May 2023 Newsletter

Tuesday, May 2, 2023 - 8:00am

May 2023 Newsletter

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month. The AAPI umbrella term includes cultures from the entire Asian continent, including East, Southeast and South Asia, and the Pacific Islands of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, there were about 21.6 million people of Asian or Pacific Islander descent in the United States.

Hate crimes against AAPI have increased over 300% since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, largely stemming from pandemic misinformation.

In response, the Los Angeles-based Asian Pacific American Dispute Resolution Center (APADRC) created a community dialogue series on “What it means to be Asian in America” and “What it means to be an Asian woman in America” to bring awareness to the often unseen plight of AAPI community members. Check out their Building Pathways webpage, for a space to connect with other community members.

At the Center for Dispute Settlement, we are inspired by the work of APADRC as an example of how community dispute resolution centers can respond to community needs. We are committed to meeting the needs of our constituents, whether through mediation, restorative practices, community dialogue facilitation, or conflict skills training. We would love to hear from YOU about how we can be of service to your community.

In peace,

Shira May

President/CEO

Basic Mediation Training

Due to increased demand, we are offering this training twice - Register now as

seats are limited!

May 9-11 & 17-18

Notre Dame Retreat Center, Canandaigua

and

June 7-9 &12-13

Steuben County Court Training Facility, Bath, NY

Trainer: Kim Reisch

$200 for volunteers, $1,000 for those taking the course for professional development. Scholarships are available, with priority given to People of Color (POC) and participants from other underrepresented communities

This 35 hour training will provide an introduction to the theory, principles and practice of mediation in the Transformative Mediation framework to prepare participants to mediate community disputes as a volunteer with the Center for Dispute Settlement. Community members may also attend for professional development purposes, space permitting.

This training is Part 146 approved: Court-based mediation rosters require a combination of mediation training and experience. Acceptance on court rosters depends on a court’s need for mediators at any given time and may include a court’s need for mediators with specific case-type training or experience and mediation experience. Final placement on any court roster is in the discretion of the local Administrative Judge.

For more information or to register, contact Ronnie Pollack, Director of Training and Community Engagement: rpollack@cdsadr.org

Reflections on the KAIROS Blanket Exercise

by Maia Taub, Program Manager,

Monroe County Custody & Visitation Program

For this spring's staff meeting, 18 of us took part in the "Witness to Injustice" KAIROS Blanket Exercise. You can read more about the Blanket Exercise here:

https://peacecouncil.net/sites/default/files/WitnessToInjusticeBrochure.pdf

Just as a rundown, however: facilitators and participants sat in a circle of chairs, our shoes off and our socks on full display. Blankets had been spread by the facilitators, which we were told represented Native North America, Turtle Island. Many of us were handed ribbons, which we placed around our necks, and we were directed to stand on various parts of Turtle Island. Those who had green, white, and no ribbons were then free to move around on the blankets to whatever place felt right to them.

As the facilitators brought us forward in history, one by one, we stepped off the blankets, representatives of people who were killed or subjugated out of the picture.

This is a bare-bones description of what happened for two reasons. The first is that it's better to go in relatively unspoiled. I am giving you as much information as you would get by Googling the KAIROS Blanket Exercise. The second is that it must be experienced, truly felt on a soul-deep level.

I will tell you that it was hard for me not to burst into tears, and that I also recognized that doing so might dominate the experiences of those Native people in the room. I will tell you that it was good to have circles afterward, to debrief what we learned and where we were able to meet all of this history.

Because this is our history. This is the history of anyone who calls themselves American, in any way. There is no opting out; there is only recognition that something far larger than we are has crafted how we live our lives, Native and non-Native alike. There are peoples here -- not just people, peoples -- who predate colonization of this continent. It was not ours to take.

The Racial Equity Leadership Committee (RELC) will go forward from this exercise with a refreshed awareness of where all of us stand, and our goal is to be mindful of this exercise when we craft a land acknowledgement. And if some of us are dreaming of seeing golden wheat fields, starry skies, and the buffalo run, through brand new eyes? Well, who's to say beauty can't come from this?

I hope someday you get to do this, if you missed it. Get in touch with Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation (peacecouncil.net/NOON) if you're interested in becoming a Witness to Injustice yourself.