Lunch and Learn: NIOT at the Museum

Twin Citians interested in cultural nourishment are invited to "Lunch and Learn" Jan. 8 at the McLean County Museum of History, in downtown Bloomington.

The twin cities of Bloomington - Normal, Illinois, were early adopters of Not In Our Town before a hate crime occurred. Then when a wave of arsons struck African American churches across the country, the campaign drew even more support from twin city residents. (3:19)

Not In Our Town: Bloomington-Normal is featured in the new year's first Lunch and Learn program, at 12:10 p.m. in the Museum’s historic Governor Fifer Courtroom on the museum's second floor. Visitors may bring a brown bag lunch and participate in a special presentation and group discussion led by NIOT organizers Willie Halbert and Camille Taylor. NIOT anti-bigotry/anti-bullying pledge cards will be available at the event.

The monthly Lunch and Learn series is sponsored by the Collaborative Solutions Institute of Illinois Wesleyan University and the Museum of History. Sessions are free and open to the public.

Bloomington-Normal's NIOT activities started in 1995 with the original screening of the documentary Not In Our Town on PBS and a series of community forums on local discrimination issues. Over the following 18 years, NIOT has been involved in further marches, diversity celebrations, community forums, and outreach to area schools. 

NIOT:BN recently "relaunched" with a new grassroots emphasis and an expanded focus on community inclusivity. Watch the video at left recapping NIOT:BN's pioneering initial campaign.

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NIOT Leaders Nominated for 2015 King Award

Mary Ann Ford

The Pantagraph

Three residents from Normal and three from Bloomington are nominated for the 2015 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. awards. 

Adult nominees from Normal are Sonya Mau, Marcos Mendez and Takesha Stokes. Bloomington adult nominees are Anthony "Tony" Jones, Marc Miler and Elizabeth Robinson.

The winners will be determined by the Bloomington and Normal Human Relations Commissions and announced at the 39th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. awards luncheon at 1 p.m. Jan. 17 at Bone Student Center at Illinois State University. 

Mau is executive director and one of the founding parents of the Multicultural Leadership Program, designed to develop diverse leaders. She also is a founding member of the Illinois Prairie Community Foundation's Women to Women Giving Circle that raises money to meet the needs of local women and children and further develop philanthropic leadership skills.

She was the first woman and the first Asian to "break the glass ceiling" and achieve a high management position at Country Financial. She also is a long-time member of Toast Masters International and has been a mentor to numerous others.

                                                                    Marcos Mendez

Mendez is chairman of the board for Conexiones Latinas de McLean County and an active member of State Farm's Hispanic affinity group. He volunteers as a basketball coach at the YMCA and as a soccer coach for the Prairie Cities Soccer League.

He was instrumental in planning the first Day of the Dead celebration at the Children's Discovery Museum and secured 300 free passes to ensure all families who wanted to could participate. He also has been involved in the Minorities and Police Partnership which is designed to help foster better cooperation and understanding between the Bloomington and Normal police departments and the Latino community.

Stokes is a volunteer with the Boys & Girls Club, serving as a tutor, mentor and program assistant and was in part responsible for establishment of the Teen Pageant hosted by the club. She also is active in Mount Pisgah Baptist Church including serving on the food pantry team, as church clerk and an aide to the pastor. She also is a long-time member of the Orthodox Woodriver District Baptist Association.

She is first vice president of the Bloomington-Normal NAACP and has served in several other capacities with the organization; and is past president of the Bloomington-Normal Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

Jones has coordinated the Bloomington-Normal Cultural Festival; spearheaded the creation of an entrepreneur showcase to inform the community of minority business; and created a monthly fundraising event with proceeds going to different community organizations.

He has served on numerous committees and boards including the Bloomington Human Relations Commission, McLean County Urban League, Boys & Girls Club, Minority and Police Partnership, West Bloomington Revitalization Project, Black Business Alliance, 100 Black Men of Central Illinois and the Bloomington-Normal NAACP.

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                                                                           Marc Miller

Miller is chairman of the Not In Our Town finance committee and has been an advocate for the group for more than 18 years, including taking the Not In Our Town Pledge cards into local schools.

He is a founding member of the Pratt Music Foundation and currently serves as president. He also founded the Share the Music program to provide low-cost rental instruments to Twin Cities children who want to participate in band or orchestra but can't afford the rental fees.

Robinson is membership chairman for the Black Business Alliance and is an active member of the Crossroads-Global Handcrafts board. She works with Heartland Community College students, volunteers with survivors of domestic violence through Countering Domestic Violence, and mentors teens, young women and women through the YWCA, Urban League, Junior Achievement and the NAACP.

Youth nominees

Eight Bloomington youths and four Normal youths have been nominated for the "I Have a Dream" award. They are:

Bloomington: Oludayo "Dayo" Ajayi, Markus Brooks, Radience Campbell, Tanmay Shah and Malik Woods, all of Normal Community High School; Jordyn Blyth and Jordynn Palmer, both of University High School; and Kianna A. King, Bloomington High School.

Normal: Lokesh Julakanti and Keerthi C. Amballa, both of NCHS; Kristina Smith, Normal Community West High School; and Imani Gilbert, University High School.

Celebrating the Season4Reason: The Relaunch

Photo by Nia Gilbert

Bloomington Mayor Tari Renner tapped into Tuesday’s official awareness-building “relaunch” of Not In Our Town-Bloomington/Normal to spearhead a fresh look at local police practices and community relations.

Renner was one of dozens signing pledges to fight bigotry and bullying at NIOT-B/N’s relaunch event at the McLean County YWCA. As the community anti-hate initiative unveiled its “Season4Reason” awareness/information campaign, the mayor reported that "going forward, I'm calling for the city to review and assess our current training programs and community policing practices, and I'm asking the Human Relations Commission to begin a dialogue on race relations and make recommendations for the future."

The Bloomington Police Department is a charter member of the Minority and Police Partnership of McLean County, and Chief Brendan Heffner holds regular focus meetings with the public.

"I want to be sure and lead on this rather that be reactive," Renner told The Pantagraph. "Whether it's like Ferguson, Mo., or Staten Island, N.Y., we in Bloomington are going to make it clear that this will not happen in our town."

Tuesday's event featured NIOT’s new billboard and bus ad designs, as well as a Not In Our Town-Bloomington/Normal Quilt produced by Normal-based Sew Memorable, whose owner, Lisa Feeney, was in attendance. NIOT-Bloomington/Normal Steering Committee member Camille Taylor noted the event was attended by a “standing room only” crowd topping 125, including community officials and leaders, law enforcement representatives, educators, students, and residents on hand to pledge their support.

“I was overwhelmed to see not only the large number who came out, but also the variety of leadership and everyday folks from our community,” Taylor said. “The young people there were heartwarming as well, because they are the future leaders in Bloomington-Normal.”

As Renner pledged an overview of community relations, school officials from across the Twin Cities stressed the need to embrace NIOT’s anti-bullying message.

"It's very important for me to make sure that all of our students are included. Even though we're a large building and we've got 2,000 students we want to make sure that everybody has a place," said Dave Bollmann, Normal Community High School principal.

Photo by Nia Gilbert

Sandy Whisker/Sweet Memories Photography

The Not In Our Town Quilt: Joining the parts of our whole

 As part of the relaunch, NIOT has joined with Bloomington's First Christian Church and Normal's Sew Memorable Quilt design/production studio to unveil the Not In Our Town Quilt.

 The 37-inch square quilt features eight new Not In Our Town logos focusing on various segments of the community, including schools, emergency services, and the retail and corporate sectors. The logoed patches are sewn on a background employing the original black-white-and-yellow Not In Our Town palette, overlaid with pattern stitching depicting joined hands.

 "We're seeking new ways to communicate a very fundamental message -- the need for a safer, more inclusive neighborhood," NIOT communications coordinator Martin Ross said. "The quilt is a great metaphor for security, comfort, the diverse parts joined into a harmonious whole.

p"That's our objective for the Twin Cities -- to bring our diverse religious, cultural, and economic communities together for the mutual benefit of the entire community."

 The quilt was made possible through a $250 donation from First Christian Church as part of it's continuing community outreach campaign. The downtown-area church annually hosts a summer block party for west side families, and in 2015, it will introduce a new Sunday service aimed in part at serving the LGBT community and others who, according to FCC Associate Minister Kelley Becker, "don't currently have a church home."

 Sew Memorable owner Lisa Feeney, a former corporate trainer, specializes in commemorative, special occasion, or organizational quilts often fashioned from T-shirts.

Bloomington police chat with community leaders at the event. Photo by Nia Gilbert

 "Sew Memorable Quilts grew out of my basement hobby," Feeney noted. "I have sewn all my life -- I worked in a ballet shoe factory in college; I made my own wedding gown (10 foot train, hand-beaded 22,000 beads and 9,000 pearls onto galloon lace!!); and made draperies when my kids were small."

Camille: Recongregate, Communicate, and Inoculate

By Camille Taylor

Educator/Not In Our Town Steering Committee

WJBC-AM Forum/Monday, November 17

Nineteen years ago a grassroots group of citizens in Bloomington-Normal began a movement called “Not In Our Town.” The movement began with goals to establish a community standard that rejects discriminatory words and deeds, to inoculate our community through education and dialogue against the social evils that follow complacency, and to be proactive against hate and intolerance by addressing injustice and inequity in our community. The inspiration for Not In Our Town came from Billings, Montana, where a rock was thrown into a little boy’s window that displayed a menorah. A PBS film about the incident was viewed in our community followed by adult/youth discussion panels. It was also used as a training tool by the Bloomington Police Department. Over the last 19 years, Not In Our Town has held marches, rallies, pledge card drives in local schools, stood against East Peoria’s white supremacist Matt Hale, who came to Bloomington to spread his messages of hate, and the Rev. Fred Phelps from the Westboro Baptist Church, who came to our town with hate filled anti-gay demonstrations. After a few years of less activity, Not In Our Town is relaunching new efforts. On December 9, the Not In Our Town campaign will be launched with a media event at the YWCA, community leaders, electronic billboards, signage on Connect Transit busses, pledge cards, and a fundraising campaign. The theme, “The Season4Reason,” sends the message that it’s time to fight bigotry and bullying and that there’s no room for this in our community. The vision is to have a safe and inclusive community. Our work will be ongoing. Most movements take at least 50 years to accomplish goals. When will this vision be achieved? When every person in our community, no matter their gender, race, religion, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, address, or whatever, feels safe and included.  We know our community is not a Ferguson, Missouri, but we don’t want to become one either. Sometimes it’s easy to wear blinders and not notice that some members of our community are less safe/ included than others. So, here’s my personal challenge. As we approach the holidays, observe how open we are as a community to all perspectives, different observances, those who are able, and those who are not in the mainstream. Let’s make it a Season4Reason and do our part to wipe out hate, bullying, and bigotry on every level. I’m Camille Taylor for the WJBC Forum.

A Season4Reason: A time to regroup

As Bloomington-Normal’s landmark Not In Our Town anti-racism campaign approaches its third decade with an expanded mission and a new grassroots focus, this seems the ideal time to call for a Season4Reason across the Twin Cities.

December is a time of multicultural celebration -- Christian traditions of Christmas, Hanukkah observances by the Jewish community, Bodhi Day commemorating the enlightenment of the original Buddha, and Kwanzaa, as celebrated by many African-Americans. In October, Hindus communitywide celebrated Diwali, the Indian fall festival of lights, and January marks the Muslim observance of the prophet Muhammad’s birth.

This is also a potential season of discontent. Individuals and families address serious and divisive holiday-related economic and domestic issues; late-semester academic pressures can escalate into bullying, addiction, crime, and cross-cultural conflict; and the differences between the haves and the have-nots often come crisply and raggedly into focus. Recent elections, U.S. and world events, and ongoing debate about immigration, domestic security, and community-police relations have generated conflict and alienation where commonality and appreciation should flourish. 

It’s a season when compassion, empathy, tolerance, and, indeed, reason must prevail among Twin Citians of all races, faith communities, cultures, and lifestyles. We want the same things – family security, individual opportunity, acceptance or at least respect from our peers, the American right to live and love as we choose. We want a safe, inclusive community where everyone has a place at the table, in society and the economy, in the classroom.

As Not In Our Town embarks on a new phase of education, enlightenment, and growth, we’re asking our friends, families, neighbors, classmates, and community leaders to embrace a new winter celebration – a celebration of each other. A season where old hatreds, smoldering resentments, and fear of the merely different fall away in the face of reason.