RESOURCES:
Embracing Our Differences Michigan
Embracing Our Differences Michigan's Third Annual Diversity Day Celebration
TRANSCRIPTION:
David Fair: This is 89.1 WEMU, and diversity in Washtenaw County will take center stage on Sunday. I'm David Fair, and as you well know, diversity, equity and inclusion programs have been the target of the Trump administration, but there is pushback and support for such programs throughout much of the local community. That's going to be on display at the Morris Lawrence Building on the Washtenaw Community College campus Sunday from 3 to 6 p.m. The third annual Diversity Day celebration is put forth by the Ann Arbor-based nonprofit Embracing Our Differences Michigan. Our guest is its executive director, Nancy Margolis. And thank you for carving out some time for us, Nancy! I appreciate it!
Nancy Margolis: And thank you for highlighting this, David!
David Fair: You've spent a lifetime working to build equity and equality. What is your take on the changes in federal policy and priorities when it comes to DEI?
Nancy Margolis: Well, we think that DEI is still very important and needs to be supported in any way that we can.
David Fair: Where do you see those changes having the most impact so far in Washtenaw County and throughout the state of Michigan?
Nancy Margolis: I really don't think I'm qualified to talk about that. We have this wonderful program that uses art and education to help students and adults learn about diversity and the ways that diversity enhances their lives. And I think that the more that we talk about it and share our vision, the more that people realize the important of reaching out to people who are different from themselves.
David Fair: So, let's go more in that direction. As I mentioned there is certainly a lot of pushback in portions of the community to the attacks on DEI. What keeps you eternally optimistic about progress?
Nancy Margolis: It's very interesting! I think just seeing students coming out to the parks to see our banners in Gallup Park and Riverside Park, hearing what they talk about and seeing their eyes wide open, learning about diversity is what keeps us going.
David Fair: In all of the years that you've been involved in a variety of roles throughout the community, again, working towards equity and equality, what has changed over the decades? And do you feel we are where we need to be, or at least headed in the right direction?
Nancy Margolis: I think we're fortunate to live in a community in Washtenaw County that embraces differences. And I think that it's helpful to us to continue working in that direction.
David Fair: We're talking with Embracing Our Differences Michigan Executive Director Nancy Margolis on 89.1 WEMU. The organization is sponsoring the third annual Diversity Day at Washtenaw Community College on Sunday. Now, the mission is right in the title of the organization, "Embracing Our Differences." How do you and your team at the Michigan chapter go about cultivating opportunities to accomplish exactly that?
Nancy Margolis: What we do is we have art in two parks: Gallup Park and Riverside Park in Ypsilanti. The art is done by local and international artists. It focuses on all types of diversity: race, sex, LGBTQ, physical and emotional challenges. And it's the showcase for the program. It's there. We bring free field trips of students down to the parks, so that they can see the banners. And the banners use as a spark to start discussions about diversity and equity and inclusion.
David Fair: And when you have these kinds of events and people are exposed, what are the most common reactions and conversations that are sparked?
Nancy Margolis: I think people are probably surprised to learn at the wide range of diversities that we talk about. They too often just think of diversity as being racial, but, in fact, there's such a much wider spectrum that builds our diverse community that I think they're surprised to see that and learn about that. And they go back, they think about it, they share it with their friends and family, and it builds a brighter society.
David Fair: I'd like to explore a little bit more about your observations. Do you think, in all of the work that you've done over the years, that perhaps, as a community, as a society, we're underexposed when it comes to getting to know people of other races, religions, and lifestyles and learning about one another's cultures?
Nancy Margolis: I think you can have a very important issue that we need to think about and talk about and explore ways to break down. People do not have the opportunity to share their life and experiences with people who are different from themselves. Our housing restricts that. Often, our schools restrict that. And the hope is that we can find many, many different ways of bringing people together. We need to be active and proactive in doing that, so that people do have the opportunity to meet with people who have shared different views and different ideas and can make their lives much more broader.
David Fair: As a casual observation, in my experience, I've noticed that younger children seem to be better at accepting people for who and where they are. There seems to be more hesitation and the separation the older we get. In your opinion, what about our socialization as we move through our teenage and early adulthood years changes that sense of being more open?
Nancy Margolis: You're so right about children. Children are not born with prejudice. They learn prejudice from what they see in the community, from their families, and maybe from television even. I think that the schools are doing a good job in trying to bring the teenagers together in different clubs and groups and situations to enable people to be together and to learn more about each other.
David Fair: Once again, this is 89.1 WEMU, and we're talking with Nancy Margolis about Sunday's third annual Diversity Day celebration. Nancy is executive director of the organization sponsoring the event. It's called Embracing Our Differences Michigan. Now, as Nancy has mentioned, there are beautiful billboard-sized art installations in Gallup Park in Ann Arbor and Riverside Park in Ypsilanti. And I've seen the pictures, and I find them to be rather spectacular. They went up early this month and will remain into the fall. Nancy, who created these artistically and culturally diverse artworks?
Nancy Margolis: It's a wonderful question, David! We locally send out a call for art, and we'll be doing so very soon for next year, among all the artists in Washtenaw County. And we have a panel of judges, who are artists themselves, determine which of those art pieces will be enlarged and put in the parks. Last year, we received about 150 different submissions from artists over the county, and the judges selected 30. In addition, we are able to use art from Sarasota, Florida, which is the first organization that did Embracing Our Differences. They have been doing Embrancing Our Diffrences for 22 years and have a wide network over the world of artists who submit art to them. They share that art with us, and we select, oh, probably 15 or so to use locally as well. So, it's fun for our local artists to be able to be part of an international show. And it's all about very, very different kinds of diversity.
David Fair: And what a great day to go to the park and, at the same time, have some thought-provoking and emotionally touching experiences!
Nancy Margolis: Yes! We'd love to give tours. The tours are all free and their led by experienced docents who can share the visions of the artists themselves. So, we would love to give tours to anybody who is interested. They can sign up for a tour on our website, which is eod michigan.org. They are free tours. We get many tours to the students in both Ann Arbor Schools and Ypsilanti Schools as well. We've done many, many tours to different departments at the University of Michigan. I hope you'll all come. I hope that you'll come to Diversity Day because it is free. It's family-friendly. There'll be a lot of different exhibits offering activities for children. So, do bring your children! The children will also get to see dance teams who are Mexican. They'll be Mexican dance teams. We have Taiwanese dance teams and songs. We'll be having a Congo dance team--many, many dances, music and wonderful exhibits to be part of.
David Fair: And again, this is going to be the third annual diversity day celebration in the Morris Lawrence Building at Washtenaw Community College. And, Nancy, after having time to reflect on the first two Diversity Day celebration events locally, what do you think, to this point, is made a lasting impact?
Nancy Margolis: I think when people come to the parks and see the banners, just visually seeing something like that, is so powerful. It really becomes a transformative experience for people. And we used to hold the Diversity Day in the park, in Gallup Park. But it outgrew Gallup Park, and it has limited us in many different ways. We weren't able to have dance teams because it was going to be sort of dangerous to have them dancing in the grass. So, that's why we moved the event to Washtenaw Community College. And I do hope that many, many people will come out and share the experiences, seeing these different cultures, different ethnic groups working together and having a good time.
David Fair: Well this year's event arrives in a time of more uncertainty than the first two. And I'm curious as to what impact you hope the event will make this year as you move into a fourth year next year.
Nancy Margolis: I'm hoping, but I also know, that this event is going to make a big impact on people's impressions of the various ways that people can be together and delight and enjoy each other.
David Fair: Well, thank you so much for the conversation, Nancy! And enjoy the celebration on Sunday!
Nancy Margolis: Thank you very much, David! I appreciate the experience of talking with you!
David Fair: That is Nancy Margolis, she is Executive Director of Ann Arbor-based Embracing Our Differences Michigan. Again, it will put forth the third annual Diversity Day celebration. It runs from 3 to 6 p.m. on Sunday at the Morris Lawrence Building on the campus of Washtenaw Community College. For more information, simply pay a visit to our website at WEMU.org, and we'll get you linked up everywhere you need to go. I'm David Fair, and this is your community NPR station, 89.1 WEMU-FM Ypsilanti. Celebrating 60 years of broadcasting from the campus of Eastern Michigan University!
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