Volume 4, Issue 1: May 27, 2021
R.I.S.E.* Up Newsletter
*Reinforcing Inclusion through Skill-building and Education
Image of Prageeta Sharma with quote - Americans have an expiration date on race the way they do for grief. At some point they expect you to get over it.
This past Tuesday marked the one-year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer, an event that accelerated the growing racial reckoning happening in the United States.

Survey data shows that support across America for the Black Lives Matter movement peaked last June, just days after Floyd’s death. Since that time, however, white Americans’ support for the movement has returned to where it was before May 2020 (about 37%), while a wide majority of Black Americans (about 85%) continue to support it. The ease and speed of forgetting about trauma can, in fact, exacerbate it. “A year after Floyd’s murder,” writes Eddie S. Glaude, “the wounds have not healed, and Americans have yet to decide whether we are willing to reimagine policing in this country…. Americans are skilled at forgetting.” 

Forgetting may come easily to some Americans, but anniversaries help us to refocus our attention on those things that we cannot afford to forget. The same is true for this particular Memorial Day: May 31-June 1, 2021 will mark the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, one of the deadliest episodes of coordinated racial terror in the 20th century. The violent destruction of the thriving Black community of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma had -- and continues to have -- a terrible impact on the hundreds of families whose lives and livelihoods were ruined. Many commemorative events are scheduled, including a virtual lecture at the University of Virginia and a series of programs hosted by the Centennial Commission in Tulsa. These commemorations matter because they help keep us focused on this long work for justice, help us remember how high the stakes are for all of us.

Here at JCU, many of us have worked hard throughout the past year to help keep these concerns at the forefront of our collective efforts and attention. This work of collective memory is part of our Ignatian tradition of reflection, which, as the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities says, “is foundational to discerning a path forward that draws us closer to God and the human family. Today, Jesuit colleges and universities are facing significant issues, particularly with regard to the debilitating sin of racism. At this challenging time in our nation’s history, reflecting together could not be more important, if we are to make good on our mission commitments.” To address this need for intentional reflection, the AJCU has designed an Anti-Racism Examen for Jesuit institutions entitled “Eyes to See.” 

In a few weeks (as described in "Division Announcements," below), JCU will hold an Afternoon of Reflection for faculty and staff with the “Eyes to See” Examen in honor of yet another commemoration: Juneteenth. Juneteenth commemorates the day in 1865 when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas to take control of the state and force enslavers to finally release those they still held in bondage. While Juneteenth commemorates the bitterness of America's long history with slavery, it is ultimately a celebration of liberation and hope.

I invite you to join us on June 18th to share in this celebration of "Freedom & Hope," as we explore together the richness of our shared experiences and values, bear witness to the injustices of our past and present, and forge a new path forward into a future where racial injustice is finally commemorated as a thing of the past.  
Headshot of Tiffany Galvin Green
Sincerely,

Tiffany Galvin Green, Ph.D.,
Vice President for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
P.s. If you missed the coverage this week on the anniversary of George Floyd’s death, we recommend these links:  
Division Announcements
Freedom & Hope:
An Afternoon of Reflection Honoring Juneteenth
Friday, June 18, 12:00 pm
Image reads Freedom and Hope - An Afternoon of Reflection Honoring Juneteenth - Friday June 18 12 pm Dolan Atrium open to all JCU faculty and staff
The Office of University Mission and Identity and the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are pleased to announce our first annual Afternoon of Reflection for faculty and staff in honor of Juneteenth.

Our program will be held IN PERSON on the afternoon of Friday, June 18, beginning with lunch at 12:00 noon in the Dolan Atrium. All faculty and staff (full time and part time) are invited to participate.

The afternoon's program will follow the discussion process laid out in "Eyes to See," AJCU's new Anti-Racism Examen. This program will qualify for a half-day of Mission Leave.

Learn more about Juneteenth, past and present, in our Juneteenth Reflection Day Resources on our Racial Equity Resources page.
"On Juneteenth" Community Book Read
Publicity photo of Annette Gordon-Reed alongside cover image of her book On Juneteenth
Join us in preparation for our "Freedom & Hope" event as a member of our Juneteenth community book read.

Our book selection is Harvard historian (and Pulitzer Prize winner) Annette Gordon-Reed's new essay collection On Juneteenth. All participants will receive a copy of the ebook upon registration.

We will meet on two Tuesdays from 12-1 pm (June 15 and June 22) to discuss the book. Open to all students, faculty and staff.
R.I.S.E. Higher: Featured Article of the Week
Beyond Implicit Bias
Are implicit bias workshops just a Band-Aid approach to racial justice and equity challenges on campuses, or can they actually have an impact?
Edward Pittman, Inside Higher Ed, May 20, 2021

The killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and other miscarriages of justice have, once again, awakened higher education to long-standing campus inequities. Both formal and structured conversations and dialogues have expanded -- hopefully for the better and toward concrete action steps. Along with institutional pledges, statements and prescribed reading lists, implicit bias and diversity awareness trainings have resurged as resources for faculty and staff members.

... But is implicit bias education effective in combating racial bias on college campuses? I was skeptical until three years ago. Then I recognized how such education can, in fact, have a significant impact -- yet only if it is expanded and reframed.
Banner reads Watching Our Words
"grandfathered in"
Idiom.

The process whereby individuals or organizations are permitted to continue operating under a previous set of expectations even after new rules are put in place.
The term "grandfather" in this phrase traces its origin to a specific series of racist voter-suppression laws in 19th century America.

After the 1870 passage of the 15th Amendment enfranchising Black men, many states immediately established new legal obstacles-- such as poll taxes and literacy tests -- designed to make it as difficult as possible for Black men to exercise their constitutional right to vote. However, since these also endangered the voter registration of poor white citizens, several states also passed laws allowing voters to circumvent the new restrictions if their grandfathers had been eligible to vote before a date sometime before 1870. The eligibility of all white men to vote was, therefore, "grandfathered in," while Black men were refused access to the ballot.

Read more about the term here: The Racial History Of The 'Grandfather Clause'
The "Watching our Words" feature discusses words or phrases in common use in American English with derogatory or offensive origins or meanings. Do you have a word or phrase you'd like us to feature in "Watching our Words"? Drop it into our Suggestion Box and we will explore it in a future newsletter!
Announcements from our network...
PLEASE take the Ignatian Solidarity Network's
Race, Justice and Equity survey
Extended deadline: June 4
Ignatian Solidarity Network logo
The Ignatian Solidarity Network is conducting a survey to better comprehend the contexts of race, equity, and justice at and within our network of Jesuit and Catholic institutions. The data gathered will aid in the development of a broad-based Racial Justice Action Plan, which will consider institutional and geographic contexts and perceptions, levels and availability of resources with respect to stated needs, and emerging trends, in order to discern the most effective and efficient means by which ISN might provide assistance. The survey takes roughly 15 minutes to complete.
Join the John Carroll delegation
for the 2021 Annual Meeting of the
AJCU Conference on Diversity and Equity!
June 2-3, 2021 | Online | Free registration!
promo image for AJCU CDE 2021 Annual Meeting
This year, the AJCU Conference on Diversity and Equity (CDE) will be holding its annual meeting virtually. This year's meeting will focus on ways that Jesuit colleges and universities can become anti-racist institutions. Participation is free! This year's meeting will be hosted by Canisius College. 
Celebrate Freedom at Cleveland Public Library
Promotional image for Celebrating Freedom events at Cleveland Public Library
Cleveland Public Library will host a week of events to commemorate Juneteenth, running June 12-June 19, 2021. Events include lectures, dialogues, spoken word events, panels, art and much more.
Quick takes: DEI in the headlines
pride flags
A new study from the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law conducted in collaboration with the Point Foundation, the nation’s largest LGBTQ scholarship fund, finds that the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the educational opportunities, financial security, and housing stability of many college students in the U.S., including an estimated 3.4 million LGBTQ students ages 18-40, who reported experiencing disproportionate levels of harm.
image of the state of Texas decorated with the colors and single star of the state flag
Educators and historians are sounding the alarm about three bills currently under consideration in Texas that would enact limits on how state history (especially the history of slavery and segregation) can be taught in the classroom. These bills, if they become law, would limit teacher-led discussions of current events; prohibit course credit for political activism or lobbying; ban teaching of The 1619 Project; limit discussion of the influence of racism on the state's legal system, create a committee to “promote patriotic education” about the state’s secession from Mexico in 1836, largely by men who were fighting to expand slavery; and block exhibits at San Antonio’s Alamo complex from explaining that major figures in the Texas Revolution were slave owners.
Video of the Week
This week's video features The Linda Lindas, a punk band from Los Angeles whose song "Racist, Sexist Boy" went viral last week after the LA Public Library shared a clip of the song from the band's library concert. The song was written, as the teen songwriter explains in this clip, in response to experiencing anti-Asian racism from a classmate.
Other articles we're reading this week ...