NIOTBN Working to Foster Renewed Season4Reason

Camille Taylor

WJBC Forum

Tis the “Season4Reason” and “Peace on earth, good will towards men!” Does it seem odd that during a season of peace and hope you can’t turn on the TV without seeing so much hate?

Not In Our Town has a message on electronic billboards that proclaim this to be a “Season4Reason” amidst all of the ignorant and hate-filled messages we are receiving. It stands to reason that we’ve always had people of all faiths living not only in America but around the world. It stands to reason that we have both good people and bad people in every faith, non-believers, race, income, and gender.

Some people take the opportunity to promote their own agenda when people are afraid and try to turn people against one another. It stands to reason that we should get the facts before we jump to conclusions against others. It also stands to reason that everyone should not be lumped into one group and labelled when a small minority of individuals does something bad.

That’s why I’m happy to give you “good news” about some events in our community that reflect a “Season4Reason.” The WJBC Brotherhood Tree is in full speed this week at the National Guard Armory. Volunteers are needed each night this week to wrap, sort, and bag gifts that need to be delivered on the morning of Saturday, the 19th. This effort reaches people who are struggling financially from all faiths, races, and genders. Gifts are particularly needed in the 13-18 age categories, specifically young men 17 to 18. The focus is for them to have a decent Christmas, not to judge who they are or where they came from.

Last week, over twenty students from area schools came together to get the tools and resources they need to develop their Not In Our School Clubs. Their goal is to stop hate, address bullying, and to make their schools more safe and inclusive.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, December 16 at 6 p.m., Not In Our Town is sponsoring an interfaith, community solidarity event on the east side of the Old Courthouse in downtown Bloomington. Co-sponsors are First Christian Church, New Covenant Community, the Presbytery of Great Rivers, and Moses Montefiore Temple in collaboration with the Islamic Center of B/N and Masjid Ibrahim Mosque. By bringing all faiths together, we show that stereotyping groups within our community is not acceptable.

We have the opportunity to make this a “Season4Reason” and spread “Peace on earth, good will toward men!” We just need the collective will to do it! I’m Camille Taylor for the WJBC Forum.

In addition, listen to Not In Our Town: Bloomington/Normal's Kelley Becker, associate minister at Bloomington First Christian Church, discuss the need for interfaith understanding and cooperation with WGLT-Radio's Charlie Schlenker, at http://wglt.org/post/interfaith-muslim-solidarity-event-set

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.