- (Public Value) UCANR: Developing an inclusive and equitable society
- Author: Saoimanu Sope
Staff Assembly Council is calling all ANR staff to participate in a questionnaire created and supported by the Council of UC Staff Assemblies (CUCSA) and Staff Engagement Workgroup to understand the impact of new policies and procedures on your daily work. This initiative seeks to gather insights on the additional tasks and workload that recent changes may have introduced to staff locally and systemwide.
Here is the questionnaire: How Laws are Increasing the Administrative Load for UC Staff.
This approach stems from CUCSA's discussion with Government Relations, where we recognized the growing need for examples of government mandates that have added to the administrative workload. The objective is to encourage greater consideration while creating new policies, ensuring that they do not contribute to the expectation that employees can continue to take on more tasks without relief.
Your anonymous responses are of utmost importance. They will help identify areas where administrative strain has increased, contributing to ongoing discussions about how new policies affect our work. Your privacy and comfort in sharing your feedback are our top priorities.
Please take a few minutes to complete the questionnaire by Thursday, November 7, 2024. Your input is vital as CUCSA assesses the broader impact of these changes.
If you have questions, please contact ANR's CUCSA representatives: Christine Davidson at cdavidson@ucanr.edu or Shirley Salado at scsalado@ucanr.edu.
- Author: Mike Hsu
To commemorate Pride Month in June, the LGBTQIA+ Employee Resource Group at UC ANR has assembled links to articles and videos that offer historical context and additional information for the community.
Pride Month & General Information
Pride Month
https://www.loc.gov/lgbt-pride-month/about/
https://youth.gov/feature-article/june-lgbt-pride-month
Milestones in the Gay Rights Movement: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/stonewall-milestones-american-gay-rights-movement/
The first Pride march in New York City was held on the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising: https://www.loc.gov/lgbt-pride-month/about/#pride-50th-anniversary (including footage of early Pride march)
Numbers in the U.S.
https://news.gallup.com/poll/329708/lgbt-identification-rises-latest-estimate.aspx
Stonewall Uprising
Stonewall Then and Now: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2019/06/harvard-scholars-reflect-on-the-history-and-legacy-of-the-stonewall-riots/
Arrest Reports from the 1969 Stonewall Uprising: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/documents/arrest-reports-from-the-1969-stonewall-uprising
How the Stonewall Riots Sparked a Movement (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9wdMJmuBlA
The Stonewall You Know Is a Myth (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7jnzOMxb14&t=86s
NYU Documentary celebrating 50 years of the Stonewall riots (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31CX1Y0cen8
The Day the Stonewall Riots Shook America (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCFwOJcMjM0
https://www.biography.com/news/stonewall-riots-history-leaders
https://guides.loc.gov/lgbtq-studies/stonewall-era
History of the Pride flag (video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMM-ybN3K5g
Wanda Sykes Take Us Through the History of LGBTQ+ (video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkzwDOCEDCo
Practices for Inclusion of Individuals of All Genders and Sexual Orientations (4-H PLWG - Program Leaders Workgroup)
LGBTQ America (2016): A Theme Study of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer History
https://www.nps.gov/subjects/tellingallamericansstories/lgbtqthemestudy.htm
This Is What LGBT Life Is Like Around the World | Jenni Chang and Lisa Dazols | TED Talks (video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivfJJh9y1UI
Aging as LGBT: Two Stories (video)
Exploring The Roots Of Chicago's Queer South Asian Community | NBC Asian America (video)
Introduction to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer history in the United States
https://www.nps.gov/subjects/lgbtqheritage/upload/lgbtqtheme-history.pdf
NPS, in collaboration with History Pin, a nationwide, web-based project, is now available to enable individuals, communities, and other organizations to “pin” places of LGBTQ history and heritage, making a truly crowd-sourced and image-rich map.
Lesbian & Gay Communities
Background information
Definitions: https://lgbt.ucsf.edu/glossary-terms
LGBT identification in U.S.: https://news.gallup.com/poll/329708/lgbt-identification-rises-latest-estimate.aspx
Two-Spirit People: Sex, Gender & Sexuality in Historic and Contemporary Native America
https://www.ncai.org/policy-research-center/initiatives/Pruden-Edmo_TwoSpiritPeople.pdf
Queer Latino podcast ‘De Pueblo, Católico y Gay' aims to fight LGBTQ stigma
What Do All the Initials Mean? (video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DE7bKmOXY3w
Two Spirits, One Dance for Native American Artist (video)
Journey of Indigenous Gender Identity (video)
When Black Lives Matter Meets Gay Pride (video)
What's it Like to be Latino and Gay? (video)
Inside the World Of Being Machismo And Gay In Latino Culture (video)
Tracing The Evolution Of Asian-Pacific Islander LGBTQ Nightlife Spaces | NBC Asian America (video)
Bi+ Community
Background information
Description of identity terms: https://rcsgd.sa.ucsb.edu/education/bi-education
Merriam-Webster definition: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bisexual
Pansexual: https://lgbt.foundation/news/5-things-you-should-know-on-pansexual-visibility-day/161
Understanding Bisexuality: https://www.apa.org/pi/lgbt/resources/bisexual
History of Bi+ Community: https://web.archive.org/web/20230604074642/https:/glaad.org/blog/us-bisexual-movement-biweek-history-lesson
Bisexual Resource Center
Information for Allies
https://biresource.org/bi-info/for-allies/
Getting Bi: Voices of Bisexuals Around the World
What Does It Mean to be Bisexual? (video)
Tania Israel: Bisexuality and Beyond | TEDxUCLA (video)
https://tedx.ucla.edu/project/tania_israel_bisexuality_and_beyond/
Tee Noir: Performative Bisexuality: Y'all Not Tired? (video)
Engage:
Follow @BiNetUSA on Twitter. BiNet USA is America's oldest advocacy organization for bisexual, pansexual, fluid, queer-identified and unlabeled people. #BiWeek #BiMenExist
Asexuality & Aromanticism
Asexual Community
Timeline of asexual history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_asexual_history
Asexual history: http://wiki.asexuality.org/Asexual_history
Asexual pride flag: https://aceweek.org/stories/ace-flag-history
Asexual Census Summary Report: https://asexualcensus.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/2015_ace_census_summary_report.pdf
FAQ for Family/Friends: https://www.asexuality.org/?q=family.html
The Asexual Manifesto: https://www.scribd.com/document/414122159/The-Asexual-Manifesto-Lisa-Orlando
The Asexual Community is Predominantly White. Why?: https://medium.com/@Michael_Paramo/interrogating-the-whiteness-of-the-asexual-community-b5765a71f62b
Asexual Awareness Week (in late October): https://aceweek.org/
Laci Green and David Jay: “No Sex?! – Asexuality” (video): https://youtu.be/77o83_U8O5o
Yasmin Benoit: Asexuals Need Media Representation | TEDx (video): https://youtu.be/ifwRAT3DM2E
Aromantic Community
Ace and Aro: Understanding Differences in Romantic Attractions Among Persons Identifying as Asexual: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-019-01600-1
Aromantic pride flag: https://www.unco.edu/gender-sexuality-resource-center/resources/pride-flags.aspx
Introduction to Romantic orientations: https://asexuality.org/?q=romanticorientation
Definition of queerplatonic: http://wiki.asexuality.org/Queerplatonic
Coming out as Aromantic (video): https://youtu.be/Kox1NMdBVgg
Harassment and violence directed at ace and aro individuals (content warning)
https://www.reddit.com/r/asexuality/wiki/anti_ace_bias/
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/asexual-discrimination_n_3380551
Sherronda J. Brown: Romance is not the only love that matters
On Black love and non-romantic relationships: http://blackyouthproject.com/romance-not-black-love-matters/
Anonymous: “Testimonio 17”
A Chilean blog shares testimonies in Spanish of people's experiences with identifying on the asexual spectrum (content warning: mentions of sexual assault): https://asearrochile.tumblr.com/post/629371145710387200/martesdetestimonio-con-identidad-demisexual
auraboo: “My Asexual Story”
A comic artist shares her experience with asexuality and relationships: https://auraboo.tumblr.com/post/172390677318/my-asexual-story-2018-another-little
Jackie Bussjaeger: “Aces in Space: An Asexual Reading of Star Trek”
An analysis highlighting the limited representation of ace and aro characters in media: https://www.startrek.com/news/aces-in-space-an-asexual-reading-of-star-trek
Trans*, Non-Binary & Intersex Communities
Trans* Community
https://glaad.org/transgender/transfaq/
Non-Binary Community
https://lgbt.foundation/who-we-help/trans-people/non-binary
Intersex Community
https://www.hrc.org/resources/understanding-the-intersex-community
What and When is Transgender Day of Remembrance?
https://www.joincake.com/blog/transgender-day-of-remembrance/
Why We Ask Each Other Our Pronouns
https://www.hrc.org/resources/why-we-ask-each-other-our-pronouns
Mapping Attacks on LGBTQ Rights in the U.S.
https://www.aclu.org/legislative-attacks-on-lgbtq-rights
National Center for Transgender Equality
https://transequality.org/about-transgender
Toolkit for Allies
https://www.aclu-mo.org/en/toolkit-allies
Trans Agenda for Liberation
https://transgenderlawcenter.org/trans-agenda-for-liberation/
The Gender Unicorn
https://transstudent.org/gender/
National Center for Transgender Equality: Introduction to Transgender People (video)
https://www.facebook.com/TransEqualityNow/videos/vb.40078161989/10153582088701990/
5 Non-Binary People Explain What “Non-Binary” Means to Them (video)
Samy Nour Younes: A Short History of Trans People's Long Fight for Equality | TED talk (video)
Scott Turner Schofield: Ending Gender (video)
InQueery: What Does Intersex Mean? (video)
As/Is: What It's Like to be Intersex (video)
Know Trans Rights in the US
https://transequality.org/know-your-rights
National and State Action Centers
https://transequality.org/action-centers
Equality California
https://www.eqca.org/take-action/
Engage:
Follow @TransEquality on Twitter. The National Center for Transgender Equality is the nation's leading social justice advocacy organization winning lifesaving change for transgender people.
Follow @TransPOCC on Twitter. Trans People of Color Coalition (TPOCC) is the only national social justice organization that promotes the interest of Trans People of Color.
#WontBeErased #TransRightsAreHumanRights
- Author: Mike Hsu
When agricultural advisors came to the Cochiti Pueblo in New Mexico during the 1940s, they lined the irrigation ditches with concrete, in the name of boosting efficiency and productivity. But in single-mindedly focusing on water delivery, they neglected to consider how the previously inefficient seepage sustained nearby fruit trees.
Their actions, as well-intentioned as they might have been, disrupted the local ecosystem and killed the trees that had fed many generations, according to A-dae Romero-Briones, who identifies as Cochiti and as a member of the Kiowa Tribe.
“In my language, we call the extension agents ‘the people who kill the fruit trees,'” said Romero-Briones, director of the Food and Agriculture Program for the First Nations Development Institute, a nonprofit that serves Tribal communities across the mainland, Alaska and Hawaii.
The historically tense relationship between Indigenous peoples and government-affiliated programs is one of the many complex dynamics discussed in a six-part webinar series, “Racial Equity in Extension,” facilitated by UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program.
Making communities of color in the agricultural sector more visible is a priority for Victor Hernandez, a sociologist and outreach coordinator for the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service. Hernandez, who has organized “Growing Together” conferences for Latino and Black farmers, is trying to get more farmers of color to participate in the upcoming 2022 Agricultural Census.
“If we cannot quantify the demographic, we cannot justify the need,” emphasized Hernandez, explaining that his office uses the data to direct resources that advance equity in service, program delivery and distribution of funds.
A legacy of mistrust
At the same time, however, Hernandez also acknowledged the challenges in registering growers of color for the census, conducted by the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service. (According to Brodt, USDA's most recent agricultural census, dating to 2017, counts approximately 25,000 producers of color among 128,535 total producers in California.)
“Many of us that are considered socially disadvantaged or historically underserved…a lot of times our peoples come from [nations with] oppressive governments,” Hernandez said. “And so when you come to the United States and you begin to build your life here, to go and engage with the federal government is not the first knee-jerk reaction.”
On top of government mistrust and fears of deportation or detention, other immigrant groups have seen mainstream agriculture – borne by the “Green Revolution” wave across the globe – replace deep-rooted cultural practices, said Kristyn Leach of Namu Farm in Winters.
“It just makes these small farmers distrust our own knowledge, the knowledge that's existed for centuries – before the kind of current iteration of agriculture that we're situated within right now,” said Leach, who works to preserve the agricultural heritage of her Korean ancestors, and facilitates a farmers' collaborative called Second Generation that adapts Asian crop varieties to climate change.
According to Romero-Briones, a collective memory of supplanted culture also lingers in Indigenous communities. In the Cochiti Pueblo, “primarily a subsistence agriculture community” with a long history of corn cultivation, their practices are distinct from those in the mainstream – including regenerative and sustainable agriculture.
Building relationships takes commitment
Given that legacy of cultural displacement and appropriation, how do extension professionals and other agricultural advisors slowly rebuild trust with communities of color? For Romero-Briones, it begins with a genuine respect for Indigenous practices, and she urges interested people to contact their local tribal historic preservation officer to begin strengthening those connections and understanding – beyond a couple of phone calls.
“As someone who works with Indigenous people all day, even I need to recognize sometimes I have to meet with people up to 12 times before we actually start talking about the work that I initially wanted to talk to them about,” Romero-Briones said.
In a similar vein, Chanowk Yisrael, chief seed starter of Yisrael Family Farms, encouraged listeners to reach out to members of the California Farmer Justice Collaborative – an organization striving for a fair food system while challenging racism and centering farmers of color.
“To use a farm analogy: we've got this ground, which is the farmers of color who have been neglected for a long period of time,” said Yisrael, who has grown his farm in a historically Black neighborhood of Sacramento into a catalyst for social change. “It's not just going to be as simple as just throwing some seeds and things are going to come up; you're going to have to do more – that means you got to get out and do much more than you would do for any other community.”
Investing time in a community is one thing – and backing it up with tangible resources is another. Technical expertise is only the “tip of the iceberg,” Leach said, as historically marginalized groups are also seeking land access and tenure, more affordable cost of living, and access to capital.
“All of those things are actually much bigger burdens to bear for most communities of color than not having the knowledge of how to grow the crops that we want to grow, and not knowing how to be adaptive and nimble in the face of climate change," Leach explained, highlighting California FarmLink as an essential resource. (“Understanding Disparities in Farmland Ownership” is the next webinar in the SAREP series, set for Nov. 19.)
Bringing diverse voices to the table
Another key is ensuring that farmers and farm workers of color are represented in management and decision-making processes. Samuel Sandoval, a professor in the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources and UC Cooperative Extension specialist in water management, develops outreach programs in English and Spanish for everyone from farm workers to the “boss of the boss of the boss.”
“It has to be changed,” he said, “because at the end, the person who is going to operate the irrigation system and turn on or off the valves, the person who is looking if there's a leak or not – that's the person who's not being informed, or has not been informed on purpose.”
That exclusion of certain groups can lead to a loss of invaluable knowledge. Leach said there is a real danger in ignoring the wisdom of communities that have contributed so much to the foundation of food systems in California and around the globe.
“These really kind of amazing, sophisticated and elegant agroecological systems that we don't often legitimize through the scientific language and perspectives aren't seen as being really technically proficient – but, in many ways, they're more dynamic and more resilient than the things that we're perpetuating right now,” she said.
As a concrete example, Sandoval said that while extension advisors and specialists conduct studies to remedy a plant disease, farm workers might be developing – separately and in parallel – their own solutions by asking for advice from their social networks via WhatsApp, a phone application.
A reimagining of collaboration, Sandoval said, would include (and compensate) people working in the field for sharing their perspectives – bringing together academics and farmers, integrated pest management experts and pesticide applicators, irrigation specialists and those who do the irrigation.
A need to look within
Concerns about inclusion and validating alternate sources of knowledge apply also to the recruitment process in extension. Leach said that she has seen listings for advisor jobs that would require, at a minimum, a master's degree – which would automatically disqualify her, despite her extensive knowledge of Asian heirloom vegetables.
“When you look at a job description and you see ‘Asian crop specialist,' only required qualification is a master's degree, and then somewhere down the long list of sort of secondary desired, recommended things is some knowledge of Asian crops or communities…you know that just says a lot in terms of what has weight,” Leach explained.
Before organizations can authentically connect with communities of color, they should prioritize diversity in their own ranks, said Romero-Briones. First Nations Development Institute had to ensure that they had adequate representation across the many Tribes that they serve.
“Before we start looking out, we have to start looking in,” she explained, “and that means we have to hire Indigenous people who know these communities.”
For extension professionals and other members of the agricultural community in California, the UC SAREP webinar series has helped spark that introspection and a meaningful reevaluation of institutional processes and assumptions.
“These discussions have been tremendously illuminating and eye-opening,” Brodt said. “But hearing and learning is just the start – it's incumbent on us, as an organization and as individuals, to take action to ensure that farmers of color and their foodways are truly respected and valued.”
