What Color is Justice?

    Screen shot from the Palo Alto Online Virtual Town Hall Forum on 

Race, Policing and the Color of Justice, June 25, 2020.

The murder of George Floyd by Minnesota police officers on May 25, 2020 led to massive protests in our country and around the world. It has also led to multiple discussions about the social injustices that exist today, which started centuries ago.

I had the opportunity to participate in the Palo Alto Online Virtual Town Hall Forum on Race, Policing and the Color of Justice, which took place over Zoom on Thursday, June 25, 2020.

If you missed it you can see it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6ddHFLbxO4&feature=youtu.be

At least 500 people registered to see it. Three hundred of them participated online and others saw it when it was live streamed over the Palo Alto Week’s Facebook page.

All credit goes to the Embarcadero Publishing Company, the publishers of the Palo Alto Weekly, The Almanac and the Mountain View Voice for putting this forum together. Much credit also goes to the panelists and the audience members who participated.

No doubt, there will be many discussions like this one that will take place all across our country and in other countries as well, as people tackle some of the hard issues that involve power, social equity, justice, the social determinants of health and related concerns.

All of the talk will be meaningful if it leads to solutions that can be enacted to improve lives. This doesn’t mean making improvements for some, but making improvements for everyone across the board.

Improving the structural systems on which our country is based and applying the principles on which our country was founded to cover everyone is a laudable goal.  But, let there be no misunderstanding the fact that it is a goal that will take all of the best ideas and actions, which we can muster to fulfill.

Getting a Seat at the Table

For years, members of minority groups in America were given the crumbs that fell from the table and they rightly complained that they were underrepresented in the halls of power and excluded from having a seat at the table.

Census 2020 supporters are urging everyone to participate in the census and let their voices count.

Newly released Census 2020 data shows that as of April 24, 2020, San Mateo County, with a self-response rate of 62.9%, ranks as the number one county in California, in having the most residents who have submitted their Census 2020 questionnaire. Even California’s statewide response rate is 54.2%

Two San Mateo County cities, Hillsborough and San Carlos, both with a response rate of 72.1%, rank among the top 10 cities with the highest response rates.

Guess which cities in the state have the lowest response rates. If you guessed that East Palo Alto is among them, then you’re right. East Palo Alto has a response rate of 47.1%

The city ranks just under Compton at 47.6% under Watsonville at 49.3 and under Bell, which has a response rate of 45%.

East Palo Alto also ranks under southern states like Alabama (51.1%) Georgia (49.6), Mississippi (49.4) and Florida (50.8%), which all fall under the national response rate that is 52.8%. See more rankings at https://2020census.gov/en/response-rates.html

If the residents of East Palo Alto want to have a seat at the table, then they will have to participate where their voices can be heard, whenever the opportunity arises. Participating in Census 2020 is one of those opportunities. If people feel that as a group they are pushed aside by the system and treated as if they don’t count, then it is critical that they step up, present themselves, demand their seat and pull back the chair at the table. Census 2020 allows everyone to present themselves and demand a seat

Doesn’t it make sense, then, for all of us to respond to the census as quickly as possible? In being counted and in allowing ourselves to be seen and heard, we can demand our fair representation in the halls of  power and get the seats to which we are entitled. In being counted, our communities will get the money that they deserve.

So, submit your Census 2020 response now, if you haven’t already done so. East Palo Alto can be among the cities with the highest Census 2020 response rates and you can help make that happen.

Explaining the 2020 Census: Talking with Henrietta

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Climate Change: What Can You Do About It - Talking with Henrietta

In Honor of the East Palo Alto Center for Community Media's Former Public Allies

Henrietta J. Burroughs is shown delivering the keynote speech at the Public Allies graduation ceremony, which was held on June 29, 2019 at the Redwood Shores Sobrato Center in Redwood City CA.

The months have passed, but the memories linger. Working with the Public Allies, who interned from January to June of this year at the East Palo Alto Center for Community Media was just such a satisfying experience. Those 6 months marked a very special time. 

Emily Hess, above top left with Alamoni Afungia, Edgar Tenorio,

Lea Bolosan and Shristi Prabha

It was truly an honor to be asked to be the keynote speaker at their graduation, which was held at the Redwood Shores Sobrato Center last June.

The graduation, marking their completion of the Public Allies program, was truly an inspiring affair. 

At this time of Thanksgiving, much thanks and best wishes go to EPACCM’s five Public Allies for the contribution they made to the Center and to the East Palo Alto Today newspaper. 
 

The five Allies called themselves the Tiny Gang. But there was nothing tiny about them, even when one member of the group dropped out of the program.

From left, Lea Bolosan, Edgar Tenorio, Srishti Prabha and Alamoni Afungia

The remaining four Allies launched Media Day in East Palo Alto to celebrate East Palo Alto Today's 13th birthday.

Media Day, which brought together nearly 25 of the community’s nonprofits, will become an annual event.

You can see their engaging video interview on the Talking with Henrietta television show here.

You can even see an article about the Allies and the Media Day event on the midpenmedia.org website.

The Public Allies had fun posing with the EPACCM's
founder Henrietta J. Burroughs during Media Day in
East Palo Alto on May 4, 2019

 During the time the Allies and I spent together, I  had a chance to witness their commitment, their focus, their collaboration with each other and their interest in positively addressing the challenges that our communities face. 

Even more appreciation is given to them for the lasting memories that they left, which will be ongoing. 

 So, we give thanks this Thanksgiving to our former Public Allies,  to all who participated in our Media Day celebration, to our readers and our viewers, to the East Palo Alto Today's advertisers and to the East Palo Alto Center for Community Media's donors. Many thanks to all of you!

Is Any Ethnic Group in the U.S. Immune to Racism?

Photo courtesy of https://thetoolkit.wixsite.com/toolkit/black-lives-matter

It’s easy when one is a member of an ethnic group in America to be intimately aware of the challenges that confront the group to which one belongs. For example, a person can be all too aware of the discrimination faced by individual group members and the stereotypes attributed to one’s own racial group.

Given the attention that has been paid to Latino immigrants at the U.S.’ southern border and to DACA recipients, media reports have given our nation disturbing insights into the challenges that many Latinos face.

But, unless a group’s struggles are highlighted by various media outlets and discussed as a local or national issue, many Americans might be unaware of the challenges faced by the various ethnic groups around them and they might not understand the sensitivities that some of them hold. 

This fact was brought to my attention recently during a conversation with one of my neighbors, who is Indian American. The neighbor told me that, a few hours prior to our conversation, he was going to a restaurant with his college-aged son. He dropped his son off at the restaurant and then, intending to join him after he had parked, he drove around the block to find a parking space. Within minutes, his car collided with another car.

The police quickly arrived. The father told me that he called his son on his cell phone to tell him what happened. Standing on the sidewalk at the scene of the accident and facing the direction in which his son was coming, he stood holding his hands behind his back. Upon seeing his father, the son almost collapsed in tears, thinking that his father was handcuffed and being arrested.

In relating the incident, the father said that his son is keenly aware of the Black Lives Movement and of the heartrending experiences that some people of color have had with the police. Since his son saw him standing near several police officers with his hands behind his back, he said that his son feared the worst.

When one thinks of the Black Lives Movement, many people in the U.S. would not necessarily think that it is a movement to which other ethnic groups feel included.

In my latest Talking with Henrietta television show called, Ethnic Media: Who Produces It and Why, one of my guests, Vandana Kumar shares a conversation that she had with one of her twin sons. 

In the conversation, her son told her that she was Indian and he was American.

Seated left to right on the set of  the Talking with Henrietta show on Thursday, November 14, 2019
is Vandana Kumar, Sandy Close, Henrietta J. Burroughs and Diana Ding.

 Kumar’s response to her son might surprise you.

See for yourself what she had to say. You can get more details about this show at www.epatoday.org/tv.html#ethnicmedia and see it on YouTube here.