National Day of Racial Healing starts important conversations for campus and community

As a continuation of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and in keeping with his spirit of peace and coalition, CSUMB’s Office of Inclusive Excellence and Sustainability and Office of the President collaborated on a National Day of Racial Healing event hosted at the Otter Student Union on Jan. 16.  

 “Our Beloved Community: A Transformational Journey Towards Black and Brown Solidarity on the Monterey Peninsula” began by offering attendees food from the American South as well as South America. A series of addresses by invited guests and panelists followed, incorporating an audience Q-and-A session. Afterward, people mingled and networked. 

Guest speaker Rosa Gonzalez, an educator and facilitator, told the gathering that the goal of social justice is to extend the rights of citizens to everyone. She talked about the discrimination faced by her father, how the Chicano Movement was influenced by the Black Power Movement, and the power of coalitions. 

She referenced King’s quote about the “beloved community,” one that is powered by love and trust over hate and violence. 

As an intermission, Music and Performing Arts faculty member Althea SullyCole played kora and sang a song, the lyrics of which translated to “Yesterday is gone but I do not forget it.” Vanessa Lopez-Littleton, interim dean of the College of Health Sciences and Human Services, emceed the event. 

Guest speaker Glodean Champion said we should recast focus away from race – the very concept of which she described as “not real” – toward a more caring, loving and diverse mode. 

“The more people you know from different backgrounds as your own, it expands you,” she said. She told anecdotes about an encounter she had while traveling through the South, about her mother taking her to a restaurant in Beverly Hills and helping her feel like she belonged, and more. 

Many CSUMB community members attended along with members and leaders of surrounding communities. The panel included the following people:  

• Cathy Gutierrez, former Deputy Director of Behavioral Health, who encouraged the audience to participate in local committees and commissions;  
• Chris Barrera, LULAC Council President, who said he would like to see the so-called “lettuce curtain” that isolates Salinas from the rest of the Peninsula come down; 
• Lyndon Tarver, NAACP President, who told the assembled that during his military tour in Germany, he realized there is more racism in America than in Germany; and 
• Chris Lopez, District 3 Supervisor, said his white and Latino heritage cast him in a singular middle ground in an otherwise divided King City. 

The conversation included election-year misinformation, the persistence of racism, how to reach out to those who don’t look like us, letting go of trauma and embracing affirmation, jobs versus careers, and more. 

The event was live translated, while organizations including the National Coalition Building Institute, CSUMB’s El Centro, Caste Action Alliance, and others, tabled and handed out information at the back of the room.