Podcast appearances and mentions of karen vargas

Esto sucedió en el Confesionario Zol con los Locos de la Tarde. Todo Empezó Hace Un Año Cuando Su Prima La llamo Para Pedirle el Favor De Que Su Esposo Se Quedara En Su Casa Cuando Le Tocaba Trabajar En Su Area Ya Que Ellos Viven Muy Lejos. Después De Meses De Estar Con El Ahora Ella Quiere Terminar La Relacion Pero No Sabe Como Hacerlo. Escúchalos de lunes a viernes comenzando a las 3pm, Rey Parker, Dj Ez y Karen Vargas. por la app @Audacy

Hoy conversamos desde nuestro estudio en el Tema del Día con Christian Aparicio, Director Nacional de Educación Superior, Doctor en Gestión Pública y Karen Vargas, estudiante de Comunicaciones de La UTEC, voluntaria de la campaña ¨Súmate a la U¨

    Danielle (00:00:37):Welcome to the Arise Podcast, conversations on faith, race, healing, and justice. And I wanna welcome you to this panel conversation. I'm about to have, uh, just stunning women doing wonderful work in this community and in the areas of justice in government. Listen in,Kali (00:01:07):All right. I am Kali Jensen. I am a licensed mental health counselor in the state of Washington. Grew up in Washington. Um, I am obvious I'm a white American. I am German, native American, and French Canadian. And, and yeah, coming to you on the land of the Suquamish as we enter today.(00:01:33):My name is Jessica Guidry. I'm the Equity Program manager at the Kids at Public Health District. I also like Kaylee, um, joined this meeting from the land of the Suquamish. I actually live, um, and what was, which is still the, the Port Madison Reservation. So closer to Indianola. Um, and I, I guess ethnic ethnically I am, um, Asian, English, scotch Irish, and maybe some other British isles there. But, uh, um, I actually grew up in Bangkok, Thailand, and I've been in the US though for a long time. And I was born in the States(00:02:08):Next, um, Maria Fergus. I'm the community en Engagement specialist at, uh, Kita Public Health District. I've been in this role for, um, a little bit over a month. And one of the reasons why I applied for this job is because I, uh, I know that last year the Kita Public Health District declared racism at public health crisis. Um, and I wanted to be part of what they were doing. I, my pronouns are her, and she, I was born in Mexico, but I grew up in California. English is my second language, and I've been in Washington state for about seven years and working with our communities, um, our Spanish speaking communities as a volunteer for different organizations since the end of 2015.Well, good morning everyone. Um, I stepped away cause you know what I was doing, but, um, , uh, just bring, kinda bring me up to speed. We just doing our introductions.Just so you are, where you're located, um, what you're up to, and, um, yeah. And then we'll jump in.(00:03:34):Okay. Well, good morning everyone. Good afternoon now. Um, my name is Karen Vargas and, um, I am on Bainbridge Island, um, working with our kids across Kitsap County. I am, um, one of, uh, the co-founders, um, for Latch, uh, living Life Leadership and Kitsap Black Student Union. Um, we have been working over 30 plus years with our school districts, um, with our multicultural advisory council here on Bainbridge Island, working on equity issues, uh, really since I, um, moved here from the East Coast. So, um, what we're working on now with Kitsap Race Coalition is to, um, to have our, our county have a commission on Truth and Reconciliation that would, uh, actually deal with some of the issues that we see manifesting here in our county, um, with our bipo communities and with our students of color, uh, within the school districts and in the community.Um, and, and hoping that we, we would be able to, um, move our communities forward in a healthier way, to be able to address some of the, the issues that have been, um, you know, uh, showing up, whether it's in our churches or whether it's in our, our communities or on our jobs or, or in our school districts, even in our health districts. You know, how do we move forward when there has been, um, these type of, of issues that continue to manifest, you know? And I think that when we can move forward doing intervention and prevention, um, to address these issues, it would help us to reconcile them more in, in a healthy way. Um, and so, um, that's kind of the work that we've been working on. And so,Danielle (00:05:49):Thanks. Um, well, welcome everybody. I, I know we kind of all have connected and collaborated around, um, what is happening in Kitsap County. And perhaps if you're listening, you're not in Kitsap County, but you are in a county or a, a town or a section of a town, even a larger town. We, we all have these, like, there's like the 30,000 foot view of like the larger area where we're at. And we have these smaller cultural microcosms I think that happen in the areas where we actually physically root our bodies in housing and, um, business and life and school and our raise our children. And so we're coming to you from one location. Um, it's not, it's not gonna be the same as every location, but hopefully what we talk about can be something that we can, we can learn from you if you reach out and we hope you can learn just from us as we have a conversation.But Kaylee and I, like, we've been really close since the pandemic. She helped me survive the pandemic. She had her office next to mine and we would yell at each other down the hall or, um, check in, especially when all of our clients were online. And we had started these groups. One of the first groups we ever started, um, I think it was like the second or third group right after the murder of George, George Floyd, to engage white people that identify as white or in a white body, um, and what that means to their racial identity. And so Kaylee and I started these groups and we jumped in cuz I said, Hey Kaylee, do you wanna do this? And she's like, yeah, sure. And we jumped in, we're like, whoa, we don't know if we know what we're doing. And then pretty soon we're like, actually, I think we don't know what we're doing, but we do know what we're doing in some ways.So offering good care, listening, um, reflecting stories, being witness to stories, engaging, uh, the traumas that have been that turn into weapons against bodies of color. So those, some of the ways Kayleigh and I have talked about things and, you know, we both Kayleigh and I both have students in the local school system and have had kids that are, uh, part of marginalized communities or adjacent to marginalized communities. And it's, we've also noticed the mental health of our students and our families and, you know, become more and more passionate about it because obviously why it might not be obvious, but it's something we deal with in our everyday real life and, and we care deeply for, I think I can say that on behalf of both of us. But Kayleigh, you can speak for yourself obviously, but that's how I come to the conversation as a, a Mexican woman in the town of Poulsbo, Washington on Suquamish land, married to an immigrant, and, um, we speak Spanish and English at home. And so just, you know, just curious to hear, you know, how that intersects with your different areas of work and, and your passions here in Kitsap County.Kali (00:08:59):Well, I guess I can go first just cuz Danielle was just talking a lot about me, . Uh, but yes, uh, Danielle did invite me into starting groups and I went with her with fear and trembling. Um, had done some work on my own, around my own racism for a while. My graduate program, this at the Seattle School of Theology and Psychology really, um, helped me to begin that work at a deeper level. And so then I did some work on my own, but had a real awareness when I started groups around racism that I definitely have racism still a part of my world as I grew up in a very white, uh, community and Spokane. And, um, as we began those groups, we did predominantly reach out to other white people or people in white passing bodies and, um, have found some like goodness in diving deeper into people's stories around racism.And that's kind of where we started, um, wondering with people around like, when did you notice your own racial identity? When, when did you become aware of racism? Um, kind of going all the way back to the beginning to help people make connections to like, what is still going on inside their bodies when they try to have these hard conversations with people in the community. Um, so I have learned a lot. I still have a lot to learn. Um, and along with what Danielle said, I also am a mental health therapist and work with a lot of teenagers in our community here in Kitsap County from different school districts. Plus like she said, I have some teenage children. All of my children are white, um, and, and have diverse friend groups. But I have become increasingly, well, I've always been concerned about the issues of racism in our community.I, I remember as a young little girl calling it out in my own parents, and that didn't always go well. Um, but then it was very under the surface as a white person, uh, you didn't see it as overtly as it has become now in 2020 since the election of Donald Trump, the, like, overt, blatant racism has, uh, been shocking. And yet it's always been there. So, um, but as I work with my own children and then work with students in my practice, I'm just, I am deeply concerned about the mental health of our kids. I think it's hard enough as an adult to go through these past few years, but I am concerned about our teens and what they are facing, um, of all races. I I think even my white daughter is very disturbed by the racial slurs that she constantly hear in the hallway and doesn't really know how to even go about addressing it or feel safe enough to even say anything. Um, so that's part of why I'm here today. And, um, had the privilege of going to a meeting, uh, last weekend with Kitsap Race. And so, yeah, I, I just, I hope for continued leadership amongst adults to like help our students and help our communities, even our adults in our communities, especially. I have a passion for the white people in our community. I help them be able to take steps forwards to be able to sit in these conversations and, and be productive and not as harmful. So that's how I enter this work.Speaker 5 (00:12:34):So I entered this work, um, because I grew up in California and it was very diverse. Um, and when I moved up here to Washington, uh, there just wasn't as much diversity, especially in the PAL area. And my daughter, um, who was a sophomore at the time, was invited to join the North Kids Up Equity Council. And so I started participating in that and started hearing stories, and I started working with the parents and children that are Spanish speaking. And, well, I kept hearing more stories and, uh, realized that I needed to be a little bit more proactive. And so I, I joined, um, stand up for racial justice search and I attended some other meetings, got some training, realized that I have a lot of internalized racism and racist behaviors myself and what ency ideology that, uh, I hadn't been aware of. Um, that was part of my thinking.And so, um, over time I continued to stay involved. At the beginning of this year, I heard about the student direct equity campaign under a base and became a adult, um, volunteer to support the, the students that were in the campaign and have been doing that since then. Um, also participated in the race forward, uh, healing together, meeting that we had this last, um, two weekends ago with, uh, with the race and try and stay as active as I can in the community to to hear, um, hear the stories. So I, I know what's going on and just stay updated and what's going on in my community.Jessica (00:14:41):Years, you know, the health district was, you were very, you were very light can Oh, okay. Is this better? Yeah, sorry about that. That, um, so how I got started in this work, so for 13 and a half years at the, you know, at the health district, I was their public health emergency preparedness and response program manager. And to be honest, I didn't really address equity head-on, um, in the emergency management field. Um, we, instead of using the term, you know, equity injustice, we used terms like access and functional needs, which to me doesn't really get to the core of the issue, but that was kind of the verbiage. But first it was vulnerable population then at risk and things like that. But it wasn't until, you know, the pandemic, um, that my role was able to switch a little. Um, I supervised initially our Covid vaccine equity liaison, and that was the first time at the health district that we had somebody with the word equity in their title.And she was specifically hired, her name was, but this was the first time we hired someone to specifically look at differences and, and how we can address those differences and outcomes and access. And, and so it was really exciting to have Holly on board. And as Holly was doing outreach with the community, um, and she built this Vaccine Equity collaborative, she started hearing from folks, you know, you know, this is great that the health district, you know, wants to address equity and vaccine, but what are you going to do about racism? And before the pandemic? Well, um, you know, we, we've talked about it and in public health circles, racism as a public health issue was kind of c was circulating, right? But I think it wasn't until the pandemic when we saw the differences in, um, who was getting hospitalized.You know, the covid who was getting sick because of covid and who, um, didn't get vaccinated because of access issues to stress of government and, you know, rightful distress of government, um, where all this came about. So when Holly heard this feedback and heard, you know, are, you know, is, is public health going to claim, um, racism as a public health crisis? You know, she came to me and some other folks and asked about this and we said, you know, yes, let's talk about this as an agency. And our leadership was very supportive and wanted to know more about declaring racism as a public health crisis. So, you know, at that point I was more of a cheerleader more than anything else. You know, I was involved in some groups kite race or you know, that, um, which Aku helped found, um, you know, equity, um, race and community engagement coalition kind of, you know, here and there.But when the Public Health Board declared racism a public health crisis, that was in response to community demand or a request, if you will. Um, and I could talk more about how that process came about, but as a result of that resolution, the health district actually allocated resources to equity. Before equity was more of, you know, if, if certain programs were, sorry, I use the word program. If certain teams within the health district were passionate about equity, they would incorporate it, but it was not, um, universal within the health district. And we didn't have like a, a, a shared terminology, things like that, or shared expectation even that we would address equity. Um, but with the, the, the resolution, it has several commitments in it. And one of them has to do with actually having staff. And this is really important because other resolutions across the country don't have commitments.They don't allocate resources. And just telling a government agency, oh yes, you'll handle equity without putting a budget line item means that it'll be kind of an afterthought, right? Or it's kind of like another layer among other layers. So this resolution said that, you know, you'll hire a community liaison and what our leadership ended up doing is say, no, this needs to be a separate program. We're going to hire a program manager first. So that was really important with that resolution. Another thing, another component of that resolution is that the health district will have, and I think the, um, certain training, and I believe the topics were, um, cultural competency, anti-racism and health literacy plus other topics. But those are the three topics, if I remember correctly, that were called out in the resolution. And the, and then one of the other commitments was that we would co-create solutions to systemic inequities with our community partners.And the reason why I said this is pretty huge for us is because, you know, often we look at health topics like health, excuse me, like healthy eating, active living, smoking cessation, or food safety, but actually dealing with poverty, racism, you know, I don't think we've, no, no, I might not be being, I might be unfair about this, but I don't think we've necessarily ha handled its head on, right? We've maybe gone to some housing meetings, but really more like in our limited public health capacity. So to me, this co-creation of solutions with community partners is huge. And I, and I do believe that often in government, we think we know best, right? And so we're like, oh, well, we're gonna do our research and we're gonna find best practices. But instead, you know, our community often has the answers to our, to our, to the issues that we have.It's just bringing them to the table, giving them equal voice and you know, honestly compensating them and treating them like consultants and, you know, a as equals, not just, oh, we're gonna, you know, get community input and then we're done, kind of thing. But that, that continued partnership. So anyway, um, so when this resolution passed, um, then my position was, was created. I applied for it and I was very lucky to get it. Um, and I, I started in this position full-time about last October or so, the resolution declaring racism of public health crisis start, um, it, that, that passed in May, 2021. So it's been about a almost a year and a half now. And to my knowledge, we're still the only governmental entity in Kitsap that's really addressed this and has staffing for it. Now, this might change because I, I, I'm not saying that the health district started anything, and I think really it's more the advocacy of folks like [inaudible] and, and Kitsap Race and all these other organizations that are pushing government.But I think we, we may start to see city governments actually investing in hiring and equity, uh, either race equity or all equity consultants or, or, um, staff member to really push that issue forward in their org organization. Um, so in this past year, um, there have been a couple things that I've been working on. So one is looking at our internal structure and our internal culture. Um, we don't talk about, you know, a year ago we didn't talk about equity as much. Um, so it was doing, you know, as, as designing employee training, meeting with all our different, prog all of our different teams. So talk about equity because, uh, oh, is Jessica, you know, the politically correct police, is she going to white shame me? So it's really the, the first year I had to really build those relationships. And luckily, because I've been at the health district so darn long, people knew, oh, you know, they, they were familiar with me.They, they knew that I wasn't just gonna shut them down. And then, and, and just being present, and as I talked with different teams, I realized, you know, they, they do have equity mindsets, but they just don't call it equity. But we have some teams who are really focused on poverty, but they might have actually had the conversation about how does racism affect poverty? How is that a driver for poverty? So, you know, anyway, so, so with this, so we have this internal bucket of work. So looking at training and, and right now our, our first training with the employees is gonna deal with identity and power. We're calling it positionality training. And the idea is that our, our training has to deal with the individual, the organization, the community, and the society. So that's, so we're building a training program based on that. We did do an internal equity assessment to figure out what we can do better.And, and I don't if I had to do about this Maria, but honestly, one of the biggest takeaways from that assessment was our staff doesn't know how we react to community input related to our priorities. So that needs to change, you know, either it's, it's a lack of awareness in our agency, or maybe we don't do it enough. So there, there's that piece. And then with, with community partnerships, you know, really trying to look at how we engage with community and how we see them as partners differently. Um, so the fact, like one thing I I also encourage, like me and Marina do, is just to be at community events without an agenda. It's not a grant deliverable. And actually, Aku really, um, helped bring this light for me. And I, and I should have realized this years ago, but you know, when, when Holly, the Vaccine Equity Collaborative, um, excuse me, the Vaccine Equity Liaison.So her position was eliminated due to, you know, that, that that phase of work was done. But I think what was missed was the community impact, because she built such amazing relationships in the thick of the pandemic where people were really looking for someone to trust in government. And I remember in Aku, I I, I think about this a lot, um, when we had our, her, um, goodbye party, I had one person, a community leader who was angry about it. Yes. And rightfully so. And, and you know, one of the things I've had to learn about in, in this position is not to be defensive and not to be like, well, our leadership didn't see enough work for a person. And just to be like, you know what? It is okay to be angry. I'm angry. I don't want her to leave. This was not my decision.I was not consulted about this. And, and, and that's, and, and, and I think what, what I'm, what I'm hoping to build and, and, and, and get some feed, you know, and, and, and, and build my own muscle and getting community feedback without having to be like, well, our agency policy exist. So at that meeting, not only was I not chewed out, I should say, but, um, I had someone speak very passionate to me, and he's said, Jessica, this is not about you. I'm like, no, I, I see that. And I said, you know, so acknowledging that hurt and letting my agency know also, hey, it hurts when your, when your main contact an organization leaves, you can't just replace that. So there's that piece. But then even a Kue telling me, you know, Jessica, you know, with, and, and I'm paraphrasing cuz a a kue says so much more eloquently than I do, you know, in government you have these grant deliverables and you go to community and you ask community to help and community will do the labor for you, you know, doing outreach, looking for places, for example, to do vaccine clinics and other stuff.But then when your grant deliverables are done and the grant funding's over, you leave. So that really stuck with me. And, um, one of the great things about how our equity program is funded is not funded by grants. And so one of the big things, you know, for us to build relationships is to go to meetings that are not just grant driven. Um, just to listen. So for example, Marie and I are gonna be going to the com, the, the community and police policing together, you know, the PACT meeting that, um, uh, pastor Richmond Johnson and, and, uh, partnering for Youth Achievement and others are having this, this, this, um, this week. I don't know if the health district has ever participated in that, but in order for us to know what's important to the community, we actually have to be there in meetings. So that's, and, and I'm so sorry to be taking up so much time, but this is trying some of the ways I'm trying to change how we do things at the health district.The funny thing is, and I get asked, well, Jessica, can you send this to so-and-so? And it's like, you know, yes, but do you know how much we invest in going to meetings and building those relationships? But we're, we're seeing re returns. But another thing that we're doing is we are launching what we call the Health Equity Collaborative. So I mentioned that during the pandemic we had the Vaccine Equity Collaborative. It was very limited though. Cause it was just looking at vaccine with the Health Equity Collaborative, there is no deadline for this because health inequities exist and they will continue to exist until we really address those hard issues. Right. So I'm really excited about the Self Equity collaborative because the collaborative will decide what topic we talk about. And that's that piece I was talking about, about co-creating solutions. Um, it's not the Health District saying, oh, we need to focus on someone that's public healthy.No, we're gonna, um, in, in January come together, you know, we'll look at data, we'll, we'll listen to stories, we'll listen to input from the collaborative members and then figure out we wanna address. And then, you know, I I, I've also committed to Maria in my time to actually address and, and support the work that the collaborative will eventually think of. Um, but what's different about that collaborative also is that we're paying people who participate and are not being paid there by their organizations. That is not something that we typically do in government. But, um, some of you may know that the Public Health Board expanded last year. No, actually it was earlier this year, excuse me, due to a state law that passed last year. And we now have non-elected members, which is huge because across the country you saw politics getting involved in public health.Now we have, um, now we actually have five, I think, new members. And it's amazing. So we now have a member, so we have a member on, on our board from each of our neighboring tribes. We only had to have one per law, but our board decided that they wanted to have a spot for the Suquamish tribe and the Port Gamble ALM tribe. I just found out today that our Port Gamble ALM tribe position is filled. And the person's gonna be Jolene Sullivan, who's a health services director with the Port Gamble Skm tribe from the Squamish tribe. And, and, and she's sorry. And Jolene is a tribal member of the Port Gamble Skm tribe, with the Squamish tribe. We're gonna have the health services director there. His name is, um, Steven Kutz, and he's a member of the Cowlitz Tribe. So he is originally from, you know, southwest Washington.And then we have, um, Drayton Jackson and who's really ex and that's really exciting. He's on our board. We also have Dr, um, Michael Watson. He's with, uh, Virginia Mason, Franciscan Health. And then we have, um, Dr. Um, Taras, oh my gosh. Kirk sells who's, I believe, a public health research researcher. So we have this expanded board, and our board members who are not elected are also being compensated. So we followed off that model because, you know, sometimes it's kind of a wait and see. But that was precedent setting for us. And I think because we are compensating our board members, were non-elected, we have this, I was able to, to, to propose to our leadership, Hey, if we're gonna be doing this health equity collaborative, we need to pay our, you know, our, our folks who are not being paid by their organizations. There's national precedent for this.You're seeing that more national, you know, nationally with governments paying their consultants, right? We pay our d e i consultants, we pay strategic planning consultants. You know, Akua is a huge, um, community consultant and we need to start paying folks like that. But like her, like, you know, um, all the other folks are giving us input. So anyways, so we have this collaborative, we had our first meeting earlier this month, and we're having our, our visioning meeting in January. And Aya, I remember, you know, earlier this year you talked about how as a community we need to have this visioning process. And one piece of feedback I got from the collaborative meeting that we had earlier this month was, well, Jessica, we need to also include Citi and county officials. Cuz the only government officials at that meeting we're public health folks. So in the future, you know, also bringing other governmental folks.So there, there's a, there's a lot going on. Um, and, and I think another thing, and, and I promise I'll, I'll stop is, um, is elevating the concerns of our community within the health district. So, for example, and I really wanna give Maria credit for this because of her passion on working with youth. I, I, you know, I, I, I don't mentor youth. I have my two kiddos, and that's kind of the, the, the extent of, of, of my impact on youth. But, um, you know, it was through conversations with her, you know, meeting you Danielle, and, and hearing about other community meetings, you know, concerned about mental health, especially of our Bipo youth. Um, you know, elevating that to our leadership, letting our leadership know, hey, this is an a concern. And what's exciting is, um, when I mentioned this to our community health director, Yolanda Fox, she's like, well, you know, this other department, you know, our chronic disease prevention team, they may have funds to help with these kind of initiatives.So it's also networking within my own agency and Maria and my agency to see who can help with these, with these issues and figuring out, okay, well how can this also fit? Because the health district is also doing strategic planning, um, starting early next year. We're also participating in Kitsap community resources, um, community needs assessment. Ray and I both have been note takers and, um, contributors to their focus groups, for example. But then also I've been doing some keen form of interviews for Virginia Mason, Franciscan Health, um, community assessment. So we're hearing from community leaders, but then also going to community meetings about their needs. And we're trying to elevate that as well to our, to our leadership. And that's, so there's a lot going on from the health district, I think. Kuya, you're up.Akuyea (00:30:32):Yes. Oh my God. Go Jessica, go run, girl, run you and Maria, this is how we elevate, this is how we transform. This is how we begin to shift the paradigm for the opportunity to be heard. Oh, cross, we are gonna level the playing field for leveling. When I say level, I mean our young people, our parents, our community, our school districts, our, you know, health districts, our government. How do we do this collective work? Especially when you're dealing with historical institutionalized racism that we know is a crisis across the line. I don't care. It's a, not just in the health district, it's in our community, it's in our school, it's in our families, it's in our history. It's in the d n a of this country. So how do we begin to address that and move that where we can begin to reconcile, we know the history is there for us to sit here and, and, and act as if that this has not been a problem in an issue in our nation for hundreds.And it is not just that, it's in our nation, it our, our institutions. Were built on it. We, we, we have these systemic pieces that we have to deal with. That's why it was important when we started Kitsap e rates that we said, we gotta look at our schools, we gotta look at our health districts. We gotta look at our city government. We gotta look at our faith-based organizations, which Danielle, you know, that it exists within all of these institutions. We gotta look at our businesses that say, and I said, you know, when you come in and, and you try to do this type of work, and especially these organizations have in their mission statement that we're undoing racism, or we got, we're gonna be looking at equity, inclusion, diversity, multicultural. And they say that this is all within their mission and they check the box, but there's no accountability.There is no moving these, these issues to a place. If it's not in there, where is their, uh, district improvement plan? If it's not written in there, where is there, where is it in their budget? It's not in there. It, it doesn't exist. It's just they check the box to say they're doing this, but they're not the, the, the, the organization is not being held accountable for what they say is in their goals. Cuz they wrote 'em in their goals. They, they, they, they've got it language in their goals, but then how do you begin to hold them accountable to say they are? And so I was so, I was like, yes, Jessica, because if it's not in the budget, if they're not intentional, if they're not moving equity and inclusion and diversity forward in these institutionalized policy practice and procedures, then it, it really, you know, it doesn't exist.You know, it is that thing that's out there in la la land. So when you file, how do we begin to, to look at that, the training? Where is the training? Because you gotta shift the mindset. You've gotta begin to transform how people are going to step into this work of equity and inclusion. And you gotta give them tools. You gotta be able to say, look, you need training. What is cultural competency training? What is the gear training? What are these trainings that are available? Where is the training from the People's Institute? Where is the training for? Because actually, if you look in our history, we've got a lot of history that have the Freedom schools and all of them, they were doing this work back in the day, but there was a shift back in the day where they stopped when they started killing off the leaders and started, you know, manipulating city governments and working in legislation and all of these things.You know, we, there was a halt during that period, period when they were doing all the civil rights and trying, you'd think of it, all those leaders that they, they really assassinated that was moving race equity and, and inclusion forward. You know, our presidents, our our black leaders, all of those leaders that they were taking out, you know, look at that history, look at what was being done in legislature, what was being done, set in place. So we have to look at the systems that continue to hold these inequities in place so that we can't move forward. And then there was a point in time, you know, during, um, this last couple of years that just really highlighted all the inequities, all the disparities, all of the, the racist, you know, uh, uh, practices and policies that was in place that really hindered us. And we said we needed to look at these things.Um, you know, with the killing of George Floyd and the murders that was going on with the pandemic, the pandemic really set it off because we could see if it was actual, we could see how disconnected and how, how all of these disparities were, were being, you know, manifest showing. They would just, they were just in your face. How you gonna not address stuff that's in your face and then all of the racial, you know, um, one of the things that we started when I think it was even before Pandemic, before George Floyd was all of the, um, things that was being manifested during the, the, uh, during the presidency of, of our wonderful President , we won't say his name, we won't say his name, you know, and that's the thing. We won't say his name, but we know who, who, who that was, that perpetuated a lot of racial tension in our nation and begin to cultivate it, to begin to really nurture all of that unhealthy, you know, behavior and mindset.And, and, and when, when we look at the history and we understand that racism has always been a crisis in our nation. And if we just looked at it and looked at the concerns of racial diverse communities and understand that it, it hasn't, it, it has never been a healthy, uh, history, but when we tuck it away and sweep it under the ground as if it doesn't exist, we do ourself a harm. And then when we look at how education plays a role, when we look at how health plays a role, you know, health and education are interdisciplinaries, and if we not looking at how all of these systems are connected that continue to perpetuate all of these internalized structures that perpetuate these disparities, then I think we're not doing, uh, a good job at being able to undo the institutionalized pieces of, of racism and how we we begin to, to break down those barriers and begin to level the playing field and begin to get services, you know, and begin to get opportunities and the financing.You know, um, racism has played a key in poverty. It's play a key role in health disparities. It's played a key role in education. If you guys think about it, you know, back in the day when they were building all these institutions, you know, um, we weren't a la even allowed to read or write in the sixties when they wanted, you know, when they were talking all about let's integrate these schools and everything, oh, you know, look at the racial tension there was just from us to be able to go to school with one another. And that's not been that long. That's been in our lifetime, it hasn't been hundreds of years ago. Oh, little Rock nine and all of that unrest and all that has not civil rights and all that. That's, that's not been long at all. We've not come that far. And there was a halt to all of that work on undoing all of those institution life pieces. And, and when, and I can say it, when, when those assassinations begin to happen, there was a shift where everybody was pulling back from trying to do that work, but yet it didn't go away. It still needs to be done. So as we move forward, we talk about how do we, how do we begin to look at models and, and the work, the foundation of that work that was laid prior to us, even now, if you go back in, in the sixties, you'll see boy, they had it going on.Those models, those sit-ins and all those things that they were doing to change policy, to change institutional practices. You know, there's no need for us to reinvent the wheel. We've just gotta begin to, to pick up the work and, and start doing the work again. There was a definite fear that came, uh, into our communities and our nations when they begin to kill our leaders for standing for what was right. The murders of Medgar Evers and Martin Luther King, and all of them, you know, you look back at that time, the, those ones that, even the Black Panthers, they exterminated those young people and they, and, and they put 'em in jail.There was two options. You, they were either exterminated or they were incarcerated, but they were definitely gonna dismantle those disruptors that was calling for equity. So, yeah. And, and when you have all kinds of hate mail and hate literature that's being flooded across our nation. Um, and I could tell you, um, back in 2018 when, when we started the Race equity Network, it was because there was hate literature being flooded across Kitsap County. Our churches was being people who are being attacked, racially slurred, and all kinds of things happening in the community. That community members went to our city council and said, what y'all gonna do about this stuff? Y'all see it's all coming up. You mean the government? Y'all gonna do nothing. Not gonna say nothing. What's up? So they decided they were going to, to at least have a race equity advisory council to the city council members that would deal with all these disparities and all these racial incidents that was popping off.But then, you know, they get in there and they wanna be political and tie their hands and say what they can and can't do, and don't even wanna take the training. I mean, by now, that was 2018, here we are going into 2023, our pobo still ain't got one South kit still ain't got one. We still don't got our commission on troop and reconciling. We, it's, it's still being pushed back. The pushback on moving equity, race equity forward, it's still, that's live and well. And for us to understand what we really are up against, you have to transform minds. And one of the things with, you know, with the education system banning books and all of these things, I said, what is that all about? You better know what that's all about. You have to have a greater understanding. Because my, my thinking is, if we don't even wanna be truthful about our history and teach true history and teach our young people in the schools, I said, that's dangerous ground. We're walk, walking on.But that's something that needs to be looked at very carefully because it starts in the educational system. If you're not even gonna teach to it, if you are not even going to give our young people true information, you know, when you're talking about, oh, these books can't be read, I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa. A red flag should be going up for all of us in our communities and all of us in the nation. What is that? Yeah, you better find out what's the, at the root of all of that. So we do have a lot of work to do. Did this, this, I mean, the work is plenties, the laborers are few.And then how do we that are doing the work, how do we come together and work in a collective collaborative way that can help us move these things forward in, in, uh, a healthy way? Many hands make light work. Many of us, you know, yes. My my area of of concentration might be education. Mine might be health, mine might be city government. Mine might be the, the faith community. Mine might be just community members. But what happens when we begin to cultivate unified work to address these issues across those barriers? Because we all have the same goal, but look at how we work in silos. What can we do to break down barriers and really build community between the community of those that are doing the work?You know, do we lay aside our own agendas? Just like Jessica was saying, we just wanna go to li How do we come alongside and support? How do we come alongside and just listen? How do we come in and hear what the community needs are and all of those things. But sometime we gotta set our own egos aside for the greater work because the work is bigger than we are. You know, it took back in the day, when I think about all of those civil rights leaders and, and it, and, and believe you me, the environment was more hostile to make that change back then. You know, you, you had people gunning, people holding people. Come on now the history's there, but yet we wanna erase some of that history and to say, no, this is the only part we wanna teach of that, that history. You know, we talk about our, our native, uh, and our indigenous communities that was here. And understand, and I'll keep saying it, as long as I have breath in my body, I come from a stolen people brought to a stolen land where they exterminated the indigenous tribes that was here to be able to capitalize on their land and everything else. And that history, you know, it's like, oh, we don't wanna talk about that.But when you don't address the atrocities that have happened, it will keep coming up because you never went back and never healed that land. You never healed all of that, uh, trauma and all those things. You know, one of the things that I always look at, I do look at, I do look at what happened over in Germany. That entire nation had to deal with the atrocities that Hitler committed. And it wasn't until they had to deal with their own atrocities that healing began to, to, to move those communities forward in a way where they could, you'll never be able to erase what happened. But they have to be able to heal those family, heal, move towards healing, move towards reconciling those things. But when you just step over all the atrocities you've committed and, and, and say, oh, oh, they ain't this and that ain't that. That is a shipwreck. That's a a, that's a recipe for destruction.And so how do we begin to do the work of healing? Because the health district, and I say this to Jessica and to the health district, y'all are supposed to be in the healing business. I mean, that's what you say. And then I say to the education people, y'all supposed to be in education. What are y'all doing? Health, health and education for some and not for all. And justice. Justice for who? Justice for some are justice for whom. See, we got to get, we, we have to understand that we have to begin to shift the mindsets of those that can't see these things.You know, we have to begin to say, how do we take the scales off of people's eyes so they can see clearly that these are things that we, we definitely have to, to work towards? How do we unstop the ears so that they can hear the voices and hear, um, the things that need to be heard? Because some people, you know, some, and I can say this cause one of my young people said to me, she said, you know, what do you do with people that just wanna fight? They don't, they, they're not trying to heal. They're not trying to, they just wanna fight.I said, so how do you become peacemakers in the fight? How do you, how do we step into that role that we can at least be able to, to speak words that can, um, prick hearts and minds and transform, uh, the communities that we're serving? Because we're all serving, we're all serving our communities in a way, you know? And I, you know, it, it, it's hard when you always gotta walk through dodoo. I don't know. You know, I'm just throwing it out there like that. You know, when you gotta crawl through feces every day, that's, you know, those that are in plumbing and stuff like that. I don't know how they do it, but is it needed? Definitely.So we, we do, we, we, we can look at that. We can do some collective visioning that can help our communities to move forward in a way that can really meet the needs. You know, because I, I always have said our county isn't so large that we can address this issue and that we can do this work and we can do this work. Well, we're not a King County, we're not a Pierce County. We're a Kitsap County. And collectively, we should be able to move things forward in a healthier way. That guess what could be a model, not just for our state, but for the nation. Uh, you know, a little Kitsap County has changed the way that they address inequities. The way that they, with racism, the way that they deal with disparities, the way that they deal with all of these unhealthy things that continue to hinder us all. I don't care what color you are. Hate comes in all colors. Mm-hmm. , white, black, yellow, green, whatever way. But if we can deal with some of those issues, the bitterness and those roots of bitterness, why are our communities so bitter? What's going on that we can't come together and talk about it? If you are mad, I'm, I'm cool with you being mad, but can we talk about it? Can, can we reason together in the multitude of council, there can be some safety. If we come in, in a collective way and deal with it, there can be some safety in that.Danielle (00:54:27):The, uh, I was just, and I see your hand, Jessica, I, I was like thinking so much. And Maria, I know you were there with me of our meeting last week with these families that, you know, they came out almost 50 families, you know, 50 people show up to a meeting Thanksgiving week.Maria (00:54:47):And, and I thought, there's so much hope. And just showing up and, and in the showing up, you know, the meeting was advertised. I saw some for like six 15, some for six 30. I got there at six because my phone rang and someone said, Hey, where are you? I said, well, I'm not there yet. They said, well, hurry up. We're here,Oh, it's like six o'clock. So I pulled up, you know, and I got there and the principal was opening the door. And I had emailed early in the day and I said, well, you know, I don't know who's gonna show up because this thing went out over Instagram. It went out, you know, word of mouth.Danielle (00:55:29):And when people got there, y you know, they, the setup was to share stories and then to work towards solutions. But you could see when the invitation was to work towards solutions, people just stayed quiet. Cuz they were like, no, we have more stories to share. And, and let me tell you, we we had to cut it off at like eight 15. Eight. Yeah. Because people were not done and not everybody got a chance to share there. But I think about those families ended, and Maria, you can speak to this too, like, they were like, when is the next meeting? And we had, you know, one of the main leaders from the Latina community was, was speaking and saying like, Hey, like we have problem, you know, we've had problems with the African American community and we, where are they? Like, we know they're suffering.Like, she didn't say it like that, but basically like, we are not the only people of color here that are experiencing this. So, um, that gave me a lot of hope. The ability to show up and the stories they shared, I think are compounded, like what you say, the history, when you name the history, I'm like, oh crap, we're repeating all of this right now in live time. Like, it's happened yesterday. It happened, probably happened today, probably happened tomorrow. Like, we actually haven't, like slowed it down. It doesn't feel like, but Maria, Jessica, like, feel free to jump in. That's kind of where I was at.Jessica (00:56:59):So Danielle, I guess I wanted to jump in. I guess a couple things, especially, you know, after hearing, you know, Aku talk, you know, one of the things I think government should be doing is, you know, addressing, you know, inequities head on. And, um, some of you might follow, uh, the health district on, on social media. But, um, two weeks ago, um, the health district did a Facebook post recognizing transgender Awareness week. Now, this is the first time the health district has ever done a post like that. And you wouldn't believe, well, actually you would believe the amount of hate that we got. But I have to tell you though, before we declared racism a public health crisis and really got deep into this work, I don't know if we would've ever done a post like that. Um, but you know, it was a conversation between the equity program and our communications program.Our, our communications folks were all on board. They even bumped this, this idea for this post up to our administrator who was supportive of it. He goes, Hey, just make sure that you include our mission statement that, you know, our job is to promote the health of all people in Kitsap County. And, and I was really proud of the agency because I, you know, as government, sometimes we have to be careful about how we speak and sometimes it's hard to be the first. But to be honest, I didn't see any other governmental entity. And you all can check, please check me on this. But I didn't see any other governmental entity make that comment, you know, make that statement that we support our lgbtq plus and our transgender neighbors, loved ones, community members. Um, and so this was a small thing, but this is where, you know, um, you know, there, there are these huge changes that we need to make as a culture, right?And, and, and government structures. But even if it's just the acknowledgement of the suffering of people and the fact that we are, we see them, we honor them, and we're there with them is huge. Um, and, and, you know, and I give kudos to, to, to to you Danielle and, and Aku. Cause I know y'all have been having these community conversations. So having, giving people a space to share their truth and their experiences is huge. And when you can bring government officials there to hear it, because often, and, and I, and I'm speaking broadly, I mean, I I I've been in government for almost 15 years, so I, not an expert, but I've been in it long enough. You know, we tend to like the quantitative data, right? The numbers. And I think as an public health in general, there's been this big movement about, and I'm gonna use my my nerd term, but disaggregating data.So looking at the numbers, but saying, oh, well, let's see, can we break this down? What is our Asian community experiencing? Or Pacific Islander? And that gives some depth to it. But then also realizing that there are sub-communities within this community. And, you know, um, Maria and I were talking about, um, VN Voices of the Pacific Island network. They had an event earlier this year, and they had some data that showed that not all Pacific Islanders have the same educational experiences and this educational outcomes. So on, on the one hand, you know, government, we love numbers. Well, we need to dig deeper into those numbers, right? Break things down and really figure out what our community's experiencing. And sometimes in public health, we're like, oh, if the community's too small, then the analysis might not be enough. Who cares? Just still bring that data up.And that's where you compliment it with the stories, right? The qualitative data. And this is something where I think when you think of governments as white supremacists, right? You know, there's this need for productivity. And you have to, for every media you go to, you have to show what specific outcomes you have. Well, that's also something I'm hoping to change slowly at the, at the agency too. But, um, but also with data and, and the, the importance of storytelling and catching these stories and elevating them. And one of the things that, um, and you know, Kang Marie can talk about this. When we had our first health equity collaborative meeting, I got a question by a community member who was skeptical, right? Because their experience was when they've worked with government, they have gotten roadblock after roadblock after roadblock. And having to be honest and be like, look, here's what I can do as a manager of a program of two people.But at that meeting, we had a, the health officer there, and he is one of our highest officials at the health district. He's like our Spock, um, if you're a Star Trek nerd, but, um, which Memorial Star Wars. But, um, you know, our chief science officer was there. My supervisor who was a director was there. So, I mean, one thing I'm also hoping with, with these collaborative meetings, if, if they're meeting community meetings, also just throw that out there where you think having the health district be present is important and you want somebody with a director or administrator in their title. That's also something that, um, you know, I can also, I can also help facilitate. But something also, Danielle or maybe actually, um, Kayleigh, to your point, you know, we talk about this work, but how do we support each other? So we support each other in terms of, um, you know, bring cross-disciplinary, but then also really elevating the fact that we need that self-care and that connection and the fact that this is such heavy work.Um, you know, Maria and I have mentioned, we, we, we've helped with some of these, uh, focus groups for the kids at community resources. The stories are, are just heartbreaking. Um, and whether it's our youth and how they experience bullying, our elders who are experiencing lack of care, you know, lack of resources, and they just need some additional help. And you don't have that necessarily multi-generational household like you did before. So they don't have the supports that they had in the past. There's so much going on. But I think also all of us doing this kind of work, taking care of each other as well, and then also letting people know it's, it's okay to not be okay. Um, so anyway, I just, I just wanted to throw that out there too.Maria (01:02:33):So I've been pondering Akuyea, uh, question towards the end and she said, how do we do this work? How do we, um, collaborate and, um, bring about solutions? And something that, uh, Jessica mentioned fairly early on when she spoke, she said, the importance of letting go of ego, right? Leaving our ego at the door and, uh, working collaborative with one each other o one another as we do this work. And then the second thing is listening. And that's the one thing I've really learned as, um, uh, community engagement specialists, uh, working with Jessica, is that when I bring concerns to her or other community members, bring concerns to her, she listens, and then she acts, she does, whether it's something that, it's a long-term thing that will take a while to address or something that we can address quickly. Uh, she keeps this wonderful worksheets and she keeps track of where she's at on different projects. And so I think being able to be transparent, because since she shares that information, she shared some of that information at the health equity, um, collaborative meeting that we had. Um, I think that's how we build trust with our community members, that when they come, uh, to our organization, that we will not just listen, but we will act now. It might not be immediate, but we will be taken action. Um, and so, um, that's something that I've learned just in my one month at the public health district with Jessica.Jump in. Thank you, Jessica. Thank you for that. One of the things that, you know, I was talking with one of my, um, equity sisters, Carrie Augusta, and as we were reading through the newspaper and stuff, you know, she said, you know, we need to be looking at patterns of oppression. Are we doing that in a collective way? Just looking at the patterns, those patterns keep manifesting. It doesn't matter if it's manifesting with the African American community, the Hispanic community, the Pacific Islander community, whatever community is, are we looking, are we looking at those patterns of oppression? That's key for us to move forward as we do the work. Because in order for us to address, uh, and undo some of these things, we gotta identify 'em. We've gotta take time to sit down and identify these patterns that keep, you know, go. You know, that just like when we were, were dealing with, you know, with, uh, the racism on Bainbridge Island, you know, uh, it manifests itself back in the nineties and then again in the two early 2000. But I said, look at the, they go on ground for a little while and then they come back out.But look at the patterns of how they begin to, to do that work, uh, of, of, um, you know, racism. Look at the pattern of it. Look at how it shows up. Look at how it, it manifests itself in our institutions, in our workplaces, you know, in those areas that we are in on a daily basis. Don't matter in the schools. Look, they've been dealing with racism in the schools forever. Ever since Little Rock nine, they've been dealing with racism in the schools. And that was because why? Because racism was alive and well, and LA racism is still alive and well. So how do we begin to move these things and begin to address these things in a way that's gonna shift the policy and procedures? It should not be allowed in the institutional, shouldn't be allowed in the schools, shouldn't be allowed in our city governments, if you're serving all of us, if you are serving every one of those students, why are we dealing with what's happening at North Kitsap School District? And, and there's some questions I think that we need to be asking to administration and to those superintendents and to those staff members, because they're the ones that hold those practices in place, whether they're just or unjust. Who are the gatekeepers?Yeah. You gotta see who's gatekeeping and who's gatekeeping what, and, and really doing the, that type of visioning to be able to address these disparities or, or address the racism or address all of these inequities. Because if you got a principal that's gate keeping it, why do you think it keeps coming up?Danielle (01:08:20):Because it's us who hold these things in, in place. Human beings hold these practices in place. None of us get away. All of us are accountable. Mm-hmm. , it's, it's not just, that's when that one, that one, no, it's us. It's all of us who hold these practices and these policies in place. It's whether you will or whether you won't.So tho those are the things I think when we can get down to those foundational principles on how to address, and really, are we asking the right questions? Because they'll have us running off on a, a wild goose chase on something that, that , I'm just saying that don't even that, that is totally gonna miss the mark. You know, because if we, if we just keep pruning this thing, pruning it, pruning it, and never getting down to the root of it, we ain't plucking up nothing. We, we, we, all we doing is making it flourish and thrive. Because why do we prune? We prune things so it can come back healthier and stronger. I'm just, I'm just using these parables so we can see what we doing. Are we just pruning this thing? Are we getting to the root of it so we can pluck it up? Because if we're not, I think we're missing, we need to go back and revision and revisit and re-question and ask those. What's the, because you all know what's the root causeWhat's the root cause to the disparities that's happening, Jessica, in your departments or at the health district? What's the root cause when you are up in these schools and these things keep on, um, coming up and manifesting? What's the root causeDanielle (01:10:43):Go back. Do, do that questioning, just ponder. Just look at it. But let's, let's get our chart out. Let's see what's happening, and then, then we can have a real good conversation about next steps and how we can move forward and what we gonna do.Danielle (01:11:07):Kaylee, I saw your hand raised. Um, and, and I just wanted to say, like briefly after that meeting, I had a post up on Instagram, uh, highlighting the article, and I had over 400 likes, but 300 of them were from local students. And I had over a hundred private messages to me, and I screenshot them. And, and it wasn't just Latino students, it was black students, it was white students, it was, you know, L G B T Q community. Like they're ba I, what I understood from that is like, come on, get to work. Like, and I've, I've sent the screenshots, you know, to Maria and a few to Kali and some toku, you know, um, because they're important. The messages they give were important. Um, but yeah. Kaylee, jump in.Kalie (01:12:00):Yeah, I just, I mean, I love the questions that are being asked and Aku, some of your metaphors are like so amazingly helpful. Um, the pruning, uh, like I, yes, like I, I think that that is part of it is not getting to the root. And I think one of the things that Danielle and I have been trying to work on in our groups is also what you mentioned Maria, is like, we have to be able to listen to each other. And I think like from a mental health standpoint and the impact of racism, like there is so much shame, so people cannot listen. I mean, especially speaking from a white person, my own racism, having to work through that and, and then when I, like me as a white person in these conversations, right? So many people cannot hear like, we're never getting down to that.And like that is part of what I think we're trying to address in those small group settings is like, how to teach people to dig down deep and actually, like, what is happening in your body in these conversations. And I think, like, I feel like this like top like both and like the accountability you're talking about a kue, like, has to be, because some people will never, ever be able to get to what is deep down and actually deal with it. And if there isn't accountability, I don't, we're not, we're not gonna cut any of that rot out . But I think like, yeah, like trying to continue to figure out how to get down to that root and deal with people's shame and the fear that like racism has taught you so that you can actually listen so that we can actually collaborate. Um, and I mean, I obviously am speaking to my white, uh, community members that it's like, that is our work as white people that we have to work down to, like what prevents us from listening and hearing and changing and holding other white people accountable. Um, so that's where that was taking me.Jessica (01:14:07):So Kue, you asked about, you know, the root cause of inequities. And I don't necessarily have the answer, but I wanna to share. Um, I, I've seen a growing conversation, um, kinda in public health circles about power as a social determinant of health. So when public health people use the term social determinants of health, they're looking at what social factors affect health. Um, there are different models out there, but most public health experts agree that more affects health besides what you eat and how much you exercise. It's the social and cultural factors. It's, it's, it's, um, the economy, it's your built environment like, you know, access to sidewalks, parks and things like that, racism, discrimination, so many things impact health. And what i, I appreciate about power as a factor in health is because that's where you see governments needing to stop holding onto power so much, right?And so there are some, um, agencies that are starting to dismantle that a bit. So I, I wanna elevate, for example, um, our, our colleagues in, so our public health colleagues in Tacoma Pierce County. So they have a budgeting process where they allow the community to help them set budget priorities. We're not there yet as a health district, I hope someday to actually advocate for that as well. But it's looking at how do we share power with our community and how do we also foster community building as well? So like, in, and, and you know, you'll probably know the Square than I do, but just as, as, as an observer, I've noticed like an increase in the number of nonprofits and people wanting to do really amazing work. Um, you know, um, helping other people. But there's that lack of capacity. Oh, you know, people might start nonprofit, but they might not have all the training that they need.Um, so as, as a community looking at power and how do we shift that and doing a power analysis, and I, I think you've talked to me about this, you know, really looking at who holds power in Kitsap County and how do we work together to, to to share that power. Um, so, so there, there, there's that piece. But then also, um, you know, Kuya talked about training, right? And so for me, a lo

Akuyea Karen Vargas: source (https://www.tidelandmag.com/articles/2022-03-a-warrior-for-peace)(photo credit:  Nora Phillips)"Vargas may be small in stature, but the 59-year-old mother of three is a towering presence in the West Sound's African American community. An army veteran, community activist, arts educator, youth mentor and historian, she has been a tireless advocate for the young and underserved, and for healing racial divisions in our communities for over 25 years.After growing up on the East Coast and serving in the Army, Vargas arrived here in 1992 when her husband was assigned by the Navy to the Bangor submarine base. Raising her three Black children in the overwhelmingly white Bainbridge schools was a rude awakening, Vargas recalls. Advocating for her own children in the school system led her to start advocating for other children of color. Eventually she joined the district's Multicultural Advisory Committee, which she co-chairs to this day.Through two programs she founded in 2003, the Living Arts Cultural Heritage Project and Living Life Leadership, Vargas has taught cultural history and life skills to hundreds of youth throughout Kitsap County, including many of the young leaders who spoke at those demonstrations in 2020.Recognizing her contributions, Governor Jay Inslee bestowed Vargas a 2021 Governor's Arts and Heritage Award in the new category of Luminaries, honoring people who “stood as shining lights for their community during the pandemic.” Commenting on the award, Sheila Hughes, executive director of the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, described Vargas as “a trusted advisor… as well as a great friend who has a genuine laugh and a huge hug just when you need one.”Multicultural Advisory Committee Living Arts Cultural Heritage Project and Living Life Leadership2021 Governor's Arts and Heritage AwardDanielle (00:35):Welcome to the Arise Podcast, conversations on race, faith, justice, gender and healing. And as many of you know or aware, I mean it's election season. It's election day. And whether we're voting today, we already voted. Maybe some of us cannot vote for various reasons in our communities. This is an important time in the nation and it has been an important time for many years. I think back to 20 16, 20 18, 20 20. And now we're in 2022 and we're still working through what does it mean to exercise this right to vote? What does it mean? What is impacting our communities? What things are important? And today I had a Coyier, Karen Vargas of Kitsap County. She is an elder. She is on the Multicultural Advisory Committee for our county. She is living arts cultural heritage, founded the Living Arts Cultural Heritage Project and Living Life Leadership. She has taught cultural history and life skills to hundreds of youth throughout Kitsap County and including many of the young leaders who spoke at demonstrations in 2020. Ms. Vargas is concerned about the impact of what Covid did. She is deeply invested. And in 2021, the governor of Washington, Jay Insley, bestowed on Vargas an arts and heritage award in the category of luminaries honoring people who stood as shining lights for their community during the pandemic. And someone that commented on the award, Sheila Hughes, the executive director of the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, described Vargas as a trusted advisor as well as a great friend who has a genuine laugh and a huge hug for just when you need one. So as you think about listening tune in and hopefully keep an open mind to the conversation. So it's just an honor to join forces Akuyea (02:51):, what we need to be doing. We have done tremendous work together for many years back from the Civil Rights Movement and even before we were working in a collective collaborative way to address the issues that affect all of our communities. And so the more we can do that, the more we can cultivate that, I think we can begin to do some impactful work that will move things forward. Danielle (03:24):And I love the way we got connected. It happened at church. Yeah, I saw you at a couple events before that, but then you were speaking to church and I saw the post on Instagram. I was like, I told my family we're going to church today, I know. So we showed up and we made this connection around youth and mental health. Would you be able to speak to that a little bit? Akuyea (03:50):Yes. Our children are not doing well, let's just start there. Our children are having a difficult time. They're dealing with trauma, they're dealing with depression, they're dealing with anxieties, just dealing with life and they don't know how or what to do. In 2019, I had one of my living life leadership students take her own life and it devastated me the way she did it. She ran in the middle of a highway, sat down and allowed car to run over her. And what I still mean, the actual act devastated our students, our parents, her friends, the school. And we have to address some of the issues because we knew before that time that she was struggling with her mental health and with depression and all these things. And so what do we do when we, when actually know we are aware that our students have social and emotional stuff and trauma and stuff? Pauses. Because she was struggling with her meds too. She said those medications made her feel all wacky And then she was telling me some of the medication that she said would cause depression. I said, Well, why you on medication? It's gonna cause depression or anxiety. And so we need to have a conversation. We need to be talking about it. And we need to be talking about it from multiple issues, not just with the parents or the students or with the schools, but for the health and wellbeing of that young person. Should we be prescribing all this medication? They don't know the chemical imbalances. I'm not sure. That's not my field . But to be able to help them to process some of all of this , we really need to be talking more about the mental health of our young people. We have to do it. Danielle (06:43):I mean, first I'm stunned and not stunned because death of young, of the young is always shocking. And I'm aware that it's also I'm angry and sad that also it is not surprising. And I think you named the year as 2019. So this was even before a pandemic. Akuyea (07:12):Before the pandemic. So I know that we were dealing with this way before the pandemic. And only God can tell you The depth of all of that during and even now the results of the pandemic in the state of our young people's health, mental health, especially their mental health. Danielle (07:40):I think one thing that struck me when I spoke to you after that church service was the fact that I began to tell you stories of my own children at school. And you were like, I got into advocacy because of my kids. And it's not that I wasn't paying attention before I had kids experiencing it, but it becomes heightened alert, heightened awareness, and just even watching the depression cycle through my own family cycle, through my friend's kids on multiple levels. I mean from depression to anxiety to suicidal ideation to self harm, to just the lack of ability to pay attention or find interest like you described the hopelessness. And so just the heightened awareness. And then we were talking about schools and this and we are now post 2020, George Floyd, the murder of George Floyd by police, the multiple other lynchings that happened in that year. And we're back. We're actually talking on election day and the impact this has on students of color and their mental and frankly white bodied students too. This is not just a one section of society's problem, this is a larger issue. Akuyea (09:05):And the role of social media plays in their isolation and just being focused on what I call the device and not engaging and not having those healthy social skills and not being able to sit down in a room and just have a conversation. Being in rooms plenty enough time that our students are talking to one another, sitting right next to one another. And that's about, they don't want us to know what they're talking about. I know what that's about too. Let's not play. We don't know what that's about too. But when you ask them to sit down and just let's talk, they act like they don't do it. They don't know what to do. . And I think we are losing how to engage personally and how to have healthy relationships personally. One, we were doing some conflict. I can remember we were doing some conflict resolution and someone had advised, and I won't say the name, someone had advised, Well let's do this on Zoom. I said, Wait, wait, wait. , you know, can be brave at a distance, but you need to come into a circle . And you need to be able to look the individual in their eye. . You need to be able to see their body language and to be able to feel what's happening in the environment. . I said there are elements that when you are moving to do conflict resolution or healing and peacemaking, that that's done in a , intimate in an environment where those can come together. . And I understand Zoom has been a good tool in everything , but I also know social media and zoom, give your balls that you don't have when you sitting in front of somebody and you got to be accountable for some harm that you have done. , you feel safe because you know what, You can say what you want to say and you can do all of that. Because you know what? I'm just on a zoom , I'm over here , I can be brave over here. Could you stand before the individual and confront some mess that go down But if we're going to get to a place of healing and reconciliation, you have to be able to step into that Because the bottom line, if I got conflict with you and you got conflict with me and we can say all we can be on social media calling each other, boom, bam, bam, bam, bam. When, and this happened with some of our students too. , when they confronted each other, one of them stabbed the other one to death. Now all of that hostility was allowed over the social media to be able to do all that. Building up, texting. I'm coming over, I'm gonna kick your tail. And Danielle (13:19):I think you bring up something that I'm thinking about Aku, which is not only do we need to, we can't intervene on our students behalf unless we as caregivers, parents, community members, adults in the community are willing to do the work first. Gonna smell it a mile away. Yes. They're gonna know if we haven't done the work ourselves. AKuyea (13:46):Let tell you about our young people. They are the best hustlers learners. And they, they're watching us And they say, Oh yeah, they ain't about it. They ain't about it now. In fact, they're learning from us We are their first teachers. . They know when we talk trash and they sitting over here. That's why all of this stuff is coming up in our schools. You've got all of these racist ideologies coming out. The students are listening to their parents in their home talking yang yang and saying, Oh no, we ain't doing this. Yeah. Them negros in, Oh this, that, all of that racists ideology at home. And when the students, they're ear hustling, they say, Oh no, my parents, no. And giving them the green light, they come to school and guess what? They feel em bolded and empowered to say and do what they want. Because guess what? Those parents have modeled it for 'em and modeled it for them very well. . And they feel like they can say what they want. Their parents got their back Even the teachers come to school with racist ideologies, . And it pours out on students of color. When you got staff and teachers calling students the N word and it's okay, going on, something's very wrong with that picture . But yet here we find ourselves in 2022 So we've got all kinds of dynamics happening, but popping off in the schools Danielle (15:51):So we can't be people as community members, adults, people that wanna see change in progress from whatever lens you're coming from. We cannot be people that say, Hey, let's have peace. If we're not gonna be willing to have that conversation in our own homes, Because our kids will go into schools which they are doing and they will enact what we're doing in our private lives. They'll continue to perpetuate it. So we have to be people about what we do in our private lives is what we do. What privately happens is publicly is publicly congruent. Akuyea (16:34):Oh, I'm glad you said that. Because what's done in the dark will come to life. Danielle (16:39):It will. Akuyea (16:40):And it does. And it manifests itself. We look at the attitude and the behavior and the character of our young people . And we're saying, Okay we're dealing with some stuff. And I hear me say this, I pray and I commend our teachers. Our teachers have to deal with whole lot of stuff . But when they were looking at the condition of the learning environment in our schools and they understood that they had to train their teachers with having trauma, they have to train the teachers to look at diversity, equity, and inclusion. They have to teach our kids. So when they started introducing social emotional learning, I said that was social, emotional and cultural learning. Why in the world did you take off culture? Culture is an ideology as well. . You bringing in these cultural elements and cultural, what I said, behaviors, It's not all just about, They said, Oh no, we don't wanna, That's a race. I said, No . What culture we have in our schools. The culture that we have in our school is very unhealthy. That's an unhealthy culture. . And what are the cultures that are manifesting in our schools? There's a culture of what I would call hatred going on in our school. . Oh, culture of bullying. They did a whole thing for years of bullying. Well, what culture were you deal. You have a culture of unhealthy behavior and bullying going on in your school. They always get all squeamish and fear all culture that has just to do with race. And I come from a culture and you come from a culture and everyone that steps themselves into those environments come from a culture Danielle (19:17):I love what you're saying because don't get me wrong. I wanna do this work of anti-racism. Yes. I learned from the president of my grad school Dr. Derek McNeil. He said, Anti-racism is enough for us to say, Hey, stop that. Stop the harm. But where we find healing is within our cultures, In our cultures. You got Mexican culture, you got Irish, you got I'm You got African culture, there's a lot of cultures we could be learning from to bring healing. If we change and we try to operate under the social Akuyea (19:54):That's right. Because think it European Western culture here in this United States. Danielle (20:01):And if we operate under the idea that no, it's just a melting pot or we're just whitewashed, we miss the particularities that cultures can bring us that also don't bring harm. They also bring healing. Akuyea (20:14):One of, you know what, I'm glad you said that. It's not a melting pot. The United States is not. One of the things that Bishop Lawrence Ray Robinson taught us is that we are a salad bowl. We come in with distinctive things within that salad. The onion is the onion. It doesn't lose itself in there. The tomato is the tomato. The lettuce is the lettuce. The broccoli, if you wanted to throw it in there, is broccoli. You know what I'm saying? How I'm the peppers are the peppers, the olives are the olives. Very distinctive. But they come together to have a beautiful, wonderful salad . And each of them bring a distinctive flavor to that salad bowl. . Now when we think of a melting, we're talking about what are we a melting pot? What does that even mean? ? We haven't even examined our own terminology and our own languaging. That can be very confusing. Cause a melting pot means everybody gotta assimilate in that pot. Danielle (21:35):. So I think about this and I think it comes back to our young people. They're smart enough to know what we've been doing isn't working and they're also picking up on what we're leading by example in They're doing the same as us or they're trying to do something different. But I think what you and I were talking about, we need some other frameworks here. This is a crisis. Oh Some action steps. Let's have some frameworks for our community because we are not trying to have a school shooting here. Right? Danielle (22:14):We are ripe. And that is very alarming. We hear about all of these school shootings and atrocities that's happening across our nation and all of these things that are popping off and other countries and everything. But honey, this Kitsap County, I have always said, let us do some intervention and prevention because we don't wanna be on the national news for the atrocities that could be committed in our community. And I can say this, we are no better than any other community. And it can happen here. It can happen Anywhere else. . And that's real because guess what the signs are telling , What is popping up and manifesting in our communities is telling and the unhealthy behavior and activities that have been manifesting is really alarming. And we should be paying attention. And our community is only gonna be as healthy as we are and we're not. Speaker 2 (23:33):Right. There's a high level of depression, a high level of anxiety high level of despair across our adult communities in the area. There's a great Danielle (23:48):There's a great amount of actually division in our community. And I don't think that that division is necessarily wrong. Now listen to me because It tells you where you're at If you say, Oh, we're so divided, let's just come together. I have to say, Wait a minute, let's find out why we're divided. Maybe there's some good reasons. And once we know the reasons, then there's opportunity to tell a more true story about Kitsap County. And through the true story, hopefully we can move towards some reconciliation and understanding. Yeah. Yeah. That's what's gonna benefit our youth. So I don't think it's like, Oh, just throw your kids in mental health therapy. No, you need to be doing the work too. Akuyea (24:38):Yeah. Yeah. I'm glad you said that because one of the things that I've been just kind of thinking of is, what does that even look like? What does truth and reconciliation even look like? And I said, Well, you can't get there if you're not willing to acknowledge The history, acknowledge the culture that's here in our county that has been prevalent here for hundreds of years. Kensett County is a very racist county. Very. If you're not willing to say that, that's a problem. If you're not willing to look at that history here, cross-bar, even lynchings even, you better understand when we talking about the history, the taking of land, all of that. If we go back just to the late 18 hundreds early In this county, we would better know how to move equity forward in our community. But because we're not willing, Oh, everything's tucked under the rug and things that have happened, Oh, those things have been erased. . I can remember that back when I first got here in the nineties, it was a lot of work going on with Raymond Reyes and with Jean Medina and Theor. There was a lot of racist behavior with a lot of ill behavior a lot of what I would call racist ideologies in our school districts at the North end that was manifest. But it was at the south end too. It was in the Mason counties. It was all over. But we were dealing with it here at the north end, the SaaS drive and kids at school district, the Banbridge Island School District they were coming together cuz they had to deal with all the stuff that was popping off in the schools. . And I can remember they formulated common threads and once Jean Medina retired, it was like all those years of work just went away. Bam. And it came straight back. What did that say to me is that racism was alive and well and has always been alive and well in Kitsap County, . And if we're not intentionally addressing it and calling it out, it will continue to manifest and grow. We have to begin to hold the schools and our community accountable for the behavior that, because otherwise what I see is you just give them a green light. You give these young people a mind that okay behavior that that's acceptable. Oh, I can go to school and say, Oh, because that's the culture that breeds here. Danielle (28:19):Right? I mean, you reminded me of some of the history. I actually have a friend who grew up as a child in this area on La Molo on the waterfront, a Japanese American family. They were removed from their house prime property and they were deported to a internment camp and they lost their land right on the Molo. And now when I drive by that piece of property, it's worth millions of dollars. Akuyea (28:50):All I'm saying, right, The removal. And she's not the only one. The removal of native individuals off their own lands, And not, let me say it like this. In the 1920s, they held one of the largest in Seattle. They held a lot of their meetings right here on Bay Bridge Island on Pleasant Beach Back in 1992. When I got here, they were all up in the uproar talking about why did the clan target island? Well it wasn't until I did research later that I found out the history. They have strongholds here. They have headquarters camps all over Kitsap County, . If you do look at Chuck's report, he works with the Human Rights Council. He has done research about the entire region here and the headquarters and where white supremacists and Klan members and all of them set up their headquarters and kids that . So we need to understand the history that has thrived here for over a hundred years , and understand that that culture is alive and well. in Kitsap County, Danielle (30:46):Cause if we tell a false history, we can't actually heal the wound. Akuyea (30:50):It won't be able to. You gotta know your history, good, bad, and ugly. You got to know your history. And let me say this, there are regions that have deep history. If you go down to Mississippi and Alabama, Oh those are strong holes. , Virginia. And guess what? This northwest got stronghold too. . And we act like, oh no, not here, But that's a false narrative. when they left the south back after slavery, they came here to formulate a new frontier. A new frontier in Oregon and in Seattle in this north, deep roots in this northwest. And if we don't even know that history, we are just, we're fooling ourselves into thinking, Oh no, not here. Not in the northwest. We're not like Alabama. I said, But after the Civil War, they came and set up roots here. Strong roots, You don't think so. You better check your history. Danielle (32:30):And I think we can be lulled to sleep because people will say, Well you got a democratic governor and you got a Democratic senator and you vote unquote blue. But we both know that being blue doesn't mean you're telling something true. Akuyea (32:48):Honey, let me tell you what one of the Klan masters said he was taking off his, when he left, it was a split in Oregon. And when he left Oregon and came to Seattle, he said he was taking off his hood and he was putting on a suit He went and got those jobs, started setting policy, started working in government, law enforcement all over. So don't think just because they don't have the hood that they're still not working in those ideologies. Danielle (33:36):, I mean as you've named in Kitsap County, the idea of manifest destiny has been repeated over and over. And we see it in some of the ways that even the county commissioners have ran and used. I'm thinking of one county commissioner that owns land that therefore wants to create housing resource. And the danger of that. And Danielle (34:05):If you don't think it's entrenched and institutionalized, you better think again. If you don't think it's in our systems, you better think again because those systems were created by those individuals. We have to understand the legacy of that as well. , we've got a lot of work to do. I, I can tell you, I don't know everything, but I'm sure willing to research and learn Oh no. We never move out of hopelessness. We are people of hope. We are as human beings. We are people of hope. We always hope for the better. We hope for the son to shine. We hope that we have a good dinner tonight. We are steeped in hopefulness . And for us to operate out of hopelessness is, we ought not to even perpetuate that Because hope is in our dna. is part of our being. You hope your children will do well. you hope you find a good husband. you hope you find someone that can love you the way you wanna be loved. No, we, that's in our DNA to be hopeful, . And when we start being hopeless or working hopelessness, what happens is we start to decline depression and all these other things begin to come into our lives. And oh, it filled with anxiety. When you remove hope from someone's life, then you know what they spiral to that place that they commit self-harming and harm others as well. So no, we don't wanna move outta hopelessness . And we wanna talk about that need. You have to empower our young people to understand we don't move in hopelessness, I even tell a kid, you hope you get an ice cream. Oh yeah, they want that. Yeah, , we can build hope, we can cultivate that. We can begin to push back on hopelessness Danielle (37:05):And I think the way we do that is, it's this funny thing. If you're from a dominant culture and your culture wins by not telling a true story . And it can feel that if you tell the true story or what's behind the curtain, that you will be plunged into despair. And let me say this, you should grieve and be sad and be angry at that history behind the curtain. That is not bad for you. It is And then that will enable you to take small steps to help your young person with a white body Be able to learn to hold history and hold making change. Akuyea (37:52):And what when we continue to perpetuate lies and perpetuate harmful history, we have to do some self examination going on with us that we wanna keep holding this harmful history in place here. What? What's going on with us as human beings that we would want to perpetuate harm on any individual because they're different than I am. They come from somewhere a different, they have a different culture. They talk different . Why do we always go to that place? Danielle (38:56):I think we can learn so much from what happened in different places in the world and how they subject and no one's done it perfectly. Cuz there's not a perfect way to do it. It's messy. But I think of my friend from Germany who's talked about learning about the Holocaust and her family's involvement in the Nazi regime. Family has worked with their own shame and worked to change their attitude towards the Jewish peoples there in Germany and the fighting of that nationalism. And then I think of the conflict in Rwanda and how yes, now be currently neighbors with someone where hoot season and Tutsis that they were formerly enemies. Blood enemies. So it's not that this hasn't been done, but in both those spaces you see that there's memorials to the harm that was done in Germany. Akuyea (39:53):That's exactly right. That's exactly right. They moved. And that's important. They move their nation into addressing the harms that had been perpetuated and those atrocities that had been done. And they had to move their entire nation and the globe into acknowledging and moving those families into a place of healing And that work that was deep work But we've not done that deep work here. Danielle (40:35):No, we haven't. And then we see our young people in despair and acting out the same fights. And then we have the gall to say, Well what's wrong with you Akuyea (40:51):Oh yeah. Oh yeah. And we've gotta take a pause and look at ourselves because we've gotta examine ourselves in this . We can't point fingers. We have to begin to be accountable for the harms that we have done here in our own country. , we wanna always say, Oh well that was Germany and oh that was Africa. That was over in Asia. What about what happened on this soil? You exterminated the entire indigenous population. . There are tribes we'll never see again. Think about that. And have we even addressed those atrocities, All of the souls that was lost during the trans-Atlantic slave trade that didn't even reach the shores. And if the sea could give up her dead, she could tell a story. But yet we don't wanna step into that harmful history. We don't wanna acknowledge that harmful history. We don't wanna talk about, Oh, don't teach my child how in school this critical race theory thing. Oh no, no, no, no, no, no. Don't dig that up. Don't bring that up And I said, Well what's the pushback on telling whole history Danielle (43:02):And I think from a Latino Latinx perspective, there has to be the acknowledgement of the anti-blackness in our culture.Affects our sisters and brothers in the communities of color outside of us. I hate from Latinos. And what's interesting, all those mixtures are part of what makes a Latino Akuyea (43:31):Thank you. That's why I said, Oh, we have to understand we're where we come from our history. Cause that's where the work begins. Danielle (43:41):And then the xenophobia Cultivated. And I think what is important about knowing this history for me, because then I have to say, and I'm Oh, I'm gonna die in shame. I'm some shame. But it's a way for me to say, how do I build connection with you then Akuyea (44:03):I wish Carrie was on here because we work with our equity sisters and we've worked with our Kitsap race and for a whole year we were doing aging our voices and speaking truth together with our Kitsap serves. Those Europeans showing up for racial justice and all of us. And coming together, it was the coming together to be able to talk about some hard things and for them to be able to hear and for us to be able to hear, for us to be able to share our experiences and our voices and be able to put it down and be able for them to say, I'm feeling like Harry would say, Am I in denial here? Is this implicit? Buy it, what's going on? But to do that self, that type of self evaluation and be able to stay in that space when it was very uncomfortable, to deal with some hard history And so those are transformational, engaging opportunities and experiences that we've got to bring to the table. That's real truth and reconciliation, . That's the layer of foundation to be able to move forward and be able to heal and be able to reconcile and talk about how we gonna reconcile it. What will we do? How will we begin to build a healthy way of engaging with one another and build in a relationship. Now the relationship might not be tight. I might not be come away being old lovey dovey fu fu fu. But understanding one another and being able to speak peacefully to one another. being able to say, You know what? I agree or I don't agree. And stay in that space where we can work through some of the challenges that we have and some of the difference of opinions and ideals we have between one another. Danielle (46:29):And I think our kids are just waiting for us to pass these tools to them. My daughter was part of a meeting and part of what happened with my daughter who's Mexican, is that she heard a classmate called the N word and then spoke up about it and then was sharing that story. And then one of the Latino students was talking about , how another Latino student was talking about being told to go across the border. And my daughter shared that the African American student presence said, I don't want that to be like that for you. That doesn't happen to me. I wish I knew so I could say something before they got there faster than I've gotten there. Akuyea (47:13):But you know what? And I can say this, and this is not taking away back to where you came from. This ain't your country. And I'm like, how did we be an enslaved and brought here in chains? You be able to say, you need to go back to where you come from. I didn't come here , many came. But most of the Africans that are enslaved to these Americas, they come here on their own He knows, he knows. And we have to talk. I mean for us to sit here, whether we're black, white, Asian, Pacific Islanders or Dominicans or Puertoricans or we have a understanding of who we are, Where we come from, our ancestral history, history of our parents and their parents and their parents parents, . We carry all of that in our dna We understand in a way that we should be able to have some healthy conversations and not feel bad about who we are. But many of our children have been forced into force assimilation in this nation. , they got to lose who they are in assimilate to be accepted, which very unhealthy they made the native students, you either assimilate or exterminate And the same thing with a lot of the enslaved Africans that they brought here. I don't call myself a African American. I come from an enslaved people brought to a stolen land. An enslaved to this America. I'm African I'm an African woman who's ancestors were stolen and enslaved to these lands. They've gone over, What do you wanna call yourself? I call myself black. I'm black. Danielle (50:18):As we're wrapping up here, how do folks are at listening? It's voting day. We have all the charge of the events. I think people are gonna hear the passion in our voices today. I wonder in Kitsap County, how can folks connect to you? How can I think, I wanna encourage us to have more of these restorative circles. How can they get in touch with you? How can they support what we are trying to do in this community? Akuyea (50:52):Yes. Well, you can always get in contact with the work with Kitsap Erase coalition, with the work that we do in our schools with our multicultural advisory council, with Living life leadership, with the Living Arts Cultural Heritage Project. I mean, I'm accessible in our community. I try to make myself available for our parents, for our students, for community members. We like to work in coalition . We understand that we can work in silos and we can work alone in our agencies and our stuff. But I'm more concerned about the collective collaborative work that it will take all of us to do to transform our communities . We have to be able to learn how to work together with one another as human beings. So yes, if you go on Kitsap e Race coalition, you'll be able to connect with the coalition because we want us to be able to cultivate working together. On. No, you ok girl. . No, we wanna be able to work together and if we got is let's talk about our issues and together and see how we can have a healthy relationship with one another. Danielle (52:35):We are one place, but this is the work we need to be doing across in small conversations like this across our country, which can lead. Akuyea (53:11):That's right, that's right. And hear me say this, we have a unique opportunity to model something not just for our children, our families, our community members, our schools. We have the unique opportunity to model for a nation how to do the work in your own community to bring about change. Danielle (53:37):We do have that opportunity. Akuyea (53:40):And to me, that's inspiring to me. That's what gets my juices up and flowing in the morning. 

Episode 328 | Karen Vargas presents the Daily Dose. 

Come watch the documentary film “End Game” May 29 at BIMA and stay for a discussion with local support providers. Ignoring death doesn’t make it not happen, so why not learn what kind of options you and your love ones have. Listen here as Elizabeth Coplan discusses "End Game", an Academy Award nominated film, which helps open up the discussion about end-of-life planning. Ms. Coplan, a 30 year Bainbridge resident, is a playwright, author, and founder of Grief Dialogues, which uses theatre to approach dying and death. After the 40 minute showing of the film, there will be a panel discussion with eminent experts in the field. Among them are Dr. Sharon Stanley and Karen Vargas who, also, live on the Island and will talk about local resource support, such as Island Volunteer Caregivers. This free community event is open to all ages and stages in life. It is never too soon to confront our questions and fears about about this all-to-human process. People are beginning to realize that they don't want to burden their families with difficult health decision or financial hardships towards the end of life. Learn about palliative care, which improves the quality of life for those with serious illnesses, and hospice. Come to the Bainbridge Island Art Museum auditorium on Wednesday, May 29 at 6:30 p.m. to see this film and stay to join in the question and answer session about end-of-life planning and resources. There will also be a screening of "End Game" in Seattle on Tuesday May 28, 7 p.m. at Kane Hall, U. of W., also with a panel discussion to follow. Reserve your seat at Brown Paper tickets or go to griefdialogues.com. Seating is limited at BIMA, so be sure to reserve your seat early." Credits: BCB Host: Carolyn Goad; BCB audio editor and publisher: Chris Walker

Experience music, performances, exhibits, food and the joy of community at this year’s “Culture Celebration: What’s Your Story?” event on Thursday, May 23rd at Woodward Middle School from 5-8pm. In celebration of the many diverse cultures that make up our island, the school district’s Multicultural Advisory Council is hosting an evening of delight, diversity and inclusion on Bainbridge. Listen to this podcast as Katy Curtis, Chasity Malatesta, Joyce Nishimura and Karen Vargas, four of the event’s organizers, talk about how Bainbridge can create a more connected and welcoming community to all, and why this is particularly important for our youth. This is a free, family-friendly event with activities for all ages and many opportunities to connect as a community. Come join the celebration! Credits: BCB host: Christina Hulet; audio editor: Diane Walker; publisher Chris Walker.

En Al Tablero tuvimos una invitada muy especial. Se trata de Karen Vargas, una estudiante muy destacada de nuestra universidad, Universidad La Gran Colombia, quien vino en representación de sus compañeros y nos contó un poco de vida y de las razones que la llevaron a elegir su carrera como profesional.

On this special episode, we catch up with Bainbridge Island's own Karen Vargas. She was kind enough to sit with us at the beautiful Bainbridge Island Museum of Art and tell us how the Bainbridge Island School District's Multicultural Advisory Council was formed. Remember Frank Kitamoto, longtime leader of Bainbridge Island's Japanese American community?  This is an audio gem. The one and only, Mrs. Karen Vargas deep dives into her history when she shares how she got connected to race equity on Bainbridge Island. Wake Up Bainbridge! and Stay Woke.

This is Part 2 of the conversation Bainbridge Needs to Have. Sal DeRosalia and Karen Vargas connect to discuss a topic that is near and dear to their hearts; race equity on Bainbridge Island. They go in depth on topics like a welcome message Karen received on her answering machine from the "friendly neighborhood Klu Klux Klan" to the status on our City's current Task Force. Join Karen and Sal as they open up on this difficult and personal topic. They even give an update on REN... Now that's Bainbridge Island News.

This is the conversation Bainbridge Needs to Have. Sal DeRosalia and Karen Vargas connect to discuss a topic that is near and dear to their hearts; race equity on Bainbridge Island. They go in depth on topics like a welcome message Karen received on her answering machine from the "friendly neighborhood Klu Klux Klan" to the status on our City's current Task Force. Join Karen and Sal as they open up on this difficult and personal topic. They even give an update on REN... Now that's Bainbridge Island News.

Listen in on our MLK Day interview with Karen Vargas. We talk about the differences in grieving and how we are ultimately all the same.

Music, poetry, artwork, tasty treats, children's activities and more abound at the 1st Annual Martin Luther King Celebration coming up this coming Sunday, January 20, at the Bainbridge Island Art Museum from 4-8 pm. In celebration of the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, the Race Equity Network of Bainbridge Island is hosting the first annual celebration of diversity, inclusion and culture on Bainbridge. Listen to this podcast as Erin Phillips and Karen Vargas, two of the event’s organizers, talk about why Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s message continues to resonate today and what we can do on Bainbridge to create the loving and compassionate community he envisioned. This is a free, family-friendly event with activities for all ages and many opportunities to connect as a community: don't miss out on the fun! Credits: BCB host: Christina Hulet; audio editor and publisher: Diane Walker; social media: Jen St. Louis.

This episode we talk RACE with Sal, Karen and Brenda MLK DAY, Book-IMAGINE ME, Race Equity Task Force application The B.I.STANDER PODCAST is a conversational podcast unique to Bainbridge Island and Seattle that covers culture, current events, humor, sports, technology, politics, island activities, environment, quality of life issues, wellness and just about everything else. The intent is to introduce interesting people, ideas, and conversations. We are not perfect and that's OK! Thank you for your understanding.  Our Podcast is brought to you by: Eagle Harbor Insurance Blue Canary Great Northern Electric Scott Lever RePointe real estate group Follow us on Facebook  Music performed by Band of Steves of The Island Music Guild. 206-780-6911 lessons@islandmusic.org  *additional sound effects from https://www.zapsplat.com  

What is it like for people of color to live on Bainbridge? What is race equity? And, how do we create a community where all feel a sense of belonging and inclusion? The Bainbridge City Council is setting up a Race Equity Task Force to explore these issues, and you could join. In this podcast, BCB host Christina Hulet sits down with Sal DeRosalia of CrossFit gym, Erin Phillips of We Live Here Too, City Councilmember Matt Tirman and Karen Vargas, Co-Chair of the Multicultural Advisory Council to discuss these complex questions -- questions that the city's newly formed Race Equity Task Force will consider when it convenes in February. The City Council approved a motion during the December 4 Study Session to form a Race Equity Task Force to provide advice and counsel to the Council to ensure that Bainbridge Island serves as an open and welcoming community for all. The City is seeking seven volunteers to serve on the Task Force, which will meet once a month at City Hall. The day and time of the meetings will be decided at a future date. Councilmembers Matt Tirman, Rasham Nassar and Joe Deets will also serve on the Task Force. If you're interested in serving on the Race Equity Task Force, applications can be found on the City's website, and must be submitted by 4 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 25. Task Force interviews will take place Jan. 28 – Jan. 31.  More information on the Race Equity Task Force and how to apply is available on the city's website: visit https://www.bainbridgewa.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=548  to learn more. Credits: BCB host: Christina Hulet; audio editor and publisher: Diane Walker; social media: Jen St. Louis.

What is it like for people of color to live on Bainbridge? What is race equity? And, how do we create a community where all feel a sense of belonging and inclusion? The Bainbridge City Council is setting up a Race Equity Task Force to explore these issues, and you could join. In this podcast, BCB host Christina Hulet sits down with Sal DeRosalia of CrossFit gym, Erin Phillips of We Live Here Too, City Councilmember Matt Tirman and Karen Vargas, Co-Chair of the Multicultural Advisory Council to discuss these complex questions -- questions that the city's newly formed Race Equity Task Force will consider when it convenes in February. The City Council approved a motion during the December 4 Study Session to form a Race Equity Task Force to provide advice and counsel to the Council to ensure that Bainbridge Island serves as an open and welcoming community for all. The City is seeking seven volunteers to serve on the Task Force, which will meet once a month at City Hall. The day and time of the meetings will be decided at a future date. Councilmembers Matt Tirman, Rasham Nassar and Joe Deets will also serve on the Task Force. If you're interested in serving on the Race Equity Task Force, applications can be found on the City’s website, and must be submitted by 4 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 25. Task Force interviews will take place Jan. 28 – Jan. 31.  More information on the Race Equity Task Force and how to apply is available on the city’s website: visit https://www.bainbridgewa.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=548  to learn more. Credits: BCB host: Christina Hulet; audio editor and publisher: Diane Walker; social media: Jen St. Louis.

For a medley of delicious foods, cultural performances, speakers and exhibits, come and enjoy Bainbridge Island's  Celebration of Cultures at the Woodward Middle School, this Thursday, May 31, from 6:30 to 8:30 pm. Evolved from the Cultural Fair that was a staple part of Bainbridge education for so many years, the Celebration of Cultures is sponsored by the Bainbridge Island School District and the Multi-Cultural Advisory Council, and now welcomes the entire  community to its celebration. In this podcast, Karen Vargas, Multi-Cultural Advisory Co-Chair, describes the multitude of performances, speakers and exhibits by diverse groups such as the Japanese-American, Suquamish, African-American, Filipino, and other communities at this exciting event. Designed for community members of all ages, whether or not they have family members in the school, this event will also offer a variety of ethnic foods, including African-American, Filipino, Native American, East Indian, Thai, Vietnamese, and Mexican. For a deliciously diverse evening, you won't want to miss this one! Credits: BCB host: Betsy Lydle Smith; audio tech Chris Walker; audio editor and publisher: Diane Walker.

Karen Vargas, the associate dean of admission for multicultural recruitment at Providence College, has guided students through the college admissions process for 15 years. In this episode, she details how students and their parents should communicate with admissions staffers at college fairs, high school visits, or through email and phone calls. Vargas also describes PC's multicultural recruitment and why she remains a resource for students long after they enroll at PC.