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Brookings Human Rights Commission Minutes (unapproved)
Thursday, May 11, 2023
Brookings City/County Government Center and Zoom Meeting App
Attendance: Nieema Thasing (chair - online); Dianne Nagy (vice-chair – in person); Lawrence
Novotny, (recorder and CLEAR Partners liaison – in person); Amanda Fickes (in person); Carla Gatzke
(online); Caleb Johnson (police liaison – in person); Marjoanne Thompson Collins (SDSU liaison -
online); Casey Bell (city human resources & staff liaison – in person);
Absent: Behnoosh Amandi (county representative); Mark Johnson; Erica Moore; Emma Qurashi
(student representative & behavioral health liaison); Joseph Ulloa (student representative): Asledi
Castillo (SA diversity liaison); Marci Gebers (sheriff’s office liaison); Mikaela Neubauer (library
liaison); Michele Vande Weerd (school liaison)
Chair Thasing called the meeting to order at 5:37 pm.
Due to lack of a quorum, discussion occurred. No official action was taken.
Joseph Ulloa has been confirmed as the new student representative. Asledi Castillo has been accepted
as the SDSU Student Association’s diversity liaison.
Anti-bullying PEAK campaign
Nagy and Thasing suggested advancing the anti-bully campaign using positive language. They
proposed calling it the PEAK (promoting empathy and kindness) campaign. They want to create a
PEAR task force. Suggestions for people to serve on the task force were: Amanda Fickes (has a social
worker’s degree), a representative of CLEAR Partners, a member of the Brookings Interfaith Council,
possibly a member from the Brookings League of Voters, a representative from the Brookings school
system, possibly a representative from the SDSU student educators group, a representative from the
Boys & Girls Club.
Educating ourselves
Everyone is to read the book Nice Racism. Question: how does everyone get a copy of the book?
DEI training
Fickes reported that Marlene Schultz (a former SDSU professor) is willing to give a presentation to the
BHRC. A doodle poll will be conducted to schedule a date.
An e-mail was sent giving the bio of a Julian ???. He will also be invited to give a presentation to the
BHRC at a separate meeting.
Increasing our Agility
See April minutes for the background on this. Bell reported that the city clerk has not given any official
response on being able to make an urgent decision via e-mail. Novotny reported that the Sustainability
Council used e-mail to make a decision with the results being entered into the next meeting’s minutes.
Goal Strategizing
One of the strategies of Brookings Economic Development Master Plan is to promote a citywide
diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and welcoming initiative. The action items listed are:
Assemble a diverse advisory committee
Catalog best practices across North America, focusing on inclusive economic development,
business support programs, and welcoming initiatives
Utilize the City of Brookings marketing and communication platforms to welcome new
residents and promote various citywide DEI initiatives
Celebrate the cultural diversity of Brookings
Devise a citywide DEI Action Plan
The BHRC is invited to help implement this strategy. Jacob Meshke, deputy city manager, has been
assigned as coordinator of this strategy. Bell will setup a meeting involving the chair & vice-chair. A
presentation will be given in July or August.
Budget
Thasing stated we need more money to conduct our projects.
Bell stated we need to decide what to do the dollars allocated to the annual common read project. Will
we continue to donate $2500 each year to the campus common read speaker?
Pride
Brookings Pride is Saturday, June 03, at Pioneer Park. The pride planning committee is starting out
with zero funds. Novotny is asking the BHRC to donate $150 to the pride event to cover the cost of
rental of a PA system. Since there was not a quorum, the request and vote will be conducted via e-
mail.
A member from the BHRC is needed to staff the BHRC table at Pride.
Tent and table
Novotny provided his own personal tent and table to setup the BHRC booth at past Pride and Juneteenth
events. He can’t do that this year since the tent and table are needed by other orgs. Novotny suggested
that the city purchase a tent and table to be used by the various city boards and committees. The city
manager instead encourages borrowing a tent from the Swiftel Center and a table from the parks &
recreation department. Thasing would like to have BHRC purchase a table for our use.
Common Read
This year’s book is An Immense World by Ed Yong. The book describes how animals are sensitive to
their environment. The SDSU common read program will begin Sensing "Our" World, where the
students take the opportunity to explore their own sensory experiences while learning, understanding,
and appreciating the experience of animals that share the natural world with them.
Gatzke stated that the book does not have any relevant human rights issues. It was suggested that the
BHRC could incorporate events from the book into the annual white cane activity and that this activity
be held in October this year so it can be listed as part of the SDSU common read events. This idea will
be forwarded to Disabilities Awareness Committee. Who is the liaison with disabilities?
A professional development Zoom meeting was held on May 09, The recording of the meeting will be
made available.
Awards
The city clerk will be issuing a PR seeking nominations for the mayor’s annual awards. Nomination
deadline is July 07 with the selection being made by August 01.
Working group reports
SOCIAL MEDIA/COMMUNICATIONS
Nagy asked if the social media WG can take on the task of contacting media outlets to let them know of
BHRC events. We will ask the city’s public relations director to share BHRC press releases with
media outlets and Engage Brookings website. We will ask the PR director to provide us a template on
how to draft a press release. We need to see how we can get our events posted on Visit Brookings, the
Chamber of Commerce calendar, and the economic development calendar.
INCLUSIVITY/COMMUNITY OUTREACH
The April 22 diversity potluck was well attended thanks to partnering with the Brookings Multi-Cultural
Center. Around 125 attended. The BMC provided activities for kids. There was a greater diversity of
people and food this year. The vegetarian food option went well.
Only 10 people responded to the QR code online survey. Need to also have a paper survey option
available next year.
A thank you card was received from the Brookings Food Pantry thanking us for the donation of a
shopping cart of food items.
Thasing donated $100 worth of chicken and is seeking help with defraying the cost.
TRAININGS/COMPLAINT PROCESS
The WG has not meet since the March 30 training meeting. The WG needs to follow up that meeting’s
action items. Thasing will visit with the Sioux Falls Human Rights Commission as part of the followup.
Liaison Reports
BROOKINGS POLICE: Johnson and Emily (another dispatcher) enrolled in a nationwide LGBTQ
police liaison program called Out to Protect. This is an online program involving 20-30 people. The
Matthew Shepard Foundation paid for the first time training. One of the goals is to teach police how to
properly investigate hate crimes.
SDSU: SDSU is looking at being part of the Downtown at Sundown welcome students back night and
also part of the multi-cultural night. Sherry Bayer, SDSU multicultural center director, has been
certified on the Intercultural Development Inventory. Collins and another staffer will become certified.
Adjourn:
Meeting adjourned at 6:59 pm.
Submitted by Lawrence Novotny, recorder