SPRINGDALE — One Northwest Arkansas organization is working on reuniting people under a shared cause in the wake of an extremely divisive political election.
EngageNWA Community Cohesion Forums
The forums, paid for by the Walmart Foundation and the Walton Arts Center, focus on the shared values of the community. The first was Wednesday at Northwest Arkansas Community College in Bentonville, the second at The Jones Center on Saturday. The final event will be from 5:30-8:30 p.m. Dec. 1 at the Holiday Inn Convention Center in Springdale.
Source: EngageNWA
EngageNWA hosted the second of two community cohesion forums, with a focus on “finding common goals, shared values and celebrating our differences,” at The Jones Center on Saturday. The Walmart Foundation and the Walton Arts Center paid for the events done in cooperation with more than 30 groups in the region.
“EngageNWA makes it where we can make a difference in how the community looks at everybody,” said Terry Bankston, executive director of the organization. “It’s important to make that happen … and the only way is to talk about it.”
Bankston started the forum by recalling an instance of discrimination he experienced when he first moved to Northwest Arkansas. While staying at an Embassy Suites until he could secure a permanent home, Bankston was mistaken for a chauffeur for what appeared to be no other reason than the color of his skin and that he was sitting in the waiting area of the hotel.
Bankston said the event was designed to discuss events such as that, assess how far the community has come in recent years and collaborate what steps could progress diversity and inclusion.
The f irst forum was Wednesday at Northwest Arkansas Community College in Bentonville, which drew about 75 people.
Saturday’s events began with a panel representing many of the demographics of Northwest Arkansas to discuss experiences both positive and negative within the community.
“Cohesion and conversation is not new to this region,” said Mireya Reith, moderator of the panel. “Many [on this panel] are the original trailblazers of these conversations. That’s what gives me hope to try to create a better Northwest Arkansas, that we’ll not just talk about cohesion, but actually achieve it.”
Zola Moon, an associate professor of human environmental science for the University of Arkansas, spoke of her experiences as an outsider first as a child who grew up in Los Angeles and moved to Arkansas, and then as a woman in a predominantly male field. Moon said individuals’ attentiveness to their own privileges, differences and commonalities was a start.
“Northwest Arkansas has been more progressive as it relates to diversity, but we have a lot of work to do,” Moon said. “The conversation has to start … with empathy, awareness, and when those two can take place, then change can come.”
Diego Barrera, a coordinator for the Northwest Arkansas Center for Sexual Assault, said the form of discrimination he’s faced as a transgender male from El Salvador has changed over the years. Barrera experienced discrimination from other Hispanic classmates upon his arrival to the U.S. At first, he didn’t know Mexican and El Salvadoran immigrants were rivals in the states. Barrera faced sexism and sexual assault before his gender transition and felt more accepted afterward.
“In my new identity, I have the privilege of being heard because now I’m male,” Barrera said. “It’s an interesting thing to see that power, especially when you have facial hair, that as an older male, [others seem to think] ‘OK, now I want to listen to you.’”
Barrera said simply getting to speak on the panel, say he’s transgender, and not get dirty looks or be yelled at makes him feel more included in the community.
Samuel Rivera Lopez, founder of the Springdale nonprofit Stitches, didn’t have a long history of discrimination but said he believed his ability to speak English fluently and the pride in his identity as a Hispanic immigrant helped counteract any discrimination he might have faced.
In Lopez’s experience, that openness about his identity and the identity of his community led to more understanding regionwide. Following last year’s shooting in Springdale, which was labeled gang activity, Lopez said Stitches took that challenging time as an opportunity.
So often “the actions of a few are labeled onto many,” Lopez said. “Stitches shows people who we are through a different avenue … that we’re not just what you make us out to be.”
D’Andre Jones, associate professor of business at Ecclesia College and chairman of the Fayetteville Civil Rights Commission, said empathy and compassion are key to mutual understanding among people of different races and other demographic lines. He challenged the audience to reach out to individuals they knew to have racist ideals and have conversations to dispel fears and myths racism is based on.
“It’s a sensitive [topic], but we have to address it,” Jones said. “We’re stronger together.”
Lucy Capelle, program manager for the Arkansas Coalition of Marshallese, spoke highly of her Northwest Arkansas experience, which has given her and her husband the chance to pursue higher education and good job opportunities. Capelle said the major challenges to her community were overcoming the language barrier and learning area laws and policies.
“We’re a welcoming people who can work with other people,” Capelle said. “If we teach them, they can understand what to do to make peace in this community.”
Members of the audience were then assigned into breakout session groups to discuss the changes they wanted to make in the community and how they could foster inclusiveness. Groups had 90 minutes, and many responses included increased access to programs, education and the ear of public officials for all groups of people, an encouraged understanding of each other through welcoming environments where all could feel comfortable to speak openly and ways to report discrimination aside from notifying the police.
The next event will be from 5:30-8:30 p.m. Dec. 1 at the Holiday Inn Convention Center in Springdale.
NW News on 11/20/2016