Tea Time with Khenda

Updates & Opportunities for Inclusive Communities

Welcome to Tea Time. I’m joining you from the ancestral land of the Ogalala, Sioux, and the Omaha nation. Do you know the Indigenous history of the place where you live? This interactive “native lands” map is a great place to start to learn more about the original inhabitants who stewarded the land for generations and who placed a piece of their love into the land. Read more about how “Nebraska Is Home” means recognizing and celebrating our state’s indigenous past, present, and future.

As we near the end of 2020, a year which brought tremendous and rapid change, we’re continuing to ask ourselves “what kind of community do we want to become?” Recently, I came across this short video (below) from UC Berkeley’s Othering & Belonging Institute Director, john a. powell, about how we as a society can choose to respond to the changes happening around us by imagining a larger, more inclusive “we,” as opposed to accepting a story of “us” versus “them.”

powell recently gave a compelling keynote speech at an event hosted by the City of Lincoln, the recording of which you can watch here.

Bridging and Belonging Happening Across Nebraska

• • From a Karen Kitchen cooking demonstration video to a virtual tour of the Midwest African Museum of Art, to a drive-through cultural food tasting experience, Nebraskans got very creative for Welcoming Week 2020! Check out our roundup of all the events across the state on our blog! 
  • To read: Nebraska-based work with arts and immigrants was featured in a national report! 
  • Nebraska Is Home continues to share the stories of immigrant members of our community. Have a local story you’d like to share? Email me! And check out our most recent stories about some of your neighbors, From Refugee Camp to Nebraska Nurse, and Two Cultures, One Chile Relleno!

Racial Equity is central to Welcoming

Building welcoming and inclusive communities means recognizing the systemic inequities rooted in the history of this country. Many of our community members of color continue to experience racial disparities in education, income, and housing, among other indicators. As an example, US Department of Education research found that black students as young as four years old face unequal treatment from school administrators. We are all at different places in our journey toward racial equity, but continued learning and dialogue is key:

• • We were excited that many Nebraskans from all across the state joined this year’s virtual Facing Race conference, a national biennial event hosted by the organization, Race Forward. The experience was enlightening and energizing all who attended, and we gleaned many practical tools for creating more equitable workspaces, schools, neighborhoods, and communities, including this Accountability Principles – Race Equity Tool.
  • In November, we hosted a statewide dialogue-based training on race and the system of inequity using the World Trust video series, Cracking The Codes. We’ll continue to offer this training statewide on a monthly basis in 2021! Reach out if you want to bring this training to your school, faith group, neighborhood, or another group that you’re a part of!

More Ways You Can Get Involved

• • Find local COVID-19 response efforts and get involved. For example:
    • Support the work of schools, faith groups, and local organizations 
    • Check in on friends and neighbors – see ideas here!
  • Register for the National Immigrant Integration Conference (NIIC) Dec. 8 and 9! This awesome conference is all virtual this year, so you can participate from your office or the comfort of your home and the registration fee is only $15.00 – Register here! Let us know if you’re planning to attend so we can invite you to virtual “hotel lobby chats” for Nebraska conference-goers. 
  • Email me to start planning a community dialogue about race and equity using the Cracking The Codes video series. This is a tool that you can share with your friends, family, and neighbors.
  • Check out Nebraska Appleseed’s blog for policy updates and actions you can take to promote inclusive solutions for the health and wellbeing of all community members
  • Send us your stories and events to share in a future issue of Tea Time!

Thanks for spending part of your day with Nebraska Is Home. Stay warm, and see you next time. – Khenda