Museum Silent Auction
Dear Editor: A BIG THANK YOU to each and everyone who made the Friends of Sheldon Jackson Museum Silent Auction fundraiser for the Alaska Native Artist Residency Program a great success!
We thank our hosts – Sitka Unitarian Universalists Fellowship – for sharing their space, as the event was held offsite, and publicity through Daily Sitka Sentinel and Raven Radio.
The volunteers did a great set-up, and through organization and take charge by Hannah Wolfe-MacPike and Emjay Messinger all went smoothly. We couldn’t have done it without you. The large tray of sourdough from Andrew Julkka-Southeast Dough Co. disappeared fast, as well as the cakes and cookies from all the volunteer bakers.
What a splendid idea! And to those who make art and those who appreciate and support artists keeping cultural legacy vibrant, alive, and educational with programs offered by the staff at the Museum, we thank you.
Friends of
Sheldon Jackson Museum, Sitka
Youth Leadership
Dear Editor: Sitka Youth Leadership Committee is a youth-led organization dedicated to promoting equity, diversity, and healthy relationships in Sitka and throughout Alaska. We do this by launching campaigns, creating videos, and holding discussion panels to educate the community on important issues. As a group, we work together at the beginning of every year to establish goals and focus areas we wish to address. In 2018, SYLC members created the goal to “promote equity in Sitka so that community members can identify their own privilege and ways they can use their power to help other people.” By doing so, we hoped to see more effective allies, as well as people who fully understand the impact of their words and the differences between the terms equity and equality.
When we began to pursue this goal, we realized that educating our group on the topic was an important first step. We held several workshops with SYLC members to hold discussions about equity and discover new concepts and definitions. One of the most important educational pieces of the campaign is understanding the difference between equality and equity – two words that sound similar, yet have very different meanings. During these workshops, SYLC members came up with the following definition to describe the difference: “Equality means each individual or group of people is given the same resources or opportunities. Equity recognizes that each person has different circumstances and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome.” Often, our intersecting social identities greatly impact how we interact with the world around us. Sometimes, these identities shape the opportunities we have over the course of our lives and can result in the social advantages and/or disadvantages we face. This is exactly why equity is so important – it is an important step that must be taken in order to reach true equality.
Once our group had a better understanding of equity and its importance, we wanted to share our knowledge with the community. Working with Lee House, we developed a video that shows SYLC members sharing their own experiences and definitions of equity and equality. The title of the video, “Know Your Privilege, Share Your Power” sums up the goal of our campaign: to help community members recognize the privilege they possess and implore them to use that privilege to help those who are more disadvantaged – essentially, equity in practice. After creating the title and video, our group held a small discussion panel in the spring of 2019. This panel gave us the opportunity to share our knowledge and the video with community members.
Though we began to work on the Equity Campaign nearly two years ago, it remains relevant to this day. For example, CDC data shows that hospitalization rates for Indigenous, Black, and Hispanic people due to COVID-19 are significantly higher than hospitalization rates for whites and Asians. This shows pervasive systems of oppression and bias that exist in our society today, which only increases the necessity of understanding equity and recognizing the different types of power present in our society.
We have incorporated all of this into our campaign, defining terms like intersectionality and allyship. Intersectionality, a term coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw, refers to a way of thinking about identities – individuals have identities that come together and an individual can be impacted by the gathering of these identities rather than each identity separately. Allyship is the process of building relationships with marginalized communities of which someone is not personally a part. Allyship is a practice of showing up, working in solidarity with, and centering the needs and voices of marginalized groups.
These terms are especially important to understand because they can challenge people to rethink their beliefs and walk away with a deeper understanding of how power, privilege, and oppression work in their own lives. Our campaign also delves into the different types of power, including role power (the power or authority one has in an organization or hierarchy) personal power (one’s internal power that comes from their skills or abilities) and status power (the unearned power that an individual or group has in society). By discussing and defining these terms, we hope to give those who interact with our campaign a deeper understanding of systems of oppression and how they play a role in everyday life.
There are many steps that you as an individual can take to further the cause and practice equity. One important step SYLC advocates for is calling out injustices and microaggressions when they occur – especially if you are in a position of power. Furthermore, those who hold societal power should work on their allyship and understand how to use their power for good. Finally, you can engage with our campaign, learn more, and watch our “Know Your Privilege, Share Your Power” video at sitkayouthleadership.com/equity-campaign or by following us on Facebook: Sitka Youth Leadership Committee and Instagram: sylcleaders. Keep an eye out for our “Who has power?” poster, also published in the Sentinel.
Emma Thompson,
Youth Development Coordinator,
Sitkans Against Family Violence
