Healing, Allyship, and Action: Stronger Together
The killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery bring to bear the painful reality of racial injustice in America. In times like these, when social injustice grips our national, local, and university communities, the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement and Associated Student Body commit to offering support. The Stronger Together Dialogue Series seeks to provide opportunities for healing, effective allyship, and action that creates a better world.
Healing
Creating space to heal from the trauma of witnessing, experiencing, and/or processing social injustice is an essential pillar of Stronger Together.
Past event: Thursday, April 22, 2021 at 6 PM CST for Stronger Together Dialogue Series: The Quest for Justice in America. For the past four weeks, as the nation has watched the Derek Chauvin trial unfold, we are reminded of the importance of creating spaces to process, heal, ally, and act. We invite students, faculty, and staff to join us in partnership with the Black Student Union and University Counseling Center in a discussion about the trial, its outcomes, and what both of them mean for us as members of this community. Let us be reminded of our shared commitment to the UM Creed as we prepare to prioritize community and support each other in the wake of this trial.
Additional resources on Healing:
- Resources from U. of North Texas on racial trauma and self care in tragedy
- You Don’t Have to Know Somebody to Grieve Them: How Black People Can Process Collective Trauma and Grief
Allyship
Creating opportunities for individuals and communities that are not as directly or acutely impacted by the recent violence, but who maintain a deep concern and interest in becoming allies for those who are, remain a central component of the Stronger Together plan.
Dialogue series focused on allyship
Past event: Wednesday, June 24 at 6pm CST to continue the dialogue, as we discuss Fraternity & Sorority Life, University symbols and history, the Grove, campus elections, reimagining the police, and freedom of speech.
Additional resources on Allyship:
- How You Can Be an Ally in the Fight for Racial Justice
- History on Racial Violence in the United States
- 11 Things You Can Do To Help Black Lives Matter End Police Violence
- How to Support the Struggle Against Police Brutality
- 26 Ways to Be in the Struggle Beyond the Streets: By and For Those in Our Community Who Can’t be In the Streets
- “How to Be an Antiracist” by Ibram X. Kendi Book Group Discussion
Action
Stronger Together seeks to promote collective actions by diverse groups to directly address the conditions that lead to continued violence.
Dialogue Series focused on Action
We also welcome UM and LOU Community members as partners as we consider and evaluate these and other options for organizing and implementing collective action.:
- Deliberative Dialogue: a series of planning meetings designed to help a diverse group develop a core problem that they want to work on together through a project, build an action and implementation plan, and assess their work at the conclusion of the project. This workshop series provides an outline of the basic content.
- A Community and Police Forum: a conversation between the campus community, the LOU community, and law enforcement in Oxford and on campus designed to facilitate dialogue around preventing the kinds of tragic situations we’ve seen across the nation.
- A Civic Deliberation: an opportunity for folks who don’t see a topic or issue in the same way to listen and share towards building a better collective understanding.
Additional Resources on Action:
- Talking About Race Web Portal from National Museum of African American History and Culture
- Being Antiracist
- Anti-Racism Resource Guide
- Alluvial Collective
Campus Resources
Division of Diversity and Community Engagement
PH: 662-915-2933
Center for Inclusion and Cross Cultural Engagement
PH: 662-915-1689
Office of Community Engagement
PH: 662-915-2933
PH: 662-915-4524
PH: 662-915-1689
PH: 662-915-7128
PH: 662-915-7248
University Counseling Services
PH: 662-915-3784