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His comments shared here begin after his introductions of family and friends in attendance:
I want to recognize my colleagues I have worked with over the years and upon returning to Livonia a year ago, with a special shout out to Sr. Nancy Jamroz, Betty Pluto, and the Felician community along with Delisha Upshaw and Laura Janicka who work tirelessly to fight racism and discrimination.
Thanks to the work of the Livonia Human Relations Commission (HRC) chaired by Richard Glover who is flanked on the Commission by Haitham Fakhouri, Becky Drzewicki, Carmen Kennedy, and longtime Rosedale Elementary School Social Worker Denise Collins Robison.
I want to thank Mayor Brosnan for her support of the HRC and the diversity-related efforts which she is leading in the city. As I travel around the state, I don’t see too many elected officials advocating as you have Maureen, especially in such a politically divided community. May you find the support necessary to be even more courageous.
I also want to thank former Livonia Police Chief Curtis Caid and current chief Tom Goralski for participating in the Michigan Roundtable’s monthly police and community trust-building program
Finally, I am grateful to my colleagues at Masco headquartered here in Livonia who are an exemplar in the DEI space and a driving force behind the efforts we see in Livonia. Thanks for your leadership Sue Sabo and your support of the work of the Roundtable. Other strong supporters of the work of the Michigan Roundtable with a Livonia presence include Consumers Energy who are strong supporters of the work to honor difference by working to advance, inclusion, equity and racial justice.
The work to know and care about the “other” is a lifelong journey for all of us. While we are at different places on our journey, no one of us is that far ahead of the other and quite frankly we need each other to be whole and to one day end racism and other forms of exclusion and oppression all of which dwell deep within us, our institutions and society. Livonia is not unlike any other suburban community in that regard, but we can be distinguished by what we do to become a place where all folks are welcomed & treated well.
I sure have learned a good deal since I left Livonia for college back in the fall of 1974, when I had no Black friends and was very unaware of the challenges other people faced. A few of those lessons include
- Relationships are the antidote to prejudicial thinking and the pathway to allyship. Theologian Thomas Donehue said love is fidelity to the demand of relationships.” Part of the poverty of having been raised in an essentially racially homogenous community is I knew so few folks of other races and religions, especially during my formative years.
- Those who haven’t had the opportunity to understand racism need safe places to be heard without fear of being called racist so they can one day become brave, perhaps one-day anti-racist. Most of us have what I would call benign ignorance, meaning we simply don’t know.
- Social problems like racism, misogyny and homophobia call for a justice response, not charity which patronizes the marginalized allowing us to feel good because we listened to a few folks, hired someone of another race or even placed them on a committee then we don’t understand the contempt expressed by folks who we think should be grateful.
Bishop Dom Helder Camera, who led a Brazilian sister diocese of the Archdiocese of Detroit said when he fed the poor he was called a saint, but when he asked why they were poor was called a communist. Pivoting from charity to justice, from DEI to anti-racism is hard work, requiring deep humility
The 82-year-old MI Roundtable for Diversity & Inclusion recently declared itself a social and racial justice organization to go deeper to stop these problems at their roots, to challenge organizations to hold their employees accountable, to review policies and practices which actually perpetuate harm, and to take an anti-racist approach to community engagement. To accomplish this we borrowed a 4 part framework from the U of M School of Social work, which I will quickly summarize:
First is we have to examine those things which keep us from understanding racism or other forms of oppression, be it our power, privilege, benign ignorance or the growing problem of white resentment which we have seen rear its ugly head these past 6 plus years.
Second, we must center the voice of the marginalized, humbly listening to their life experiences and challenges which are foreign to so many of us.
Third, our strategies to drive change must be created by those folks, not folks who look like me. An example would be incorporating the concerns of the folks most impacted by discrimination in a revised NDO.
Washtenaw Co. Assistant Prosecutor Victoria Burton Harris so appropriately shared at a recent Roundtable conference, that those who are closest to the problem are closest to the solution.
Lastly, we must hold ourselves accountable to the people most harmed because of their racial religious or other identities.
Please give me a shout if you would like to tell me your story, ask questions or disagree with me. I need your input to continue to grow in my understanding and practice.
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