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October 2021: Fountain Hills Cares
Last updated March 8, 2022
Bridging a divide & promoting cultural understanding
TWC recently participated in the Fountain Hills Cares event on Saturday, October 30, 2021 at the Fountain Hills Community Center.
We were grateful for the opportunity to work with Mayor Ginny Dickey, senior town staff officials and town council members on starting several different community conversations. The topics presented at this event were Race Relations, The Rise of Fentanyl, Suicide Prevention, and Homelessness.
One of our very own co-founders, Kari Harper, was one of 4 participants on the Race Relations panel. Other panelists included Madiha Ali, Linda Jones and Jonae Harrison, with Jonae serving as the panel’s moderator.
Kari Harper has lived in Fountain Hills since she was 10 years old. In middle school, she set out to present only on Black figures that are not covered in our education system’s courses but had significant influences on society. She works with other TWC co-founders to write our weekly newsletter, post on social media and host episodes on our podcast, “Talks with Together We Care: Fountain Hills”. In 2020, after we held our peaceful march, along with our other members, Kari helped organize our virtual vigil to honor the lives lost to police brutality and those affected by white violence and helped lead the Fountains United Methodist Church's Racial Equity Youth Challenge. Kari is currently a junior Political Science major and English minor in the Ethel Waddell Githii Honors Program at Spelman College and fellow in the Spelman College Social Justice Fellowship in Atlanta, Georgia.
Madiha Ali has lived in Fountain Hills for more than 14 years. She moved to the U.S. from Pakistan, is bi-langual and has 3 kids. Madiha is also a TEDxFountain Hills speaker. She and her husband encourage their children to accept and express interest in different cultures and religions, as Madiha is Muslim and her husband is Christian. (Go to our additional resources to watch her TED talk!)
Linda Jones has lived in Fountain Hills for 7 years and, before moving here, was a resident of Chicago and grew up in Alabama. She helped re-launch the Fountain Hills Democratic Club, is a graduate from the Fountain Hills Leadership Academy (2016), and is a current member of the Liberal Ladies. During her time in the Leadership Academy, she created a final project which was the idea of “Fountain Hills Cares” - the wording, which she chose, was because of all the members of this community whom she cares about.
Jonae Harrison, the moderator of this panel, is the City of Tempe’s Equity & Inclusion Manager. She has more than 18 years of experience in government, non-profit, private practice and corporate legal and policy work. Jonae received her Bachelor of Science in Languages, double-majoring in Spanish and English, from Georgetown University and her Juris Doctorate from Tulane University.
We were grateful for the opportunity to work with Mayor Ginny Dickey, senior town staff officials and town council members on starting several different community conversations. The topics presented at this event were Race Relations, The Rise of Fentanyl, Suicide Prevention, and Homelessness.
One of our very own co-founders, Kari Harper, was one of 4 participants on the Race Relations panel. Other panelists included Madiha Ali, Linda Jones and Jonae Harrison, with Jonae serving as the panel’s moderator.
Kari Harper has lived in Fountain Hills since she was 10 years old. In middle school, she set out to present only on Black figures that are not covered in our education system’s courses but had significant influences on society. She works with other TWC co-founders to write our weekly newsletter, post on social media and host episodes on our podcast, “Talks with Together We Care: Fountain Hills”. In 2020, after we held our peaceful march, along with our other members, Kari helped organize our virtual vigil to honor the lives lost to police brutality and those affected by white violence and helped lead the Fountains United Methodist Church's Racial Equity Youth Challenge. Kari is currently a junior Political Science major and English minor in the Ethel Waddell Githii Honors Program at Spelman College and fellow in the Spelman College Social Justice Fellowship in Atlanta, Georgia.
Madiha Ali has lived in Fountain Hills for more than 14 years. She moved to the U.S. from Pakistan, is bi-langual and has 3 kids. Madiha is also a TEDxFountain Hills speaker. She and her husband encourage their children to accept and express interest in different cultures and religions, as Madiha is Muslim and her husband is Christian. (Go to our additional resources to watch her TED talk!)
Linda Jones has lived in Fountain Hills for 7 years and, before moving here, was a resident of Chicago and grew up in Alabama. She helped re-launch the Fountain Hills Democratic Club, is a graduate from the Fountain Hills Leadership Academy (2016), and is a current member of the Liberal Ladies. During her time in the Leadership Academy, she created a final project which was the idea of “Fountain Hills Cares” - the wording, which she chose, was because of all the members of this community whom she cares about.
Jonae Harrison, the moderator of this panel, is the City of Tempe’s Equity & Inclusion Manager. She has more than 18 years of experience in government, non-profit, private practice and corporate legal and policy work. Jonae received her Bachelor of Science in Languages, double-majoring in Spanish and English, from Georgetown University and her Juris Doctorate from Tulane University.
“At this point in where we are in our country, after we saw so much strife over the past four years, and we can’t even say just the past four years, it’s always existed. We are at a point where we have the resources to continue to move forward, make progress, have these discussions…This wasn’t something [TWC’s march] that fear could take control over.”
- Kari Harper
10/30/2021
- Kari Harper
10/30/2021
Pictured (from left to right): Madiha Ali, Kari Harper, Linda Jones, and Jonae Harrison.
Image retrieved from the Town of Fountain Hills' Facebook: www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=246721244165837&set=pcb.246721424165819.
Image retrieved from the Town of Fountain Hills' Facebook: www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=246721244165837&set=pcb.246721424165819.
Racial Buzzwords
A few months ago, Together We Care reached out to community members and asked them what concepts and racial buzzwords they wanted to know more about. With the help and curiosity of our fellow residents, TWC came up with some simple definitions for the following words to stray away from common misconceptions:
Critical Race Theory
CRT grew from Critical Legal Studies. There are no concrete “study areas”, but rather has 3 main foci: intent, consistency and privilege. As Paul Von Blum states in Racism and the Law, “Critical Race Theory demands a fundamental reconstruction of society that far transcends mere incremental legal victories that encourage modest reforms while neglecting the continuing existence of racism” (Von Blum 4).
Colourblindness
A harmful narrative that has good intentions. One might intend to say that no matter what someone’s race, we should all be treated the same. However, this narrative disregards privileges that one may have and makes it so that cultural differences and practices are not observed. Certain communities require different aid and are all unique, not to be reduced by colourblindness.
Cultural Consciousness
Cultural consciousness rejects colourblindness and aims to bridge the gap of understanding others from different cultures and furthering one’s awareness of culture in oneself.
White Privilege
White privilege is identified by advantages one assumes from their race. It is not intentional, but rather a consequence of previous legislation and social privileges throughout history.
Racism
Racism goes beyond the outward projection of using slurs, but also goes into making assumptions on someone based on their race, having pre-made biases, assuming a racial hierarchy, and micro-aggressions (i.e., saying natural African-American hair is not professional, assuming a person of colour is on welfare, etc.).
- Critical Race Theory (CRT)
- Colourblindness
- Cultural Consciousness
- White Privilege
- Racism
Critical Race Theory
CRT grew from Critical Legal Studies. There are no concrete “study areas”, but rather has 3 main foci: intent, consistency and privilege. As Paul Von Blum states in Racism and the Law, “Critical Race Theory demands a fundamental reconstruction of society that far transcends mere incremental legal victories that encourage modest reforms while neglecting the continuing existence of racism” (Von Blum 4).
Colourblindness
A harmful narrative that has good intentions. One might intend to say that no matter what someone’s race, we should all be treated the same. However, this narrative disregards privileges that one may have and makes it so that cultural differences and practices are not observed. Certain communities require different aid and are all unique, not to be reduced by colourblindness.
Cultural Consciousness
Cultural consciousness rejects colourblindness and aims to bridge the gap of understanding others from different cultures and furthering one’s awareness of culture in oneself.
White Privilege
White privilege is identified by advantages one assumes from their race. It is not intentional, but rather a consequence of previous legislation and social privileges throughout history.
Racism
Racism goes beyond the outward projection of using slurs, but also goes into making assumptions on someone based on their race, having pre-made biases, assuming a racial hierarchy, and micro-aggressions (i.e., saying natural African-American hair is not professional, assuming a person of colour is on welfare, etc.).
TWC co-founders, Kari Harper (left) and Rory Wilson (right) chatted with event attendees and passed out handouts that had our racial buzzwords & info about TWC, in addition to TWC stickers!
TWC appreciates all those who came out to join us for these community conversations about imperative social problems affecting Fountain Hills and surrounding communities and we value those who couldn’t attend in-person but watched Race Relations online.
For those of you who would like to watch Fountain Hills Cares presenters and panels, the Town of Fountain Hills live-streamed the event on their YouTube, which you can view by clicking this link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=R25aeWElJA0.
For more information relating to the Fountain Hills Cares event, view the following website:FH Cares program, October 30: www.fountainhillsaz.gov/DocumentCenter/View/7406/Package----Fountain-Hills-Cares--2-7?bidId=.
Additional resources:
For those of you who would like to watch Fountain Hills Cares presenters and panels, the Town of Fountain Hills live-streamed the event on their YouTube, which you can view by clicking this link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=R25aeWElJA0.
For more information relating to the Fountain Hills Cares event, view the following website:FH Cares program, October 30: www.fountainhillsaz.gov/DocumentCenter/View/7406/Package----Fountain-Hills-Cares--2-7?bidId=.
Additional resources:
Learn with us!
At TWC, we believe that education is power and the biggest step that a person can take is to open their mind to a new perspective.
To accomplish this, we release 1-2 episodes each month of our podcast, "Talks with Together We Care: Fountain Hills", post on our social media and send out a weekly newsletter. Click the buttons below to take that step and learn & grow with us!
To accomplish this, we release 1-2 episodes each month of our podcast, "Talks with Together We Care: Fountain Hills", post on our social media and send out a weekly newsletter. Click the buttons below to take that step and learn & grow with us!
To subscribe to our newsletter, go to our homepage and enter your email in the golden-yellow box!
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Press & social media
Click the links below for articles and social media posts regarding the Fountain Hills Cares event!
The Fountain Hills Times: www.fhtimes.com/news/local_news/big-topics-tackled-at-cares-event/article_7fa67126-2b88-11ec-8541-3f3b476293f7.html
TWC, Instagram announcement: www.instagram.com/p/CVDvjrQvcF6/
TWC, Facebook update: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=5055682177779633&ref=sharing
The Fountain Hills Times: www.fhtimes.com/news/local_news/big-topics-tackled-at-cares-event/article_7fa67126-2b88-11ec-8541-3f3b476293f7.html
TWC, Instagram announcement: www.instagram.com/p/CVDvjrQvcF6/
TWC, Facebook update: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=5055682177779633&ref=sharing