LAKERS TOGETHER: Find out how we're moving forward.
Charge for Racial Equity & Inclusion
Our Charge
Grand Valley State University acknowledges the hurt, anger, fear, and distrust that many of our Black faculty, staff, students, and administrators must feel following the reprehensible killing of George Floyd and the ongoing racial and social injustice that exists in our society.
We also acknowledge that the well-being of our entire community rests on fulfilling the elemental promise that every member of our campus community is welcomed, supported, respected, and valued. As an institution that educates the next generation of leaders, we will fail them, our communities, and ourselves if we do not act when we know that more than words are expected of us.
Learn. Understand. Act. Lead. The following are some of the ways Grand Valley will realize those standards against which we must be measured.
We must elevate the voices and experiences of our Black faculty, staff, and students.
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We must listen carefully, valuing each member of our community.
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We must fulfill our goals for inclusion and equity.
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We must all deepen our understanding and knowledge through education.
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We must then use this knowledge as the basis for understanding and addressing institutional and systemic racism and oppression to make meaningful change.
Refocus & Repositioning (April 2021)
While several of the 15-point plan charges have been completed or are underway, the Network of Advisors has provided feedback that a restructuring of the work should be part of our next phase, including a refinement, and in some areas, expansion of the original charges. Phase 2 will focus on four Commitment Areas, with each Commitment Area overseen by one or more executive officers and led by teams and sub-teams comprised of subject-matter experts. Each team has been asked to:
- As it is helpful, inventory and capture other university efforts for coordination within area.
- Identify 3-5 recommendations within the area by June 30, 2021, which may include:
- Identify problems and/or opportunities and feasible solutions.
- Draft recommendations that advance problems and/or opportunities.
- Draft proposals for prototypes or initiatives (these can be brief and high-level or can be done in the next phase of work or assigned to specific offices as part of recommendations).
- Rank proposals in priority order, associate a timetable, and identify resourcing needed.
- Review and refine initial high-level goal(s) for each area; further develop goal(s), establish benchmark, metrics, and timeline (yearly or twice-yearly to Summer 2025). These can be high-level or detailed and offer areas for consideration.
Later in summer 2021, the Network will identify additional commitment areas and/or continue further work in these areas.
Anti-Racism Resources
Educate Yourself About Anti-Racism & White Privilege
- GVSU Social Justice Education
- Anti-Racism, White Consciousness Workshops (Summer virtual options available in Sprout)
- Brooks College of Interdisciplinary Studies (for curricular options)
- Anti-Racism Resources
- 75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice
- Performative Allyship Is Deadly (Here’s What to Do Instead)
- What it really means to be an anti-racist, and why it's not the same as being an ally
- Institutionalized Racism: A Syllabus
- Justice in June (a starting place to becoming better allies)
Educate Yourself About History
- How Minneapolis, One of America’s Most Liberal Cities, Struggles With Racism (NYT)
- Facing racism: The lasting effects of discrimination in GR's southeast community (RapidGrowth)
- A City within a City: The Black Freedom Struggle in Grand Rapids, Michigan (Todd E. Robinson) - also available in the I&E library in 4035 JHZ (email inclusion@gvsu.edu)
- African Americans in the Furniture City: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Grand Rapids (Randal Jelks) - also available in the I&E library in 4035 JHZ (email inclusion@gvsu.edu)
Videos & Training
More to Read:
- Between the World and Me - Ta-Nehisi Coates
- White Fragility - Robin diangelo
- Sister Outsider - Audre Lorde
- How to be an Antiracist - Ibram X. Kendi
- The Fire Next Time - James Baldwin
- Just Mercy : A Story of Justice and Redemption - Bryan Stevenson
- A Taste of Power: A Black Woman’s Story - Elaine brown
- Policing the Planet - Jordan T. Camp, Christian Heatherton
- So You Want to Talk about Race - Ijeoma Oluo
- The Hate U Give - Angie Johnson (young adult fiction)
- Restorative Yoga for Ethnic and Race-based Stress and Trauma by Dr. Gail Parker
- Healing Racial Trauma: The Road to Resilience by Sheila Wise Rowe
More to Watch:
- Just Mercy - Destin Daniel Cretton (free on Youtube for the month of June!)
- 13th - Ava Duvernay
- When They See Us - Ava Duvernay
- The Black Power Mixtape - Gõran Olsson
- The Black Panthers - Stanley Nelson
- The Death and Life of Marsha P Johnson - David France
- If Beale Street Could Talk - Barry Jenkins
- The Hate U Give - George Tillman Jr
More to Listen:
- Top Podcasts for Social Justice
- 1619 - A New York Times Podcast about the history of slavery
- Code Switch - NPR Podcast on race and racism
- About Race
- Intersectionality Matters! - Kimberlé Crenshaw
- Momentum: A Race Forward Podcast
- About Race
- Code Switch (NPR)
- Pod For The Cause (from The Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights)
- Pod Save the People (Crooked Media)
- Seeing White
Support Local Organizations
Support for Communities of Color