Moving From Conversation to Racial Justice Action
The goal of eliminating racism in Minnesota and beyond is within our reach. It begins with conversation, and it’s propelled by action.
Join YWCA in its mission to break through the barriers that perpetuate racism. It’s Time to Act!™ is a forum series that engages participants for deeper learning and action planning around issues of race, equity, identity and social justice.
The forums are a catalyst for changemaking, where attendees take a deep dive into issues affecting our community and are inspired to identify their own role and power to create change. Pairing lectures with intentional action planning, it is an opportunity for attendees to move from talk to action.
This event has been made possible by their generous support.
2023-2024 Series: Solidarity
Solidarity: Rematriation and Reparations
Rematriation is a movement led by Indigenous women that seeks to reclaim connections to tradition, culture and identities, “returning the sacred to the mother” (Rematriation, 2024). It is grounded in a belief in the power of healing, revitalization, and reconciliation. Rematriation revives the Indigenous cultural understanding of the essential role of women in “safeguarding and nurturing the land” and in reviving the central roles that women have in reclaiming Indigenous ways of knowing (Northwest American Indian Coalition, 2024).
According to Pieratos and Two Bulls (2021), “…a concrete part of the push for Reparations begins with decolonizing our minds.” In the spirit of these words, activists and communities assert that we must consider actionable ways to make tangible reparation efforts to communities who historically have experienced slavery, exploitation, murder, genocide, and theft of their people, home cultures, cultural narratives, languages, and lands.
By building social awareness about these truths, acting to interrupt and amend these wrongs, we can reach across social and cultural differences to work together to support rematriation and reparations. This call to learn and act is essential if all people are to heal and create a just world. In the words of Maya Angelou, “The truth is, no one of us can be free until everybody is free.”
Join us for “It’s Time to Talk” on May to learn about Rematriation and Reparations as elemental to Solidarity movements among Indigenous, Black and Brown people in the United States
Speakers:
Dr. Kwame-Ross - Professor at Augsburg University and University of Minnesota
Ruth Buffalo, CEO of Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center (MIWRC)
Date: Tuesday, May 7, 2024
Time: 3:00 pm
Location: In-Person: Rondo Community Library | 461 Dale St N, St Paul, MN 55103 (Virtual options available)
Cost: $20
Solidarity: Immigration across Communities
Join us as we dive deeply to understand what solidarity is and is not through learning specific narrative examples of cross-cultural, cross-communal solidarity among immigrants in Minnesota along with the challenges and energizing successes that arise in our local context.
Speakers:
Jaylani Hussein – Executive Director – CAIR-MN
Juventino Meza – Co-founder NAVIGATE MN and Capitol Pathway Internship
UyenThi Tran Myhre – Movement Building Associate with the Building Movement Project
Moderator: Suleiman Adan - Race Equity Consulting Manager
This event has ended.
Solidarity: Intersectional Identities Across Gender and Race
Inequities across gender and race are notably documented in our American history and those stories have galvanized numerous movements yet there is still work to be done. Looking through an intersectional lens, join us as we uncover how solidarity across gender and race has propelled actions throughout history and what can be realized in the evolution of these identities.
Speaker:
Dr. Rose M. Brewer - The Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor and past chairperson of the Department of African American & African Studies, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
This event has ended.
Become an Event Sponsor
Your support helps us move conversations about race to action.
With your sponsorship, your organization will become a visible racial justice champion, supporting programs that empower community members to address racial inequities on interpersonal, institutional and systemic levels.
Contact Us
If you’re interested in sponsorship opportunities for this forum series, please contact engagement@ywcampls.org.
Contact David Lundin at dlundin@ywcampls.org or 612-215-4158 for payment assistance or for an invoice request.
For event support, contact engagement@ywcampls.org.
Questions? Contact our engagement team at engagement@ywcampls.org.
About YWCA’s Racial Justice and Public Policy Work
YWCA Minneapolis is a national leader in the field of racial equity; facilitating change and generating meaningful action in the workplace and the community.
Our Racial Justice and Public Policy Department works within the community to eliminate inequities on interpersonal, institutional and systemic levels through a continuum of moving from knowledge, awareness and skills to action. We do this by partnering with individuals, organizations and businesses through racial justice training, Inc.lude™ consulting, advocacy and workshops.