Check out his blog entry–and get the conversation going.

Many thanks to Eugene Cho for sharing this piece with us. Be sure to check out his blog.

Vincent Chin is no American Idol but he is someone that every American needs to know but unfortunately, hardly anyone will remember or know – even during this week as we mark the “anniversary” of his brutal beating and subsequent death on June 23, 1982. It’s important to remember because how we recall the past can be so important as it informs our future. If you haven’t heard, the world is changing and that includes the country that I call home – the United States. And in a society where Diversity is the New Normal and an increase in tension with Immigration and Xenophobia issues, it’s that much more important for people to know about Vincent Chin.

Who is Vincent Chin?

Vincent Chin was a 27-year-old Chinese-American raised in Metro Detroit. A week before his wedding, Read the rest of this entry »

In Springfield, you can be kicked off a city bus, fired from your job, or denied housing for being gay. Now, after a 6-month study, a city task force says that needs to change.

Springfield city code prevents discrimination in matters of housing, public accommodations, and employment. The protected groups are: age, race, creed, color, disability, religion, sex, national origin, and ancestry.

The Human Rights Commission Task Force would like to see 2 more groups added to that list — sexual orientation and gender identity.

They were among 10 outstanding volunteers that received 2010 Gift of Time Awards through a program sponsored by the  Council of Churches of the Ozarks and other area organizations.

In the three years since they moved to Springfield, where Wes grew up, the Pratts have helped invigorate our community through their many leadership initiatives.

61 complaints in one year—can you believe it? The number of people who seek help for discrimination and harassment in our community is troubling indeed.

But helping people assert their legal rights is only one of the chapter’s  many activities during its first year under new leadership.

Camielle Famous (see “Soldier of Love” entry posted 3/5/10) compiled a amazing list of  chapter accomplishments in 2009. Just some of the highlights:

• Grew to more than 120 members!!
• Participated in KSMU radio broadcast with the League of Women Voters,  minority teacher recruitment for Springfield Public Schools, community ownership of Lincoln Memorial Cemetery,  Missouri State University Multicultural Student Orientation, Hispanic Heritage Month events, Breast Cancer Awareness tea and walk-a-thon and other community events
• Started First Friday fundraisers (at Q Enoteca!) to raise money for student scholarships
• Founded Minorities in Business
• Launched Boys Booked on Barbershops/Girls Booked on Beauty Shops literacy program in Springfield
• Initiated a collaboration between the Missouri Department of Transportation and NAACP to advocate for contracting opportunities for minority-owned businesses
• Sponsored the 7^th Annual Youth Empowerment conference in partnership with Missouri State University, Springfield Public Schools, Drury University and other organizations
• Launched the first community-wide African American Read-In, bringing two excellent speakers to Springfield  for pre-events and culminating in a poetry event featuring talented local youth and adults
• Hosted extremely successful Centennial Freedom Fund Ball!
• Provided guest speakers for Chase Banking Services, Girls Tea, the Juneteenth celebration at the U.S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners, Drury University Summer Scholars program and Pipkin Middle School commencement
• Hosted a Welcome Wagon in conjunction with The Gathering
• Established partnerships with Drury University, Springfield Police Department, Mayor’s Human Rights Commission, MSU Diversity Council, Juvenile Detention Alternative and other organizations
• Heard presentations from Missouri Department of Transportation, Missouri Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, City Manager Greg Burris, Victory Circle Peer Support, Greene County Juvenile Justice System, Springfield Police Department and others

On top of that, the NAACP Youth Council, which NAACP President Francine Pratt also leads, had its own busy agenda. The youth made toiletries bags for Missouri Hotel residents; went to National Forum for Black Public Administrators meeting in Oakland, Calif.; placed flags at Lincoln Memorial Cemetery;  and traveled to Memphis to visit the National Civil Rights Museum.

In 1994, the citizens of Springfield started on a strategic journey that resulted in Vision 20/20, a plan for how Springfield should look twenty years in the future. That plan has been updated several times, has guided Springfield’s Council and staff, and today remains the blueprint for Springfield’s future.

However, times have changed. The population is changing; the city is changing; the world is changing.  Now, rather than simply updating the existing Vision 20/20 document, City Manager Greg Burris has opted to begin a new process, one which incorporates many of the timeless topics from the previous strategic plan, but also adds new chapters.

One of those new chapters in entitled “Global Perspective and Diversity.”

The inclusion of Global Perspective and Diversity as a chapter in Springfield’s strategic plan recognizes two realities: in spite of our location in the very center of a large country, our city functions in a global economy AND our lack of diversity is now becoming a detriment to economic development and the creation of new jobs in Springfield.

This chapter was added as our city received a Community Assessment performed by the Market Street Services of Atlanta.  In that report, two of the weaknesses that were identified consisted of

a) negative, outdated, and false perceptions about the Ozarks, and

b) the lack of diversity within the region.

In order to develop this chapter, the committee divided into four sub-committees—each with a specific task to complete or a question to answer.  These consisted of

• Update Springfield’s Mission and Vision statements as they relate to cultural diversity;
• How do we change the perceptions about Springfield and move towards inclusiveness?
• How do we create an environment to retain college graduates and young professionals?
• How do we coordinate current diverse activities in the community

A great deal of work has already been completed on this overall topic.  During the month of May, each sub-committee developed a list of proposed action steps.  Throughout June, the committee leaders will be drafting the action plan and matching that plan up with projected costs and proposed sources of revenue.  This is a new and important development in the strategic planning process.  Previous plans were “wish lists” with no responsibility for how the improvements were funded.  This strategic plan will also contain funding suggestions from members.

The final steps will include a review of other committee goals and objectives to ensure that one committee is not in conflict with another.  Then, in July, the committee will conduct a virtual meeting to approve the chapter and submit it, along with the other chapters, for consideration by the City staff and City Council.

According to a recent Associated Press-Univision Poll, Hispanics face significant discrimination. Who do you think is being discriminated against the most in America?

The results?

Blacks: 5.8 percent
Elderly: 11 percent
Handicapped: 4 percent
Hispanics: 4 percent
Homosexuals: 14.4 percent
Men: 6.2 percent
Whites: 49.6 percent
Women: 5 percent

You read that right: According to Springfieldians, whites face more discrimination than anyone else in America. I can’t say that I’m totally surprised by these results (I hear this kind of banter on a fairly regular basis), but I was absolutely flabbergasted by the 49.6 percent margin. (Notice also that, according to this poll, men are more discriminated against than women.) To be fair, the News-Leader’s poll has all kinds of flaws that wouldn’t stand up for a second in a social sciences classroom, but still yet, even in the era of Glenn Beck and the Tea Party, I never thought that even a small representative sample would yield such results.

All of this makes me wonder a few things: (1) Does the News-Leader have a really small, fringe following? (2) Do any progressives read the online version of the News-Leader and respond to its polls? If not, where do progressive Springfieldians go for their news? (3) Is Springfield, which is the second least diverse city in the nation (consisting of cities with at least 100,000 residents, behind only Portland, Maine) really this myopic and/or xenophobic?

And (4): If this poll would have been conducted in 1906, just after Springfield’s infamous Easter town square lynching in which virtually all of the African Americans living in Springfield were forced to leave as part of Springfield’s first of two “black flights” (before the lynching 40 percent of Springfield businesses were owned by African-Americans), would the results have been the same?

It seems to me that white men can talk all they want about being oppressed, so long as they do so after they’ve been denied a voice in North America for more than three centuries and women or ‘minorities’ have made up the vast majority of members of congress (not to mention city governmental and virtually all other leadership posts) for nearly 250 years.