African community

My Sister's Keeper Promotes Campus Solidarity

The February Registered Student Organization (RSO) spotlight is My Sister’s Keeper. This organization is a female-led minority group aimed at advancing the minority community, standing for leadership, sisterhood, mentorship, community service, culture, and social outreach.

Current president Jamonica Randall has been involved with My Sister’s Keeper since her freshman year at Illinois State. As president, her role entails checking in with executive board members, making sure everything runs properly, and much more.

With Randall’s experience through My Sister’s Keeper, she is more willing to step out of her comfort zone and explore other opportunities offered on campus.

“This organization has helped me grow into a leader and has improved my professional skills as well,” Randall said.

For those who are interested in getting involved with My Sister’s Keeper, Randall encourages students to contact the organization or attend their meetings held every other Tuesday evening.

For more information on how to get involved by joining an RSO, contact Student Activities and Involvement at (309) 438-3212.

'Colorblind Racism' Theme for IWU Summit

A public Summit on New Frontiers in the Study of Colorblind Racism, May 12-14 at Illinois Wesleyan University, which will focus on the modern roots of racial bigotry and discrimination.

The summit is supported by the American Sociological Association Fund for the Advancement of the Discipline, in order to bring together scholars, a campus community, and a local public to invigorate new directions for research on contemporary racism. It will include presentations by scholars as well as workshop sessions meant to stimulate new methodologies, approaches, insights, and strategies for better understanding and challenging contemporary racism.

The summit features a keynote address by Charlene Carruthers, national director of the Black Youth Project, whose recognition includes being named one of the “New Leaders of Social Justice” and “One of America’s Most Daring Young Black Activists.” 

The summit will explore the idea that contemporary racial inequality is that of colorblindness -- the notion that individual or cultural differences best explain racial inequality, rather than ongoing racism and its past legacy.

Carruthers is a "black, queer feminist" community organizer and writer with more than 10 years of experience in racial justice, feminist and youth leadership development movement work. She currently serves as the national director of the Black Youth Project 100 (BYP100 is an activist member-led organization of black 18-35 year olds dedicated to "creating justice and freedom for all black people."

Her passion for developing young leaders to build capacity within marginalized communities has led her to work on immigrant rights, economic justice, and civil rights campaigns nationwide. She has led grassroots and digital strategy campaigns for national organizations including the Center for Community Change, the Women's Media Center, ColorOfChange.org and National People's Action, as well as being a member of a historic delegation of young activists in Palestine in 2015 to build solidarity between black and Palestinian liberation movements.

Carruthers is the winner of the "New Organizing Institute 2015 Organizer of the Year Award." She was born and raised on the south side of Chicago, where she currently resides and continues to lead and partake in social justice movements.

State of the Dream

Camille Taylor

WJBC Forum

During January, there are many celebrations around Dr. Martin L. King Jr.’s birthday. The “I Have a Dream” speech is part of Dr. King’s legacy. Since our president gave the State of the Union address last night (Tuesday), I wanted to share a few “State of the Dream” observations.

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Dr. King would have been pleased to see Barack Obama elected President, believing that as a nation, we may be closer to that dream. However, discrimination on the basis of race continues. The U.S. Bureau of Statistics provides a stark contrast between the quality of life for whites versus people of color. A typical white household has 16 times the wealth than people of color when you define wealth as home ownership, education, and job earnings.

Dr. King said, “I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.” Since 1975, the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus has state legislators who develop remedies for social and economic problems.

King said, “We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote.” With the erosion of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, Mississippi doesn’t allow early voting or on-line voting and requires official identification when voting. This has turned the history clock back to the 1960s.

King said, “We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality.” What would Dr. King think of the almost weekly news of unarmed blacks being shot by police in communities across our nation?

King also said, “I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells.” Dr. King would be saddened by issues like the school to prison pipeline impacting black students, or statistics like one in three black men can expect to go to prison in their lifetime or one out of every 15 black men are incarcerated compared to one out of every 106 white men.

No doubt progress has occurred, but we have a long way to go before his dream becomes a reality.

Project Seeks to Protect Potential Deportees

Expansion of a federal program that defers deportation for parents who are in the country illegally is expected to keep lawyers with the local Immigration Project busy this year.

Executive Director Jasmine McGee said efforts are under way to help people understand changes in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program that could affect some of the estimated 2,500 McLean County residents in the U.S. illegally.

"The interest and demand for help with paperwork will definitely be there," said McGee, who took over as executive director several months ago.

McGee works with three other staff attorneys to assist a population of 53,000 residents in the country illegally who live outside the Cook and surrounding counties.

The new provision of the DACA program defers deportation for qualified parents of youths who are U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents. Parents must pass a criminal background check and have lived in the U.S. since Jan. 1, 2010, for the deferral, which is renewable every three years.

The meetings hosted by The Immigration Project in six Illinois cities will give people guidance on what documents they need for the deferrals. Lawyers also will advise against scams by lawyers and others who take advantage of immigrants who are in the country illegally, said McGee.

"There is a concern with people taking $1,000 or $2,000 and they either don't file or file the wrong paperwork," said McGee.

Illinois put strict requirements in place about who may legally complete paperwork for a DACA application out of concern for such scams, said McGee.

While most of the 1,000 clients helped by the Bloomington office are Hispanic, the Twin Cities also has a substantial Indian and West African population that needs help with immigration issues, according to McGee.

Data released last year by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights indicates that 145,000 Illinois families have at least one parent who entered the country illegally. Of those families, 126,000 have at least one U.S.-born child and 107,000 report having only one U.S.-born children.

The 13,000 downstate families with at least one parent who entered the U.S. illegally could be affected by the expansion of the DACA program.

"We're interviewing a lot of parents who have been here since the 1990s," said McGee.

Three of every four such immigrants in Illinois are between the ages of 25 and 44, according to the ICIRR.

The state's population of immigrants who entered the country illegally includes 58,000 children under 18 and 78,000 who are 18 to 24 years old.

The majority of the state's such immigrants are living in family households and about 30 percent are married and living with their own minor children, according to ICIRR.

The same benefits realized by youths under the DACA program will be available to parents, said Fred Tsao, ICIRR policy director.

"They will be able to get work permits, support their families and have opportunities for better employment," said Tsao.

The anxiety felt by families who are at risk for being separated by deportation proceedings will be reduced, said Tsao.

McGee said her work as a lawyer comes when her clients realize they have postponed possible deportation. Although the DACA program does not equate to legal immigration status in the U.S., it does provide a sense of security, even if it's temporary, said McGee.

"Seeing how happy they are the moment they have residency in the U.S. and don't have to hide makes me feel really good," said McGee.