A New Year and Lunar New Year
January 9, 2023
A New Year and Lunar New Year
On January 22, the Lunar New Year will begin. This is the year of the Rabbit. "The Rabbit is known to be quiet, gentle, and elegant. Also alert and very quick. Skillful, kind, patient and responsible are the other beautiful traits of the rabbit."
https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/life/1718217/chinese-new-year-2023-zodiac-animal-rabbit-ifl
Perhaps we can use the sign of the rabbit as a metaphor and motivation for 2023 and the work of InclusiveVT. As the institutional and individual commitment to Ut Prosim (that I may serve) in the spirit of community, diversity, and excellence, we have both an individual and collective responsibility to advancing diversity. Our work must be done on our own, but also in community.
As we start a new year and a new semester, I look forward to our shared work to advance diversity. The Office for Inclusion and Diversity and our colleagues across campus who are leading this work in units and colleges can be wonderful resources. I encourage each of you to explore the incredible resources on our campus. In particular, this year, I encourage you to complete our capacity building courses through Diversity Education.
https://www.inclusive.vt.edu/education/cbc.html
Creating an Inclusive Climate
This online, self-paced course is for anyone who wants to ensure that the places they live, work, study, and socialize are welcoming, affirming, safe, and accessible to all. The course is a four-module pathway that addresses the topics: How can I be an ally? How do we practice active listening? How do we use language to create affirming spaces? How do we celebrate together? Participants earn the Inclusive Climate digital badge upon successful completion of all course components.
Creating an Inclusive Workplace
This online, self-paced course is for anyone who manages a program or facility with supervisory responsibilities and wants to implement strategies for welcoming, safe, affirming and accessible workplaces. The course is a four-module pathway that addresses the topics: How can supervisors foster an inclusive workplace? How do I have difficult conversations? How do I interrupt implicit bias in the workplace? How do I retain a talented and diverse workforce? Participants earn the Inclusive Workplace digital badge upon successful completion of all course components.
Experience InclusiveVT: Cultural Competency Development
Experience InclusiveVT invites participants to engage with Virginia Tech's diverse communities. The experience combines an online module on intercultural development with participation in a minimum of six lectures, programs, or cultural events that engage you with ideas, traditions, and world-views different from your own. The course Canvas site provides information on campus activities that count toward fulfillment of the InclusiveVT Experience badge, as well as a section for tracking and reflecting on the events you attend.
Learn more about how to get involved through our community and cultural center programming and diversity education efforts at
https://www.inclusive.vt.edu/education.html
This week on Thursday, January 12, our Advancing Diversity Gathering will provide a wonderful opportunity to kick start the year with a greater awareness of both the opportunities and challenges of creating a more just and inclusive community at Virginia Tech.
There is still time to register and participate.
https://www.inclusive.vt.edu/Programs/advancing-diversity-gathering.html
This year's gathering will feature keynote speaker Tara J. Yosso, professor of education, University of California Riverside.
Dr. Yosso follows in the tradition of scholars who believe education can serve as a tool for liberation. Her research addresses race as a social construction and analyzes the consequences of racism at its intersections with other forms of subordination across time and place. Dr. Yosso's scholarly publications have focused on education access and opportunity, civil rights law, and portrayals of Latina/Latino students in Hollywood films. Her work seeks to reframe the debate about educational inequality, centering the knowledges and voices of Communities of Color. Her Community Cultural Wealth framework has been cited 8,000 times by scholars and used widely nationally and internationally across disciplines, including but not limited to: K-12 education, higher education, human resource development, leadership development, counseling, social work, public health, marketing communications, community and advocacy organizations, business operations and more.
The morning session (9:00-12:00) will be both in-person and live streamed on the InclusiveVT Youtube Channel. The afternoon in person and zoom sessions (1:45-4:00) will focus on accessible communications, antisemitism on campus and in the world, and best practices for diversity committees.
This month, we will also celebrate the birthday and holiday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebrations will kick off with the 4th Annual Diverse Professionals Network MLK Jazz Brunch on Monday, January 16th at 12pm at the Moss Arts Center in Blacksburg!
Join diverse professionals from all across the Roanoke and New River Valleys to celebrate the life and legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. through community building, culture, and great cuisine. We hope you'll spend an afternoon networking with other diverse colleagues in the area. You can reserve your ticket on Eventbrite starting today!
There are several other MLK events happening in January: https://ccc.vt.edu/calendar/mlk.html
- A Conversation with Ruth E. Carter
January 19, 2023 | 6-7:30pm
The Anne and Ellen Fife Theatre in the Street and Davis Performance Hall at the Moss Arts Center
Ruth E. Carter is the 2019 Academy Award winner for Achievement in Costume Design for Marvel’s Black Panther making history as the first African-American to win in the category.
- Antisemitism and Racism in the Age of Kanye
Location TBA
Faculty panel on antisemitism and racism in pop culture rhetoric
Wednesday, January 18 | 6:30-7:30PM
Location TBA
- Living, Learning, & Adaptive Landscapes: How Evolutionary Biology Can Help us Navigate it All
Friday, January 20 | 12:00 PM EST
Steger Hall Auditorium
This year marks 60 years since Dr. King’s famous “I have a dream speech.” There are so many jewels and gems in that speech. I want to close by sharing a less well-known excerpt:
“I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our Northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends. So even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream.”
I also encourage you to think about your dreams for Virginia Tech; your dreams for your communities; your dreams for the Commonwealth; your dreams for America; and your dreams for the world.
There is work to be done. Let’s get back to it!
Additional Resources:
You can read more of my reflections on Martin Luther King in a blog post I wrote two years ago entitled, “Martin Luther King’s America Redefined: Race, Religion, Rights, the Rule of Law, and Radical Inconsistencies.
http://menahprattclarke.com/2021/01/18/martin-luther-kings-america/
The full “I have a Dream” speech is available below:
https://www.npr.org/2010/01/18/122701268/i-have-a-dream-speech-in-its-entirety