November 6, 2013
Jim Toy
Class of 1981, School of Social Work, Co-Founder of the Spectrum Center, 1971
My story regarding the Civil Rights movement
As a biracial (Chinese/White) child I grew up in a racist, sexist, classist, religiously-and-politically-biased village in Ohio during the Second World War. During my middle-school years when I went to class I wore around my neck a cardboard sign: I AM NOT A JAP. Evidently my classmates believed or wanted to think that I was Japanese and taunted me accordingly. Even today I am read as Japanese, Hawaiian, Korean or Filipino.
My Chinese father was a track star at the University of Washington. He was endlessly harassed because of his race.
Experiencing and hearing of racial and ethnic discrimination, I became infused with internalized racism, which I continue to address..
Infected as I was with racist bias, in the Detroit Civil Rights March in June 1963 I marched down Woodward Avenue behind the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. At the end of the march Dr. King gave his "I Have a Dream" address, which he would deliver at the Lincoln Memorial that August.
I was then a staff member at St. Joseph's Episcopal Church in Detroit . We integrated the congregation, creating the first integrated (black/white) Episcopal Church in Detroit. We addressed the housing concerns of Black Detroit residents.213
We provided use of our church building to students from Northern High School, who were striking because, as Black, they were not receiving a quality education. We lived through the Detroit Riots and offered shelter to endangered Detroit residents 254
In 1970 I was on the Black Action Movement (BAM) picket line at Angell Hall, during the BAM strike that temporarily shut down the University of Michigan in protest of the low number of students of color--a percentage of total enrollment that still today does not reflect the racial demographics of Michigan.
Advice to current UM students regarding social activism/social justice
- Advocate for justice with reason fueled by passion.
- Justice means human rights and civil rights for all.
- Identify known and possible opponents, their values and tactics.
- Learn relevant law-and-policy information, written and unwritten.
- Create a Vision Statement, a brief description of the ideal situation desired.
- Create a Mission Statement, a short summary of concrete action to implement the Vision Statement.
- Create a list of practical goals-positive, important, achievable, stated in terms of observable outcomes.
- Create a list of objectives to advance goal attainment.
- Create concrete action plans to implement objectives.
- Identify perceived obstacles to goals.
- Create a goals-implementation outline.
- Reflect, act, reflect (i.e. debrief). No action without prior or subsequent reflection.
- Adjust goals, objectives, action plans to meet changing circumstances.
- Engage in lobbying; hold “Lobbying Training”.
- When encountering resistance, consider escalating advocacy actions. Remember the possible consequences of breaking the law.
- If you trust anyone who has more power than you, it's at your own risk.
- Do a “SWOT Analysis”-the Strengths and Weaknesses of your group. And what are the Opportunities for and Threats to your group?
- The best group decisions are made by considering diverse opinions during the decision-making process. Therefore, diversity in group membership is essential.
- Analyze the strengths and limitations (the “shadow side”) of group members, of potential group leaders, of the entire group.
- Choose leaders with the best potential to fulfill leaders’ tasks. Leaders must combine pragmatic abilities with empathetic consideration for group members.
- For fund-raising, form a non-profit association and seek 501(c)(3) status from the IRS.
- To engage in e.g. electoral campaigning, seek a 501(c)(4) status 200
- We all are filled with “isms”. Address these "isms", to create intra-group acceptance and support. Recognize and address the intersection of oppressions.
- Treat everyone with respect. Use the AFSC's method of “Peace-Making Dialogue” [contact Jim for information and for full text of this article].
- Allies are essential. Invite their support and consultation.
- All work and no play is unhealthy. Mix work and fun!
How does this topic relate to your current work and activism?
My colleagues and I in the statewide coalition, Inclusive Justice "Together in Faith" Michigan, and in the Public Policy Committee of our local Community Center, cooperate with political leaders and secular and spiritual/religious groups, organizations and agencies to envisage, create and sustain justice at local, state, and federal levels.
We address inadequate non-discrimination policies in Washtenaw County villages, cities, townships and school districts; in religious and spiritual institutions; in businesses; at the state-of-Michigan level, and in Congress.
Some Washtenaw County villages, cities, and townships have no non-discrimination policy, or at best an inadequate one.
Michigan's Elliott-Larsen Act, our state-level non-discrimination policy re employment, housing, and public accommodations, does not include gender identity or expression or sexual orientation as protected classes. I was on a sub-committee in the Michigan House of Representative 30 years ago attempting to expand the Act.
Michigan's Ethnic Intimidation ("hate crimes") policy does not include gender identity or expression or sexual orientation as protected classes.
The proposed federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which advances our rights, provides many unjust exemptions for religious institutions that we must challenge.
Our K-12 schools need carefully-written anti-bullying policies. Such policies must be immediately and consistently enforced in response to reports of bullying. We must challenge "bystander behavior". "Bystanders" witness bullying without intervening to halt the bullying and to support the targeted individual(s). We must address the bullying behaviors of individuals, groups, institutions, and political systems.
We must acknowledge the intersection of oppressions. For example, transsexual women of color are at heightened risk of discrimination , harassment, and murderous assault.
We work without ceasing for the justice that leads to peace.