wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Event for college women focuses on discrimination

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ECUNET.ORG>]

Note #8826 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05396
July 28, 2005

Privilege and prejudice

Event for college women focuses on causes, effects of discrimination

by Mashadi Matabane
 
CHICAGO - Changing the world isn't on the agenda, but it's a goal of the
annual leadership conference of the National Network of Presbyterian College
Women (NNPCW).

	More than 35 young women of different faiths, abilities and
ethnicities from around the country have gathered here to tackle
discrimination and live up to the event's theme, "Many Hands, One Spirit:
Confronting Prejudice through Education and Social Action." 

	On Thursday, participants heard keynote speakers Lisa Larges and
Laura Mariko Cheifetz discuss discrimination against people with disabilities
and people of color, recounting the ways in which strangers boldly (and
ignorantly) question their respective identities.

	Larges, who is blind, helped develop curriculum for the World Council
of Churches' Ecumenical Disabilities Advocacy Network. A lesbian, she also is
a coordinator for That All May Freely Serve, an organization working for the
ordination of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in the
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

	Cheifetz, an NNPCW alumnus, has dealt with gender-justice issues for
the PC(USA)'s United Nations Office, worked in leadership development among
Asian-American young adults while attending McCormick Theological Seminary in
Chicago, and served on the Churches Uniting in Christ Racial Justice Task
Force.

	They encouraged the group to think and talk about how prejudice has
influenced their lives, whether prompted by race, class, faith, sexuality,
age or physical ability. 

	Sarah Frazier, a fifth-year senior at the University of Washington in
Seattle who wants to be a teacher, acknowledged feeling a sense of guilt
about white privilege, but said she's learning that people can't be afraid to
admit prejudices and talk about them.

	"I should share as much as I listen," she said. "In order to bring
people up in a caring, loving world, I have to educate myself first so I can
become more effective." 

	Participants attended workshops on issues including the global AIDS
epidemic, gender stereotypes in the media, and faith-based legislative
advocacy; in the evening they were treated to a panel featuring speakers
involved in social-justice issues, like domestic violence and migrant
workers. 

	One person on the panel was Rick Ufford-Chase, moderator of the 216th
General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), who discussed his work
with illegal immigrants through an organization called Border Links.

	Privilege brings responsibility, Ufford-Chase said, and we must move
to the margins, where people are most desperate. He encouraged participants
to find their niches and do their part, remaining "an eternally optimistic
people" while helping others, through work that is often hard, sometimes
chaotic, but almost always rewarding.
 
	Bethany Ruhl, a University of Kansas freshman, wants to help others
as a journalist one day. She came to the conference to learn how to handle
the tricky nuances of prejudice. 

	She is already familiar with it. As a child she knew kids with family
members in the Ku Klux Klan, and she's watched a family friend deal with
racial/ethnic discrimination. But she feels that there is more for her to
learn. 

	"I do feel comfortable talking about it," she said, "but when I meet
people, I don't want them to feel like I am categorizing them if I ask,
'Where are you from?' Because I genuinely want to know more about what you've
experienced."
 
	Ruhl's willingness to be open is the attitude Kelsey Rice, an NNPCW
program assistant who helped organize the conference, hopes to foster.

	"Exploring prejudice is sensitive, and 'safe space' is important
because we want people to feel comfortable, but also to be challenged," Rice
said. "We want them to be willing to be vulnerable, so they can learn how to
deal with prejudice in their own lives. Everyone brings something to the
topic of prejudice, whether you've experienced it or you're potentially part
of the problem. It is a good vehicle to explore how we get involved in social
action."
 
	Dee Darden, a senior at Auburn University in Alabama, has done just
that. She attended the AIDS workshop and came out "fired up" to take action.

	"It put a face on AIDS for me," she said. "With the staggering stats
of all the different women affected, I really feel a renewed sense of doing
something about it. I just want to get out there to act and educate in
whatever small way I can." When she gets home, Darden said, she plans to
contact an AIDS educator she knows to talk about doing college presentations.
 
	The leadership event, which includes on-site community service
projects at community agencies throughout Chicago, continues through July 31.

	The NNPCW is a ministry of the Women's Ministries Program Area of the
PC(USA)'s National Ministries Division.

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