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SDSU, San Diego's Black Community Organize Events Focused On Healing

 June 2, 2020 at 10:46 AM PDT

Speaker 1: 00:00 As people try to deal with the pain and anger are triggered by the death of George Floyd. Some are out protesting, others are acting out with violence and some are turning to each other to share feelings and find solidarity. San Diego state university has organized what they're calling community circles and a community wide teaching. Later this week, joining us to talk about their plans is Luke wood, who is vice president for student affairs and campus diversity. Thanks for being with us, Luke, thank you for having me. So why did you decide to set up these community, sir? Speaker 2: 00:29 Well, what we did is after the events had occurred, we recognized the effect that it was having on our community. So we came together with our leaders across multiple divisions and our faculty leaders. And we talked about what were some ways that we could respond. So it was really a group of response to this. And so we decided to do, as you mentioned, healing circles, um, five different healing circles that are taking place. We had two of them yesterday and three of them today, um, that really focused on bringing people together to talk about how they're experiencing this current moment and what we can do as a community to better improve our society, especially as it relates to, um, violence against black peoples. How did the circles go so far? So far? They have went well. Um, they are incredibly emotional. Uh, there is a lot of emotion for those, but critically who are black identified. Speaker 2: 01:23 Um, you know, these instances bring up issues of, you know, violence and trauma that they've experienced at the hands of, um, some law enforcement as well as other individuals. And so for many of them, uh, events like these force people to relive very difficult times in their lives for those who aren't black identified. I think it's, it's also emotional because there's a desire to want to support and to help others and to positively contribute to what's going on without necessarily understanding of what that looks like. These virtual meetings, Luke or in physical meetings. These are virtual meetings given the challenges of COVID-19. However, they have been well attended. The first one that we had yesterday was 63 people. The second one was 129 people. And we're expecting that there'll be many more across the ones that we're having today. Speaker 1: 02:16 How much do you think the feelings are compounded by this distance that we're having to create due to COVID-19? Speaker 2: 02:22 Oh, I, I certainly think that the feelings are compounded because people are already stressed. You know, people are, are living in and working in, studying in houses where, or apartments where there's multiple people. There's the pressure of COVID that's certainly on top of this, there is of course, uh, concerns about people's health and wellbeing in general, and then add on racial crises that have been continuous and ongoing. And it certainly amplified this situation. And, and I think that's why we've seen so many people take to the streets to protest the violence. I certainly believe that many of them are protesting the George Floyd incident as well as the multiple other incidents that have occurred. But they're, I think they're also protesting general dissatisfaction and discontent that they have Speaker 1: 03:13 being able to express feelings is, is very helpful. You also talked about solutions. What are some of the solutions perhaps that are emerging from your circles? Speaker 2: 03:23 So the first solution is really the, the fact that we, as an educational institution, we have an obligation to ensure that we're providing the best space possible for our students. And so we're hosting a teaching on Thursday at 10:00 AM, where we have faculty members from our college of education and college of sciences who are coming together to talk about how we can best support and teach our black identified students in times of crisis, such as these, of course, part of our response is the healing circles, which is being led by a NOLA Butler bird and our faculty in counseling and school psychology, as well as our faculty and counseling and psychological services. But the other action that we're doing that I'm particularly proud of our institution for is we are hosting a emergency Senate meeting this Thursday, where there is a resolution that is coming forward that will change the ways that we prepare those who are entering law enforcement from SDSU. Speaker 2: 04:24 So what's happening is that we have a work tirelessly with our faculty in our school of public affairs and an Africana studies, and to basically bring forth a resolution that will require each student who goes through a program in criminal justice at SDSU to have a, at least one class that focuses on race relations and criminal justice. There's already one class that we have offered, um, that we have identified will be part of the resolution, but the faculty in our criminal justice program are also identifying other classes that might meet this, this requirement. And so I think it's an example of positive leadership and how we can contribute to ensuring that there's a better future by ensuring that those who are entering law enforcement that might come from SDSU are being best prepared to engage the racial dynamics between black peoples and law enforcement. Speaker 1: 05:22 Thanks so much for bringing us up to date on STS use plans for how to tackle this situation. Appreciate it. Thank you. We've been speaking with Luke word, vice president for student affairs and campus diversity at San Diego state university. Another event is focusing on healing tonight, organized by a number of groups advocating for San Diego's black community. Joining us now are Derek Kelly or Hodges also known as Kelly or blue, who is creator of social workers, Derek, thanks for being with us. Thank you so much. And also Calcio Daniel's founder of black women saved my life and an organizer with black lives matter. San Diego, Kelsey. Thanks. Hi, so great to be here. Thank you. Great. So Kaleel, the idea for today's event came out of a series of talks that your group held. Why do you think a sit in tonight is read is needed right now? Speaker 3: 06:11 I think there's a lot going on, um, in our world and in our community that is impacting our health and wellness right now. Um, a lot of us are fighting to survive, dealing with anxiety, depression, and an extreme amount of grief. And there isn't any community space or institution that is intentionally built to hold or process that pain for our people right now. And I think that it's necessary for us to build a space where we can safely process and think and feel out loud and be honest so that we can move through the pain and get to a place of, of solution and healing, and also not be called, um, left unattended and neglected and in services that have no capacity to support what it is that we're dealing with right now. Speaker 1: 06:59 Mm. Think and feel out loud. Yes. Kelsey, you say that that healing is a form of resistance. Talk more about that. Speaker 4: 07:05 I think, um, it's really important for us to honor all the different ways that people can show up. I think that sometimes there's a narrative of do something or not do something, and we understand that it's more of a spectrum and that all of those ways are valid. And one of the ways that is really valid is centering our feelings. We talk a lot about how white supremacy is enacted in one of those ways. It's forcing us to exist in silos and in shame. And so the idea of collectively coming together to talk about our code is an act of resistance. It's radical self care in the words of Audrey Lord. And so I think it's really important to, uh, to create that conversation if facilitate that conversation as, uh, organizers and community activists, that feeling is important. Speaker 1: 07:54 Talk to me, Kelsey, a bit more about the emotional impact of experiencing and witnessing racial bias and police brutality and how that affects people's overall wellbeing Speaker 4: 08:05 what's happening right now is not a singular incident, right? I liked him being black in America to also experience this, experiencing this perpetual grief, right? It's an ongoing grief that's compounded. Um, and there is this inclination to stay sane sometimes of operating an outrage or operating the attachment. And what we wanted to do is to kind of honor that all of those things are real and also another option is to feel it and move through it and community. And that's the real big thing because racialized trauma is so present. It's something that we can't escape, unfortunately. And while we work to dismantle that and create a world in which we do not have to experience it, it's so important to take care of ourselves, Speaker 3: 08:54 right? I can, how there might be an issue with taking action and joining protests where you might get associated with more violent reactions. Is that an issue for you? Speaker 4: 09:04 So I would say one of the things that we are very clear on is we do not tell black people who are in Greece, in Roche, how to feel or move. That is not our place. We understand that blackness is not a monolith and as many different black people there are in this country on this planet that are going to be so many different ways in which people are going to move through this. Um, and our space is about creating an intentional opportunity that does not take away. It isn't adding, um, to however else people choose to move. So Speaker 3: 09:38 walk us through, what's going to happen tonight and how people can get more information about it. Our information is available online at the sit in San Diego, on Facebook and the sit in SD on Instagram. Um, the information about how to connect with us is available there. And we are going to gather, and we're going to hold space for our people. We're going to do what we do to heal. We're going to gather in song, we're going to gather, in honest dialogue, we're going to learn tools for healing. Um, and we're to we're going to hold space because as we were saying earlier, we definitely believe that black people making the choice to sit together and heal out loud is a form of protest, um, and a necessary one right now in the midst of all of the other ways that we are moving through this tragedy. Well, thank you for sharing your experience of these times. Uh, Derek Kellyville hutches. Thank you. Thank you. And Kelsey. Oh, Daniel's thank you so much for joining us. Thank you to.

As people try to deal with the pain and anger triggered by the death of George Floyd, some are out protesting, others are acting out with violence and some are turning to each other to share feelings and find solidarity.
KPBS Midday Edition Segments