HomeMy WebLinkAboutHRCMinutes_2022_11_17
Brookings Human Rights Commission Minutes
Thursday, November 17, 2022
Brookings City/County Government Center and Zoom Meeting App
Attendance: Nieema Thasing (chair -online); Dianne Nagy (vice-chair – online); Lawrence Novotny,
(recorder and CLEAR Partners liaison– in person); Dan Berg (online); Amanda Fickes (online); Carla
Gatzke (online); Mark Johnson (in person); Erica Moore (online); Emma Qurashi (student representative
& behavioral health liaison – online); Charlene ‘Charlie’ Ward (county representative & Disabilities
Awareness Committee liaison– in person); Caleb Johnson (police liaison - online); Mikaela Neubauer
(library liaison – in person); Marjoanne Thompson (SDSU liaison – online); Casey Bell (city human
resources & staff liaison – in person);
Absent: Marci Gebers (sheriff’s office liaison); Bruce Pengra (sustainability council liaison); Michele
Vande Weerd (school liaison)
Guest: Behnoosh Amandi, Brookings Multi-Cultural Center; D’Shaun Herman, upcoming Brookings
County representative
Vice-chair Nagy called the meeting to order at 5:32 pm. (Chair Thasing had a computer issue.)
Introductions were made.
Mark Johnson is a new member. He moved to Brookings in 2021 and is the pastor at United
Church of Christ. UCC has a strong concern in all areas of social justice.
D’Shaun Herman will replace Charlie Ward as the county representative in January. He is the
multi-cultural recruitment coordinator at SDSU.
Behnoosh Amandi moved to Brookings in 2019, works at SDSU, and has a strong interest in
human rights.
Nagy moved, Novotny seconded, to approve the agenda with the addition of: library liaison, community
survey, SDWAC request, MEI scorecard, Butler award, March working group review. Motion passed.
Nagy moved, Moore seconded, to approve the minutes of the October 20 meeting. Motion passed.
Liaison Reports:
Brookings Police Dept (Johnson): Turnout for coffee with a cop has not been good. BPD hold
“breakfast with badges”, a meeting with Camelot Intermediate School students. BPD is seeking
donations for its Christmas with a Cop program. The Citizens First Responders Academy graduated its
first class of 15 people. Thasing participated and said it was a great experience.
University Police Dept (Johnson): UPD has held information presentations with SDSU students”
• Rape accusation and self-defense for women
• “Fizz with Fuzz” which is officers meetings with resident hall students over soda
• Educating international students regarding SD laws
• Active shooter trainings
Caleb Johnson left at this point
SDSU liaison (Thompson): The Gender and Sexualities Alliance held its fall drag show last night which
had a record attendance of around 400. The show drew media attention after some conservative
legislators reacted when the show was advertised as “kid-friendly”.
Library Neubauer already has events lined up for Black History Month in February.
Brookings Inclusive Collaborative (Neubauer, Fickes and Novotny): There were around 50 participants
(mix of students and community people – heavy on the students) that participated in 7 different
discussion groups. Around 75 people attended the Out In Rural America film screening and discussion
with filmmaker Fiona Willis (lives in Custer SD) at the SD Art Museum on November 9.
Working Groups and old business:
Social Media: Fickes and Herman will be revitalizing this WG.
Common Read (Ward): There was good attendance at the Griffith Lecture featuring author Kareem
Rossing. So far, we have not received an invoice from SDSU Common Read for our share ($2500) of
the Griffith Lecture. SDSU already is reviewing a list of potential books for the 2023 common read.
Gatzke is interested in representing BHRC on the common read committee.
LGBTQ (Novotny): The Brookings Parks & Recreation board approved the use of Pioneer Park on June
3 for the 2023 pride event.
Training (Bell): The policies and procedures are almost finalized. The city attorney is satisfied with
the WG recommendations. Training and implementation will be starting soon.
Black Culture Awareness (Thasing and others): Materials for the MLK poster and essay contests have
been distributed to: Brookings public schools, Elkton school, Sioux Valley (Volga), Deubrook School
(White), and Advance. Materials were delivered to Arlington school which the school declined since it
is located in Kingsbury County. Those materials will be re-distributed to the Freedom Academy, a
Brookings Christian school, and home schools. December 15 is the deadline to receive submissions
with the winners to be announced on January 02.
Thasing added the phrase “Africans in the Diaspora” as a parenthetical title to Black Culture Awareness
WG. Wikipedia defines African Diaspora as a collection of communities descended from native
Africans or people from Africa, predominantly in the Americas. The term most commonly refers to the
descendants of the West and Central Africans who were enslaved and shipped to the Americas via the
Atlantic slave trade between the 16th and 19th centuries, with their largest populations in the United
States, Brazil and Haiti.
Indigenous Peoples (Moore): The Indigenous Peoples Festival will be held at the Mikkelson Middle
School on November 19 from 11 am – 4 pm. It will feature drummers, singers, and dancers from
Flandreau Indian School and Sisseton. A Lakota PhD chemist will be giving science presentations.
There will be Indian tacos, hand games, and vendors. The event is being promoted thru social media.
We will try to have a BHRC information table.
Budget
Bell reported that $324 spent in the spring was for purchase of pride flags. We still have around $500 in
merchandise to purchase. That leaves $115 unallocated for the end of the fiscal year (ends December
31). Thasing stated the BJet will be donating $150 to BHRC as its share of this year’s Juneteenth event.
Moore received a $1000 from a donor to cover the cost of the Mikkelson Middle School venue for
Indigenous Peoples Festival. However, she has almost committed a $1000 from her personal funds for
the drummers, singers, and dancers.
Nagy moved, Ward seconded, that any unallocated or unused funds remaining in this year’s budget be
given to Moore to help cover her costs of the Indigenous Peoples Festival. Motion passed>
Qurashi, Thompson, and Herman left at this point.
New Business
Meeting Dates/Format. Our current third Thursday meeting date creates a conflict for our newest
member. Fickes will conduct a Doodle poll to find an agreed upon meeting date for December and
hopefully next year.
The Butler Award will be presented to Tom and Jeanne Manzer at the mayor’s awards event at
December 01 at the Swiftel Center. Nagy will present the award. Note: We did not receive any
nominations for the Youth Award or the Youth Ally Award.
SD World Affairs Council requested BHRC participation in their Mongolian Open World program on
December 08. The Mongolian delegation will be visiting Brookings under a program called Open
World. Open World is authorized, funded and administered by the US Congress as a means to promote
free enterprise and democracy among the nations of the former USSR and other emerging democracies.
The Mongolian delegation has a particular interest in the functioning of NGOs or non-profit
organizations in the US. How groups organize, recruit, raise revenue, promote issues are among their
organization interests. In addition, members of the delegation have expressed interest in groups
promoting broad human rights, women's rights, children's rights and the rights of disadvantaged persons.
Novotny participated in past Open World programs involving two different Ukrainian delegations.
Moore, Novotny, and Nagy volunteered to represented BHRC in the meeting with the Mongolian
delegation.
The following items were tabled to a future meeting:
How will we proceed with Common Read
Community survey
MEI scorecard
Review of WG
Educating ourselves – Thasing would like us to read a book Nice Racism.
Discussion of pamphlets handled out by sheriff and police departments
DEI training
Adjourn:
Meeting adjourned at 6:54 pm.
Submitted by Lawrence Novotny, recorder