Beyond the Challenge: Moving from Learning to Action
This is the fourth year that YWCA Northeast Kansas has participated in the Racial Justice Challenge with YWCAs across the country. It’s free, virtual, and curated to address four different topics each year. This year, the topics are Bodily Autonomy, Financial Empowerment, Gun Violence, and Transportation. If you want access to all of the v irtual content, it’s not too late to register.
But the real work happens beyond the Challenge.
How do we move from learning to action? Join YWCA Northeast Kansas and our Challenge partners at the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library and the Kansas Reflector as we reflect on the issues, engage in meaningful conversations, and “challenge” each other to take action right here in our community.
Come to the Community Wrap Up on (new and rescheduled date) Tuesday, May 21!
NOTE: This forum is a chance for us to engage in meaningful, challenging dialogue and hear from local leaders working to address racial justice in the Topeka region. Mark your calendars and come to St. David’s Episcopal Church (3916 SW 17th St, Topeka). Doors open at 6:30 pm and the forum begins at 7:00 pm.
The program will be facilitated by Rachel Mipro, a reporter from the Kansas Reflector.
The Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library is hosting virtual chats each week, and the in-person community forum on April 30 so that we have the opportunity to discuss these issues in a safe, community space where everyone is welcome and encouraged to add their voice.
Additionally, the Kansas Reflector is publishing a series of features highlighting local leaders, activists, and practitioners who are already doing the work of racial and gender equity. You can listen to them tell their stories on the podcast, and read about their work through news stories and op-eds. Check out the entire series as it’s published on the Challenge website.
On Bodily Autonomy:
Kansas Reflector podcast host Rachel Mipro spoke with Sharla Smith, the founder of the Kansas Birth Equity Network, Sapphire Garcia-Lies, the founder and executive director of Kansas Birth Justice Society, and Abriona Markham, executive director of Topeka Doula Project. They discussed racial disparities in maternal and infant health outcomes, things our state can do to close those gaps, and the dangers of attempts to restrict bodily autonomy, which can actually widen those gaps and worsen outcomes for communities of color. Listen to the podcast here.
On Women’s Financial Empowerment:
In a second podcast, Rachel spoke with Kathleen Marker, YWCA Northeast Kansas CEO, and Fatima Perez-Luthi, the founder and CEO of The Grind Coaching and Consulting and manager of a local financial literacy program. They discussed the gender pay gap, financial abuse, and how our society should value caregiving. “One of the biggest barriers is child care,” Perez-Luthi said. “But it also comes when we’re taking care of our parents, and the cost of that — a lot of times women are required to leave their jobs because they just can’t make enough to pay or sustain the child care costs or the caregiving cost of their parents or their loved ones.” Read more and listen here.
Bonus: The Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library curated a list of books on the topic for anyone interested in further reading!
On Gun Violence:
For Week 3, Rachel spoke to LaTonya Boyd, a community activist and survivor, along with Courtland Davis, director of operations at the YWCA Northeast Kansas, and LaRonna Lassiter Saunders, a civil rights advocate and attorney. They discussed the toll that gun violence takes on our communities, and how the policy-level conversation leaves out the voices of Black and brown people. “I’ve felt the effect of gun violence since I think 14 or 15, when I went to the first of many funerals, young folks were lost due to gun violence,” Davis said. “And that is something that has happened periodically for most of my life. … You have the perpetrator, victim thing that happens with gun violence, but then there’s that ripple effect, and the trauma that the families experience and friends, and everything from classmates to teachers.”
Bonus: Another curated book list from the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library.
On Transportation:
In the final week, Rachel spoke with Bonita Gooch, editor-in-chief and publisher of the Black newspaper The Community Voice, and Michael Birzer, a Wichita State University professor specializing in racial profiling and police reform.
Click here to read about Dr. Birzer’s five-year research project exploring statewide racial profiling.
Bonus: Here’s the curated list of books on the topic at the Topeka & Shawnee County Public library.
The most important thing to keep in mind as we take on this Challenge journey together is that your voice matters, and we are all needed to do the work of racial justice. These community conversations are an important step, and we hope you will continue to work alongside us! Learn more about YWCA’s racial justice and advocacy programs, and share your experience with our newest initiative, the Community Inspired Violence Intervention Coalition (CIVIC). They have a survey that all Shawnee County residents are urged to fill our before April 30 - just in time to head to the library for the Wrap Up forum!