Amplifying Community Voice in Greater Minnesota
This summer, 767 Black women, girls, and femmes participated in a first-of-its-kind statewide survey about their experiences with systems, institutions, and professionals who are supposed to serve them in times of need.
But where we live makes a big difference in the resources we have access to — and only 13% of survey participants resided in Greater Minnesota.
So, over the past two months, our team has traveled across the state, hosting focus groups in Rochester, Duluth, and Fergus Falls. Overall, we engaged 18 Black women and femmes in Greater Minnesota, digging deeper into the “how” to understand the ways systems and professionals are interacting with Black women, girls and femmes across Minnesota, and identify what support and changes are needed across geographic realities and identities.
Their stories reaffirmed and provided greater detail to what we learned in the survey about issues such as performative repair processes; disregard for Black women, girls and femmes’ requests; and self-advocacy as a necessary part of navigating these systems.
We have one more upcoming focus group in Marshall this month, but here's some of what we’ve heard so far...
On performative repair processes…
“They bring us in, but we don't make it to the deciding table.”
On charity/pity vs. service/compassion
“The people who delivered the programming would talk as if we knew nothing, as if we, you know, we ought to just be grateful and thankful that there was a roof over our head.”
On refusing to respect autonomy and disregard for professional boundaries
"The detective we met with, he was just very pushy and overwhelming... [He] was trying to get [my nephew] to agree with his idea of the story and I'm just like ‘Okay, I just heard him repeat the story three times so now we're kind of done talking to you' and even then he didn't remove himself."
On self-advocacy as default
“I'm used to having to advocate for myself a lot. And I do know that even with my healthcare being good here, it comes with me having to repeat stuff and revisit it. I just don't get frustrated with it because it's my norm.”
On code-switching
“I was raised code switching… And it's easy over the phones. Because over the phone, I can sound very European, if I need to. I mean I know how to navigate that way. It should never have to be that way.”
On process issues and lack of clarity
“All the things that they say that will allow you to live the so-called American dream, they’re opaque. They are so dark and dense that getting at them requires a one-on-one guide.”
These insights will help RIA and the Community Action Council (CAC) of Black women and femmes across Minnesota co-create a scorecard that measures how well county programs and professionals support Black women, girls, and femmes, and identify solutions to create safer and more accountable systems.
Want to be the first to hear the FULL results of the statewide survey? Join us for the Community Research for Liberation National Convening on June 11 and 12 in Minneapolis! Learn more and register!