New community conversation on racism on Tuesday evening, plus local activists looking for new spot to display art installation on racism
Lupe Lopez and Cristal Perez, the Healdsburg High School alumnae behind the June 11 Healdsburg Plaza art installation on racism, are hoping to continue the dialogue on race and discrimination.
The duo are working with locals to try to get the piece reinstalled in the downtown area or in local businesses and they’re also working with Corazon Healdsburg to organize more community conversations with panelists on Facebook Live to give residents the opportunity to share their experience with race and their ideas for moving forward toward a more equal Healdsburg.
Lopez and Perez were catalysts of sorts for a larger discussion on race when they started the art project earlier this month. The two women wanted to create a comfortable environment where people could share their experiences, and so they came up with the idea of inviting folks to write down their thoughts on note cards.
The note cards were then strung up around the plaza bandstand on June 10 and 11. Prior to the peaceful demonstration and march on June 11, Healdsburg residents and participants stepped up one-by-one to view the written accounts of racism.
It was a somber environment as people quietly read the cards.
One card said, “While working at the AT&T store here in town, some white lady said that I wasn’t helping her because I was brown and only help my people.”
Another detailed an incident at a school in town, “White Healdsburg Junior High School P.E. the teacher pulled my (Mexican) cousin’s hair to get her to follow instructions in class.”
When asked of if she thought the event was successful in getting people to share their thoughts, Lopez said “Yes,” noting that it brought greater attention to the issue of race and discrimination.
“I think it was successful. It brought what we wanted, the initial attention for people to be aware that this (racism) is an issue in Healdsburg and that this happens in Healdsburg. I think we did get the attention that we were hoping to get from the locals in regard to being aware that these things happen even if it hasn’t happened to them directly or if it doesn’t affect them directly,” Lopez said.
Perez said she was surprised they got the response that they did.
“We weren’t expecting the response that we got, but we are so grateful that we got the response that we did because we were able to reach not only the people impacted by these injustices, but we also had other people from the community come out and educate themselves on these issues,” Perez said.
Lopez said she thought the biggest takeaway from the event was that many of the instances of racism took place in Healdsburg schools. And even more concerning, when staff were told about an issue it was often brushed off, according to Lopez.
“I’ve met a couple of people and I’ve talked about this during the art installation how these things happen during school and when they’ve told staff it would get brushed off as nothing major. It’s little things like that that stay with you for a long time. Even though you might think it’s just something minor and that it’s nothing to worry about, these things stick with people,” Lopez said.
She said the other major takeaway was the amount of people that came out to the event.
“It was quite shocking to see that we got a good amount of people who had positive responses,” Lopez said.
For Perez, the event highlighted that people were willing to educate themselves and ask questions about the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement.
“During the art installation on Thursday, there were a lot of people who were coming up to us and trying to talk with us and asking us questions not just about the art installation, but trying to further educate themselves about issues, and they were asking about what else they could do to be part of the BLM movement. It was very nice to hear that people were willing to learn and change their ways,” Perez said.
Perez did say she was surprised that some people were startled to hear that racism is in Healdsburg.
“A lot people, especially the people the in the school district, don’t know that a lot of kids in the school district aren’t really given the adequate attention that we need … as they grow up and leave the school district, it’s still an issue because people are still thinking that racist things are OK,” she said.
During the June 11 march, there were loud and frequent chants requesting the resignation of Mayor Leah Gold, following her comments on police policy and race. Gold announced last week her plan to step down June 30, citing the need for a more diverse council.
The Tribune asked Lopez and Perez, now that the mayor has stepped down, what else needs to happen at the city level for a more equal and diverse Healdsburg?
“I definitely feel like we need more representation and more diversity within our city council, but not only that, but have our representatives and leaders and all of city council to reach out not just to the white community but to our marginalized communities and get their input and opinions on issues like these,” Perez said. “Our town is a majority white, but we have diversity here too so it’s good to include them as well because there are a lot of things affecting them that aren’t affecting the majority of white people in this town.”
Lopez agreed with Perez and reiterated the need for a more diverse council.
In terms of continuing the dialogue on race, Lopez said she and Perez are trying to work with Corazon to get more people to participate in the Facebook Live discussions and to bring further awareness to racial injustices.
“The outcome of this was that we wanted to be the spark that Healdsburg needed to bring awareness to these issues so that other people can speak up and maybe even do their own events in regards to this topic,” Lopez said, adding that she hopes the issue is brought up more during council and school board meetings.
The next Corazon Conversaciónes Comunitaria (Community Conversation) will take place tonight, June 23, at 6 p.m. via Zoom and Facebook Live.
The topic of discussion will be “Racial and academic divide in the school system.” Panelists include Healdsburg Area Teachers Association President and Healdsburg High School counselor Ever Flores, Createsburg founder Mustafa Tolosa, Healdsburg Unified School District Superintendent Chris Vanden Heuvel, anti-racism activist Cristal Perez, equity consultant Curtis Acosta, Corazon Head of Programs Angie Sanchez, Corazon Programs Manager Lizbeth Perez and equity consultant Carlos Hagedorn.
Register to take part and listen in English or Spanish atbit.ly/corazonconversation2 or follow along on Facebook Live at @corazonhealdsburg.
