AREJ Spreads Communal Anti-Racism Message During Workshop
April 7, 2022
On March 30, Vassar College’s Anti-Racism, Equity, and Justice organization (AREJ) invited members of the Vassar and Poughkeepsie community to come together for “Breaking Down and Building Up,” an evening of passionate discussion and workshop. Participants convened around tables in the Villard Room, introducing themselves and mingling with one another. I was immediately impressed by the turnout from members of the Poughkeepsie community. As Talent Davis, organizing member of AREJ, explained: “The goals were simple—to break down silos and communally analyze anti-racism activities in the City of Poughkeepsie and at Vassar and build up a coordinated social justice network to collaboratively dismantle racism.”
In a warm-up activity, each person wrote their own definitions of anti-racism on Post-It notes, which were pasted around the Villard Room. Then, members of AREJ gave a brief but expansive presentation on the history of racism in the Poughkeepsie area and at Vassar College. Attendees learned that Vassar did not admit a student who openly identified as Black until 1940, and about Poughkeepsie’s history of redlining. The presenters spoke at length about the 1969 takeover of Main Building by Black female students demanding Vassar take better diversity initiatives, which lead to the Africana Studies program and the creation of the ALANA center. Davis presented some startling statistics: “Today, over one in five city residents live in poverty. Over one in four Black residents live in poverty. And nearly one in three school-aged children live below the poverty line.” The presentation concluded with a striking a cappella performance by the trio Souls United of the Hudson Valley.
There was a break for appetizers and mingling. Robin Green, a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), said, “I think it’s wonderful…I like the mixture of students, community people and organizations, because that’s really what we need to achieve anything.” She added, “There’s unity in strength.”
Attendees then split into smaller groups to examine Vassar and Poughkeepsie using the SWOT technique, which stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. The purpose of a SWOT analysis is to devise a strategy for the future by identifying the present framework of a given system. In a written correspondence, Isis Benitez, AREJ member and event facilitator, explained, “The decision to do a SWOT analysis was because it was one of the most simplest yet data driven ways to dissect the racism and where the communities can work together.” She mentioned she was pleased with the participation: “I was so happy to see the engagement and see that people were actually willing to work closely together despite the different characteristics and communities they come from.”
Davis agreed, stating, “The SWOT exercise was evocative. I heard some things that I’ve heard since I was a child and some novel things that sent chills down my spine, but I was grateful for the candid truth telling that occurred. However, I was most grateful for the solutions that were forged in the strategic plan.”
One group spoke at length about the division between Poughkeepsie and Vassar and land possession, considering that Vassar is a wealthy, predominantly white institution located in a diverse city where approximately 20 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. Anne Lancellotti, who belongs to two anti-racist community organizations, Engine and the Poughkeepsie Community Action Collaborative, said, “I think that the idea of what Vassar does with its land is very important…For instance, if you own some of the businesses here, having respect for their need to attract the entire community, not only a small community of Vassar students and giving those businesses a little leeway in the rent so that they can attract people from the wider community.”
Laura Moto
ya, who works with the Poughkeepsie Farm Project and the Hudson Valley Language Justice Collective, suggested Vassar take part in a community land trust. “I’m pretty sure [land trusts] started in the south, where Black folks basically couldn’t have ownership of their land, or basically, they would have land, and the land would be taken away because they didn’t have resources or the way to keep the land,” she explained. “What it means is that the house might be owned by an individual, but the land is owned by a land trust.” The land trust consists of a three-part board, including government, community members and outside experts. “If we live in a project or a housing community, you and I have no say in what happens to those projects, how the walls get painted, how our rent goes up…in a community land trust, we make those decisions together,” Motoya continued. “Vassar could donate two houses to start it off. Or the money to get two houses from the city that are dilapidated. Or, I don’t know if there’s some kind of youth build program here, where young people can also help… Let’s not even say money. The social capital that Vassar has, the brains that are here–you can start a community land trust for Poughkeepsie.”
The night ended with empanadas, caramel-filled cupcakes and more entertainment. Brian Robinson, member of AREJ, played two stunning piano pieces. The dance trio Bethel Missionary Baptist Church Sisters of Glorious Praise gave a moving performance to Cynthia Erivo’s song “Stand Up,” complete with straw hat costumes. The Vassar a cappella group UJIMA sang two songs. Davis ended the evening with a rendition of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah. In a written correspondence, he explained, “I was raised as a Pentecostal Christian at my family church here in Poughkeepsie. Back then, the old folks used to say that hallelujah was the highest praise. So as a Spiritualist now, that resonates as Hallelujah is the highest vibration and my intention was to send the people home on the highest of vibrations, inspired, and motivated to action!”
“Breaking Down & Building Up” was a wonderful and productive event. Nicole Beveridge, director of the ALANA Center, explained how her aspirations for the event came to fruition, stating, “My hope for the event was to strengthen the current ties between Vassar and neighboring communities, and to move forward with plans, policies, and action steps that center antiracism. Secondly, to establish new partnerships. Several community organizations were represented at this event and the entire AREJ team was grateful for their support and desire to do this antiracism work.” Overall, it was an extremely successful night. As Benitez wrote, “I 1000% want more events like this. Right now we are looking to analyze the data we received and are trying to figure out where to go. We want to hold an event like this twice a year at least to check in and hold each other accountable, and maybe this big event be yearly to reconvene as a larger group. So many big plans to come from this work!”
Article by Charlotte Robertson, Miscellany News. See original article here.
Anti-Racism Group Provides New Opportunities for Meaningful Dialog
February 9, 2022.
Vassar has created and hosted numerous forums, workshops, and programs aimed at addressing issues of equity and inclusion; yet, Dean of Student Growth and Engagement Wendy Maragh Taylor noted, students, faculty, administrators, and staff often talked about not having a space to specifically address issues of racism together.
That’s why AREJ (Anti-Racism, Equity and Justice) was created two years ago—spearheaded by Professor of Hispanic Studies Eva Woods Peiró, former House Fellow Atiya McGhee, and several others—and that’s why it has continued to thrive, Maragh Taylor and others in the group say. “Many of our faculty, administrators, staff, and students have done a tremendous amount of work moving forward the work of diversity, equity, and inclusion,” she said. “I think some have been impactful, but I also know that we do not always name race, racism, and the specific need for anti-racist work.”
Photo: Karl Rabe
Members of AREJ meet regularly (formerly at in-person luncheons on campus and more recently via Zoom) to discuss how racism affects their communities and how anti-racist practices ought to be applied. The group also publishes a newsletter that contains information on activities, workshops, and other events and initiatives being held locally, regionally, and nationally that members can monitor or take part in.
The organization receives financial support from Maragh Taylor’s Office of Student Growth and Engagement. “I’m happy to have provided a home for AREJ,” Maragh Taylor said. “Providing resources for administrators, staff, and students to be able to attend the ‘Undoing Racism’ workshops was very important to me and in line with the mission of the work we do to support the thriving of all students at Vassar.”
Photo: Buck Lewis
AREJ was born in the wake of an “Undoing Racism” workshop on campus in October 2019, facilitated by the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond. When the workshop ended, many of the participants, including Woods Peiró and McGhee, saw a need to sustain the dialog and continue to address issues that had been raised there as well as in an earlier workshop that year.
Woods Peiró, who was chairing an Engaged Pluralism Initiative (EPI) working group called Bridging Campus and Local Communities at the time, said she and others saw an opportunity to create an organization that addressed issues of race and that included activist leaders in the community. It started as an informal book club and space to debrief the Undoing Racism workshop but soon evolved into a vibrant organization of people at Vassar and the community who shared the belief that racism wasn’t being addressed directly.
While AREJ was officially launched in the winter of 2020, Woods Peiró said its roots can be traced back to the work of those who have since left Vassar and who began these critical conversations on race, including Dean Edward Pittman and faculty members Kiese Laymon, Quincy Mills, and Colette Cann, in addition to those who are still here but were part of that work, including Associate Professor of Anthropology Candice Lowe Swift and Lisa Kaul, former Director of the Office of Community-Engaged Learning. Kaul helped the group connect with members of the Poughkeepsie community, including Jen Brown, a member of Race Unity Circle of Poughkeepsie. “It’s important to name these people because it was through conversations with many, many people that AREJ managed to become a reality,“ Woods Peiró said. “It takes all kinds of bridges and intersections,” McGhee added, “to build coalitions for reforming and abolishing white supremacist practices and institutions.”
A current faculty member, Associate Professor of German Studies Silke von der Emde, said she joined the group shortly after it was formed because its mission aligned with some of her scholarly work. “I came to be interested in issues of anti-racism and social justice through my research, which focuses on memory, more specifically Holocaust memory,” Von der Emde said. “In the last few years and especially as the Black Lives Matter movement has gained more traction and attention, I have begun to think about memories and memorialization of other traumatic pasts outside of Holocaust memory, such as slavery in the U.S. and colonial history in Germany.”
Von der Emde said the conversations that take place during AREJ meetings aren’t always easy ones. “I felt compelled to join because I found that we can’t really understand the complexities of racism and anti-racism until we have put ourselves in situations where we might be uncomfortable and have difficult conversations, but where we actively begin to rethink our own privilege and work to uplift non-white voices,” she said. “But the warm and loving nature of the group makes possible the difficult work of acknowledging and sitting with privilege.”
It’s a tribute to the strength of the group and the importance of its work that some members who have left the area continue to attend its meetings regularly. McGhee, currently a PhD candidate at Syracuse University, said they have many reasons to remain involved in AREJ’s work. “We provide information on where to donate money, where and how to organize,” McGhee said. “The people of AREJ are truly doing the work, and it’s not OK to work in silos. We need to collaborate with the community.”
AREJ members who have never had a direct relationship with Vassar say they too believe it is a vital organization. “What moved me to join this group were my friends and colleagues and the work that I saw them doing in the community,” said Talent Davis, a community engagement specialist at MASS Design Group in Poughkeepsie. “I love being in a community with people who share my passion for creating anti-racist spaces. With AREJ, everyone is empowered to lead and everyone is heard. The discussions we have are thought-provoking and challenging and sometimes affirming. They help to inform my work and keep me constantly thinking of ways to improve and challenge the status quo.”
Brian Robinson, a member of the Poughkeepsie Community Action Collaborative (PCAC), said he too welcomed the collaborative work AREJ is doing on the Vassar campus and in the community. “AREJ is making an impact and an imprint in the community and the walls between Vassar and the community are coming down,” Robinson said. “This group started small, but it has grown; people in Poughkeepsie know about AREJ.”
Dean Maragh Taylor said she was encouraged by the growth of the group’s presence in the community and would continue to support its work. “We have incredible opportunities at Vassar to move forward the work of racial justice and I hope we will not be careless about it,” she said.
“There is so much work that needs to be done, not just educational and learning but collective action and solidarity,” Woods Peiró added. “I’m really proud of the ongoing work that AREJ is doing. We are proud; and together we are strong.”
Article by LARRY HERTZ. See original article here.