We have come a long way, yet it’s time to refocus on anti-racism. On Feb. 10, the latest iteration of the Anti-Racism Workshops will begin with a new cohort of LMU colleagues.
Building on President Snyder’s implicit-bias initiative and fostering the spirit of the Anti-Racism Project initiated a few years ago, we are continuing our efforts to dig deeper, to understand better, and to act with integrity as individuals and as a community.
Let me introduce myself. I am Jamal Epperson and I joined Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion as the new assistant director of DEI Initiatives. As a first-gen, queer, Black, multiracial, non-binary educator, I center abolition and radical love within my work. As the inaugural AD of DEI Initiatives, I am elated to build a stronger coalition within the university to promote a culture shift that encourages others to utilize a DEI lens.
I have emphasized that anti-racism is not just about race: it’s intersectional and focuses on the ways in which we liberate all people. Anti-racism is not a noun, but a verb. As Bettina Love says in “We Want to Do More than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom:” “Recognizing and acknowledging White privilege is cute, but what does it mean without action?”
We can always talk about what it looks like to be anti-racist, but without action it creates a performative atmosphere and furthers gradualist change amongst our communities. Anti-racism from a feminist abolitionist framework emphasizes radical love, freedom dreaming, and creates co-conspirators. From this perspective, we can create new systems, processes, and procedures that include the voices of those who were not originally in society’s dominant narrative.
Participants at our spring semester LAWS – LMU Anti-Racism Workshop Series – will be introduced to our participatory, interactive format, where we will unpack the four I’s of racism (interpersonal, intrapersonal, institutional, and ideological) with engaging activities and community building conversations. The second workshop in March will go deeper into the characteristics of white supremacy and take a longer look at possible action. Together these daylong workshops are next steps in a journey where we may never arrive at its destination, but nonetheless must travel.
My own journey began in Dearborn Heights and Davison, Michigan. I earned my B.A. at Western Michigan University before moving to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Marquette University for the master’s degree program in student affairs in higher education. In 2019, I joined LMU as a resident director for Del Rey North, yet I was consistently drawn to DEI work in my office and throughout the Student Affairs Division. I have found the LMU community as one where I can be my authentic self and see our students do the same. The community here really fosters one where folx are taken care of.
At LMU, restorative justice has also become a huge part of my work and praxis within anti-racism. With the Jesuit values so deeply ingrained with LMU’s community, there are many synonymous aspects that allow restorative justice to thrive. As the restorative justice work of Julia Wade, Schoene Mahmood, and Ariane White have been uplifted throughout campus, there have been more opportunities for folx to humanize one another through the power of storytelling. Through this work I have been so inspired I am currently pursuing my doctorate at the University of San Francisco in international multicultural education. My dissertation will be on utilizing restorative justice as a praxis of human education and abolition.
My hope for these workshops is to inspire participants to work within their own spheres of influence to become co-conspirators within the anti-racism project. We can and will do this together.
Check the LMU Events calendar for the LMU Anti-Racism Workshop Series.
