Our memo brings together information that reflects the current thinking on how to progress Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the workplace. Each month it is bursting with highlights for reflection and inspiration. Let us continue to work together to help influence social change, to achieve a safer and fairer society.
*Please note that this memo reflects the feelings and thoughts of your Diversity Committee. It is not meant to capture all the feelings within our Department. We openly recognize all may not agree. We do hope these memos help educate all of us about diversity issues and in addition invoke thoughtful and courteous discussion and debate*
~ The Pediatrics Diversity Committee
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2022 is in full swing, with one month down. It is too cold and covid is still with us.
February is Black History Month and there is much to learn, appreciate, and recognize in the contributions of Black Americans. This month might be a good time to read Dr. Nikole Hannah-Jones’ book, “The 1619 Project”. It is now available on Amazon and Kindle.
The 1st of the month is, “Chinese New Year”. The 15th is, “Nirvana Day”, which is the annual celebration for Buddhist to remember the death of Buddha after he had reached Nirvana. The 15th is shared with Susan B. Anthony, as it is her birthday. Susan B. Anthony is recognized as one of the most important figures in woman’s suffrage.
As we start this new year, we hope the efforts of your Pediatric DEI Committee will be very visible and educational, and at times controversial. We hope to invoke a lot of discussion. Through discussion, we will make progress and become a better Department of Pediatrics. We welcome more involvement from members of the Department including staff, residents, fellows, and faculty – no experience necessary.
We are in the process of developing sub-committees to further our work, expedite our cause, and make it possible for more people to be involved. Your beliefs do not need to be the same as that of the current committee. If you are interested, please let us know which committee would be of interest to you. If you have an area of interest that is not listed, please make that known. The topics for these sub-committees may grow, shrink, or disappear. Please send an email to peds_diversity@med.unc.edu if you are interested in joining.
Our sub-committees to date will include:
- Pediatric Student Curriculum
- Pediatric Resident Curriculum
- Pediatric Fellow Curriculum
- Town Hall and Grand Round Topics
- Advocacy for our Hispanic Population
- Advocacy for our Native American Population
- Promotion Diversity Statements
- Clinical Care
- Mentorship of UIM in Pediatrics
- Exit Interviews
- Wellness
Your Pediatrics Diversity Committee
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UPCOMING DIVERSITY TOWN HALL |
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Date: Thursday, February 3, 2022
Time: 12:00p - 1:00p
Presented by: Katherine Croft, RN, Transgender Health Program at UNC
Meeting ID: 980 2055 2152
Passcode 076660
*Please Mute Your Microphone*
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One of the "Big Six" leaders of the civil rights movement in the 1960s, John Lewis continued to fight for people's rights since joining Congress in 1987.
Who Was John Lewis?
Early Life
John Robert Lewis was born outside of Troy, Alabama, on February 21, 1940. Lewis had a happy childhood — though he needed to work hard to assist his sharecropper parents — but he chafed against the unfairness of segregation. He was particularly disappointed when the Supreme Court ruling in 1954's Brown v. The Board of Education didn't affect his school life. However, hearing King's sermons and news of the 1955-56 Montgomery bus boycott inspired Lewis to act for the changes he wanted to see.
Civil Rights Struggle
In 1957, Lewis left Alabama to attend the American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville, Tennessee. There, he learned about nonviolent protest and helped to organize sit-ins at segregated lunch counters. He was arrested during these demonstrations, which upset his mother, but Lewis was committed to the civil rights movement and went on to participate in the Freedom Rides of 1961.
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Black History Month starts today; we explain why it's crucial that we celebrate this month and beyond
The 1st October marks the start of Black History Month, a celebration of the Black experience that is overlooked in British schools. The Eurocentric curriculum does little to highlight Black history beyond slavery, which is disempowering not only to the Black British community to whom it creates a greater sense of not belonging, but also to white school children who are not taught the broader picture of their country's background. In 2021, with so many more aware than ever before of the systemic racism faced by Black people, it feels crucial to acknowledge and support this important celebration.
So, what is Black History Month?
Black History Month celebrates the huge contribution that Black men and women have made to British society. For too long, Black history has been sidelined, ignored, appropriated and misrepresented in the UK and beyond; this month-long celebration recognizes the events and people who have shaped and continue to shape our society. Its UK mission statement is: "Dig deeper, look closer, think bigger." Read more…..
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By Jon Meacham
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • An intimate and revealing portrait of civil rights icon and longtime U.S. congressman John Lewis, linking his life to the painful quest for justice in America from the 1950s to the present—from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Soul of America
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST AND COSMOPOLITAN
John Lewis, who at age twenty-five marched in Selma, Alabama, and was beaten on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, was a visionary and a man of faith. Drawing on decades of wide-ranging interviews with Lewis, Jon Meacham writes of how this great-grandson of a slave and son of an Alabama tenant farmer was inspired by the Bible and his teachers in nonviolence, Reverend James Lawson and Martin Luther King, Jr., to put his life on the line in the service of what Abraham Lincoln called “the better angels of our nature.” From an early age, Lewis learned that nonviolence was not only a tactic but a philosophy, a biblical imperative, and a transforming reality. At the age of four, Lewis, ambitious to become a minister, practiced by preaching to his family’s chickens. When his mother cooked one of the chickens, the boy refused to eat it—his first act, he wryly recalled, of nonviolent protest. Integral to Lewis’s commitment to bettering the nation was his faith in humanity and in God—and an unshakable belief in the power of hope.
Meacham calls Lewis “as important to the founding of a modern and multiethnic twentieth- and twenty-first-century America as Thomas Jefferson and James Madison and Samuel Adams were to the initial creation of the Republic itself in the eighteenth century.” A believer in the injunction that one should love one's neighbor as oneself, Lewis was arguably a saint in our time, risking limb and life to bear witness for the powerless in the face of the powerful. In many ways he brought a still-evolving nation closer to realizing its ideals, and his story offers inspiration and illumination for Americans today who are working for social and political change.
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February 9 @ 6:30 pm
February 9 @ 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Disability and Dating: Romantic Relationships – A Panel Discussion - Virtual: Join the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities for a panel discussion featuring people with disabilities and their experiences with dating and romantic relationships. The panel will be moderated by Michelle Ballasiotes, a current Occupational Therapy (OT) student at UNC-Chapel Hill … Continued
February 12 @ 7:30 pm
Dear Baldwin: A Podcast : Swain Hall Black Box Theatre 101 E. Cameron Avenue, Chapel Hill, NC - Part of the Process Series, Dear Baldwin: A Podcast is hosted, created and written by Dr. Sharon P. Holland, Chair of the Department of American Studies, and local activist Delores Chandler. This performance will take the form of a live taping … Continued
February 18 @ 2:00 pm
Race and Memory at UNC : Hyde Hall, University Room Chapel Hill, NC - This event was originally scheduled to take place in January. William Sturkey, associate professor in the History Department, and Danita Mason-Hogans, civil rights activist and historian, will discuss the history of race and memory at UNC-Chapel Hill from 1789 to the … Continued
Featured February 20 @ 6:00 pm
University/Community MLK Memorial Banquet : (This event was originally scheduled for January 16 but was postponed due to concerns about inclement weather creating power outages and internet interruption) The University/Community MLK Memorial Banquet features a keynote speaker, entertainment, the presentation of the MLK/Edith Wiggins High … Continued
Featured February 22 @ 6:30 pm
MLK Lecture and Awards Ceremony : Great Hall, Student Union - The MLK Lecture and Awards Ceremony has featured such speakers as journalist Soledad O’Brien, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, former NAACP President/activist Benjamin Jealous, professor/author/radio host Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, social activist/author/co-creator of #BlackLivesMatter Patrisse Cullors, and many more since its … Continued
February 28 @ 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Mike Wiley Productions: DAR HE: The Lynching of Emmett Till : Virtual - In honor of Black History Month, the Friday Center for Continuing Education proudly presents a live, online theatrical performance presented by acclaimed actor and playwright Mike Wiley. Crafted from the public record, his one-man, multiple-character performance of Dar He offers … Continued
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Reoccuring Events/Resources:
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Underrepresented in Medicine Community List
The purpose of the Underrepresented in Medicine Community List is to allow students, staff, residents, and faculty of underrepresented identities that are affiliated with the UNC School of Medicine to find community, mentorship, and representation. Such identities include those belonging to non-dominant religions, races or ethnicities, and sexualities or gender identities.
This community is open and accessible to anyone with a UNC Onyen and password, including current staff, faculty, students, residents, and fellows.
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February Dates to Note
Other important dates can be found on the
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February 1 - Chinese New Year (Year of the Tiger)
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February 4 - Rosa Parks Day
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February 14 – Valentine's Day
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February 15 – Nirvana Day (Buddhist)
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February 15 - International Childhood Cancer Day |
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February 20 - World Day of Social Justice |
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Dates to Note is a compilation intended to include, but is not all-inclusive, notable information from the internet, Diversity Best Practices, 2021 Diversity Holiday Calendar, and other sources. |
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Stuart Gold, MD - Committee Chair |
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Alessandra Angelino, MD
Benny Joyner, MD
Christel Wekon-kemeni, MD
Christian Lawrence, MD
Denita Moore
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Gretter Benitez, MD
Jennifer Gutierrez-Wu, MD
Jennifer McElroy
Kenya McNeal-Trice, MD
Martha Perry, MD
Jen Fuchs, MD
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Nikki Ferrin, MD
Nina Jain, MD
Robin Howard
Steven Weinberg, MD
Zachary Pettigrew, MD
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