent holiday focused on giving back to the community for the holidays.
about the event ahead of time. “I think it would be nice to be more involved in a day like that. If I had known earlier, I definitely would have wanted to participate.” While Giving Tuesday was only founded in 2012, it’s not uncommon that it takes some time to fully get off of the ground. However, Sonoma State aims to educate students and faculty about this special day, and encourages them to help out where they can. If anyone would like to give back and participate on this special, national holiday, they can do so by visiting givingtuesday.org. On this website, interested donors can access the resource tab and download the “toolkit for individuals”. This kit has dozens of ideas of which one can choose to do so in order to give back. It ranges from volunteering at local organizations, teaching a specific set of skills to people, donating to an organization of choice, or just simply speeding kindness and checking in amongst friends and neighbors.