Festival of India Offers Taste of Country's Diverse Culture

One of the Twin Cities' key communities will offer a sample of and insights into its culture during the 5th annual Festival of India, from noon to 6 pm. Sunday, Sept. 13, on the Illinois State University quad.

The festival, presented by McLean County India Association and Illinois State University, will feature workshops on yoga meditation, and Pranayama (breath control) and a Rangoli folk art display. Other highlights will include a picture studio with Indian clothing, displays and a parade focusing on the various states represented by Bloomington-Normal's diverse Indian/Indian-American community, henna and face painting, Indian youth sports, balloon art, a bounce house, a culture program, and a Bollywood band influenced by India's major film industry.

ISU Professor of Graphic Design Archana Shekara, who has helped plan the festival, was on hand for Saturday's Not In Our Town: Bloomington/Normal strategic planning meeting. "I met some wonderful people shared and listened to great stories — a morning of reflection!" she said.

Shekara noted “each state in India has its own language and culture" -- the McLean County India Association attempts to bridge those regional  differences within the community -- and, with others at Saturday's gathering at Illinois Wesleyan University, stressed the importance of members of the community at large sharing Indian culture with those within the West Asian community.


Tiny House Project 'Springboard' for Transition of Homeless?

It was a different sort of luncheon and home tour recently at Bloomington’s First Christian Church. The luncheon was sloppy joes and three-bean salad, the home could fit roughly in perhaps two church parking spots, and the guests were a mix of city officials, church volunteers, representatives of west side non-profit groups, and guests who spent much of their days – and nights – on the streets.

Local contractor and volunteer mission builder Mike Robinson displays the Tiny House interior for representatives of non-profit organizations.

Local contractor and volunteer mission builder Mike Robinson displays the Tiny House interior for representatives of non-profit organizations.

Redeemer Lutheran Church Tiny House volunteer chats outside the prototype home.

Redeemer Lutheran Church Tiny House volunteer chats outside the prototype home.

Members of three area churches are currently putting the internal finishing touches to the Tiny House – a modular one-room frame home equipped with AC, heating, a toilet, and shower, designed to put a roof over one currently homeless head. The Tiny House Project – built on the Illinois Wesleyan University campus with private and city support – will go on tour with an eye toward finding a lot and hookups for permanent or transitional residency.

“This is a good thing you guys are doing,” one guest told Tiny House sponsors prior to the home tour.

The Tiny House will be on display for two weeks at a time at various Bloomington-Normal churches, as project coordinators consider options for occupancy. “We actually haven’t thought that far yet,” admitted Tiny House Co-Coordinator Julie Robinson, whose husband, local contractor Mike Robinson, helped build and is now finishing the interior of the structure.

Robinson sees the tiny house as “a viable option” for persons who currently live outside, particularly during periods of inclement weather. City of Bloomington Code Enforcement Grants Coordinator Jennifer Toney sees even longer-term benefits of economic housing for homeless persons: “Housing is probably one of the most important things for an individual when they’re looking for a quality of life.”

Toney subscribes to a “housing first” model, arguing that those not “struggling with where they’re going to put their head at night” can focus on employment, community services, and financial security. “It levels the playing field a little bit.”

PATH Homeless Services Supervisor Lori Kimbrough characterized the Twin Cities’ current homeless situation as “pretty severe,” with some 20-25 people on the streets or “other places not meant for human habitation” on any given night. That number did not drop this past winter as it traditionally has on a seasonal basis, “and we’re looking for some permanent solutions to that problem,” Kimbrough said.

“The folks say who stay out on the street have huge barriers to housing – basically affordability is the biggest issue,” she noted. “They have extremely no to low income, so that doesn’t afford them a living situation or a permanent housing option.

“If the housing choices for a person are in a tent or in a shelter, these people prefer to choose a tent. If we could give them the option of affordable housing, I would say they’d prefer that option.”

Low building costs and floorplan/facilities simplicity also offer relatively low home maintenance costs – another plus for prospective Tiny House tenants trying to regain their financial stability, Kimbrough suggested. Inaugural tiny house projects to date “have worked fairly well” in communities such as Eugene, Ore., Madison, Wis., and Huntsville, Ala., the PATH supervisor maintained.

The City of Bloomington currently administers  a federal Department of Housing and Urban Development Local Continuum of Care Grant, which provides about $300,000 per year in homelessness prevention services. Toney and colleagues are investigating possible local lots for tiny houses, preferably along a municipal bus line to accommodate employment and considering public safety issues “for everyone,” she related.

Early talk of the Tiny House Project intrigued Joe Teague, a smaller properties broker and property consultant with Road Runner Real Estate and member of Second Presbyterian Church in downtown Bloomington. Teague concedes that the tiny house concept “breaks a few rules” and poses challenges in zoning and potential liability but notes “I’ve been known to bend or break a few as I go along in life.”

“It’s using great ideas, using different ideas, and using people’s imaginations to tackle a very tough problem and to provide services for folks who are in very tremendous need,” Teague said. “It also benefits our community as a whole. This is not just let’s put people in a shelter – let’s find them serves, let’s make it holistic. I don’t care if you live in a 10,000-square-foot mansion or a 2,500-square=foot nice house, or a cabin – sense of place is so critical. It’s a springboard.”

 

Cone With a Cop: Dialogue and a Dip

The Bloomington Police Department will host its first Ice Cream With a Cop event Thursday from 4-6 p.m. at Carl's Ice Cream (601 West Locust, Bloomington)

Officers from BPD will meet, talk, and eat ice cream with adults and children in an effort to field residents' questions, concerns, and views and get to know their neighbors. The event is a follow-up to spring's inaugural Coffee With a Cop get-together at Normal's Dunkin' Donuts.

Carl's Ice Cream will provide free small cones to kids 12 and under during the event.

IWU Prof To Share Green Chem Expertise in India

Illinois Wesleyan University’s Ram Mohan will lecture and provide expertise on green chemistry at Pondicherry University in India as a Fulbright Specialist.

Internationally recognized for his contributions to green chemistry, Mohan is the Wendell and Loretta Hess Professor of Chemistry at Illinois Wesleyan. Mohan’s research, widely published in international chemistry journals, focuses on developing environmentally friendly organic methods guided by green principles. Pondicherry University has been awarded a Fulbright Specialist grant to host Mohan for three weeks later this year.

During his time at Pondicherry, Mohan will deliver a series of lectures on green chemistry to graduate students, help provide expertise in developing green and environmentally friendly laboratory experiments for undergraduate and master’s-level labs, and train Ph.D. students in the practice of green chemistry in labs.

“The lectures will introduce students to fundamental concepts in green chemistry and then highlight the current state of art in the field,” said Mohan. He will present case studies and use real-world examples to highlight environmental problems and how they can be solved using green chemistry principles.

“These experiences will allow me to bring back more green chemistry concepts and ideas to IWU,” said Mohan. “We have been involved in greening our own organic chemistry laboratories over the years in addition to my own research.  Intellectual exchange with scholars at a Ph.D.-granting institution will surely benefit my own research program.”

The Pondicherry grant marks Mohan’s second trip to India on a Fulbright grant. Mohan received a Fulbright-Nehru award to deliver lectures on the principles of green chemistry at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research at Mohali, India, as well as several other Indian colleges and universities during the 2012-2013 academic year.

A 1985 graduate of Hansraj College in Delhi, India, Mohan earned a master’s degree in organic chemistry from the University of Delhi in 1987 and a doctorate in chemistry from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), in 1992.  Following that he conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 

In 2011, the Illinois Heartland Section of the American Chemical Society named Mohan Chemist of the Year. He received the distinguished alumni award from his alma mater UMBC in 2002 and the Henry Dreyfus Teacher Scholar award in 2001. His research at IWU, which has involved more than 100 IWU students, has been funded by several grants from the National Science Foundation and the American Chemical Society-Petroleum Research Fund.

The Fulbright Specialist program provides an opportunity to Indian universities and institutions of higher learning to collaborate with U.S. faculty and professionals. In addition to sharing their expertise, specialists can help develop linkages between their respective institutions. The Fulbright Specialist is sponsored by the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, the Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Department of State and the Council for International Exchange of Scholars. Envisioned by U.S. Sen. J. William Fulbright and founded in 1946, the Fulbright program promotes a mutual understanding between the people of the United States and other countries. 

Bloomington Key In Illinois Women's Rights

August 26 marks the 95th anniversary of the passage of the 19th amendment, giving women the right to vote. After nearly a century, the image of the steadfast “suffragette” remains, but it’s only part of the picture that led to the historic amendment.

“Many people have a one-dimensional understanding of suffragettes, thinking of them only in terms of women who protested for the right to vote, and as only white, middle-class women,” said Associate Professor of History Kyle Ciani. “In reality, by the early 20th century, people concerned with women’s right to vote included African American, native-born white, and immigrant women from diverse economic classes.”

The stereotypical suffragette – or those who wanted the right for women to vote – is often depicted as a passionate woman in the early 1900s, who chained herself to carriages, or was loudly hauled away by police for demanding the vote. Though there were demonstrations and arrests, the movement dates back to the early 1800s, when women pushed for laws that didn’t strip them of their property and rights in marriage.

“This was a long, hard-fought battle. It didn’t happen overnight,” said Ciani. “It was an organized effort that took strategy, and time. No one woke up one morning and just decided they wanted the vote for women.”

By the 1830s and 40s, educated women with ties to the abolitionist movement led the charge for more rights, yet the battle for the vote began in earnest in the post-Civil War days. “The 1870s and 1880s is when women began to enter the political sphere,” said Ciani. When the 15th amendment passed, allowing all men to vote, “women cried foul,” she said, and the symbol of a national women’s vote crystalized.

Of course, women all over the U.S. were already involved in politics by this point. Prior to the 1920s, many states already allowed women to vote, either locally or in state and national elections. Illinois signed women’s suffrage into law in 1913. “Every state had different rules, but women have been active in politics since the 1870s,” said Ciani.

In fact, Bloomington was the first town in Illinois to hold an election where women could cast ballots. In April of 1892, women of Bloomington legally took part in an election for school board members. “Education was considered an extension of women’s roles as a caretaker,” said Associate Professor of History Monica Cousins Noraian, who wrote a book on Sarah Raymond-Fitzwilliam, the nation’s first female school superintendent, who served in Bloomington from 1874 to 1892.

Raymond-Fitzwilliam, a former Bloomington teacher and principal, and a graduate of what was then Illinois State Normal University (ISNU), had been appointed unanimously by school board members for more than 18 years. Yet the 1872 school board election became more about women’s suffrage than job performance. “There were two sets of candidates, who campaigned on a pro-female or anti-female platform,” said Noraian. “The anti-female candidates demanded that women be kicked out of leadership positions in schools, and ‘return things to men.’ It was a very contentious election.”

Raymond-Fitzwilliam was reappointed to her post, but she resigned shortly thereafter, fearing the controversy would limit any hopes of a harmoniously working school board. “She married, moved to Chicago and continued to work for women’s rights,” said Noraian. “So what people might think would be an election where a woman would have all this support, became anything but that.”

Noraian credits Raymond-Fitzwilliam’s upbringing in an abolitionist home, and her education at ISNU as a foundation for equality for women. “Men and women had classes together and conducted debates together,” she said. “Her early experiences helped shape her beliefs on reform.”

“Women in Illinois are historically leaders in social justice reform, and women having access to higher education is key in that,” said Ciani, adding that Sarah Hackett Stevenson, an ISNU graduate, was the first female physician inducted into the American Medical Association in 1876, a full 44 years before the U.S. Constitution gave women the right to vote.

The lack of a constitutional vote didn’t stop women from making a run for the top office in the nation. Victoria Woodhull ran for president in 1872 under the Equal Rights Party, as did Belva Lockwood in 1884 and 1888. Laura Clay was the first to have her name added to a potential roster of candidates for a major national party, the Democrats. “Hillary Clinton was not the first,” said Ciani.


Women’s rights and anti-lynching activist Ida B. Wells.

Part of Clay’s platform was actually to oppose national suffrage for women. From the South, Clay feared the passage would allow the federal government to interfere with states implementing (or refusing to implement) the 15th amendment.

Race was one of many schisms facing the women’s rights movement on the path to an amendment, noted Ciani. “There is no such thing as one, single movement. There is always a diversity of ideas and dissention within any group, and the women’s rights movement was no different,” she said. “But for every woman who believed—wrongly—that adding African American women to the suffrage push would nix the movement from a national conversation, you had women like journalist and anti-lynching activist Ida B. Wells, who refused to ‘ask’ permission to march in suffragette parades.”

Looking at the legacy of the women’s rights movement in politics, Ciani said the 19th amendment showed that a long-term strategy could work. “Activists have learned a lot from the highly organized strategies of this movement. I would liken it to the efforts to pass the Marriage Equality Act. It showed the victory could really be won through determination, consensus and compromise.”

ISU Prof's Book Addresses Racial Issues

Nicholas Hartlep has no illusions that his latest book will solve racism in America.

Hartlep is co-editor of The Assault on Communities of Color: Exploring the Realities of Race-Based Violence set for release in June through Roman & Littlefield publishers. A collection of essays from leading scholars across the nation, Hartlep calls the book a platform for voices of a new movement forming in the wake of “modern-day lynchings” of black men such as Trayvon Martin, Eric Gardner, and Michael Brown.

“No other racial group has been more hated in our country than blacks. Our institutional polices reflect that. We’re conditioned to see blacks as inferior,” said Hartlep, an assistant professor of educational foundations at Illinois State University.

Hartlep and co-editor Kenneth Fasching-Varner received more than 140 submissions for the book. The final product contains 57 works with titles such as “We Can’t Breathe: The Impacts of Police Brutality on Women of Color” and “Grey Hoodies, Baggy Jeans, and Brown Skin: The Violence against Black Males via Signs and Signifiers.”

What sets the book apart is accessibility, said Hartlep. “There is no academic jargon, no citations. These are powerful narratives from real human beings.” He noted those who contributed reflect a growing movement rejecting violence against communities of color as simply tragic incidents. Instead, they are seen as evidence of a racist system that has a chokehold on America.

“With race-based violence, you think of images of blood or bludgeoning, and that is what we see in the news,” said Hartlep. “But race-based violence is much more quiet and insidious—damaging psychologically and spiritually. The realities are very complex and nuanced.”


Nicholas Hartlep, assistant professor of educational foundations

The book translates to the courses Hartlep teaches on the historical, cultural, and social foundations of education. “We begin from a place that is learned—part of a learned society that is tethered to white supremacy,” he said. Recently, Hartlep showed one of his classes a video that went viral of a Baltimore mother repeatedly slapping her son for taking part in the riots.

“A lot of the students cheered when I showed the video,” said Hartlep. “When I asked why, they said, ‘She is trying to keep him off the streets and out of gangs,’ or ‘She’s a single mother trying to help her son.’ I looked at them and said, ‘Where are you getting gangs? Where are you getting that the mom is single? These are assumptions you are making because of the stereotypes a white-dominated society places on people of color.’ We dehumanize, we criminalize.”

Pre-sales of the book are already beyond publisher expectations, and are on backorder. Yet Hartlep said the book is not meant to be a guide for the next step in race relations, but a means of expression. “This effort is not to help oppressors understand their oppression. It is a place for the voices of communities of color—voices that come from a place of pain,” he said.

“Let’s be honest. The book will not solve the problem of racism,” said Hartlep. “But it can give us hope for a time when communities of color will not be assaulted. People are angry. If you are not angry, you are not noticing the race-based violence.”


Tiny House Begins Twin Cities Journey

Stop by Bloomington First Christian Church (FCC) at 401 West Jefferson this week to view a new effort to offer people homeless Twin Citians “a place that’s safe and warm – a place for a new beginning.”

A prototype Tiny House – a joint project of First Christian, Illinois Wesleyan University, the Matthew Project Church Extension Fund, and Our Redeemer Lutheran Church of Bloomington – was transported last week from the Wesleyan campus to FCC -- the first of several anticipated rotating church stops. Local contractor and volunteer mission builder Mike Robinson of FCC will help finish the interior of the single-person dwelling, which will include an air conditioner/heater and a shower.

tinyhs.jpg

FCC Associate Minister Kelley Becker, a local homeless activist disturbed by the recent eviction of several individuals in a “tent city” off Market Street, concedes a wide variety of individual issues behind “chronic homelessness,” including addiction, joblessness, mental illness, and/or “past mistakes involving the judicial system, and ongoing tragedies.” She hopes the model Tiny House will not only show those currently homeless an option, but also spur community leaders to consider “more than the emergency shelter approach” to homelessness.

“I learned very early on in this ministry that I cannot fix all these problems, but I’ve spent a lot of time listening to them,” Becker recounts. “I’ve listened to their stories and their dreams and their regrets. The thing I’ve come to feel strongly about is that none of the problems around chronic homelessness can be fixed without homes. Housing must come first.

“A person who is homeless without an address has little hope of ever being offered a job. A person who is addicted to alcohol will struggle to stay sober if he or she returns from treatment to a tent. Living outside is hard, even when a person makes the choice to do so.”

A recent survey by Bloomington-based PATH found 16 people living on the city’s streets and another 220 in some type of shelter. Roughly 40 were considered “chronically” homeless, meaning they live somewhere not meant for habitation, a safe haven or shelter; have been homeless for at least a year or on at least four separate occasions in the last three years; and/or have been diagnosed with a substance use disorder, serious mental illness, developmental disability, post-traumatic stress disorder or cognitive impairments.

Bloomington’s Tiny House Project is one of many sprouting across the U.S., and it could help address a costly as well as disturbing problem. The cost of providing an apartment and social work for Utah's “housing-first” clients has been estimated at about $11,000 per year, while the public cost for people living on the streets is pegged at around $17,000 annually because of hospital visits and jail costs.

Arlene: Special Olympics Changing Lives and Attitudes for More Than 47 Years

Arlene Hosea

WJBC Forum

What began as a backyard summer camp for people with intellectual disabilities is now a “global movement that has been changing lives and attitudes for more than 47 years.”

 Eunice Kennedy Shiver had a vision and a goal.  The vision was a summer day camp in her back yard for young people with disabilities.  Her goal was to “learn what these children could do in sports and other activities, and not dwell on what they could not do.”

 That vision and goal continue to remain the purpose and the passion within Special Olympics Illinois today.  Our state and community are embedded in the history of Special Olympics.  The first Special Olympics Games where held in 1968 at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois. Judge James Knecht and Ron Ross were there in 1968 with a group of boys from the Lincoln Development Center, connecting this community to the history of the first games.  In addition, the Special Olympics Illinois main office is located in Normal. 

 When I joined the Special Olympics Board of Directors several years ago, I began to learn more about Special Olympics.  We have 22,000 athletes in Traditional (children and adults) and 20,000 Young Athletes (ages 2-7), all fostering inclusion and acceptance.  In this community we have very strong programs with SOAR and Unit 5.  Unit 5 is leading the way with Project Unify matching individuals with and without intellectual disabilities, fostering Youth Activation, Unified Sports and Spread the Word to End the Word (R Word Campaign). 

 The athletes are the heart, soul and spirit of Special Olympics Illinois.  Athletes serve on the Board of Directors and in addition, they also serve as Global Messengers and speak to organizations, agencies and get to introduce people like the First Lady Michelle Obama at Special Olympic World Games 2015!  If you have not heard a Global Messenger speak, you are missing a very powerful presentation.  Each messenger has their own personal story and passion, it will move you.  You can learn more about Special Olympics Illinois by looking at their website or contacting them. 

 As a community and as a state, we have a great history in Special Olympics and thousands of athletes statewide to be very proud of.  I hope my community will continue to stand with Special Olympics Illinois today and tomorrow.

 The Special Olympics oath completes the story:

 “Let me win.  But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.”

 I thank the athletes for being brave, being humble and for fostering inclusion and acceptance.  Let us all learn from you. 

'100 Caring Adults' Aimed at Encouraging Returning Students

For the third year in a row, The Bloomington Junior High School Promise Council will be sponsoring "100 Caring Adults." This movement will bring at least 100 adults to the junior high on the first day of school to line the sidewalks and show community support for the returning students.

The 2015 100 Caring Adults event will take place at 7:45 a.m. on the first day of school, Thursday, Aug. 20, at Bloomington Junior High School, 901 Colton Ave.

It is a great opportunity for your associates, employees and others to impact the lives of young people in our community by just showing up. Bloomington Junior High serves about 1200 students as the only junior high school for Bloomington District 87. The Promise Council is a collection of caring adults committed to supporting students through:

* Providing more adult mentors for students

* Increasing opportunities for parental engagement

* Meeting physical needs of students when they stand in the way of academic achievement

Events like 100 Caring Adults help to fulfil the Promise Council aims by introducing potential adult mentors to the school and increasing opportunities for parental engagement. In addition, it strengthens the fabric of our community by sending a message to our 6th, 7th and 8th graders that they matter to the community and we are all engaged in wanting to see them succeed.

Ample parking for this event is available at the Towanda Plaza on the corner of Empire and Towanda near the Bloomington Post Office. It is a short walk to the school from the plaza. There will also be a bus available to shuttle participants from the plaza to the Junior High at 7:30 a.m. Plan to arrive a few minutes early in order to park and catch the shuttle.

 Business and organizations are encouraged to wear colors, work specific shirts or other items that represent their brand or organization. Non-corporate supporters are encouraged to wear school colors (purple and white) to show their support. 

You can register as an individual or register your company or organization’s participation by following this link www.SignUpGenius.com/go/10C0D48A8A923A0FF2-100caring/10549093 to the 100 Caring Adults sign up page. Please register by Monday, August 17th. For more information you can contact Cheree’ Johnson at (309) 268-3504 or by email: cheree.johnson@advocatehealth.com or Mary Litwiller at promisecouncil.bjhs@gmail.com.

Minister: Church/LGBT Rift Serious Issue

For the faithful who identify as LGBT, rejection by their church can shake not only their confidence but also their very faith.

As Not In Our Town: Bloomington-Normal works to forge alliances with churches and other faith-based institutions at the heart of various local communities, it also hopes to explore a major rift between the LGBT community and many churches that crosses racial lines.

Disciples of Christ's General Assembly voted in 2013 to embrace gay and transgender members and welcome them to serve in its churches (which includes Bloomington's Centennial Christian Church and First Christian Church, the Twin Cities' oldest continuing congregation). The Unitarian Church, represented in the Twin Cities by Unitarian Universalist Church, has been a traditional haven for openly LGBT Christians, and Normal's New Covenant Community declares its invitation to all "regardless of race, gender, age, or sexual orientation."

But many other traditional churches run the spectrum from condemning homosexuality or same-sex marriage to maintaining a don't ask/don't tell sort of philosophy toward acceptance or membership. In a video continuing to draw popular buzz and heated debate, Rev. Dewey Smith, pastor of the House of Hope Atlanta in Decatur and the House of Hope Macon, Ga., argued church condemnation of the LGBT community is hypocritical "if you look at half of our choirs and a great number of our artists who we call abominations and we call demons."

"We demonize and dehumanize the same people that we use," the African-American clergyman said. "We don't say nothing about the gay choir director, because he's good for business. . . .We have done what the slave master did to us -- dehumanize us, degrade us, demonize us, but then use them for our advantage."

Cheryl Strong, a Bloomington counselor who is black and a member of the LGBT community, was devastated when her former church not rejected her but also refused to participate in a family member's funeral following her coming-out. Now a member of New Covenant Community, Strong is gratified by the U.S. Supreme Court's decision upholding same-sex marriages but remains concerned by continued interpretation of biblical scriptures as condemning such a union.

She argues "same-sex attraction was not specifically addressed by the Bible." Church condemnation imposes celibacy on LGBT worshippers rather than allowing them to choose what she deems "a gift from God."

"Marriage is an institution of love and intimacy," Strong maintained. "By not sanctioning marriage for gays and lesbian It makes it impossible for an LGBT person to even have a hope of having that kind of intimacy that's afforded in any institution of marriage.

"We're all people, and we all deserve to have love. If you choose to be married, it should be between two people who love each other."

 

B/N NAACP Head Named Citizen of the Year

The Pantagraph

Quincy Cummings, president of the Bloomington-Normal branch of the NAACP and a charter member of the Minority and Police Partnership, was named Normal's Citizen of the Year on Thursday.

The Pantagraph

The Pantagraph

"Quincy's tireless efforts to improve this community for all citizens is exemplary," said Mayor Chris Koos. "His dedication to the cause of equality for all residents of Normal and McLean County stands out along with those of the Citizens of the Year who came before him."

Recently, Cummings has been working with Normal and Bloomington to help with the recruitment of minority employees.

"He wasn't critical; he offered suggestions," said Koos.

Cummings, who was clearly surprised at the announcement, said he was speechless. 

"It's definitely an honor; it's definitely not expected," he said.

Cummings, who received the 2013 Normal Human Relations Commission Martin Luther King Jr. Award, said: "The work I do is not to get awards or ink in the paper. It's what I truly believe is right for the community. While I'm here, I will do what I must to make it in better shape then when I found it."

He has lived in Normal for 22 years, first coming to the community to attend Illinois State University. He has worked at State Farm for 14 years, currently serving as a business analyst.

Cummings said Normal and Bloomington have been very receptive to suggestions to attract a diverse pool of employees.

"From the mayor down, they're reaching out to us," he said. "I think in the next three to five years, there will be more diversity."

He said one of the first changes that needs to be made is the perception of police, especially in light of recent happenings around the nation. 

"We've got to change the perception and also change the culture from within," he said.

The local NAACP branch is working with students studying criminal justice at Illinois State University and Lincoln College to show them "doing police work is honorable and needed," he said. 

In 2014, the NAACP recognized Cummings' efforts by awarding him the Roy Wilkins Award, the highest statewide honor.

"Quincy's work in the community is to make sure the family portrait of Bloomington-Normal portrays all of its residents," said Chemberly Cummings, Quincy Cummings' wife.

Cummings worked with the local NAACP chapter to establish the Minority and Police Partnership after he was the victim of racial profiling in a traffic stop. He also serves on Normal's Human Relation Commission.

Ernestine: Commission Seeing Resurgence in Discrimination

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While Ernestine Jackson has witnessed racial and cultural progress in the Twin Cities over her 13 1/2–year tenure with the Bloomington Human Relations Commission, she has witnessed resurgence in local discrimination in key areas and, in some cases, in a more subtle, “sophisticated” manner.

The municipal commission’s mission is to work with the community in addressing racial, religious, cultural, gender, and age discrimination in housing, employment, financing, and other areas, under the provisions of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. It also educates the public on civil/human rights and expectations and ensuring police and other city agencies and their contractors comply with their own minority hiring and anti-discrimination practices. In essence, commissioners “really try to bring the community together to deal with those issues and hopefully eradicate racism and discrimination in any form,” said Jackson, who investigates discrimination complaints.

“I’m going to be honest with you -- I have seen us going backwards as it relates to civil rights,” Jackson said during Saturday’s Cultural Festival at Illinois State University.  “I have been doing this kind of work for more than 40 years, and I’ve just been saddened that we’re at a point now where we’re still working on those issues that we thought we had fixed years ago. The complaints I’m getting are almost identical to complaints we were getting over 40 years ago.

“The things we’re seeing, the things we’re dealing with, are things we thought we had conquered. If you look at what’s happening, not only in Bloomington but all over, if you shut your eyes, you’d think you were back some time ago. That isn’t to say we haven’t been successful in areas; that’s not to say there haven’t been things that were done that haven’t been good. But now, we’re having to confront issues that most people thought were over.”

The BHRC, established under , is structured along the lines of Illinois’ Department of Human Rights and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Following an investigation to determine whether an individual complaint constitutes a “probable cause case,” the commission attempts to resolve the issue and, if a resolution can’t be reached, the complaint moves to public hearing.

To an extent, the Twin’s Cities’ growing diversity has revived old-school discrimination in new directions. Housing discrimination remains a major concern for Muslim-Americans and other cultural groups, Jackson reported.

“Why would there be a resurgence of Not In Our Town if we didn’t believe things were happening that shouldn’t be happening,” she posed. “We’re fighting some of the same battles – they’re just more sophisticated.”

For information or to file a complaint, contact the commission at 309-434-2215 or by emailing hr@cityblm.org. To view Bloomington’s Human Relations Ordinance, visit the commission at http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=263.

NIOT:B/N at Saturday's Cultural Festival, gathering youth input on the state of Bloomington-Normal.

NIOT:B/N at Saturday's Cultural Festival, gathering youth input on the state of Bloomington-Normal.

Cheryl Pt. 1: Education, Clarity Key to Reducing LGBT Bullying

Gender identity – it’s an incredibly awkward subject for teens and parents. But then again, Bloomington counselor Cheryl Walton Strong notes, it’s an incredibly awkward time all around.

Sexual self-doubts, peer and family pressures, and socially and self-imposed gender stereotypes help foster the “homophobic bully,” according to Strong, who has faced dual challenges as an African-American member of the LGBT community.

Creating a school environment with “more acceptance, more understanding, less hatred, and less homophobia” benefits not only LGBT students and those who may not yet have affirmed their gender identity but also heterosexual youths experiencing the same rollercoaster emotions of puberty and adolescence, Strong maintained.

“It is a time of change – a time of really finding yourself and discovering yourself,” she noted. “You get the messages that, well, you’re supposed to be attracted to the opposite sex. It’s kind of like you’re always out of step, you never quite fit in, you don’t know what’s going on, and you don’t know who to talk to about it.

”A lot of people who are homophobic are actually struggling with their own sexual identity. If there are outlets as far as being LGBT, if it were acceptable, it would likely cut down on some of the bullying and definitely the number of people who are being bullied.”

Most heterosexual students at least can discuss relationship issues with their parents or friends, the counselor stressed. Often, when teens struggle with same-sex attraction, “there’s no one to talk to” or identify with, and relating even to “the heterosexual position” is difficult, Strong said.

Further, students wrestling with gender identity may fear the consequences of discussing their feelings or issues with family, for fear of being “disowned” or even hated. She urged parents to thoroughly research LGBT issues and “to come to some kind of clarity” before reacting emotionally or impulsively.

The consequences of failed family communications or acceptance speak for themselves: LGBT individuals constitute 40 percent of homeless youth. As Strong attests, suppression of identity to appease family can lead to years of often unnecessary confusion, depression, and failed or impossible relationships.

“I struggled so hard – I did the whole marriage thing, I knew I wasn’t quite ‘right,’ I knew something wasn’t feeling right, wasn’t fitting,” she recounted. “I went through my adolescence and was completely confused. I had the boyfriends, but I never really connected with them. Then I had the big wedding and thought, this is great – this would change me.

“I kept it in the closet up until I was close to 30 years old, and then I couldn’t do it anymore. I went ahead and got divorced and came out of the closet, and I felt very free. But that whole time before was just a nightmare.

“I told my cousins I was gay, and they said, ‘Well, we always knew; we were just wondering when you were going to let us know that you knew.’ That was very enlightening and uplifting. And then I found myself writing a letter to my mother – she was pretty traditional, and I didn’t know how she was going to take it. But she sent me a little statue that said, ‘I love you just the way you are.’”

NIOT:B/N Seeks Youth Input at Culture Fest

Not In Our Town: Bloomington-Normal plans to target youth and its input at the Twin Cities' annual Cultural Festival Saturday at Illinois State University Ballroom in the Bone Student Center. 

NIOT:B/N plans to provide an indoor mini-basketball game to lure young people to its booth at the festival, which features multicultural education, information, and performances.  In addition to asking visitors to sign an anti-bigotry/anti-bullying pledge card, NIOT:B/N will ask young people to write answers to these questions:

1) What do you like about Bloomington-Normal?

2) What should we change in Bloomington-Normal?

3) What do you feel so strongly about that you would stand up to change in Bloomington-Normal?

For information and a schedule of events, visit www.culturalfest.com.

Group Focuses on Bringing Dignity, 'Personal Capacity' to Charity Efforts

Representatives of local non-profits, agencies, and churches joined Monday to explore new ways to help the community’s disadvantaged, disenfranchised, and currently disconnected – and, perhaps more importantly, help them help themselves.

And while one local minister at Home Sweet Home’s (HSH) Forging A Better Way meeting on Bloomington’s east side emphasized “there isn’t a single person here who’s being ‘served,’” he and others agreed those who need essential services and assistance should play an expanded role in determining how local charities structure and administer them.

"The Forging a Better Way task force has outlined the goal of restoring a sense of dignity, worth, and personal capacity to our charitable systems,” concluded participant Luella Mahannah, counseling director of Integrity Counseling, on Bloomington’s west side. “At the meeting tonight, it became clear that we must include the ‘consumers’ of charitable services in developing and delivery of such systems. To not engage those in need will lead to continuing to develop mechanisms that could likely be enabling rather than empowering."

Working off major focus areas identified recently by an HSH steering committee, the group explored issues including:

* Money/Income-related interests (debt reduction/asset building, loan alternatives, fiscal fitness, employment opportunities, etc.). A major focus of the group Monday was the importance of developing low-income finance alternatives to local “payday loan” services that according to New Covenant Community church Social Justice Group representative Pam Lubeck too often “jack up” weekly fees, exacerbating already burdensome debt. That “snowball effect” impacts the financial stability of many families dependent on payday lenders, HSH’s Matt Burgess stressed.

Mid-Illini Credit Union, which operates a branch at Bloomington’s Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church, offers low-volume loans free of fees to neighborhood residents, while Next Step, a partnership between Mid Central Community Action, United Way of McLean County, Heartland Community College, and the University of Illinois College of Law provides free services to help individuals and families gain financial independence. HSH’s Faith and Finance classes help the mission’s displaced and disadvantaged clients learn about budgeting, spending, and future saving – Burgess reported eight to nine individuals recently completed a recent class conducted at Bloomington’s The Hub.

Monday’s participants also were enthusiastic about the possibility of “microloan” programs similar to international financing options that can help launch promising but income-strapped enterprises. Such programs have spurred development of small-scale, grassroots local businesses in Africa, Asia, and South America, and participants suggested they could be used as an “incubator” for cooperative neighborhood economic development.

“When you invest in micro-credit, you get your money back,” Lubeck noted.

She and others agreed financial education and awareness should begin early, so teens receiving their first paycheck can start from a position of security. Afterschool programs and school-based curricula and extracurricular activities could help offer that education.

* Health concerns (both physical and mental health, as well as issues relating to substance abuse recovery). Even as new health care law rolls out slowly to improve options for low-income Americans, a number of key issues face disadvantaged communities, including coordination of services, basic transportation to and from health care providers and resources, state funding cuts that endanger preventive programs that help reduce future health care costs, and the impact of mental health issues on employment, housing, and law enforcement/incarceration.

Especially challenging are the issues of health care access – first-time and low-income mothers-to-be currently must travel to Peoria for prenatal services and counseling – and cost – health insurance premiums remain high, and as one participant said, even out-of-pocket deductibles that lower premium costs “clobber” low-income families.

HSH is helping address the needs of essentially landlocked west side residents through its mobile health unit that travels the community twice a month, with two exam rooms. The McLean County Board of Health’s Cory Tello notes that each month, doctors visit Normal’s Fairview School – the area’s currently sole “community school” that serves as a hub for supplemental medical and other area services. She maintained additional community schools could help multiply health options for the Twin Cities.

Fundamentally, Bloomington-Normal’s underserved communities need “a full continuum of services, from pre-birth to senior care,” Tello maintained. Community colleges and area universities could play a role in expanding low-cost or non-profit services while training future providers.

* “Neighboring” concerns – how to be a good neighbor within the community. Local churches, organizations such as HSH the Boys and Girls Clubs, and schools already cooperate in providing outreach and support for disadvantaged youth and others throughout the community, but Monday’s participants saw the need to developing new mentoring relationships, referral options for providing ride assistance for low-income or physically challenged residents, and art programs that could inspire and “empower” young people.

Bloomington’s John M. Scott Health Resource Center handles transit where needed for maternal and child visits; Faith in Action is an interfaith network of volunteers, churches, and community organizations that assist individuals over 60 and their caregivers. The McLean County YWCA’s Stepping Stones program counsels victims of sexual assault, and Integrity Counseling and Heart to Heart offer mental health services at rates low-income clients can afford.

But costs again are a key factor in expanding or even maintaining existing services. John Scott lost its vision program in December, and there currently are no convenient transportation options for Medicaid patients who must travel to Peoria for oral surgery.

MCLP Names 2016 Class Members

A program designed to develop leaders who value diversity in decisionmaking at home, work and in the community has selected its seventh class.

Twenty-four McLean County residents have been chosen for the 2016 class of the Multicultural Leadership Program (MCLP).

From fall through April, they will meet twice a month to polish their community leadership skills and tackle five community service projects selected from among 21 projects proposed by community organizations and non-profit agencies.

Each year, participants are divided into five groups, with each working on a project with a non-profit. The 2014-2015 class worked with the Challenger Learning Center, Community Health Care Clinic, Immanuel Health Center, Meadows at Mercy Creek and Prairie Pride Coalition.

The 2015-2016 class is Nikita Burns, Georgene Chissel, Leslie Clay, Callie Cummings, Hetal Dhirawani, Vanita Giripraskash, Cindy Hauk, Alex Johnson, Vasudeva Kalla, Phillip King, Angela Kuppersmith, Carolyn LaVere, Richard Lozada, Alicia McKeighan, Allegra Menken, Sunish Menon, Poshlyn Nicholson, Appana Pediredla, Julie Phillips, Justin Prather, Katherine Pratt, Darrell Richards, Jeffrey Vargo, and Lohit Kumar Reddy Venati.

"Much is expected of the participants," said MCLP Executive Director Linda Bollivar. "But, at the same time, so many community leaders and organizations gather to support the process and help them develop not only themselves personally but nurture their community commitment and involvement."

To date, the program has been involved in these community partnerships:

2015 Community Projects 

2014 Community Projects

2013 Community Projects

 2012 Community Projects

2011 Community Projects

2010 Community Projects

May: Islamic 'Beauty' Includes Respecting, Protecting Neighbors

May Jadallah

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I would like to invite all of us to take a moment of silence to honor the life of Sandra Bland and the lives of our black sisters and brothers, young and old, that were unjustly and abruptly brought to an end before and after Trayvon Martin. 

I very much appreciate Reverend Jackie Clement’s invitation to speak with you today.  In this time of conflict and political turmoil, I believe that it is more important than ever for people of all faiths to reach out to one another and to develop the mutual respect and understanding that only a sharing of knowledge can bring.  

Events in the Middle East in recent years have been especially troubling.  Like many regions across the globe, the Middle East has experienced unprecedented cultural change in the last two hundred years.  From the subjugation of colonialism to the new opportunities and demands of adaptation to global capitalism, to the creation of the highly industrialized state of Israel in an area which has always been experienced shortages of water, external forces have taken a heavy toll on the people of this region which have led to  heartbreaking internal mechanisms that are devouring it from within.

From as far back as my family history is recorded, my family had lived in the city of Jerusalem.  As recently as my grandmother's generation, it was a city in which Muslim, Jews, and Christians lived together in peace and harmony.  While this has changed dramatically in recent years, my grandmother lived and died in the city of Jerusalem and, during her life, maintained those practices, beliefs, and customs which to my mind exemplify the very best of the religion that is Islam.

The Islamic tradition has four dimensions that were narrated in what is known to Muslims as Hadith Gibril or saying Gabriel. The first is Submission to the will of God, which is called Islam in Arabic; the second is Faith, which is called Iman; the third is Beauty, which is called Ihsan; and the last is Time, al-yawm al-akher (the Last Day). From an Islamic perspective, these are four universal dimensions.  

Submission is the horizontal dimension,  the width; it is reflected in the five pillars of the tradition.  The first pillar is witnessing that there is no deity worthy of worship but God and that Muhammad is a messenger of God.  The second pillar is the completion of five daily prayers.  The third pillar is the obligation to give alms.  The fourth pillar requires fasting during the month of Ramadan. The fifth pillar is the pilgrimage to Mecca.  This is the outward face of Islam.    

Faith, the second dimension, is the vertical dimension, its height. This is the inward dimension, reflected in the belief in things that cannot be seen with the eye: God, His angels, His books; ALL His messengers, the Last Day, and destiny, in both of its dual aspects.

The third dimension is beauty; this represents the depth in the Islamic tradition; its transcendent or  universal aspect.  Ihsan in Arabic literary means making beauty. In the saying of Gabriel, beauty making means, quote “Worship God as if you see God, for if you cannot see Him, know that He sees you.” According to tradition, this is the highest level of human possibility. One becomes part of the divine presence when he or she becomes a beauty maker

Submission and Faith, the first two dimensions, are nothing but empty actions and declarations in the absence of making beauty. This beauty extends particularly to man’s treatment of his fellow man. Prophet Muhammad said specifically, “If you do not respect and protect your neighbor, then you are not a believer.” In another saying, he indicates, “You won’t attain faith until you love to your fellow human being what you love for yourself.”

According to the Islamic tradition, we are all born with an internal mechanism that recognizes beauty. We all attest that a moral act is a beautiful act. Ethics is the highest level of esthetics in the Islamic tradition. An ethical act is a harmonic act that can be seen and heard, recognized and admired by others. Muslims are encouraged to make beauty in all aspects of their lives; the spiritual, their daily activities, and the care of the physical world. 

According to the Quran, beautification is part of God’s creative process: Verse 6 in Chapter 32 in the Quran reads, “It is God who made beautiful everything that He created.” According to Joseph Lumbard, a professor of classical Islam at Brandeis University, “This world can never be perfect, but within the imperfection that defines our earthly existence, we can act beautifully; to make God present in the world, both by being conscious of God and because all beauty ultimately derives from God.”

In many verses, the Quran mentions that God loves the beauty makers; God is with the beauty makers. In the Quran, God instructs us, “Beautify as God has beautified you” (Chapter 28: verse 77). This is the aspect of Islam most in danger of being lost and forgotten in these days of industrialization, war, and turmoil. In the last twenty years in the Middle East, there has been more focus on religiosity, the outward dimension, but very little to focus on spirituality the transcendent dimension that can only be achieved with true inner beauty. 

There is a story told of Omar the son of al-Khattab, the second khalifah after Prophet Muhammad’s passing.  He was known to roam the city of Madinah at night to check on his people. One night, he heard a mother and her daughter talking. The mother was saying that she wanted to water down the milk that they drew from their sheep in order to earn more money in the market.

The girl told her mother that it was against the law and that they were not supposed to do that. The mother responded, “But Omar won’t see us.” The girl immediately replied, “If Omar won’t be seeing us, remember that Omar’s God will.” Omar was so impressed by this girl’s retort that he sent his son to propose to the girl.  

Making beauty, in the Islamic tradition, requires spiritual training. While in the west we think of disease as a physical malady, Islam identified 30 diseases that destroy the heart spiritually.  Some of the more common of these diseases include envy, backbiting, showing off to name a few. However, fortunately, these diseases are curable. A book entitled Purification of the Heart by Hamza Yusef, President of Zaytuna College in California, discusses all the diseases and ways of putting the heart back on its natural track of purity.   

Islam encourages not only great deeds, but small good deeds done on a daily basis because they train the heart to recognize and produce beauty regularly with a small but purposeful effort. In Islam, smiling at others is a form of charity, removing waste away from people’s path is charity; as is checking on one’s neighbors, helping others, saying kind words, and taking good care of one’s family.

Even the articles of submission are based on elements of the environment and the beauty of the natural world. The five daily prayers are marked by the movement of the sun in the horizon. An important aspect of Islam is to be in continuous connection with nature, because the signs of nature are reminders of the bounty of God’s grace and the provisions that are easy to forget when consumed by the tasks and responsibilities of everyday life. The first prayer of the day is signaled by sunset. During that time, Muslims are expected to recognize the change in the natural world that is brought to us by the setting sun; the ways that the plants, animals, moon, stars, clouds, air, and ground change with the gentle movement of the earth in front of the sun. The same is true at night, again at dawn, when the nighttime ends, then at noon when the sun is over head, and last in the afternoon. Observing the shadows, feeling the breeze, recognizing the ultimate beauty in nature is a daily practice and is the true call for prayer and thanksgiving. Unfortunately, in modern life, Muslims sometimes lose track of this framework, this connection to the natural world and its Creator.

As a child, I observed my grandmother who had a garden in Jerusalem.  Every day, she took care of her goats, chickens, fig trees, grape vines, and many other wonderful things she grew in her garden. She would wake up at dawn with an appreciation of nature and start her day by observing and marveling at the beautiful world around her. My grandmother used to talk to her animals, plants, and even the water she used while taking care of them.  As a child, this practice was initially strange to me but one that I grew to dearly love. Only now, as an adult, do I realize that my grandmother's actions were a literal translation in the physical world of the principle of ihsan or beauty making. She extended this to her neighbors as well.  If one of them became sick, she would prepare a small basket and fill it with some homemade cheese or yogurt, eggs, homemade strawberry jam, and any of the produce that was ripening in her garden.

While I currently live half way around the world in a small apartment in this town, I try to keep these practices alive.  Like my grandmother, I do what I can to conserve water, though the need in this country is much less apparent.  I also grow plants, herbs and vegetables on the balcony of my third floor apartment. Like her, I try to take care of and beautify nature as part of a spiritual calling that is supported by many verses in the Quran.

Like my grandmother, I try my best to balance the three aspects of beauty making, the first towards nature, the second towards others, and the last is towards spiritual practice. In order to have the smallest carbon footprint possible, I bike or take the bus to work. While biking, I smile and greet the people I meet along my way.

Spiritually, I try to remember that I am in God’s presence, especially during my daily prayers. This spiritual beauty, while the most appealing, is the most challenging to perfect. And this quest for the creation of spiritual beauty takes us to a discussion of the final dimension.  
A traditional saying states, “If the Last Day comes upon you while you are holding a seedling, take the time to plant it.” I have always been very moved by this saying, with its instruction to continue to promote life and beauty as a means of dispelling  chaos and the fear. 

I would also like to note that from an Islamic perspective, beauty making is not bound to the Islamic tradition only. Muslims believe and recognize that all other traditions, -- Buddhism, Native religions, Christianity, Judaism, and Hinduism -- all have the dimensions I presented at the beginning of my talk and all have recognizable elements of beauty that followers of these faiths are highly encouraged to practice and be mindful of. All religious traditions aim to beautify the human character. The Prophet Muhammad said, “I was sent to complete the noble character traits,” and he also said, “Among the best of you is the most beautiful in character traits.”

In this time of turmoil, this responsibility to create beauty is needed now more than ever in the Muslim world. It is an aspect of the tradition that when nurtured and propagated, allow the other aspects to come together as a manifestation of the true spiritual substance and presence.

Enjoy making beauty in every action you take! May God be with you.

May Jadallah will discuss Islamic faith and principles Sunday at Unitarian Universalist Church.