Bakari Sellers tells local audience progress has been made but there’s work to be done – Journal Times

SOMERS There were two questions posed by Bakari Sellers to the attendees of the P2F Conference on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion held Tuesday and Wednesday at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside.

How far have we come? And where do we go from here?

Sellers was the keynote speaker for the conference that brought together organizations and businesses from the area to discuss practical and intentional applications of diversity, equity and inclusion principles.

In asking the questions, Sellers made clear the ensuing discussion was not just for communities of color but for everyone.

Sellers described it as the journey were on together for a more perfect union.

There is a duty everyone has, he said, to leave the country better than you found it.

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History

Sellers covered a lot of history in his short speech:

These events were not a long time ago, Sellers said. If Emmitt Till had lived, he would be younger than Nancy Pelosi and a year older than President Joe Biden.

Bakari Sellers spoke of the courage of Mamie Till, the mother of Emmitt Till, who was the victim of racist violence in Mississippi in 1955 when he was just 14 years old. Mamie Till insisted her son have an open casket, so people could see the violence done to her son. She also allowed photographers to take pictures, which were then distributed across the country. Sellers told the young people in the audience to take out their phones and Google Emmitt Till's funeral photo to understand how Mamie Till sparked a generation of civil rights activism. Shown here, Amarion Schroeder looks on while Dr. Arletta Frazier pulls up the famous photo.

Communities of colorare still struggling, he continued, and pointed to the lack of access to affordable housing, clean water and barriers to the ballot box in many cities.

Kids still go to school where the heating and cooling does not work, the infrastructure is dilapidated, and they are literally punished for the zip code they were born into, Sellers said.

Weve made a lot of progress, Sellers told those in attendance, but we still have yet a ways to go.

Sellers

Sellers is the son of civil rights activist Cleveland Sellers, who survived the 1968 Orangeburg Massacre in which South Carolina state troopers opened fire on students, injuring 28 and killing three. The state troopers were acquitted of using excessive use-of-force, but Cleveland Sellers was convicted of rioting and served a year in prison at hard labor. He was later pardoned.

The younger Sellers would follow in his fathers footsteps but in endeavors not available to the previous generation. He became the youngest black official in the countrys history when he was elected in 2006 to the South Carolina House of Representatives at just 22 years old.

He now works as an attorney and is a New York Times best-selling author and CNN political commentator.

What next

As for what is next, Sellers said, That question is damn hard and it gives me anxiety. Its something I think about every day.

He noted it was a question discussed by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the book titled, Where Do We Go From Here?

Sellers explained King did not ask open-ended questions or give choices. For King, there was either freedom or bondage, justice or injustice, chaos or community.

For Sellers, the answer to where we go from here lies in the ability to love your neighbors even when they dont love you.

Sellers said that was an action item, but also a hard one, especially for members of the black community.

Thats the challenge, he said. Thats the burden. Thats very, very difficult.

Sellers admitted it was aspirational for him.

I dont want anyone here to think Ive achieved this, but He aint done with me yet, Sellers said.

The second thing he advised was learning to dream with your eyes open.

I fundamentally believe theres nothing irredeemable about this country, Sellers said, We just have to reimagine what she looks like.

He explained that meant reimagining systems of oppression that are bearing down on so many, deconstruct those and reimagine those so theyre equitable for all.

P2F

The conference where Sellers made his remarks was organized by Payne & Frazier Consultants, located in downtown Racine.

The P2F Conference on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion had the support of the Payne Family contingency. From left: Dr. Deonte Moss, Dr. Krontayia Payne-Moss, Kayla Payne, Alonzo Payne, and Kimberly Payne.

Malik Frazier (far right) was very excited to hear from his mom, Dr. Arletta Frazier (shown center), that Bakari Sellers would be the keynote speaker at the P2F Conference on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Arletta said when he was young, she always ensured that he read books, which sparked his interest in politics. While Sellers may be one of his heroes, Malik said his mom continued to be his inspiration. However, when the time came, Malik did not pursue a political career. He works as a deputy with the Racine County Sheriff's Office and is in the Army Reserve.

Kimberly Payne and Dr. Arletta Frazier formed the company five years ago. They specialize in community engagement, offer training in diversity, equity, and inclusion, and work with vulnerable populations, which includes the Right Direction mentoring program through Racine Unified School District that assists at-risk youth.

Payne told the attendees of the conference, I have a simple desire to do good work that matters in our community.

The P2F Conference for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Understanding Our Past and Present Building our Future was designed to provide professionals and community members with practical DEI information.

Payne explained people might attend DEI conferences but are challenged to implement what they learned once they returned to their offices.

She said the information provided at the conference was designed to be useful and usable. The conference was also an opportunity for people to discuss changing demographics and cultural identity development.

Payne added they sought to challenge participants to explore and examine their own biases, their own cultures, and explore how they engage with others as a result of that.

Dr. Arletta Frazier said the second day of the conference would include topics of DEI by design; that is, what DEI should look like for the individuals organization and the intentional actions that could be undertaken to apply the principles discussed at the conference.

She said the conference was an opportunity to really design what DEI means to them and how it was going to look moving forward.

Additionally, the attendees would develop an understanding that diversity is actually a broad term.

We always want to put diversity as black and white, due to the climate that were living in right now, especially since George Floyd, so we want to always put a color to it, Frazier said. But diversity is broad and much larger than that.

The conference also sought to educate people on the necessity of creating environments that are equitable for all; that is, removing barriers that hinder people from being successful.

Dr. Arletta Frazier said it was important that young, Black men in the community be at the keynote speech by Bakari Sellers. She wanted them to see a successful Black man, to understand what was possible. Dontavious Steeves, front, and Giovanni King, back, both had questions for Sellers. King wanted to know if Sellers was running for president. He replied he was not.

Frazier explained it is not enough to hire people from diverse backgrounds. Organizations must also ensure their diverse populations are successful in those positions, that their voices are respected and brought to the table.

The keyword, she continued, was intentional. Having a professional environment where diverse populations thrive does not happen by chance; instead, it happens when those in charge take deliberate actions intentional actions to ensure a thriving workforce.

Anny Morrobel-Sosa, UW System vice president for academic and student affairs, speaks during a press conference on campus Wednesday announcing a project funded through a Workforce Innovation Grant that will draw on regional partnerships to teach employable skills to incarcerated students while and work to reduce racial disparities in education, income and incarceration.

Anny Morrobel-Sosa, UW System vice president for academic and student affairs, speaks during a press conference on campus Wednesday announcing a project funded through a Workforce Innovation Grant that will draw on regional partnerships to teach employable skills to incarcerated students while and work to reduce racial disparities in education, income and incarceration.

Wisconsin Department of Corrections Secretary Kevin Carr speaks during a press conference Wednesday at UW-Parkside announcing a project funded through a Workforce Innovation Grant that will draw on regional partnerships to teach employable skills to incarcerated students and work to reduce racial disparities in education, income and incarceration.

UW-Parkside Chancellor Debbie Ford speaks during a press conference on campus Wednesday announcing a project funded through a Workforce Innovation Grant that will draw on regional partnerships to teach employable skills to incarcerated students and work to reduce racial disparities in education, income and incarceration.

UW-Parkside Chancellor Debbie Ford speaks during a press conference on campus Wednesday announcing a project funded through a Workforce Innovation Grant that will draw on regional partnerships to teach employable skills to incarcerated students and work to reduce racial disparities in education, income and incarceration.

UW-Parkside Communications Professor Jonathan Shailor, center, stands to be recognized during a press conference on campus Wednesday, announcing a project funded through a Workforce Innovation Grant that will draw on regional partnerships to teach employable skills to incarcerated students and work to reduce racial disparities in education, income and incarceration. Shailor has led the Shakespeare Project at the Racine Correctional Institute since the 1990s, a partnership between Parkside and the Racine prison which provides a chance for inmates to study and perform the works of William Shakespeare.

Anny Morrobel-Sosa, UW System vice president for academic and student affairs, speaks during a press conference on campus Wednesday announcing a project funded through a Workforce Innovation Grant that will draw on regional partnerships to teach employable skills to incarceratedstudents while and work to reduce racial disparities in education, income and incarceration.

We always want to put diversity as black and white, due to the climate that were living in right now, especially since George Floyd, so we want to always put a color to it. But diversity is broad and much larger than that.

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Bakari Sellers tells local audience progress has been made but there's work to be done - Journal Times