Dear Editor: The Sitka Youth Leadership Committee is dedicated to promoting equity, diversity, and healthy relationships in Sitka and across Alaska. We do this through creating campaigns, videos, and discussion panels that teach about important issues in our community.
At the beginning of every year we establish goal areas that we want 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 who fully understand the impact of their words and actions and work to create change.
To share these concepts with the community, SYLC developed the Equity Campaign. Though we originally launched the campaign in 2019, it remains relevant to this day. Across the state, rural communities lack access to opportunities and resources given to larger communities. Prejudices held against historically oppressed groups lead to discrimination and exclusion.
Since our initial launch, it’s been an annual priority to learn more about the topic as a group, and to understand key concepts like the distinction between equity and equality. While these two ideas sound similar, they are fundamentally different.
One SYLC member described it as follows: “Equality means each individual or group 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.” Understanding this distinction is important because our social identities shape the opportunities we encounter, sometimes creating systemic advantages or disadvantages. Recognizing and addressing these disparities brings us a step closer to true equality.
SYLC’s Equity Campaign consists of a video, poster, bookmark, and webpage that delves into terms like intersectionality, allyship, privilege, oppression, and types of power. The video, titled Know Your Privilege, Share Your Power, features SYLC members sharing their personal definitions and experiences with privilege and oppression. The intent is for the viewer to recognize their privilege to help community members who may not have the same privileges as them.
Each of us can help advance equity in our community. The Sitka Youth Leadership Committee encourages community members, especially those with power, to speak up against injustices and microaggressions. Allyship means using your privilege to support others and create change. To see our campaign materials and learn more, visit sitkayouthleadership.com/equity-campaign or follow us on Facebook and Instagram @sylcleaders.
Jared Cross
Sitka Youth Leadership
Committee Intern
