As Dallas’ major racial equity
initiative, Dallas Faces Race is
confronted with a real life and
immediate situation in the
aftermath of Ebola patients being diagnosed
in our city.
We are disturbed by reports about the
racial bias that
immigrant communities and communities of color have
been
experiencing as a result of Ebola panic.
People in the Vickery Meadows neighborhood are experiencing
bias
related to job security, service providers and taunting at
sporting
events. Others are being turned away from restaurants
and being
told that they brought this disease to the US.
We understand that people are afraid. Targeting victims of Ebola
and shunning whole communities is not going to keep us safe.
We know the people of Dallas are good people who care about
each other.
While we may not intend to discriminate or divide,
that is in
fact the impact of individual and institutional decisions
over the last
few weeks.
We call on Dallas Faces Race Partners, our community and our
public
officials to do three important things in this moment.
First: Call out discriminatory behavior whenever and wherever
you
hear it or see it. Let people know that things like refusing to
serve
people at local businesses on the basis of their looks or
national
identities is not legal, and not okay.
Second: Show your support to the communities of Vickery
Meadows
and the nonprofits that serve them. Vickery Meadow
Youth
Development Foundation is one example, learn more at
www.vmydf.com. And if you are
interested in volunteering to
support individual or group needs or
neighborhood projects,
please contact Ellen Mata at Northpark
Presbyterian Church
for more information: emata@northparkpres.org or
214-363-5457 ext. 24.
Third: Make your own statement to your contacts condemning
xenophobic and racially biased actions in the aftermath of this
crisis. Share success stories and lift up positive examples.
Our country and city have experienced such waves before.
Xenophobia and
targeting innocent people for punishment
were problems when we first
earned of AIDS, H1N1, and SARS.
There were terrible consequences for
communities at the heart
of those crises. It's up to us to step
forward, broaden
over Ebola. The Dallas Morning News, October 6, 2014
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