Inclusive Excellence & Racial Equity

Office of Diversity and Inclusion Author

07/24/2020 Added

13 Plays

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Drs. Marco Barker and Karen Kassebaum engaged OLLI and Let's Talk Alliance members on topics surrounding Inclusive Excellence & Racial Equity.

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[00:00:00.070]Okay, it looks like it's that time to get started.
[00:00:03.850]Good evening, my name is John Goldrich.
[00:00:07.810]I am one of the members of the Let's Talk Alliance,
[00:00:11.320]and I wanna welcome you here
[00:00:12.930]to an event that's co-hosted by Ali
[00:00:17.530]and Let's Talk Alliance along with
[00:00:19.531]the Office of Diversity and Inclusion
[00:00:22.050]at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
[00:00:24.540]We're glad to have everyone here for a healthy
[00:00:27.901]and hearty discussion associated
[00:00:31.100]with inclusive excellence and the idea of racism.
[00:00:38.670]We are pleased to have here as panelists,
[00:00:42.550]two individuals that I know well
[00:00:45.420]from the University of Nebraska.
[00:00:47.470]First, we have Dr. Marco Barker
[00:00:49.980]and we have Dr. Karen Kassebaum.
[00:00:52.840]Let me give you a little brief information about the two,
[00:00:55.700]and then I will turn it over to them.
[00:00:59.290]Dr. Barker serves as the Inaugural Vice Chancellor
[00:01:03.170]for Diversity and Inclusion
[00:01:04.630]at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
[00:01:07.270]He previously served in diversity leadership roles
[00:01:11.010]in Westminster College, the University of North Carolina,
[00:01:14.360]Chapel Hill and Louisiana State University.
[00:01:18.210]He currently leads the Office of Diversity Inclusion,
[00:01:20.970]which shapes the policies, protocols,
[00:01:23.730]and practices needed to advance diversity,
[00:01:26.208]equity and inclusion across the university.
[00:01:30.530]He's engaged in the past and research and publications.
[00:01:33.970]And finally, he is certified
[00:01:35.808]as a qualified administrator
[00:01:38.220]for the Intercultural Development Inventory.
[00:01:43.090]Now we have Dr. Kassebaum.
[00:01:46.050]She serves as the Assistant Vice Chancellor
[00:01:48.580]for Inclusion, Leadership and Learning,
[00:01:51.870]serving as a leader of Diversity Education
[00:01:54.790]for Institution Wide Learning and Engagement.
[00:01:58.470]Dr. Kassebaum develops and coordinates efforts
[00:02:02.000]for institutional wide diversity education
[00:02:05.400]while also developing programs on our campus
[00:02:10.250]that help us become more diverse
[00:02:12.580]and understanding in the area of staff searches,
[00:02:16.301]onboarding people and retention efforts at the university.
[00:02:20.870]He has served in a role previously
[00:02:23.830]as director of staff diversity and inclusion
[00:02:27.580]for the human resource department
[00:02:30.490]and director of student recruitment
[00:02:33.030]for the college of education and human science.
[00:02:36.800]She is the founder and CEO of Athletes to Athletes.
[00:02:40.400]And finally, she's an active member of our community.
[00:02:43.650]I now turn it over to dr. Barker and Dr. Kassebaum.
[00:02:51.170]Thank you so much, John, for that great introduction.
[00:02:55.170]So we're gonna talk about Zoom etiquette.
[00:02:58.720]We would for you to select your speaker view
[00:03:02.350]and use the video option only when you're speaking
[00:03:05.510]and don't worry, you'll get time to speak tonight.
[00:03:08.800]Stay on mute if you're not talking,
[00:03:11.640]add your pronouns to your name, and that is optional.
[00:03:14.620]So if you hover over your name,
[00:03:16.820]three dots on the right hand corner will show up
[00:03:19.780]and you can rename and put your pronouns.
[00:03:24.460]And then during the program, please accept
[00:03:27.550]the breakout room invitation when prompted.
[00:03:34.380]Inclusive excellence.
[00:03:36.540]The University of Nebraska is committed
[00:03:38.540]to cultivating an inclusive excellent mindset
[00:03:42.230]across our institution.
[00:03:44.240]We believe in fully embracing diversity in all forms,
[00:03:48.160]seen and unseen, making inclusion a top priority,
[00:03:52.330]promoting equity across our policies and practices,
[00:03:55.890]and ultimately ensuring that excellence is inclusive.
[00:04:00.280]Inclusive excellent builds on the notions
[00:04:02.500]of diversity inclusion, and equity.
[00:04:09.420]So first I want to apologize.
[00:04:11.670]I'm not using my video, I have a bit of a bad connection,
[00:04:14.920]and so I don't want to freeze on you.
[00:04:17.080]So I'm going to keep my video hidden,
[00:04:20.050]but absolutely here with you today.
[00:04:22.485]We were asked to share a bit about our office
[00:04:25.790]and how we're structured.
[00:04:27.170]I didn't wanna get into details just for the sake of time.
[00:04:30.460]I think we have a great deal to discuss today
[00:04:34.440]and particularly what's happening in our nation.
[00:04:36.600]So I wanna make enough time to have those conversations,
[00:04:39.710]but what I thought I would just share with you
[00:04:42.320]is that with our office,
[00:04:44.530]we absolutely have the expectation that diversity
[00:04:47.240]and inclusion is happening across the entire university.
[00:04:50.720]So when our office was created last year,
[00:04:52.560]I think there was a sense that only one office
[00:04:55.180]would be doing diversity and inclusion.
[00:04:56.840]That is not our philosophy.
[00:04:58.440]We believe the entire university,
[00:05:00.343]that everyone has a role to play in diversity and inclusion.
[00:05:03.830]And so we are organized accordingly.
[00:05:06.700]So I would say that we have two primary functions
[00:05:09.950]for our office that is to facilitate and to lead.
[00:05:13.860]And so part of that work is in a number of areas.
[00:05:17.878]I would say that we really believe in the four Cs
[00:05:20.750]that we're doing this work by communicating,
[00:05:23.250]consulting with different entities,
[00:05:25.587]coordinating efforts across the entire university,
[00:05:29.030]and then celebrating or recognizing increasing awareness
[00:05:33.240]around diversity and inclusion.
[00:05:34.857]We do that with faculty.
[00:05:36.547]Again, you can see all those pillars here.
[00:05:39.300]What I would point to is that actually I would say
[00:05:42.540]tonight represents efforts to engage external
[00:05:45.638]and community members like yourselves.
[00:05:48.460]And that we're doing that through our leadership
[00:05:50.940]and learning umbrella.
[00:05:52.169]Each of these components has a leader
[00:05:56.030]or a point of point of contact.
[00:05:57.760]And so today you're interacting with two of those,
[00:06:01.620]with external and community engagement,
[00:06:03.270]I lead those efforts.
[00:06:04.530]And then Dr. Kassebaum is our point of contact
[00:06:07.840]or leader for the leadership and learning.
[00:06:10.090]And so these components intersect, interact, cross overlap.
[00:06:14.600]And so that's really how our office is organized.
[00:06:20.460]Next slide.
[00:06:24.730]So Karen provided you a definition
[00:06:27.693]of inclusive excellence is a term that we're using at UNL.
[00:06:32.730]And we generally when we have more time
[00:06:35.190]go through a number of definitions,
[00:06:36.730]but we're gonna sort of jump to some key definitions
[00:06:39.440]just for tonight's conversation.
[00:06:41.210]And one of the definitions that we often discuss
[00:06:43.426]on our campus or in the college setting
[00:06:46.444]is this term equity.
[00:06:48.500]And it's one that's not used very often.
[00:06:50.830]I would say that more than not,
[00:06:52.930]the term equality is often used.
[00:06:55.040]And you probably hear that more often
[00:06:57.880]and so we certainly believe that we can't have equality.
[00:07:01.930]So we can't be in a place where everyone is equal
[00:07:04.770]unless we have equity.
[00:07:06.690]And what equity really points to is this notion
[00:07:10.570]that there has certainly been historical treatments
[00:07:13.610]or actions that were set in motion
[00:07:15.321]that impacts us today, right?
[00:07:17.430]So it sort of forces us,
[00:07:20.270]which is sometimes challenging,
[00:07:21.810]but it forces us to look back in history
[00:07:23.910]to think what decisions were made in history
[00:07:26.492]that now have a real impact today.
[00:07:30.170]And so how do we address those?
[00:07:32.300]So it's about eliminating barriers, creating opportunities.
[00:07:36.640]Often there are particular populations
[00:07:39.410]that were most impacted
[00:07:42.050]by past experiences and treatments.
[00:07:46.440]And so we have to be thoughtful about how do we create
[00:07:48.389]again, equal access and participation
[00:07:51.940]and programs and support so that the gaps that exist,
[00:07:55.780]that again are a result of these historical treatments
[00:07:58.100]can be addressed.
[00:07:59.390]And so equity allows us to then have a conversation.
[00:08:03.380]Next slide, Jerry.
[00:08:05.970]About this term, white supremacy.
[00:08:08.160]And I often tell people, take a deep breath.
[00:08:10.850]Often when we hear this is sort of sometime
[00:08:13.160]it's the hairs on our next standup, right?
[00:08:15.350]So people have been throwing out this term, white supremacy,
[00:08:18.470]white supremacist.
[00:08:19.303]And so we wanna take some time and really talk
[00:08:22.270]about what this terms mean.
[00:08:24.220]I think often when the term is used,
[00:08:27.410]there's not really the adequate amount of time
[00:08:30.571]to really talk about it and discuss it.
[00:08:33.877]And so we wanna introduce that because right now,
[00:08:37.240]the conversations that are taking place
[00:08:38.770]in our country around antiracism,
[00:08:41.060]this is one of the terms that's really important
[00:08:42.980]to know before we can talk about racism itself.
[00:08:46.860]So now we won't be talking about,
[00:08:50.560]there are such things as white supremacists
[00:08:54.470]or white supremacy groups were more individuals
[00:08:57.044]that's not quite what we're gonna talk about today.
[00:09:00.330]We're gonna talk about more of the system
[00:09:02.430]of white supremacy,
[00:09:03.270]but it's the general notion that things that are central,
[00:09:08.296]things that are perceived as white
[00:09:12.810]or being more white centered is preferred,
[00:09:17.070]practices are based on this.
[00:09:18.930]And so we'll slowly kind of peel back the onion
[00:09:22.810]on this thing about how this plays out
[00:09:25.730]so that you feel like you have a good sense of the term.
[00:09:28.220]So again, we're not talking about people in particular,
[00:09:30.880]again, there are white supremacists that exist,
[00:09:33.178]but more about what might it look like
[00:09:36.991]white supremacy as a system of things.
[00:09:39.870]So practices, behaviors, patterns
[00:09:43.504]that may reflect that someone, again,
[00:09:46.790]being white is preferred, or that being white is better.
[00:09:50.790]And those who are not white are not as good
[00:09:55.072]or in some cases are bad.
[00:09:56.960]So this as a system.
[00:09:58.760]Next slide.
[00:10:03.370]So if we think about, again,
[00:10:06.630]this notion that being white is better
[00:10:09.441]or being white is preferred as a system,
[00:10:13.230]I want you to think about and maybe chat,
[00:10:15.740]if something's coming to mind,
[00:10:17.220]what might be examples of white supremacy as a system?
[00:10:21.930]So what might be examples or indications
[00:10:25.070]that there's a sense in our country
[00:10:27.280]that either being white is preferred or is better.
[00:10:33.180]So just gotta take a few seconds
[00:10:36.022]and if some things come to mind,
[00:10:38.940]there's a chat function at the bottom of your screen.
[00:10:42.190]If you scroll down, it looks like a call out box
[00:10:45.280]called chat.
[00:10:46.113]You can click that and then type
[00:10:49.500]what you think might be examples of this as a system.
[00:11:21.290]These are really good ones.
[00:11:25.441]So a few that has been shared white flight,
[00:11:28.340]And so for those of you may not be familiar with that term,
[00:11:31.750]it was a term in sociology used to describe
[00:11:34.371]that what often happen in neighborhoods
[00:11:37.700]is that neighborhoods that might have been,
[00:11:40.170]or areas that may have been predominantly white
[00:11:43.970]as nonwhite home owners
[00:11:46.820]or individuals moving through those neighborhoods,
[00:11:49.120]and to those communities.
[00:11:51.230]What you saw was that white home owners
[00:11:55.118]or white persons began to move.
[00:11:58.650]And this was described as white flight,
[00:12:01.180]that there was a real intentionality
[00:12:03.920]about moving out of neighborhood because
[00:12:06.247]it was becoming more diverse.
[00:12:09.060]And that certainly, I think there was another
[00:12:10.870]point about unequally funded schools, public schools.
[00:12:14.950]What ended up happening is we know that public schools
[00:12:17.909]are funded by tax base.
[00:12:22.661]And so, as you had individually,
[00:12:25.040]who oftentimes were more fluent moving out
[00:12:28.750]that certainly reduced the tax base for schools.
[00:12:30.910]And so you end up with this real inequity in schools
[00:12:33.630]that existed even without white flight,
[00:12:35.510]certainly in different neighborhoods, it being tax base,
[00:12:38.360]it's absolutely connected to economics.
[00:12:41.794]and we understand that that being connected
[00:12:43.837]to certainly racial demographics, absolutely.
[00:12:47.000]There was a posting about an advertisement.
[00:12:49.100]So I suspect that was to assume who shows up
[00:12:51.750]in advertisements is also a part of that.
[00:12:56.440]Again, even, it was just really interesting
[00:12:59.190]if we think about our biases in our country,
[00:13:02.390]that Christian biases.
[00:13:04.240]So Christianity tends to be the central norm
[00:13:06.907]and then everything else is sort of feels not normal.
[00:13:11.568]And so the way that we celebrate what we recognize,
[00:13:14.027]what we get paid holidays for,
[00:13:16.210]like, those are great examples,
[00:13:18.030]sort of this central
[00:13:18.970]and what's important, what's not
[00:13:23.220]absolutely toys and dolls.
[00:13:25.300]And if we think back historically,
[00:13:27.450]now there's been a movement to have greater diversity
[00:13:30.570]with toys and dolls, but very early on,
[00:13:33.544]most of those toys and dolls being white, right?
[00:13:37.090]Sort of the part.
[00:13:38.280]So all of these are really great examples.
[00:13:39.850]Next slide.
[00:13:41.520]So for those of you who may still be thinking,
[00:13:43.875]I'm still trying to wrap my head around this as a system,
[00:13:48.270]here are some questions that I like to pose to people
[00:13:51.344]that you're thinking about what may be evidence of again,
[00:13:57.560]white supremacy as a system.
[00:13:59.100]So this ideal about what's considered most important
[00:14:01.517]and what's considered valued.
[00:14:03.340]So in education, in history books,
[00:14:07.620]what are the topics most covered?
[00:14:10.880]How much did we learn about black history
[00:14:13.648]or Latino Hispanic Chicano history
[00:14:20.612]or leadership?
[00:14:21.510]So who's chosen, who's in leadership?
[00:14:25.060]Symbols.
[00:14:25.893]So this is a great example in terms of the advertisement,
[00:14:29.300]what is mostly celebrated?
[00:14:31.500]What's mostly recognized?
[00:14:33.170]Who's mostly recognize?
[00:14:35.280]Our laws and our policies, so who do they most advantage?
[00:14:40.220]Are there certain communities
[00:14:41.391]that are policed more than others?
[00:14:43.570]I think there was a great example
[00:14:44.830]in the chat about gated communities.
[00:14:46.380]So what communities are gated and which ones are not, right?
[00:14:49.010]So these are all great indicators.
[00:14:51.970]Economics, who can most afford what, right?
[00:14:55.900]So we look at home ownership.
[00:14:59.230]There are some real disparities that we notice
[00:15:01.120]in terms of who mostly owns homes.
[00:15:04.160]Healthcare, who receives the best treatment?
[00:15:07.768]In terms of healthcare studies
[00:15:10.730]or any medical studies
[00:15:12.438]who are the actual study participants?
[00:15:16.570]That's also telling in terms of who's mostly studied.
[00:15:20.000]We know that historically early on,
[00:15:22.267]most of the medical studies
[00:15:23.730]were actually done on white men, right?
[00:15:25.860]So a lot of the healthcare was designed for men
[00:15:28.616]and not for women
[00:15:30.980]and the same case we can have the same conversation,
[00:15:33.248]how that plays out in terms of race.
[00:15:35.640]Again, rewards who and what is mostly valued.
[00:15:40.140]What gets recognized in the same way
[00:15:42.820]that we think about there was a study
[00:15:44.840]that looked at resumes and individuals
[00:15:47.798]with more European names were often selected
[00:15:51.048]more times than not than those who had more ethnic
[00:15:54.100]or more cultural names in terms of their applications.
[00:15:57.230]And so there's some different indicators
[00:15:59.930]that we get that there's something
[00:16:02.050]about we really value that.
[00:16:03.930]And I use on this slide, the term, mostly,
[00:16:07.197]there are always exceptions, right?
[00:16:10.050]There will always be exceptions.
[00:16:12.070]It doesn't apply 100% of the time.
[00:16:14.620]But when we see a pattern that point that it's mostly this,
[00:16:18.560]then that absolutely points to a pattern or a system.
[00:16:21.580]So again, these are questions that you can start
[00:16:24.810]thinking about.
[00:16:25.643]If we think about our own city of Lincoln,
[00:16:28.200]who's mostly been mayor,
[00:16:30.208]who's mostly been chief of police?
[00:16:33.470]Who are mostly the CEOs?
[00:16:36.680]Who gets mostly recognized?
[00:16:38.300]I mean, these are questions we begin to ask ourselves.
[00:16:41.720]And then how does that come to be?
[00:16:43.800]So I wanna share an example,
[00:16:45.590]I'm gonna show her video and this is gonna be a,
[00:16:51.100]it's an interview with Muhammad Ali
[00:16:53.400]and I want you to hear him sort of describe this idea,
[00:16:57.930]this notion about white supremacy as a system,
[00:17:01.621]you may press play, Jerry.
[00:17:04.962](audience clapping)
[00:17:14.080]It is an incredible privilege to be here this evening
[00:17:18.260]to have a chat with you.
[00:17:19.640]Thank you so so much for being here.
[00:17:24.920]I have been a criminal defense lawyer
[00:17:26.610]almost my entire career
[00:17:28.800]and the best movie ever made
[00:17:31.139]about a criminal defense lawyer is Anatomy of a Murder.
[00:17:36.780]Jimmy Stewart has a great line in that movie
[00:17:41.820]that I learned and has been with me
[00:17:44.770]as I've been a criminal defense lawyer.
[00:17:46.580]And the line he has is people aren't one thing,
[00:17:51.320]a person can be a good father,
[00:17:53.490]a good brother, and also a bank robber.
[00:17:56.810]A person can be a good mother, a kind community member,
[00:18:00.870]and also a drug addict.
[00:18:03.270]And countries aren't just one thing.
[00:18:07.600]America is a great country
[00:18:11.640]and America is a country
[00:18:13.830]that was founded on the premise
[00:18:17.817]of white supremacy and white superiority.
[00:18:22.050]I'm not gonna pull any punches in my comments tonight,
[00:18:26.290]but what I am gonna do is ask you
[00:18:28.240]to think about America in perhaps
[00:18:30.900]a slightly different way,
[00:18:32.800]and to think about where we started
[00:18:35.640]and how we started and how ingrained white supremacy
[00:18:41.140]has become in America.
[00:18:43.070]It's become so ingrained that we don't even notice it.
[00:18:48.790]And one way to think about this
[00:18:51.580]is to check this 'cause about 50 years ago,
[00:18:58.400]Mohammad Ali went to great Britain
[00:19:01.200]and he was interviewed about America.
[00:19:03.310]And he tried to talk about white supremacy
[00:19:06.404]with a little bit of humor.
[00:19:08.930]And I'd like you to listen to what he had to say.
[00:19:12.737]Things are getting much better,
[00:19:13.570]but I always wonder when I went to church on Sundays.
[00:19:16.050]I've always been one to,
[00:19:17.710]I'm not just a boxer, I do a lot of reading,
[00:19:19.620]a lot of study and ask questions.
[00:19:21.010]I'll go out, I travel these countries,
[00:19:22.390]I'll watch their people live, and I learn.
[00:19:24.730]And always ask my mother,
[00:19:25.563]I said, "Mother, how come as if it's white?"
[00:19:28.950]I said, "Why is Jesus is white with blonde hair
[00:19:29.800]and blue eyes?
[00:19:31.230]Why is the Lord's supper all white men?
[00:19:34.010]Angels are white, the Pope, Mary,
[00:19:37.660]and even the angels."
[00:19:39.730]I said, "Mother, when we die, do we go to Heaven?"
[00:19:41.970]She said, "Naturally we go to Heaven."
[00:19:43.990]I said, "Well, what happened to all the black angels?
[00:19:46.140]They took the pictures."
[00:19:47.236](audience laughing)
[00:19:54.956]I said, "Oh, I know. If the white folks is in Heaven too
[00:19:59.145]then the black angels were in the kitchen
[00:20:01.059]preparing the milk and honey."
[00:20:04.730]She said, "Listen, you quit saying that, boy."
[00:20:05.563]I was always curious.
[00:20:07.030]And I always wondered why I had to die to go to Heaven.
[00:20:09.350]Why couldn't I have pretty cars,
[00:20:10.820]and good money and nice homes now?
[00:20:13.230]Why do I have to wait till I die to get milk and honey?
[00:20:15.970]And I said, "Momma, I don't want no milk and honey,
[00:20:18.740]I like steaks."
[00:20:19.768]I said, "Milk and honey's a laxative anyway.
[00:20:23.422]Do they have a lot of bathrooms in Heaven?"
[00:20:26.530]So anyway, I was always curious.
[00:20:27.950]I always wondered why Tarzan
[00:20:29.970]is the King of the Jungle in Africa, he was white.
[00:20:38.213]I saw this white man swinging
[00:20:39.810]around Africa with a diaper on, hollering.
[00:20:43.925]Did you all see Tarzan over here?
[00:20:45.032]And all of the Africans, he's beating them up
[00:20:48.200]and breaking the lion's jaw, and here's Tarzan,
[00:20:50.430]talking to the animals.
[00:20:52.400]And the Africans have been there for centuries
[00:20:54.725]and they can't talk to the animals.
[00:20:56.474]Only Tarzan can talk to the animals.
[00:20:58.450]I always wondered why.
[00:20:59.360]And Miss America was always white.
[00:21:00.990]All the beautiful brown women in America,
[00:21:02.670]beautiful sun tans,
[00:21:03.750]beautiful shapes, all types of complexions,
[00:21:07.267]but she always was white.
[00:21:08.950]And Miss World was always white,
[00:21:11.430]and Miss Universe was always white.
[00:21:13.492]And then they got some stuff called White House cigars,
[00:21:15.412]White Swan soap, King White soap,
[00:21:17.771]White Cloud tissue paper,
[00:21:19.092]White Rain hair rinse,
[00:21:21.070]White Tornado floor wax, everything was white.
[00:21:23.730]And the angel fruit cake was the white cake
[00:21:25.450]and the devil food cake was the chocolate cake.
[00:21:30.372]I said, "Momma, why is everything white?"
[00:21:32.493]I always wondered.
[00:21:33.629]And the President lived in the White House.
[00:21:38.090]And Mary had a little lamb with feet as white as snow,
[00:21:40.480]and Snow White, and everything was white.
[00:21:42.940]Santa Claus was white and everything bad was black.
[00:21:46.050]The little ugly duckling was the black duck,
[00:21:47.833]and the black cat was the bad luck.
[00:21:50.600]And if I threaten you, I'm gonna blackmail you.
[00:21:54.745]I said, "Momma, why don't they call it whitemail?
[00:21:56.725]They lie too."
[00:21:59.415]I was always curious.
[00:22:01.020]And then this is when I knew something was wrong.
[00:22:05.958]I won the Olympic gold medal in Rome, Italy.
[00:22:09.070]Olympic champion.
[00:22:10.120]The Russian standing right here, and the Pole right here.
[00:22:13.150]Is Poland considered a Communist country?
[00:22:14.880]Yeah.
[00:22:15.780]I'm defeating America's so-called threats and enemies.
[00:22:18.877]And the flag is going (indistinct)
[00:22:26.490]I'm standing so proud.
[00:22:27.833](indistinct)
[00:22:31.204]And I'd have whooped the world for America.
[00:22:32.037](indistinct)
[00:22:36.037]I took my gold medal, thought I'd invented something.
[00:22:38.830]I said, "Man, I know I'm gonna get my people freedom.
[00:22:40.990]I'm the champion of the whole world.
[00:22:42.093]Olympic champion.
[00:22:42.967]I know I can eat downtown now."
[00:22:45.230]And I went downtown that day,
[00:22:46.700]had my big gold medal on, and went in a restaurant.
[00:22:48.775]And at that time, things weren't integrated.
[00:22:50.400]Black folks couldn't eat downtown.
[00:22:52.110]And I went downtown, I sat down, and I said,
[00:22:55.357]"A cup of coffee, a hotdog."
[00:22:58.960]The lady said, "We don't serve Negroes."
[00:23:01.700]I was so mad, I said, "I don't eat them either,
[00:23:03.740]just give me a cup of coffee and a hamburger."
[00:23:09.575](audience laughing)
[00:23:15.161]You know, I said, "I'm the Olympic gold medal-winner.
[00:23:17.720]I won three days, I fought for this country in Rome,
[00:23:19.920]I won the gold medal, and I'm going to eat."
[00:23:22.031]And I heard her tell the manager, and he said,
[00:23:24.737]"Well, he's got to go out."
[00:23:27.080]They put me out.
[00:23:28.940]And I had to leave that restaurant in my hometown,
[00:23:31.230]where I went to church to serve in their Christianity,
[00:23:33.420]my Daddy fought in all the wars.
[00:23:35.163]I just won the gold medal and I couldn't eat downtown.
[00:23:37.460]I said, "Something's wrong."
[00:23:40.090]Something is wrong.
[00:23:42.680]And this is a difficult topic and a difficult subject
[00:23:47.830]in part because our history has been stolen
[00:23:51.940]from us and it was done intentionally and purposefully.
[00:23:58.270]And when you are asking a human being
[00:24:00.983]to reject what they have been brought up with
[00:24:06.320]what they have been taught by their parents as the truth,
[00:24:10.690]what they have seen in their schools and in their colleges
[00:24:14.600]and universities as the truth.
[00:24:17.409]When you're asking somebody to all of a sudden say,
[00:24:20.750]that's a lie.
[00:24:22.690]And the truth beneath that is really ugly.
[00:24:26.750]You're asking for somebody to do a really hard thing.
[00:24:31.480]And I think it's important for us to remember that
[00:24:34.370]as we talk about these discussions,
[00:24:38.850]but a hard thing is where we are
[00:24:43.220]and a hard thing is what we have to do.
[00:24:53.252]So and watching that,
[00:24:56.990]I'm always reminded, I think we have to remind ourselves
[00:24:59.690]that when we start talking about the work
[00:25:03.221]we have to do on race,
[00:25:05.011]it is a hard thing to talk through
[00:25:08.132]and is a hard thing to do because of our history
[00:25:12.990]like we are so proud to be Americans.
[00:25:16.260]And we're so proud to be in the US
[00:25:18.615]but we also are a part of the country
[00:25:21.281]that has a very difficult history
[00:25:24.730]and the way in which systems work,
[00:25:27.440]the way in which white supremacy as a system works
[00:25:30.611]is that it often works in a way that
[00:25:33.920]it's so natural that we don't even realize
[00:25:37.350]what the central belief is, right?
[00:25:40.320]If we think back to the start of our country
[00:25:44.031]and that in our constitution and our laws,
[00:25:47.233]our laws called for segregation,
[00:25:50.400]our laws called for people to be treated differently,
[00:25:53.911]very intentionally.
[00:25:56.210]That was part of the building of our country.
[00:25:59.930]That history certainly why,
[00:26:04.170]while those laws may not look the way they look today,
[00:26:08.070]that the outcomes of that past treatment
[00:26:11.230]has absolutely whittled its way, filtered its way,
[00:26:14.430]embedded it's way down so much so that sometimes
[00:26:18.350]we don't even realize that those very early principles
[00:26:21.575]there were so problematic are still central lies today.
[00:26:25.830]So that's part of why I sort of pose
[00:26:28.240]those questions to you to really be thoughtful
[00:26:30.230]about, again, what's been our history of presidents?
[00:26:32.895]We've had one president who was nonwhite.
[00:26:36.810]All of the presidents have been that,
[00:26:38.250]that is a result of something.
[00:26:40.710]We think about our history books
[00:26:42.130]and what history we learned that oftentimes
[00:26:45.013]even history on indigenous and native communities
[00:26:47.894]was often voided outside of talking about
[00:26:51.830]the early pilgrims, right?
[00:26:52.787]And that there was a very intentionality
[00:26:55.270]not to include that
[00:26:57.849]in depth history, in our history books.
[00:27:00.940]If we think about our teachers,
[00:27:03.530]how many of us had a teacher of color growing up, right?
[00:27:07.370]And what that meant, what that means.
[00:27:10.810]Thinking about CEOs and who's in the C-suite,
[00:27:13.446]I even speak for myself and being a part
[00:27:15.850]of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln,
[00:27:17.220]which I love on the president's cabinet,
[00:27:20.130]I am the only person of color, right?
[00:27:21.890]So again, there's still these indications
[00:27:25.210]that we have work to do in our country.
[00:27:28.390]And while there are always exceptions recognizing
[00:27:31.470]when something is an exception,
[00:27:33.020]versus it being a pattern is the pattern
[00:27:34.744]that we wanted to be able to be thoughtful about
[00:27:38.040]and be reflective of.
[00:27:40.860]And so, as we move towards thinking about
[00:27:44.555]why does all of this matter?
[00:27:46.580]Like why do we need to be mindful
[00:27:48.870]and recognize that it is part of a system?
[00:27:51.376]Does that mean that we're hopeless?
[00:27:54.140]Absolutely not, part of our office,
[00:27:56.480]part of why we do this work part of why
[00:27:59.120]I'm hoping that Ali and the Let's Talk Alliance,
[00:28:03.320]divided up to be a part of this
[00:28:04.350]is because there is absolutely things that we can do.
[00:28:08.320]And part of how we address white supremacy
[00:28:10.730]as a system that can feel so large
[00:28:12.790]and so huge is to be able to start addressing that system,
[00:28:15.902]which means that we have to practice antiracism.
[00:28:19.894]And so I wanna pass it over to my colleague, Dr. Kassebaum.
[00:28:24.323]Thank you.
[00:28:26.740]So did you know, on his day in 1929,
[00:28:31.150]more than 200 black residents of North Platte, Nebraska,
[00:28:35.410]were terrorized by a white mob and forced to flee,
[00:28:38.896]leaving behind their homes forever
[00:28:41.440]to overcome racial inequity, we must confront our history.
[00:28:46.120]Did you know, just to take this poll and let me know,
[00:28:49.690]did you know that fact?
[00:29:05.350]All right, so it looks like we had 94% that did not know
[00:29:10.570]and 6% that did, I didn't know this fact either,
[00:29:15.890]but this demonstrates how important it is
[00:29:18.782]for us to know our state history,
[00:29:23.730]our history around race is just important.
[00:29:27.579]As our own history is related to race
[00:29:29.800]and injustice and inequity.
[00:29:32.230]This is why it's so important in school systems
[00:29:35.560]that we're teaching all the history.
[00:29:41.900]So now we're gonna do activity.
[00:29:45.820]If you could please either write down
[00:29:48.800]these two questions or use your cell phone to take a photo,
[00:29:55.730]we're gonna go into breakout rooms.
[00:29:59.010]And when we get into the breakout rooms,
[00:30:01.180]I'd like you to find a person who would be willing
[00:30:04.840]to report back.
[00:30:06.770]And you're gonna get your report back
[00:30:08.520]your one minute of the discussion.
[00:30:13.190]You're gonna come back and summarizing one minute,
[00:30:16.430]pick someone in your group or get someone to volunteer.
[00:30:19.560]What you're gonna discuss for two minutes
[00:30:22.400]do you believe that racism can be eradicated
[00:30:26.700]and then explain, and what can be done
[00:30:30.378]to eradicate racism?
[00:30:35.660]It looks like everybody is back.
[00:30:39.800]So we're gonna go ahead and share.
[00:30:43.790]You enjoyed your conversation.
[00:30:46.146]We're gonna go ahead and start sharing.
[00:30:48.890]And if everybody could go in there and then put on mute,
[00:30:52.980]and then the person that is speaking, mute themselves,
[00:30:56.990]I'll say your name.
[00:30:58.460]And then you can not mute and share.
[00:31:00.709]We're gonna start with Tracy Way.
[00:31:09.530]Well, in our group,
[00:31:10.363]we talked about how we've made some progress,
[00:31:14.050]but we are far from eradicating white supremacy
[00:31:19.910]and that sometimes we're not even aware of situation.
[00:31:29.080]We're hopeful that we're making progress,
[00:31:32.160]but we realize that there's more work to be done.
[00:31:37.860]Yeah, thank you so much, Tracy.
[00:31:41.710]We're gonna have the next will be Deloris Tonack?
[00:31:46.670]Yeah, is closer(indistinct) that's great.
[00:31:52.610]I'm staring at this screen
[00:31:54.890]and boy eradicate is a strong word,
[00:32:00.510]but just like listening to the video,
[00:32:04.720]just becoming more and more aware,
[00:32:06.840]we all shared whether there were things
[00:32:08.360]we hadn't even thought about.
[00:32:10.660]So to continue to bring those things to the surface
[00:32:13.800]so we can start thinking about it
[00:32:15.900]and realizing that and all of this,
[00:32:19.340]I think on this event this evening are old enough
[00:32:22.773]to remember back when and things have gotten better.
[00:32:28.360]It doesn't mean they're where there need to be,
[00:32:30.310]it doesn't mean we don't have a long way to go,
[00:32:33.200]but in the last 60 years, some things have improved.
[00:32:37.870]However, the political has certainly brought to the surface,
[00:32:42.920]these other groups and their organization,
[00:32:46.510]and maybe they've already been there,
[00:32:48.170]but seem to be so organized and verbal at this time.
[00:32:52.733]And then the kind of ending of our minutes,
[00:32:55.440]we spent a little bit talking about schools
[00:32:59.210]and maybe some of our school districts are doing well.
[00:33:03.790]Although I know, still, as far as teachers,
[00:33:05.910]we are far short of having teachers
[00:33:09.360]from a variety of other cultures,
[00:33:11.909]and we've got a long way to go
[00:33:15.100]as far as recruiting teachers.
[00:33:19.410]And I get that would be it for now.
[00:33:21.930]Yeah, that's awesome.
[00:33:24.670]Alright, Susie Harder.
[00:33:28.520]That's me.
[00:33:30.500]Well, we kind of would echo the first two people,
[00:33:35.300]the term eradicate
[00:33:40.125]I don't know that we can totally eradicate it to me.
[00:33:44.000]It would mean changing the hearts
[00:33:46.500]of every person in our country and our world.
[00:33:50.630]And I don't know, but we can do our very best
[00:33:53.830]to get rid of it as best we can.
[00:33:57.970]And reduce it. And reduce it.
[00:34:00.868]And by that is we have to start first of all,
[00:34:04.000]by listening and that's participating in this event
[00:34:07.730]right here and educating ourselves,
[00:34:10.670]becoming aware of all of those things
[00:34:14.010]that are going on around us
[00:34:15.836]that we didn't think about before.
[00:34:22.940]The book that I reading, I shared
[00:34:25.597]"How to be an Anti-Racist" by Abram Kendi.
[00:34:28.570]One of his focuses is on policy changes
[00:34:31.800]and how changing those policies,
[00:34:35.040]whether they be economic or educational, healthcare,
[00:34:42.230]lot of things need to be done.
[00:34:43.890]But for us right now, we gotta start educate ourselves,
[00:34:47.950]listen, and just be aware of our behavior.
[00:34:53.550]So good, that's so good.
[00:34:54.840]Yes, thank you so much.
[00:34:56.700]Sandy B.
[00:35:03.990]Sandy Blankenship.
[00:35:12.550]You're on mute Sandy.
[00:35:15.742]Okay.
[00:35:16.907]We hear you.
[00:35:21.110]I am reporting for this group
[00:35:22.240]and we thought that we've made some progress
[00:35:25.410]just like the other have said
[00:35:27.210]but we followed in the last few years,
[00:35:28.720]we've gone backwards.
[00:35:29.830]And I think all of us probably feel the same way about that.
[00:35:33.150]So eradicating is a strong word as D said,
[00:35:37.888]and it'll take a long time and hopefully someday,
[00:35:42.816]but I don't see it right now.
[00:35:46.397]What can be done?
[00:35:48.730]One thing is to get to know each other
[00:35:51.980]people of other cultures,
[00:35:54.424]different people who come from different countries
[00:35:59.560]and so on and then just as many of you
[00:36:02.240]have talked about education, things like this,
[00:36:06.170]and learning as much as we can
[00:36:09.010]so that we can be helpful and making some progress.
[00:36:13.800]I have two grandchildren who are black.
[00:36:16.960]And so it's very important to me to see us make progress.
[00:36:22.250]Thank you Sandy.
[00:36:24.140]So there's a group that said
[00:36:25.630]they didn't have a spokes individuals.
[00:36:27.850]So there's someone from their group
[00:36:29.270]that would like to speak, you may.
[00:36:35.370]Well, this is Christie.
[00:36:37.150]I was in this group.
[00:36:38.800]Thanks Christie.
[00:36:40.170]And we did agree,
[00:36:43.730]it took us a little while to get
[00:36:45.110]started because people came and left
[00:36:47.740]but what we decided was that we didn't see
[00:36:52.650]this happening in our lifetime if ever
[00:36:55.098]because of the history of the world shows us
[00:37:01.255]that somebody always has to feel
[00:37:06.290]that they're above other people.
[00:37:09.330]We came from different backgrounds in our group,
[00:37:12.260]of Rural Nebraska, Small Town and New York city.
[00:37:19.243]So we had seen different things.
[00:37:24.110]And the person who moved from New York city
[00:37:26.590]was shocked when she got to Nebraska
[00:37:29.130]and saw how white it was.
[00:37:34.195]We have some hope and mostly it's in the young people
[00:37:40.269]that they will have experiences different
[00:37:43.350]from those that we have had
[00:37:44.900]and that they will carry the torch
[00:37:48.058]and maybe make progress.
[00:37:51.000]But elimination isn't difficult.
[00:37:52.957]Thanks so much Christie.
[00:37:56.830]So I'm Charlyne.
[00:38:00.300]Thank you, I'm not gonna repeat,
[00:38:03.700]because we talked about many of the things
[00:38:06.440]that have been already talked about.
[00:38:08.450]We did say a couple of things here.
[00:38:11.820]One again was very much,
[00:38:13.919]we hope our young people will be the drivers
[00:38:17.741]behind a great deal of change.
[00:38:20.680]And we have hope that they will be
[00:38:23.020]because of the way they're being raised
[00:38:25.980]and what they see and the way they're connected
[00:38:28.000]to the world that we weren't at that age.
[00:38:30.906]We believe that we need to learn more about each other
[00:38:34.430]and about history of our nation,
[00:38:38.140]where it's gone wrong.
[00:38:39.757]And that change is gonna require both personal
[00:38:45.540]and systemic changes and that the two
[00:38:47.981]sort of go back and forth and feed off each other.
[00:38:51.500]People don't care if their hearts and minds
[00:38:54.120]are not worried about this process,
[00:38:56.800]then they don't push for change.
[00:38:58.730]If you can change the system, though,
[00:39:00.470]then that can also come back and influence
[00:39:02.506]some people who is hard to need to be still influenced.
[00:39:06.530]And the two things are intertwined.
[00:39:08.688]And the last thing I guess we ended on
[00:39:11.430]was believing that we need to get
[00:39:14.149]maybe more involved in the political process
[00:39:16.835]vote for sure, talk to your elected representative,
[00:39:22.010]support the ones that whose ideas you like,
[00:39:24.309]talk to the people whose ideas you don't like
[00:39:28.208]and put forward what we believe
[00:39:30.510]is the right thing to do.
[00:39:32.960]Yes, thank you.
[00:39:34.440]Thank you so much.
[00:39:36.330]We'll have a Dori Bush next.
[00:39:41.040]Here I am.
[00:39:42.299]By default, I am the one that is reporting for our group.
[00:39:46.620]And we did say a lot of the same things
[00:39:49.120]that many of the others have said.
[00:39:52.320]We were fortunate in our group to have
[00:39:54.940]Amira Azimi who is on the mayor's task force
[00:40:00.259]for multicultural issues.
[00:40:01.610]I believe he said, he's an architect.
[00:40:03.210]He's lived in Nebraska for 40 years.
[00:40:08.424]He has a wonderful perspectives,
[00:40:10.470]including the fact that many times,
[00:40:12.480]because his skin is not white that he may be asked
[00:40:17.590]what country he's from as a first question.
[00:40:21.550]And he is an immigrant from Iran actually.
[00:40:24.890]And that was kind of an interesting thing.
[00:40:29.440]I also, some of the folks here know
[00:40:31.600]that my daughter in law's home is Lima Peru,
[00:40:34.510]and she is a brown skin.
[00:40:37.100]And I have a five-year-old beautiful
[00:40:39.079]by cultural, I will say a grandson.
[00:40:43.610]And I think what everyone has been saying that I don't think
[00:40:49.020]it can be said often enough or strong enough
[00:40:52.360]that we need to do a better job
[00:40:53.948]of talking with each other
[00:40:55.470]and talking with folks that are not like us.
[00:40:58.610]And some folks that are in this room also know
[00:41:01.581]that when I was a sophomore
[00:41:03.220]at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln
[00:41:04.770]in 1964, I had a black roommate for the entire year.
[00:41:10.920]Initially, I was rather upset about that.
[00:41:13.730]Even growing up in Omaha,
[00:41:16.460]I was upset with myself as I look back
[00:41:18.399]that my reaction initially was not good,
[00:41:20.730]but I lived with her for an entire year.
[00:41:22.770]And that probably did a lot to help me
[00:41:30.000]understand that everybody doesn't look like me.
[00:41:33.520]And I think it's, but again,
[00:41:35.120]I just can't say strongly enough,
[00:41:37.650]that I think the only way that we will even come close
[00:41:41.620]to eradicating racism is if we get a better handle
[00:41:45.090]on talking with folks that don't look
[00:41:46.669]or perhaps talk like we do.
[00:41:49.970]That's really good.
[00:41:50.970]That's really good, Dori.
[00:41:51.990]Thank you so much.
[00:41:53.765](indistinct) want to say the was forgotten to mention
[00:41:56.920]that they thought about the prison system
[00:41:59.320]really needs to be reformed as well.
[00:42:01.610]I'm so glad I got your name, right?
[00:42:03.193](indistinct)
[00:42:05.460]So I think that's really important as well.
[00:42:08.040]Was there anyone else that we didn't hear
[00:42:11.340]something that everyone said
[00:42:13.020]that you would like to share?
[00:42:17.010]We talked in our group about the movie 13th,
[00:42:24.100]13, T-H, it's free right now,
[00:42:29.240]it's been re-released from 2016 documentary
[00:42:34.030]about the prison system.
[00:42:35.740]I would encourage everyone to watch it.
[00:42:38.090]It's an hour and 40 minutes long.
[00:42:40.220]So you can just get it on your computer.
[00:42:42.530]And one of the things that stuck out at me
[00:42:47.340]is and I'm going to get this percentage wrong,
[00:42:49.910]but I'm going to say 70% of the prisoners
[00:42:54.628]in a prison system are black.
[00:42:59.180]And that 97% of those people have never had a trial.
[00:43:06.510]They were basically forced into a plea agreement.
[00:43:11.660]So it's just things like that
[00:43:13.770]that have been documented in this movie.
[00:43:16.080]You might wanna watch it.
[00:43:18.080]Yeah, it's a great movie.
[00:43:18.913]Thanks Terry, I appreciate it.
[00:43:20.860]One other really quick thing
[00:43:22.810]is I just noticed today that
[00:43:26.404]our unit camera is in session
[00:43:28.210]and it's on TV and Senator Wayne from Omaha
[00:43:32.550]has introduced a bill that would create
[00:43:35.930]oversight of the police in the different,
[00:43:41.092]I don't know if it's counties or what,
[00:43:44.150]but you might wanna look into that and see what that is.
[00:43:46.700]So they're discussing that right now.
[00:43:49.450]That's good to know, Terry, thank you so much.
[00:43:52.270]Thank you so much.
[00:43:53.280]I just want to thank all of you,
[00:43:54.580]for your thinking and conversation and sharing
[00:44:00.280]great, great ideas,
[00:44:03.700]thank you so much.
[00:44:04.920]So now we're gonna move on
[00:44:06.801]and learn a little bit more about systemic racism.
[00:44:12.870]This is Jamal.
[00:44:14.120]Jamal was a boy who lives in a poor neighborhood.
[00:44:16.410]He has a friend named Kevin
[00:44:17.680]who lives in a wealthy neighborhood.
[00:44:19.350]All of Jamal's neighbors are African-American
[00:44:21.810]and all of Kevin's neighbors are white
[00:44:23.960]because Jamal school district
[00:44:25.270]is mostly funded by Property Taxes,
[00:44:27.470]his school is not very well-funded.
[00:44:29.350]His classrooms are overcrowded.
[00:44:31.070]His teachers are underpaid
[00:44:32.500]and he doesn't have access to high quality tutors
[00:44:34.720]or extracurricular activities.
[00:44:36.590]Kevin's school district is also funded
[00:44:38.420]by property taxes.
[00:44:39.600]So his school is very well funded.
[00:44:41.880]His classrooms are never crowded.
[00:44:43.770]His teachers are very well paid
[00:44:45.560]and he has access to high quality tutors
[00:44:47.560]and lots of extracurricular activities.
[00:44:49.980]Kevin and Jamal lived only a few streets away
[00:44:52.400]from each other.
[00:44:53.330]So how come they're growing up in such different worlds
[00:44:55.950]with such different opportunities for success?
[00:44:58.470]The answer has to do with America's history
[00:45:00.800]of systemic racism.
[00:45:02.270]To understand that better let's look at what life was like
[00:45:04.830]for Kevin and Jamal's grandparents.
[00:45:06.810]Decades after the civil war,
[00:45:08.570]many government agencies started to draw maps,
[00:45:11.060]dividing cities into sections that were either desirable
[00:45:14.101]or undesirable for investment.
[00:45:17.870]This practice was called redlining
[00:45:19.770]and it usually blocked off entire black neighborhoods
[00:45:22.350]from access to private and public investment.
[00:45:24.920]Banks and insurance companies use these maps
[00:45:27.200]for decades to deny black people loans
[00:45:29.700]and other services based purely on race.
[00:45:32.600]Historically speaking, owning a home
[00:45:34.530]and getting a college education is the easiest way
[00:45:37.110]for an American family to build wealth.
[00:45:39.570]But when Jamal's grandparents wanted to buy a house,
[00:45:41.970]the banks refused because they lived in a neighborhood
[00:45:44.480]that was redline.
[00:45:45.550]So your mom's grandparents were not able to buy a home.
[00:45:48.020]And because colleges could prevent them
[00:45:49.670]from attending through legal segregation,
[00:45:51.770]their options for higher education were really scarce.
[00:45:54.850]Kevin's grandparents on the other hand,
[00:45:56.500]had a low interest loan to buy their first house
[00:45:59.020]and get accepted into a handful of top universities,
[00:46:01.860]which traditionally only accepted white students.
[00:46:04.600]This opened up a wealth of opportunities
[00:46:06.580]that they were able to pass on to their kids and grandkids.
[00:46:08.307]Even as late as the 1980s,
[00:46:11.610]an investigation into the Atlanta real estate market
[00:46:14.610]showed that banks were more willing to lend
[00:46:16.670]to low income white families than to middle
[00:46:19.390]or upper income African-American families.
[00:46:22.010]As the result today, for every $100 of wealth
[00:46:25.370]held by a white family,
[00:46:26.776]black families have $5 and four cents.
[00:46:30.270]In 2017 study confirms that redlining
[00:46:33.150]is still affecting home values
[00:46:34.820]in major cities like Chicago today.
[00:46:37.070]This explains how Kevin and Jamal inherited
[00:46:39.330]vastly different circumstances.
[00:46:41.350]Unfortunately, the story doesn't end there,
[00:46:43.830]a big part of systemic racism is implicit bias.
[00:46:47.150]These are prejudices in society that people
[00:46:49.350]are not aware that they have.
[00:46:51.030]Let's go back to Kevin and Jamal.
[00:46:52.570]Against all odds Jamal manages to be the only student
[00:46:55.820]from his high school to get accepted
[00:46:57.430]into a great university.
[00:46:59.100]The same one that Kevin and his high school friends
[00:47:00.960]are attending.
[00:47:01.793]But after Kevin and Jamal, both graduate,
[00:47:03.760]Jamal notices that his resume isn't drawing as much interest
[00:47:07.180]as Kevin's even though they graduated from the same program
[00:47:10.260]with the exact same GPA.
[00:47:12.240]Unfortunately for Jamal, studies show
[00:47:14.466]that resumes with white sounding names
[00:47:17.140]get twice as many callbacks as identical
[00:47:19.600]resumes with black sounding names.
[00:47:22.040]Implicit bias is one of the reasons why the black
[00:47:24.214]unemployment rate is twice the rate of white unemployment.
[00:47:28.130]Even among college graduates today,
[00:47:30.310]you can see evidence of systemic racism
[00:47:32.640]in every area of life.
[00:47:34.350]The disparities and family wealth,
[00:47:36.010]incarceration rates, political representation,
[00:47:38.580]and education are all examples of systemic racism.
[00:47:41.760]Unfortunately, the biggest challenge is systemic racism
[00:47:44.540]is that there's no single person
[00:47:46.330]or entity responsible for it,
[00:47:48.370]which makes it very hard to solve.
[00:47:50.630]So what can you do?
[00:47:51.500]The first thing you can do is work towards
[00:47:53.280]becoming more aware of your own implicit biases.
[00:47:56.560]What are some prejudices that you might hold
[00:47:58.600]that you're not aware of?
[00:47:59.670]Second, let's acknowledge that the consequences
[00:48:02.210]of slavery and Jim Crow laws are still affecting
[00:48:05.100]access to opportunity today.
[00:48:07.000]As a result, we should support systemic changes
[00:48:09.650]that create more equal opportunities for everyone.
[00:48:12.560]Increasing public school funding
[00:48:14.150]and making it independent from property taxes
[00:48:16.760]would be a great start
[00:48:17.820]so that poor and wealthy districts can receive
[00:48:20.120]equal access to resources.
[00:48:22.000]Systemic problems require systemic solutions.
[00:48:25.050]Luckily we're all part of the system,
[00:48:27.050]which means that we all have a role to play
[00:48:29.610]in making it better.
[00:48:31.110]Peace.
[00:48:33.527]I love that we all have a role to play
[00:48:37.030]to make it better.
[00:48:38.890]All right, so now we're gonna go into breakout rooms again.
[00:48:43.210]And from last time, remember, we need to find,
[00:48:46.820]and we're gonna stay a shorter time.
[00:48:49.190]So it was gonna be five minutes this time,
[00:48:52.080]select someone,
[00:48:53.229]I think this is where you will share
[00:48:56.410]and we'll do random shares.
[00:48:58.540]You will get a notification to join the breakout room.
[00:49:03.580]You also get a notification to come back.
[00:49:06.530]What if you don't click come back,
[00:49:08.760]it'll bring you back anyway.
[00:49:11.520]So the questions for breakout room,
[00:49:14.450]how do you change something that you don't acknowledge
[00:49:17.530]and trusting God, right?
[00:49:20.205]Combating systemic racism starts with self.
[00:49:23.830]What might you do to stop systemic racism?
[00:49:28.360]Enjoy your conversations.
[00:49:37.560]All right, looks like everybody's back.
[00:49:40.480]So for this part, it's gonna be individuals
[00:49:45.410]who would like to share
[00:49:46.722]and all you have to do
[00:49:49.533]is unmute your mic, speak.
[00:49:56.293]Try to be concise, but yeah, just go ahead and share.
[00:50:01.530](indistinct)
[00:50:03.342]Is if that's okay, Dori Bush?
[00:50:05.480]Yeah, go right ahead Dori.
[00:50:07.080]Okay, actually, it wasn't nearly long enough for us
[00:50:12.140]to talk about these two issues, but the one
[00:50:14.454]I know.
[00:50:15.560]I think we all agreed on was that until
[00:50:17.670]we acknowledge that there's something we need to change,
[00:50:21.440]it's never gonna change.
[00:50:23.730]So what we need to do is try acknowledge
[00:50:27.382]that there are some things about us
[00:50:31.380]that are ingrained and in the way
[00:50:32.970]maybe we've been brought up.
[00:50:34.100]And I guess I want to throw back something else
[00:50:35.970]that we didn't bring up the other previous discussion.
[00:50:39.080]But I think our experiences generally,
[00:50:43.360]and especially in the State of Nebraska
[00:50:45.170]can be based on a rural upbringing
[00:50:48.120]or a city upbringing.
[00:50:50.640]I mean, there were some real differences there.
[00:50:52.990]I'll share really quickly.
[00:50:55.730]I was a student assistant in the residence halls
[00:50:58.510]in the '60s.
[00:51:00.040]I happened to be on call one night.
[00:51:01.480]I got a call from a university resident.
[00:51:03.170]Again, this is like 1960s, okay?
[00:51:06.730]And the region had been called by constituent
[00:51:09.050]and the constituent was concerned
[00:51:10.660]because their daughter was dating a black football player
[00:51:13.400]and what was I going to do about it?
[00:51:17.860]So that was in the '60s.
[00:51:20.500]I don't think we're getting calls like that now.
[00:51:23.330]But the thing was that this young woman
[00:51:25.770]was from a town in Western Nebraska,
[00:51:28.200]and probably she had never even seen
[00:51:30.410]a black person before she came to the university.
[00:51:33.770]And then to apparently her mom found out
[00:51:37.540]that this was going on and was upset about it
[00:51:40.780]and was just out of lack of knowledge.
[00:51:42.310]So I guess I go back again to what I said before
[00:51:44.479]is that until we have a better understanding
[00:51:46.930]and open up ourselves to each other and dialogue,
[00:51:49.508]it's gonna be difficult for anything to change.
[00:51:53.130]And a lot of it is that we need to have conversations
[00:51:56.897]with folks again, that don't look like us.
[00:51:59.520]And I would say too, that kind of goes
[00:52:03.160]in the reverse as well too 'cause I think
[00:52:05.160]sometimes people that don't look like me,
[00:52:08.180]white and currently blonde
[00:52:13.447]I'm getting gray or by the day,
[00:52:18.130]we all don't understand each other very well.
[00:52:20.470]I think probably people of color don't always understand
[00:52:23.380]us as white folks from where we're coming from.
[00:52:27.910]So I think that the dialogue has to happen from both sides.
[00:52:31.820]I agree, Dori.
[00:52:33.110]That's great.
[00:52:33.943]That's great, I agree.
[00:52:35.100]Can I have two more people share please?
[00:52:38.170]I would like to share
[00:52:39.330]and agree with what Dori says.
[00:52:41.620]I'm part of a group right now studying
[00:52:47.073]"Me and White Supremacy" written by a Layla Saad
[00:52:51.940]And I'm discovering a lot of things
[00:52:54.950]about myself as my partners.
[00:52:59.271]And it's just an excellent push
[00:53:05.129]to acknowledge what's inside of us
[00:53:08.290]and make some changes.
[00:53:10.920]Yes.
[00:53:12.790]I couldn't see who was speaking, but yes, who was that?
[00:53:15.634]Sorry that was Elsa.
[00:53:17.570]Oh, thanks Elsa.
[00:53:18.740]Is there a book Elsa?
[00:53:20.860]Is that a book that you're looking at?
[00:53:22.500]Yeah, "Me and White Supremacy"
[00:53:24.400]Okay, thank you.
[00:53:25.780]We'll put it in the chat or?
[00:53:28.970]Yeah, if you want to put it in the chat.
[00:53:31.259]It's best to do it in a group.
[00:53:33.307]All right, so I'll take one more volunteer please.
[00:53:36.860]This is Amir Azini
[00:53:39.070]Yes.
[00:53:41.506]And they asked me to speak for our group.
[00:53:47.220]Our group mainly they're white
[00:53:51.020]and their experience is very similar to others
[00:53:55.470]that they came to university.
[00:53:57.430]They became aware of the differences
[00:53:59.873]and at least experiencing some different races.
[00:54:05.620]I'm from Iran, as it was mentioned before.
[00:54:10.763]Well, I have experience because I didn't know I was a person
[00:54:13.580]of color until I came to university here.
[00:54:17.560]So that part of it is.
[00:54:20.460]But as far as what we can do,
[00:54:22.640]I know people just like any other issues
[00:54:26.270]that we have first is acknowledgement
[00:54:28.100]that we have that problem or that point of view.
[00:54:32.022]But they always talk about is acknowledgement is okay.
[00:54:35.470]But many to understand the degree of biases
[00:54:39.500]that we have.
[00:54:41.866]For example, for a lot of people,
[00:54:44.186]they don't mind to work with me
[00:54:47.010]or someone of the person of color.
[00:54:49.810]There are people that degree of,
[00:54:51.820]they don't mind to live next to me,
[00:54:56.210]but when it comes to it,
[00:54:57.970]can I marry your daughter (indistinct) different stories.
[00:55:02.240]So I just wanna emphasize from maybe the only person
[00:55:06.630]of color in our team,
[00:55:07.720]that it's not just acknowledging that we have
[00:55:10.290]some of these biases and include all of us,
[00:55:12.572]but what is the degree of acceptance?
[00:55:15.603]What's the degree of being recognizing
[00:55:18.770]that we have biases and how far is that bias?
[00:55:22.957]Again, coworker is okay.
[00:55:24.470]Neighbor is okay.
[00:55:26.390]Marrying into the family is okay.
[00:55:29.580]Being your doctor or is okay,
[00:55:34.721]can I touch you as a doctor or something?
[00:55:37.852]Those are the one I just have the degree of it.
[00:55:40.510]So anyway, I just stopped now.
[00:55:42.650]No, that's fantastic.
[00:55:44.730]Oh my goodness, yeah.
[00:55:46.370]Thank you so much for sharing that.
[00:55:48.600]Thanks so much.
[00:55:50.110]All right, so you all did great.
[00:55:53.050]I could just sit here and just chat with you all night,
[00:55:55.660]this group, but we're gonna have to move on.
[00:55:59.060]So we're gonna talk about what does it mean
[00:56:01.560]to be antiracist.
[00:56:03.890]The term antiracist refers to people
[00:56:06.180]who are actively seeking,
[00:56:07.790]not only to raise their consciousness
[00:56:09.950]about race and racism but also to take action
[00:56:12.332]when they see racial power and equities in everyday life,
[00:56:15.970]I took this from a book called, "Racial Healing"
[00:56:19.850]and it is an exceptional "Racial Healing Handbook"
[00:56:22.412]by Annaliese Singh,
[00:56:26.320]I am in a book club with it.
[00:56:27.670]It is so good.
[00:56:28.503]It's for all races and all intersectionalities.
[00:56:32.780]It's a fantastic book.
[00:56:34.890]Two things that she talks about
[00:56:36.970]that are very, very important
[00:56:38.810]all of you all talked about it tonight.
[00:56:42.690]And with racial healing, you all talked about education,
[00:56:45.611]educating yourself, you all talked about relationships,
[00:56:50.050]getting out of your comfort zone,
[00:56:52.670]interacting with other people.
[00:56:54.621]The book talks all about that
[00:56:56.710]and how important that is.
[00:57:02.600]There's a theory it's called the intergroup contact theory.
[00:57:06.090]And that plays right into the relationships of that theory.
[00:57:10.520]And I don't know if any of you
[00:57:11.750]have ever heard of the Robert Caves Experiment,
[00:57:15.120]where they had 22, 12-year-old boys,
[00:57:19.040]white middle class Protestants.
[00:57:21.410]They went to Robert's Cave State Park In Oklahoma.
[00:57:25.650]And they had two groups.
[00:57:27.990]They were separated, they developed their own norms.
[00:57:30.670]They came up with their own group names
[00:57:32.700]and they competed against each other.
[00:57:34.810]And the only awards that were given if you won,
[00:57:39.020]it was all or none awards, right?
[00:57:41.330]So you can imagine the conflict, the verbal abuse,
[00:57:44.450]the physical attacks.
[00:57:45.826]Then they did a debriefing and the group
[00:57:47.930]had to get together.
[00:57:49.460]And then they had to actually work together as teams.
[00:57:54.250]And it all changed.
[00:57:56.350]They worked so so well together.
[00:57:58.156]They achieved wards together, it was amazing.
[00:58:03.560]And they say, it's an imperative that we all work together
[00:58:07.120]to increase our intergroup contact and experiences.
[00:58:11.930]So that's what we have to do is work together.
[00:58:17.170]Now it must be different is what we're pushing
[00:58:19.840]and talking about and believing in at Nebraska.
[00:58:23.040]So we all need to set an example by speaking out
[00:58:27.210]and speaking up, we all need to make connection,
[00:58:30.750]reach out to individuals that don't look like us,
[00:58:33.010]just like you said.
[00:58:34.450]And we also need to be informed,
[00:58:36.490]educating yourself about the experience of others
[00:58:39.440]and intersectionalities of others.
[00:58:43.887]George Floyd.
[00:58:45.780]George Floyd, it's been 60 days since the death
[00:58:48.860]of George Floyd.
[00:58:50.514]And here are some ways your life should have changed.
[00:58:56.620]You should have had uncomfortable conversations
[00:58:59.840]with family members, friends, and coworkers.
[00:59:03.870]You should have followed new accounts, authors,
[00:59:06.364]new sources that have changed your perspective
[00:59:09.610]on race, privilege and justice.
[00:59:12.830]You should have recognized on the times
[00:59:15.440]that you explicitly or implicitly
[00:59:17.980]contributed to the problem.
[00:59:21.103]You should have diversity and inclusion
[00:59:24.326]in your social groups has taken a whole new meaning.
[00:59:29.890]Diversity and inclusion in your social groups
[00:59:32.053]should have taken a whole new meeting.
[00:59:36.226]You are reflective on situations
[00:59:38.720]you wish you had handled differently.
[00:59:42.080]You should have learned that there's a difference
[00:59:44.460]between not being a racist and being antiracist.
[00:59:49.410]You should feel more informed,
[00:59:52.150]but also feel like you have so much more to learn
[00:59:55.304]should have recognized how apparent racism
[00:59:59.050]may have been throughout your life.
[01:00:02.910]It may have been packaged in the form of jokes,
[01:00:06.283]just a part of high school,
[01:00:07.810]or just the way a certain family member was.
[01:00:10.930]You should have certain people have disappointed you,
[01:00:14.240]but so many others have inspired you.
[01:00:23.090]My call to action for us is now that you know
[01:00:26.503]what will be your narrative to ensure
[01:00:29.190]that this will be a movement and not just a moment.
[01:00:35.190]Dr. Barker.
[01:00:38.720]So I know that we are almost at time,
[01:00:43.210]so I wanna be sensitive to our time together today.
[01:00:46.930]So I won't go into detail.
[01:00:48.570]But what I will tell you is that this call to action
[01:00:51.750]is something that we have identified,
[01:00:54.071]the importance for us,
[01:00:55.663]that what we need to do
[01:00:57.080]at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
[01:00:59.103]Next slide, Jerry.
[01:01:01.070]And that we are thinking about this work
[01:01:03.940]and trying to get organized.
[01:01:06.070]Here are some of the actions that we're going to be taking.
[01:01:09.150]We have also been able to assemble
[01:01:12.690]a group of thought leaders to help our leadership,
[01:01:16.030]to help our chancellor and thinking through these issues.
[01:01:19.030]They certainly addressed some of the same topics
[01:01:21.820]that you wrote, everything from thinking about policy,
[01:01:24.741]to also identify how do we elevate voices
[01:01:28.130]and make those more prevalent to increase awareness
[01:01:31.829]so that people become much more knowledgeable
[01:01:34.780]about these issues and certainly understanding history.
[01:01:37.970]Next slide.
[01:01:43.430]And so there are a number of resources
[01:01:45.730]that Dr. Kassebaum and I wanted to make sure
[01:01:48.101]that you had available.
[01:01:52.080]One of the resources that are going to be open
[01:01:55.750]to all of you is a new initiative that Dr. Kassebaum
[01:01:59.520]has lunch called hashtag include that's Nebraska's
[01:02:03.030]community of learners,
[01:02:04.430]understanding diversity through education.
[01:02:06.730]This, if you go to our website, diversity.unl.edu,
[01:02:11.940]this is a learning community open to all.
[01:02:14.070]And so we are inviting Nebraskans
[01:02:16.750]to be a part, and to join us.
[01:02:18.779]The link is also provided into the chat,
[01:02:21.640]but to join us for sharing information,
[01:02:24.352]sharing resources, sharing knowledge,
[01:02:26.668]sharing your expertise.
[01:02:28.399]So we are extremely excited to do
[01:02:31.499]some of this beginning building work,
[01:02:34.530]not only for our university,
[01:02:35.930]but to have this particular initiative
[01:02:39.050]for our entire state.
[01:02:42.640]Next slide.
[01:02:47.950]Unfortunately, I had a lot of time for questions.
[01:02:49.870]It was such a great conversation
[01:02:51.610]and so we're very appreciative.
[01:02:54.260]Maybe there are one or two burning questions
[01:02:56.680]that people have on Dr. Kassebaum if it was okay with you,
[01:02:59.950]we can take those.
[01:03:03.170]Yes, (indistinct).
[01:03:06.371]Could I just make a comment?
[01:03:08.230]It'd be nice to just have those slides,
[01:03:10.460]particularly the last set that we didn't have a chance
[01:03:12.730]to really to take notes on or review.
[01:03:14.590]It would be good if you could send those perhaps
[01:03:16.890]to Bob Nicole and we can lend Bob Nelli
[01:03:21.157]if we wanted to copy.
[01:03:24.250]Karen, are you okay with that?
[01:03:28.920]Yes.
[01:03:30.491]We'll make a deck available.
[01:03:33.260]Okay, very good.
[01:03:35.220]Do we need to ask for it or will you just send it to us?
[01:03:39.504]I'll work through Bob.
[01:03:42.114]Alright.
[01:03:44.893](indistinct) Connections to Muhammad Ali,
[01:03:49.602](indistinct) if that's possible as well.
[01:03:55.910]Yes, I'll take a look at the slides
[01:03:58.070]and I'll send Bob deck
[01:04:02.560]and then he can forward it
[01:04:04.400]to anyone that's interested in the deck.
[01:04:07.570]Happy to do that.
[01:04:10.960]Are we likely to get an email
[01:04:13.040]that says you can request?
[01:04:19.079]I think if I can do this and the way Jerry
[01:04:24.130]has explained it to me,
[01:04:25.350]I think I can get your emails
[01:04:27.170]from on the backside of this.
[01:04:30.920]Correct.
[01:04:31.753]And should be able to send this out to you.
[01:04:33.330]Right.
[01:04:35.490]I have a burning question.
[01:04:38.850]Yes.
[01:04:40.013]Is there time?
[01:04:41.490]Okay, so my burning question that's bothering me
[01:04:45.350]is I'm hearing the backlash against black lives matter.
[01:04:51.400]I'm hearing things like, well, black lives matter
[01:04:56.160]was started by two people
[01:05:01.390]who are trained Marxists
[01:05:05.240]and their names are out there.
[01:05:08.010]I heard that the black lives matter
[01:05:10.940]is funded by George Soros
[01:05:16.260]and then dirty comment behind that.
[01:05:22.739]I've been seeing lots of ads from Joni Ernst,
[01:05:25.997]Senator Joni Ernst.
[01:05:34.660]It's kind of like hidden racism to me,
[01:05:40.291]but he's talking about,
[01:05:44.280]Oh gosh,
[01:05:47.457](indistinct) is sending out federal troops,
[01:05:52.420]and she's got a bill that she's advertising for.
[01:05:58.600]I don't know how to exactly address those
[01:06:03.450]other than to say, if you just look
[01:06:05.680]at the thousands of people that are in black lives matter,
[01:06:09.640]it's not like they're a bunch of parks or whatever,
[01:06:14.580]but I just wish I had more.
[01:06:17.790]I'm wondering how to combat those kinds of things.
[01:06:26.300]I'm experiencing a different feelings
[01:06:29.740]about that, Terry.
[01:06:31.390]I'm finding that all of that crap makes it so much easier
[01:06:34.940]for me to be talkative and to be supportive
[01:06:39.155]and being antiracist.
[01:06:42.290]Now that that stuff is out and blatant,
[01:06:45.300]it's just so much easier for me to address.
[01:06:48.285]Maybe I'm weird that way, but I just.
[01:06:57.840]I wanted to say that earlier it was expressed
[01:07:01.200]that we felt things were going backwards
[01:07:04.090]and I don't think we're going backwards,
[01:07:06.840]but I do think we've changed from being covert racist
[01:07:14.610]and discriminatory in Nebraska
[01:07:17.085]to being more overt about it.
[01:07:20.010]And so that follows in with what you just said
[01:07:23.140]in terms of now that people are angry about it
[01:07:26.730]or talking about it or expressing their opinions about it,
[01:07:29.510]it's easier for us to also engage in the conversation.
[01:07:34.450]Whereas those feelings were there before
[01:07:37.090]they just didn't all of a sudden show up,
[01:07:40.090]they've been there all along.
[01:07:41.350]It's just now we're talking about them.
[01:07:44.090]So I think that's the, I guess
[01:07:48.820]the silver lining in the cloud,
[01:07:52.610]that there's more conversation about it.
[01:07:56.277]I think my comment would have been, is that fake news?
[01:08:00.604]Oh my goodness.
[01:08:01.437](indistinct)
[01:08:03.470]No, the problem is it's not fake news to a lot of people.
[01:08:07.180]And then it serves to polarize people (indistinct).
[01:08:09.720]No, it just lets you know
[01:08:11.580]that you don't go along.
[01:08:14.090]Oh, I see, that would be a reply to them.
[01:08:18.190]All right.
[01:08:19.023]Well, thank you.
[01:08:19.930]This has been so fun.
[01:08:20.900]It sounds like more conversations.
[01:08:22.873]We need to be having more conversations.
[01:08:30.173]Dr. Barker and I would like to thank you
[01:08:32.290]for your time this evening.
[01:08:34.390]I put it in the chat that the video,
[01:08:37.320]this event was recorded.
[01:08:38.940]Therefore it will be available
[01:08:40.300]on our website under webinars.

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