‘Until justice just is’: Evanston residents unite against racism in YWCA campaign
Ziye Wang/The Daily Northwestern
A group of Evanston residents holds up signs. YWCA Evanston/North Shore has hosted annual “Unite Against Racism” — formerly “Stand Against Racism” — campaigns since 2012.
April 27, 2023
More than 100 Evanston residents lined Ridge Avenue on Thursday morning for the YWCA Evanston/North Shore’s annual “Unite Against Racism” campaign.
For 20 minutes, attendees waved signs with anti-racist and racial justice messages like “No Hate No Fear” and “Justice for All.” They chanted slogans like “Black lives matter” and “End racism” to passing drivers, many of whom honked in support.
Unite Against Racism is a national initiative first founded by YWCA Trenton and YWCA Princeton in 2007. The Evanston/North Shore branch began hosting the campaigns in 2012.
“It is an opportunity for people to see other people who are like-minded and want to be working on these things so that people don’t feel alone in their work,” said Eileen Heineman, YWCA Equity Institute’s community outreach manager. “Also, it is an opportunity to lead them to investigate ways to make change.”
She said this is the second year in a row YWCA has been able to host an in-person campaign since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Turnout along Ridge was higher than last year’s campaign, Heineman added. But she also noted that many partnering organizations, including local schools and houses of worship, have opted to participate in the campaign from their own sites.
This year, YWCA also changed the name of its campaign from “Stand Against Racism” to “Unite Against Racism,” Heineman said. The name change makes the campaign more inclusive, she said, noting several participants in Thursday’s event used wheelchairs and other walking assistance devices.
Chris English, head of Roycemore School, which sits a block away from YWCA Evanston/North Shore, said the school has been participating in the campaign for several years. At the event, Roycemore students held homemade signs and posters behind English, chanting slogans with other community members.
English said the campaign is a great way for students and faculty to take a stand alongside the Evanston community. It is also an opportunity for the students to learn the value of confronting social injustice, he added.
“We have to speak up in a world where sometimes the person who shouts the loudest is the only one who gets heard,” English said. “I think the important lesson (to the students) is to know that their voice matters.”
Rogers Park resident Bluma Stoller said she has been involved with YWCA’s advocacy efforts, including Unite Against Racism and the Let’s Talk @ Lunch program, where residents lunch with YWCA staff and discuss issues of racism, since she moved from Boston seven years ago.
She said events like the Unite Against Racism campaign allowed her to learn about and discuss issues of racial inequality in a safe space. Through these campaigns, she also met other community members who shared the same aspirations.
“I really feel like I did something,” Stoller said. “I wasn’t at home and doing my own thing, but out here and taking a stance.”
Stoller said she was inspired by the turnout at Thursday’s event. She added she was especially heartened to see the young students from Roycemore protesting with adult residents.
However, she acknowledged more needs to be done to combat racism. She said she hopes other Evanston residents, including Northwestern students, will take part in future YWCA events.
Heineman echoed Stoller’s sentiment and said YWCA has planned a series of other events to continue challenging racial injustice. One such event is an online, 21-day “Racial Equity and Social Justice Challenge” that participants can complete to extend their commitment to dismantle racism.
She referenced the racial justice pledge participants recited during Thursday’s event, which asks them to recognize and challenge racism in their everyday life “until justice just is.”
“It’s important that people don’t think of it as, ‘Just do this 20-minute thing, and you’re an anti-racist all of a sudden,’ because that’s not what it is,” Heineman said. “It’s saying, ‘Come together and make some promises, and then take that pledge home and think about how I can keep it.’”
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @caseeey_he
Related Stories:
