Yorktown Group Releases Diversity Resource
06/19/20 - The Yorktown Alliance for Safe Kids (ASK) released a diversity guide today designed to help residents discuss racism and take positive action to eliminate racial inequality.
The Yorktown Together! Resource Guide for Diversity & Inclusion is posted on the group’s website. The guide offers tools and resources to encourage mindful listening, facilitation of conversations about race and opportunities for thoughtful service.
“As recent events have illuminated, we understand we must do more. We cannot simply state that we are against racism,” ASK president Tricy Cushner told the Yorktown Town Board on uesday. “We must endeavor to be actively anti-racist with a commitment to providing more inclusive and supportive resources for the community.”
The new online resource guide offers web links to discussions about race, books that help children and teens understand racism and social justice groups offering volunteer or learning opportunities.
The guide was intentionally released today on the anniversary of the Juneteenth observance. Juneteenth is considered the last day of legal slavery in the United States when in 1865 Union troops entered Galveston, Texas to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation issued two and a half years earlier.
As part of the Juneteenth observance, the ASK is launching a year-long reading challenge. The ASK Read Aloud Challenge encourages participants to select a book that supports thoughtful change for social justice and record themselves reading a passage from the book. The Alliance hopes to collect 500 recordings by June 19, 2021. The recordings will be shared on the alliance’s social media platforms.
“When children listen to books read aloud, they learn about people, places and how things work,” said Cushner.
For its part, the Town Board voted unanimously Tuesday night to approve a proclamation declaring June 19 Juneteenth Day.
“Everybody has a role to play in ensuring that our community is inclusive,” said Supervisor Matt Slater. “I congratulate the Alliance for Safe Kids for developing a resource that will guide all of us as we put thoughtful actions behind our words.”
