One opportunity to expand Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day to other issues of inclusion appeared in the form of a Safe Zone Training on Monday, Jan. 20. Education professor Kathy Evans and residence director Emily Powell led the event. Both are advisors for the club Safe Space, which focuses on issues related to the LGBTQ+ community. Students, faculty, and staff gathered in a circle in one of the library basement classrooms to discuss gender, sexuality, and the justice issues that accompany those topics.
The gathered group represented a spectrum of experiences and identities. In this space, participants were invited to draw, journal, and process verbally as they listened to stories about the experiences of LGBTQ+ people. Additional time was devoted to discussing how LGBTQ+ youth, in particular, can be supported.
While most events on MLK Day centered around racial justice issues and educational events on activism, the Safe Zone training took the opportunity to explicitly delve into the experience, and exclusion, of people from within the LGBTQ+ community.
“The first training came about [last year] when [Thomas] approached the Safe Space advisors and asked for some sort of LGBTQ+ inclusion training,” said Safe Space advisor Emily Powell. “Celeste, Kathy [Evans], and myself have similar lenses on our vision of social justice work, which is intersectional and complex. Statistically, the most dangerous identity in the United States to have in a lot of ways is a queer trans woman of color. We want to recognize that multi-faceted reality of oppression in our work as activists through naming those sorts of truths and hard data.”
The gathering concluded with a poem read by both Evans and Powell. The poem was a compilation of written experiences from people within the LGBTQ+ community. Read in a style that used overlapping phrases, the poem described the diverse and shared experiences of real people.
“The poem was honestly my biggest takeaway,” said Heidi Grossnickle, reflecting the feelings of many other participants.
This event was a starting point for further conversations about creating more safe spaces on EMU’s campus. Powell and Evans will be leading a convocation breakout group to discuss these issues further. Powell encouraged students to attend this new group.
“Anyone who’s looking to work towards interacting with others in a more inclusive way [is welcome to] join us for our future convocation breakout sessions,” Powell said.
The first breakout session is slated for Jan. 29, at 10:10 a.m. in the Blackbox Theater.
To learn more about the work that the club Safe Space does, contact club presidents Anali Martin, Emily Powell, or advisor Kathy Evans.
