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Wanita on Mentality

Wanita shares about her mother, who was a nurse, very intelligent, and yet still struggled with having a healthy mentality. She notes the issues of thinking that you’re either not good enough, or think that you’re too good. Both these mentalities, she says, make it hard for one to feel like one belongs.

She shares the difficulty of raising children and wanting them to believe they they can do anything without having them fall into these pitfalls. She especially notes the challenges of being black and raising black children in this respect, in a society that tends to think that “the darker you are the lazier you look.”

Sonya’s Perseverance Through Struggle

Sonya shares about her difficult journey moving to Fort Wayne from the south, arriving here with no family and resources while having to deal with stereotypes and cultural differences. She shares about her early morning bus trips to work, at 5:30am in freezing temperatures, when she first moved to Fort Wayne. Though it was difficult, she insists that being “a little uncomfortable makes you strong,” and that she has grown as a person and parent through her struggles.

Driving her story is her love and care for her son, a 4.0 student in high school, and her quest to raise him well. She speaks to her worries for him, as a young black man, walking around the neighborhood and being confronted by police. She also expresses her frustration at the judgement she receives from society for being a single parent. Sonya shares a powerful witness to being herself and owning her past, present, and future.

Sonya also briefly shares her experience with Vincent Village, saying that they became a family for her and helped her get organized and move from having nothing to being about to take care of herself and her family.

Leila on Racial Struggles

Leila grew up in an affluent area of Niantic, CT, in the only black family that wasn’t chased away by the elitism of the community. She graduated from one of the best high schools and was a bright and driven student who wanted to become a minister. She moved to Indiana to attend Bible School, only to find that systematic and open racism still persisted in the area.

She shares an experience of racism in a fabric store, where a white woman was angry that she had to wait in line “for the likes of her,” while the clerk reminded the woman that Leila had been before her in line, the woman alerted the manager who accused Leila of making a ruckus, sent the clerk home, and cut the woman’s fabric first.

She also shares her experience working for a furniture store where, for the nine months she worked there, she was the top salesperson. However, her coworkers conspired against her and would take her customers and sales in order to get commission for the sale. By the time she left, they tole her directly that they had managed to make $70,000 off of sales that she technically should have benefitted from. She was the only black person to work there.

Leila also shares about how she was unable to complete college due to the environment triggering her bipolar disorder and her ADHD. She points out that it’s difficult to get competent health care, assessment, and treatment due to her past record of dropping out, etc. which led her to be judged as a free loader.

After 16 years of marriage, Leila became a single mother in 1996, the same year that Democrats and Republicans came together to pass the Welfare Act, which disadvantages single moms. She notes that while this legislation may help policy makers and those who feel they are being taken advantage of, it does not help families. This made her family vulnerable to predators, she notes,  and led them into poverty.

Finally, Leila shares about her daughter, who was deployed in Afghanistan and returned with severe PTSD. Her daughter’s marriage fell apart and she was left with two young children. They all came to live with Leila, with Leila’s daughter driving to work. When their car broke down, her daughter was forced to walk or bus to work each day, a process both time consuming and dangerous in an area where winter lows can hit -25 degrees fahrenheit. Despite their best efforts they were unable to make it work and ended up in a shelter, and then later Vincent house.

Throughout this Leila maintains that “God has out backs,” and gives credit to Vincent House for providing accountability and opportunity. She shares what she tells her children, that work is a blessing, and we have to be what we’re created to be.

Friar Mario on the Divide

Friar Mario shares some of his views on immigration, as well as some of his personal experience.

He borrows the terminology of Melissa Browning and calls attention to the need for us to “reexamine our words and reimagine our policy” surrounding immigration. He observes that when we speak of our undocumented population and immigration policy, it can seem unclear whether we’re talking about people or objects. He calls us to humanize the discussion.

Within that, Friar Mario shares that his father was deported in 2010, and some of his experience surrounding his upcoming ordination.

Bobbie on Community and Affordable Housing

Bobbie of Voices of Women calls attention to the need for community and affordable housing in neighborhoods experiencing or at risk for gentrification.

“We, Voices of Women, are in this neighborhood to stay,” she says, “we welcome the new construction, we just  don’t want to be gentrified away.” She calls for people to form relationships with their neighbors and find middle ground.

Bobbie voices concerns about homelessness and declares that “affordable housing has to happen.” Additionally, she says that we all need to live with all people- the rich, the poor. Her call is one to unity and community, where people unite across difference to ensure that everyone’s needs are met.

Wayne Lee on Transportation with Disabilities

Wayne is a member of the transit advisory committee of Jefferson City- he has epilepsy and hasn’t been able to drive for 49 years because his seizures are uncontrolled.

Because of this transit is the only way he can travel, besides carpooling. The busses stop operating at 5pm in Jefferson City- the only city to end public transit so early- which results in restricted abilty for people to travel after 5pm.

He also calls attention to accessibility for those with disabilities. When people are unable to travel it seriously limits their access to other spaces.

DeeAnn on State Employee Wages

DeeAnn is a state employee and she has heard that Missouri state employees are the least paid in the country.

She notes that many state employees don’t have disposable income, so raising the wage would improve the local economy as well as improve the quality of life for state employees and their families.

DeeAnn also shares a personal story: when she moved to Jefferson City around 20 years ago she quickly became a single mom and was diagnosed with MS. She attests that she has been treated well by the state, through her compassionate supervisors, enabling her to take time off to take care of her child, her health, and be there for her father when we was ill and passed away. She says that this compassionate treatment needs to be widespread among state employees in Missouri and for all employees.

DeeAnn also acknowledges that it’s a two way street- and employees need to return the trust placed in them by employers by not taking advantage of the availability for leave.

She ends her story with a call for everyone, employers and employees, to treat others as they would like to be treated.

Ann’s Health Care Crisis

When Ann’s health took a turn for the worse she didn’t have health insurance.

After several years of her feet turning black, she went to the clinic and was sent to the hospital where they diagnosed her with an obstruction and an aneurysm at the same time causing no circulation. At first the put in stints, though six months later they her entire descending  aorta and femoral arteries bypassed.

She put off going to the doctor too long because she didn’t have insurance, and this almost killed her.

Ann calles for expanding Medicaid and making health care more accessible. She shares her frustration with elected officials for not acting on these issues

Ms. Angie’s Fight for the Better

Ms. Angie is a leader in her community- here she shares her experience, stories, and vision for a better future.

Ms. Angie shares her experience of being on Social Security disability and being made to choose between paying rent and paying for the medicines that she needs to be well.

She also shares her experiences of racism, and shares her desire for a world where she can have access to the same resources that other communities have. She says, “I want to be able to live like anybody else- I want a clean community, I want resources in my community.” She also shares her frustrations with an inadequate public transportation system that doesn’t run on weekends, a lack of jobs, and poor housing.

Ms. Angie is a true advocate and leader in her community. She shares about her relationships with city elected officials- calling the mayor and attending city council meetings- as well as her close working relationship with the chief of police. She uses these relationships to call attention to issues in her community and advocate for fair and just treatment by elected officials and law enforcement. Ms. Angie is also active in sharing her story on media- recording events that happen in her neighborhood and sharing her story with the press and people in positions of power.

Ms. Angie works tirelessly for her community, and she fights knowing that this is a battle she can win. She calls for balance, fair treatment, and unity among the many communities in Jefferson City.

At the heart of her message is a call for unity and community. She ends her video with a reminder, that “God calls us to love eachother.”

Reginald Dale on the Importance of Lives

Reginald Dale gives her personal experience with racism in the police, her concerns for black men and others impacted by the structural racism and unfair treatment, and gives us pointers on how to become more involved and make a difference in our communities.

She shares her experience being pulled over by police officers three times since May 2016, one time simply for sitting in her car writing notes (the officers said she was a “suspicious vehicle”).

Reginald also voices concern over the persecution faced by black men and the indifference of those unaffected directly. She is particularly concerned with mass incarceration which, she notes, not only costs the country large amounts of taxpayer money to maintain large prison populations, but also has a huge impact on black children who grow up with the expectation that they, too, are destined to go to jail. This, she says, “damages and disrupts a young person’s self esteem, education, finances, and…family bonds.”

Reginald challenges us to:
1. Learn and familiarize ourselves with the statistics and issues facing our communities and our country
2. Join an activist group and help rally, march, research, fund, etc. to help combat these issues
3. Develop a relationship with our local police- especially your neighborhood police officer- to discuss concerns and identify problems in the community

Finally, she calls us to come together, saying: “When communities unite we will be able to restore justice and order- so that all lives matter- but this will only happen when black lives matter.”