Community Conversations— Beginning by Listening
E
ngaging our members in supporting community-driven initiatives that are led by those who are most impacted by injustices is at the heart of TCMS’s mission. The events of the past year have underscored that urgent work is needed to address systemic racism and the harm it inflicts on our community. As we each consider how we can play a role in dismantling the racist systems that are harming the health of Minnesota’s Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC), it is critical that we begin by listening. In that spirit, TCMS launched a new series of conversations with BIPOC leaders who are working on the front lines of addressing racial injustices in the Twin Cities. We hope these conversations will inspire our membership to think more deeply about these issues and find ways to deepen their work to address systemic racism and advance health equity. metrodoctors.com/communityconversations. We are also thrilled by the opportunity to spotlight several current and past TCMS Dr. Pete Dehnel medical student Public Health Advocacy Fellows as conversation hosts. Voting Rights and Engagement with the ACLU of Minnesota Policies that disenfranchise BIPOC have been embedded in our nation’s voting system since its founding and have a real impact on voter engagement in Minnesota’s BIPOC communities today. In our first community conversation medical students Mina Krenz and Jenna Robinson sat down with Ismael Dore, an Organizer with the ACLU of Minnesota, to talk about his work to advance racial equity by engaging BIPOC Minnesotans in voting. While it can be tempting to disengage from this work during non-election years, effective, equitable voter engagement requires ongoing work.
Ismael Dore
Mina Krenz, MS2
Jenna Robinson, MS2
Community Safety Beyond Policing with MPD150 While George Floyd’s murder once again brought systemic racism and violence to the forefront, these issues are not new. Policing, as it is, is not providing public safety to all our neighbors and in many cases, is actively doing harm to BIPOC people. In this community conversation, Medical student Aaron Rosenblum connected with Minneapolis-based artist and organizer, Ricardo By Annie Krapek, MPH
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Levins Morales, to discuss the work of MPD150 and how they are working to open our collective imagination to co-create creative solutions to keep all members of our community safe.
Ricardo Levins Morales
Aaron Rosenblum, MS3
Homelessness and Creating Safe Housing with Street Voices of Change Safe and affordable housing is foundational to health, safety, employment, and overall well-being, but the systems that we have created keep many people in a cycle of homelessness. In this conversation, medical student Jillian Millares connected with Street Voices of Change member, Sherry Shannon, to discuss barriers to affordable housing, what safe housing looks like, and how the medical community can support creative solutions to address homelessness.
Jillian Millares, MS3
Sherry Shannon
Food Access with Appetite for Change Everyone deserves the right to eat and feed their families fresh, living food that makes them feel good, yet access to nourishing food is often limited for BIPOC Minnesotans. Appetite for Change has been living out their mission to use food as a tool to build health, wealth and social change in North Minneapolis since 2012. In this conversation, medical student Prasanna Vankina connected with Appetite for Change co-founder, Princess Haley, to discuss their efforts to increase food access and food knowledge in North Minneapolis, and how the medical community can be a part of the local food movement. TCMS will continue to release additional community conversations throughout 2021. We hope that you will join in deeply listening to local BIPOC leaders and sharing your thoughts how the medical community can more actively engage in the anti-racism work that is needed to truly achieve health equity.
Prasanna Vankina, MS1
MetroDoctors
Princess Haley
The Journal of the Twin Cities Medical Society