Victory Neighborhood Association is committed to our mission of building community through inclusion, fairness, and wellness which is achieved through communication, outreach and engagement.
With inclusion as one of our community values, ensuring that all Victory neighborhood residents feel a sense of belonging and safety in our community is important to us. We are aware not everyone feels welcome or safe in our neighborhood and this must change.
The murder of Mr. George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis Police Department has greatly impacted our world and has brought to the forefront once again the need to end racism and profiling in all its forms in this neighborhood. We have witnessed many different conversations and have heard requests for change from community members. Victory Neighborhood Association understands its role in ensuring it is meeting the needs of Victory residents. We are listening, and we are responding. We are doing our own self-reflection and having difficult conversations about our role in dismantling racism. We are now asking that this community do the same.
Beginning in July 2020, Victory Neighborhood Association will begin an anti-racism initiative by hosting facilitated, ongoing discussions for residents to explore difficult topics that impact our Victory neighborhood. This anti-racism initiative builds off the microaggression workshop provided in 2018 with engaging discussions that will be done in an online platform and or social distancing in-person format.
The Board commits to fully participating in these conversations and using the insights gained to make decisions that increase equity and inclusion in this neighborhood. Please join us in these difficult and necessary conversations. Your participation is important. We will communicate discussion dates, topics and times publicly utilizing our various platforms.
Continuing Anti-Racism Discussions
If you were not able to attend our anti-racism discussion series, you can still get involved by joining the anti-racism group run by Victory resident volunteers. https://docs.google.com/document/d/10XeyWTisI1y83cB-8H3sFLqGV3ekDT2rxL2ty0BNy20/edit
Anti-Racism Resources
History of housing covenants. https://mappingprejudice.umn.edu/
Microaggressions examples https://www.buzzfeed.com/hnigatu/racial-microagressions-you-hear-on-a-daily-basis
What are Microaggressions http://davidsonmicroaggressionsproject.org/
Microaggressions https://www.microaggressions.com/
How to do deal with microaggressions https://hbr.org/2020/07/when-and-how-to-respond-to-microaggressions
Additional resources https://arrow-journal.org/why-people-of-color-need-spaces-without-white-people/