Open Our Hearts and Minds to End Racism
Who are we?
Opening Our Hearts and Minds to End Racism “was planned as a yearlong faith based series of events beginning in January 2020. The occurrence of the pandemic caused a number of events to be canceled. We have decided to continue the Series throughout the fall of 2020 and into 2021.
Series will continue to provide interactive and multidimensional public events. The Series goal is to increase our understanding of how we think and feel about racism resulting in actions that can help to transform us and individuals and the systems of racism in our country.
The Series began with Voices of Justice Speaker, Milton Dockery and the multimedia live production of “Tolton: From Slave to Priest. We will launch the continuation of the Series with Implicit Bias training on September 19, 2020. Further offerings are still being planned but include additional Voices of Justice speakers as well as other opportunities to help us as individuals and as a community to grow in our understanding of racism and support addressing the dismantling of systems of racisms.
Throughout the Series the Racine community will be made aware of a wide variety of additional community events, print and multimedia resources for their continued exploration of the topic.
Registration
Bringing Home Justice-The Housing Crisis in Racine County
Please join us for a panel discussion on the current state of the housing crisis in Racine
County, its impact on People of Color and other under-represented groups and how
we can work together to make things better for EVERYBODY in our community.
- Date & Time: Monday, March 6, 2023 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. CST
- In-person Location: Gateway Technical College, Great Lakes Room (Room 106)
- Address: 1001 S. Main Street, Racine, WI 53403
- Virtual Attendance: via Zoom
Registration is now closed for Bringing Home Justice--The Housing Crisis in Racine.
Please call Ann Pratt, OP with any questions 262 898 4094.
Recaps
Santo Carfora is a private consultant in human relations, character education, and diversity training for schools and organizations. He holds a Master of Science degree from University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. His honors include Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers, WEAC Humanitarian Award, Janesville YWCA Peace Award, Janesville Link Asset Builder Award, the Janesville Gazette’s 50 Who Matter, the United Auto Worker’s Local 95 Martin Luther King Jr. Civil Rights Service Award and the Forward Janesville 2010 Diversity Award. Since 1996, he has conducted diversity workshops for students, teachers, administrators, municipalities, and businesses since 1996. He retired from the classroom in 2003 to form S & J Consulting, LLC. A native of Long Island, NY, he taught social studies for thirty-four years, thirty-three years for the School District of Janesville, WI.
Presenter: Ana Garcia-Ashley
Position: Executive Director, Gamaliel Foundation
Date: 12/12/2020 at 10 to 11:30 a.m.
Location: Virtual
Ana Garcia-Ashley’s family moved from the Dominican Republic to New York City during the 1960s, fleeing the chaos that followed the murder of three activists who opposed dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo. Her family’s safe passage was, to Garcia-Ashley, a miracle—the first sign that she had a divine mission to fulfill. Garcia-Ashley attended Catholic and public schools in the South Bronx, then moved to New Mexico to study at Highlands University. Longing for a welcoming environment among Latinos, she was shocked when her first experience was getting hit by an egg and called “nigger” in Spanish.
Ana graduated from the University of Colorado in Denver, and began her career in Denver in 1981, where she organized The Concerned Citizens of Westwood. She affiliated with the Metropolitan Organization for People in 1982 and went on to work on local and state campaigns, including enforcement of the Community Reinvestment Act and affordable public services.
Intensely interested in the intersection of politics and faith, Ana attended the Iliff School of Theology in Denver to develop a foundation for organizing congregations. During her theological studies and organizing, Ana’s conviction deepened that organizing was a divine calling for her—the purpose of the miracle that allowed her and her family to safely emigrate from the Dominican Republic to the United States.
Ana began her work in Gamaliel in the early 1990s, as Lead Organizer of MICAH (Milwaukee Inner City Congregations Allied for Hope). During her tenure there, the organization won a $500 million reinvestment commitment from the city’s banks. Ana was also the founding organizer for WISDOM, the Gamaliel-affiliated Wisconsin state organization. She has been a member of the Gamaliel central staff for nearly two decades, serving as senior trainer at Gamaliel’s National Leadership Training and co-director of the Civil Rights for Immigrants campaign.
In 2009, Ana was named Associate Director, becoming Executive Director in 2012. Under her leadership the organization’s Fire of Faith campaign is on track to save or create nearly 1 million jobs over 3 years, while also rekindling the 1,000 interfaith congregations that belong to Gamaliel’s affiliate organizations through community organizing.
Ana’s deep sense of organizing as a ministry, her interest in the relationship between faith and politics, and her status as a naturalized immigrant dovetail perfectly with the goal of Gamaliel to be “a community of people living out our faith and values to collectively transform our communities and bring about justice locally, nationally and globally.”
She splits her home life between Franklin, Wisconsin and Atlanta, Georgia. She is married and has two daughters. She is a member of St. Martin de Porres Catholic Church in Milwaukee.
Implicit Bias Training with David Liners, Executive Director for Wisdom, and Catoya Roberts, Former Wisdom Associate State Director
Where: Virtual
When: September 19th
- Free Will Offering
David Liners is the Executive Director for WISDOM, a Wisconsin network of faith- based organizations, part of the international Gamaliel Foundation. WISDOM is a multi- issue, grassroots organization. Though its roots are in the faith community (congregations belonging to 19 different religious traditions participate in WISDOM), WISDOM has broadened its participation in recent years. Some notable recent evolutions of WISDOM has been the formation of EXPO (EX-incarcerated People Organizing) under the WISDOM umbrella and the increased leadership within the network of Native American people, Immigrants, and Transit-dependent people.
Over the past fifteen years, Liners has overseen the growth of the statewide network from three to twelve diverse, interfaith local organizations in Wisconsin. His duties include leadership training, supervision of organizing staff, and work with local and state leadership groups to develop solid organizing plans. He has developed models for building new projects, for moving start-up projects into long-term stability, and re- organizing projects in need of re-vitalization.
He holds a BA from Marquette University (Political Science and Theology, Magna Cum Laude), a Masters of Divinity (MDiv) from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago and a Doctor of Ministry (DMin) from St. Mary of the Lake University
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Catoya Roberts is the national network coordinator for Advancement Project National Office’s Formation project where she works to build and sustain a racially diverse coalition of partners. Prior to joining Advancement Project, Catoya was an associate director at WISDOM, a statewide faith-based organizing nonprofit.
Catoya’s faith and love for people led her into the world of organizing and she’s been part of the movement for more than 10 years. She is a trainer and facilitator in the areas of mass incarceration, civic engagement, youth organizing, public health (health equity) and race equity. Catoya was appointed by the governor of Wisconsin to the Public Health Commission to represent the people of Wisconsin and is also a part of the Robert Wood Johnson Cultural of Health Leaders Program.
Catoya is one of the Co-Founders of FREE. FREE is a campaign of EXPO (Ex People Organizing) but for impacted and formerly incarcerated women and girls. She is an associate minister at New Covenant Baptist Church in Milwaukee, WI and was raised in Milwaukee, WI, she attended Hampton University.
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This is being offered online via Zoom. Once you are registered you will receive a link to join the training and the advanced materials needed for this training. If you have never joined a Zoom meeting, there is a short webinar introduction: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362193-How-Do-I-Join-A-Meeting.
Implicit Bias Training Notes
YouTube videos used during the Implicit Bias Training presentation:
Unconscious Bias at Work https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW5s_-Nl3JE
Systemic Racism Explained https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrHIQIO_bdQ&vl=en
The Enduring Myth of Black Criminality https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQo-yYhExw0 Ta-Nehisi Coates on Criminal Justice
Putting into action “Do the Work”
Recall a story of; when, where and how your Bias was displayed
Find your trigger – the stories you tell should help you- What triggered your thoughts, moods, meetings, communications i.e. e-mail an upcoming meetings or quick decisions
Slow down, take three deep breaths, turn off the fight or flight mechanism momentarily – This is where we can connect pre-meetings and how we choose leaders and assign roles – create an environment not so emotionally or urgency charged
Do something differently
• Engage someone different from the like you bias
• Engage unlikely groups of people
• Experience opinions of disengaged people and communities
It’s a cycle;
• Cue- know your bias and its triggers
• Routine – make it a practice, a standard and breathe
• Reward – better relationships, a reimagined organization, board or taskforce
Presenter: Milton F. Dockery
Position: Instructional Chairman Department History at Milwaukee Area Technical College
Presentation Title: "Where do we go from here? A brief history of racism and its impact on American society."
Presentation Date and Time: January 25, 2020 10:00 AM
Location: Gateway Technical College - Great Lakes Room, Racine, WI 53403
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Racine Reads Just Mercy:
This series is presented by Opening Our Hearts and Minds to End Racism, facilitated by Dominican Center for Justice Resources, which includes Hospitality Center, Racine Coalition for Peace and Justice, Racine Dominican Sisters and Associates, Racine Interfaith Coalition, Racine Public Library, Racine Vocational Ministry, Siena Retreat Center and University of Wisconsin-Parkside.
A series of events about the book Just Mercy written by Bryan Stevenson based on his life work battling for justice for people who live in poverty or are disfavored, accused, incarcerated or condemned.
Click here to view the Facebook event.
Inspiring Racial Justice: What Can Faith Leaders Do
Dates:
- Part I: Thursday, September 23, 2021 from 6-8PM
- Part II: Thursday, October 14, 2021 from 6-8PM
- Part III: Thursday, November 11, 2021 from 6-8PM
Presented via Zoom
This series of three 2-hour workshops will provide tools and resources to recognize, analyze, and deconstruct systemic racism; facilitate discussion to reflect on one’s own participation within systems of racism; and identify steps for personal and communal learning and growth.
Goal: To assist Faith Leaders in supporting their congregations’ movement toward naming and addressing racism in their faith community and working toward racial reconciliation and equity.
- Assist faith leaders (and their teams) in recognizing racism within themselves;
- Assist faith leaders (and their teams) in their ability to help their membership recognize racism within themselves;
- Assist faith leaders (and their teams) in supporting the awareness of systemic racism within their congregational structures;
- Assist faith leaders (and their teams) in developing action plans that will assist personal and communal growth as a faith community that supports and encourages racial reconciliation, justice, and equity.
- Assist faith leaders (and their teams) in managing resistance from members who are uncomfortable addressing racial themes within the congregation.
Facilitators: Dr. Joyce Caldwell and Rev. Marilyn Miller have 30 years of partnership and experience in facilitating dialogue, leading workshops and training sessions, and working with clergy groups, congregations, seminaries, and other not-for-profit organizations to examine racism and address their journey toward deeper racial understanding and greater racial equity.
Rev. Marilyn Miller recently retired as Pastor of the Lutheran Church of the Reformation – ELCA on the north side of Milwaukee. She currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Board for Milwaukee Inner City Congregations Allied for Hope (MICAH, micahmke.org) as immediate past President (5 years).
Dr. Joyce Caldwell received her Ph.D. from Fielding Graduate University in Human and Organizational Systems, with a Concentration in Transformative Learning for Social Justice. She is a skilled adult educator and has been the leading co-author of several resources on race, culture, and white privilege.
Racine Reads Just Mercy:
This series is presented by Opening Our Hearts and Minds to End Racism, facilitated by Dominican Center for Justice Resources, which includes Hospitality Center, Racine Coalition for Peace and Justice, Racine Dominican Sisters and Associates, Racine Interfaith Coalition, Racine Public Library, Racine Vocational Ministry, Siena Retreat Center and University of Wisconsin-Parkside.
A series of events about the book Just Mercy written by Bryan Stevenson based on his life work battling for justice for people who live in poverty or are disfavored, accused, incarcerated or condemned.
Click here to view the Facebook event.
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