Your bi-monthly DEI news & updates June 2021

Hello Fellow IREM members – The Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee is excited to introduce you to our first bi-monthly newsletter which will contain information to increase our awareness of a variety of topics and upcoming events. The Maryland Chapter Members are very diverse with different perspectives and experiences. Creating an environment of acceptance and respect of these differences deliver greater value to us individually as members and collectively as a chapter to make all feel included and deserving of equal treatment and opportunities.     We invite you to support the DEI Initiatives by joining the committee regardless of where you are in your learning journey by attending our upcoming events and by reading our newsletter. This month’s listen and learn opportunity include the following topics:

June is Pride Month!

Why is it necessary to continue to celebrate Pride? With advances in rights for the LGBTQ+ community it may seem the fight is over. The community has largely overcome employment discrimination including unjustified firings, security clearance denials, and even flat out being denied a job, just for being a part of this community. Housing discrimination was rampant and while improvements have been achieved, adequate housing remains a struggle for many members of the community. The community has endured, and still deals with, the sickness and death resulting from the AIDS epidemic. The Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy of the US military ended just 10 years ago in 2011, finally allowing active duty members to serve without having to deny their true selves. The LGBTQ+ community only recently, in 2015, gained the right to marriage, while continuing to fight against threats to end that right. Yet, despite these and other accomplishments there are still many members that identify with this community that benefit little or not at all.  So, during the month of June we remember community members that endured and took on the battle, even while losing jobs, friends, family, respect, and in some cases their very lives. We also celebrate and revel in the accomplishments achieved thus far. We take the opportunity to say thank you to the many allies that stood by the community, especially when they had nothing to gain from it. We also recognize and continue to fight, in the face of some severe opposition, and in solidarity with those members of the community that are still ostracized and struggle to live their true lives free from discrimination and judgement. Wishing all a Happy Pride!  Contributors: Trevor Ankeny and Rich Henneberry

A Day to Celebrate Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day, Emancipation Day, Jubilee Day or Liberation Day is meant to commemorate the end of legal slavery in the United States. The name of the observance is made up of the words “June” and “nineteenth,” the day in 1865 that federal troops arrived in Texas to enforce the end of slavery. It took that enforcement to make real the promise of the Emancipation Proclamation, which had been issued by President Lincoln more than two years earlier. For many African Americans, Juneteenth replaces the traditional July 4th Independence celebration.   In 1787, The Declaration of Independence authors considered African Americans or descendants of slaves as three-fifths of a freed person at the United States Constitutional Convention. The slave population affected how congressional votes would be counted for determining taxation and representation in the House of Representatives; therefore, giving slave holding states political power. Juneteenth is not a national holiday. Currently, Hawaii, North Dakota and South Dakota are the only states to not recognize Juneteenth. Contributor: Dawn Rogers

Remembering the Tulsa Race Massacre A century ago, this month, the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre occurred when the wealthiest U.S. Black community was burned to the ground. At the turn of the 20th century, the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma, became one of the first communities in the country thriving with Black entrepreneurial businesses. The prosperous town, founded by many descendants of slaves, earned a reputation as the Black Wall Street of America and became a harbor for African Americans in a highly segregated city under Jim Crow laws. On May 31, 1921 and June 1, 1921, a white supremacist mob attacked the Greenwood community in one of the worst racial massacres in U.S. history. In the matter of hours, 35 square blocks of the vibrant Black community were turned into smoldering ashes. Countless Black people were killed — estimates ranged from 55 to more than 300 — and 1,000 homes and businesses were looted and set on fire. For decades, there were no public ceremonies for the deceased nor discussion regarding this event. A Proclamation on Day of Remembrance: 100 Years After The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre was recently acknowledged along with a call of action to commit to work on rooting out systemic racism.  Contributor: Sha’ron Turner

Join us on July 14th @ 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. via Zoom for a DEI Meet and Greet and a Topic on Developing Diversity! Click for zoom link

DEI Committee Members Chair Sha'ron Turner Trevor Ankeny | Rich Henneberry | Rochelle Jackson | Kristy Myers | Arlette Peralta | Kara Permisohn | Dawn Rogers | Beverly Willis

The IREM Maryland Chapter 16 recognizes that there is strength in diversity and is committed to cultivating and promoting an ethical culture where differences are celebrated. We are committed to ensuring that members, industry partners, staff, and guests are valued, respected, and provided access to opportunities regardless of race, age, gender identities, sexual orientation, creed, national origin and/or (dis)abilities. Discrimination and inequality are not acceptable; therefore, we encourage all members to listen and learn as we take this journey together and provide ongoing support to disassemble systemic discrimination.

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