Cook County elementary, middle, and high school students will be taking a “Cultural Connections Journey” on October 8.
Last spring, a youth leadership workshop facilitated by Cook County Youth Coordinator Melissa Wickwire, community organizer Pat Campanaro, and Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) teacher Tom Jack inspired thoughts of helping local youth increase cultural awareness and understanding, developing positive personal identities and leadership skills in the process.
Jack made contact with Kate Towle, executive director of Project s.t.a.r.t. [Students Together as Allies for Racial Trust] Leadership, launched out of South High School in Minneapolis. What struck him was that the initiative was student-led. From this contact, plans for bringing the program to Cook County were birthed.
The Cook County Community Fund was approached for funding. The grant application states, “As schools necessarily ‘teach to the test’ to insure accountability to stakeholders for key subject matter, it is difficult to make time to address subjects like cultural diversity and awareness. Racial equity and social justice issues often do not make the cut but this doesn’t make them less important. Like tectonic plates that seem harmonious, under pressure, racism and intolerance surface and if we don’t honestly recognize the underlying issue, we can’t solve it.”
The Cook County Community Fund awarded the grant, and additional funding was procured from the Grand Portage Tribal Council, Cook County Extension, and ISD 166.
The goal of Project s.t.a.r.t. Leadership is to “mobilize students as civic leaders for a multicultural world.” Kate Towle wrote to Mr. Jack: “As you know so well, our students must learn to identify the contributions of their own culture while relating respectfully to people from other cultures to succeed in secondary education and in the dynamic careers of a global economy. Our changing demographics and economy demand that we all build our intercultural awareness as citizens.” She states that even though one third of Minnesota’s under-18 population are children of color, children and teens hesitate to make friends outside of their own cultural group unless they have support to do so from caring adults.
“For students of color, both overt and unintentional forms of racism are a daily and painful reality,” Towle wrote. “Racism impedes us all from progress, however, talk about its impact is more often discussed by those who experience it.” She cites a study that revealed that parents of color are much more likely to discuss race with their children than white parents and that three-fourths of white parents rarely, if ever, talk about race.
Understanding our roots—who we are and where we came from— is very important, according to John Morrin, who is on the Grand Portage Tribal Council and is an Undoing Racism workshop instructor with The People’s Institute of New Orleans, Louisiana. Cook County includes students from a variety of locations and cultures throughout the world, he said, but a lot of people have forgotten their cultural heritage.
Melissa Wickwire said she has seen Cook County kids treated differently because of their race. “I know for sure that that exists here,” she said. Some kids feel they are treated differently by adults as well as by other kids, she said.
Keynote speaker will be Dr. Thomas Peacock, an Anishinaabe historian and University of Minnesota-Duluth professor who wrote a book for youth called To Be Free: Understanding and Eliminating Racism. His book was designed to meet Minnesota curriculum standards and is used as a text to help students expand critical thinking about race while learning about social studies, history, sociology, psychology, health, economics, and public service and developing writing skills.
The day will consist of separate sessions for elementary, middle, and high school students. All three charter schools have been invited to join the students at ISD 166. Each workshop will include large group presentations and discussions as well as small group circles in which students will have an opportunity to reflect on and share their own sense of identity and cultural heritage. Students from South High School as well as local community volunteers will help facilitate the workshops.
Parents and community members are invited to get involved in the workshops or attend a final session from 3:45 to 5:00 p.m. This will include a summary of the program, small group dialogue, and thoughts on how the community can foster positive relationships among different cultures.
Tom Jack hopes the workshop will inspire local students to form an ongoing group committed to addressing the racial issues that are identified. Melissa Wickwire will support the youth in this effort. She hopes to get the community involved in a “community read” in which people read and discuss a selected book on cultural understanding and hopes to offer a screening and discussion of the documentary Reel Injun, which addresses the stereotyping of Native Americans. More Undoing Racism workshops will be offered locally, and Tom Jack will be resuming his Anishinaabe classes through Community Ed this October.
“As we go through the process we have to be open,” said Wickwire. “Who knows what will unfold?”
Parents and community members are invited to get involved in the October 8, 2013 workshops or attend a final session from 3:45 to 5:00 p.m.
For more information or to get involved, contact Melissa Wickwire at (218) 387-2000 ext. 614 or youthcoordinator@ISD166.k12.mn.us.
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