Community Spotlight: Solidarity Space

We recently had the opportunity to talk with Sule Anibaba and Kate Mellon-Anibaba, the creators of Solidarity Space in Central Park, Davis. Sule and Kate are amazing activists and are raising two young boys of their own as long-time residents of Davis.

It was truly illuminating to converse with Kate and Sule to learn more about their tireless efforts and experiences in fighting against racial injustice and the advice they have for those joining the fight. Read more below to learn about the great anti-racist work happening in Davis and how you can help in the Black Lives Matter movement.

How did you get started in the black lives matter movement?

Kate: Just a little back story, because we did not just pop into the Black Lives Matter movement because of George Floyd.

Racial injustice affects our family with two black sons and I’m trying to be a supportive partner to my husband who is in a predominately white space in Davis. He’s been profiled and he’s been harassed by police. He’s had experiences where I, as a white partner, can’t really understand. Since we’ve had our kids, about 6 years ago, I’ve been trying to do better and unlearn my privileges. It’s opening up my eyes, but learning that has been a journey and I’m still working on it. It was really important for me to understand the fact that I gave birth to my kids, and while they are half-black and half-white, they are still viewed by society as a threat as they enter public spaces.

While we were not necessarily a huge part of it in the beginning, we’ve been involved in the Black Lives Matter movement from the inception.

What inspired you to start Solidarity Space?

Kate: So I’m usually the one that is usually more emotional and spitfire. My husband, Sule, is trained in therapy. He always has his emotions in check, he’s really good at helping people process and is a really great listener. That being said, when George Floyd was murdered, I saw my husband emotionally react, but I didn’t think I was the right support system for him. He kept saying that he felt so isolated because of COVID-19 and that there wasn’t anything he could really do for his mental health. We had our kids to raise to begin with, and he was just so withdrawn and upset. And it’s traumatic for him. The scab forms after every one of these murders for black folks happens, and it keeps happening and this wound just reopens. This time, something just erupted in him and I kept hearing, “I need a space”. I talked to him about setting up a memorial that was visible, and he liked the idea and so we just kind of ran with it.

How did you develop Solidarity Space?

Kate: I’m an artivist. I did the Statement of Love that’s over on the Odd Fellows Hall with a group of artists. For Solidarity Space, I made these portraits and set up a Facebook event that said that it was a space for the community, to mourn, to process, to have those tough conversations. If you’re white folks, it’s to talk about racism and what you can do to make a commitment. For the black folks in our community: this is your space to find community, to process, and to grieve. And while I can’t tell you that it’s what you need right now, I hope that at least it’s there for you.

Solidarity Space is such a collaborative effort. They’re so many people that have so many amazing ideas and prolific things to say. I couldn’t do it without them, and I’m literally just using my privilege to hold that space so that folks can do what they do. 

How has the davis community responded to solidarity space so far?

Kate: So far, the community response has been huge. I had a few portraits and a few candles, and people came out in droves to bring signs, art, and candles. We lined a huge extension cord and use power from the Jewish fraternity that supports us. The first night we did it, a good 200 people came out. We had a group that wanted to do a candlelight vigil and we had an amazing die-in that was really impactful. A few community members and my husband actually spoke as well. We really just wanted to make a space that was authentic that was made for the people by the people. It’s been a huge collaborative, public process that has just grown from there, and it kind of evolves. We’ve had a person that was upset by this space and ripped it down, but we all just put it back up and made new art and signs. The space has been there since the end of May, so it’s been a long time, but we’ve had great support in trying to make it permanent.

Why did you choose to have solidarity space at central park?

Kate: I placed the space very purposefully. Central Park is a place where people are usually affluent, can spend money, and can hang out there with their families. And it has been a point of contention within the community where the Davis Farmers Market just doesn’t feel like its for everybody (people of color, unhoused folks, food insecure students— essentially people that don’t fit the rich family that goes to the Farmers Market). I grew up in that rich, white family, so my experience with the Farmers Market has been wonderful. However, after talking to people of color in the community, I’ve learned how they feel watched or even ignored there. I really wanted to be intentional in choosing the space. That’s why I didn’t ask for permission, and just took over.

Also lot of the public art in Davis is white centered and literal. You can only have so many bikes, frogs, and tomatoes. Ultimately, we’re trying to speak out and not have a filter in calling out our community for engaging in racist behavior and microaggressions. I’ve seen some people care more about their pets than they care about black people in the community, despite how liberal Davis claims to be. It’s all great to talk about supporting diversity, but when it really comes down to it, we have to have those sticky, hard, and sometimes triggering conversations. However, it should be noted that the arts and cultural department is doing a better job now of including projects from people of color or messages that talk about the spaces we are occupying right now. 

What do you think needs to be done particularly in Davis as individuals to fight against racial injustice?

Sule: It’s more awareness and more education. And it sounds very basic, but we’re lacking that. I went to school here in the early 2000s, and there was a huge lack of diversity here in our school systems. I also spoke to a high school student who is an immigrant from a South African country, and he’s complaining that the lack of diversity is still prevalent. So I think we need to shake things up a bit in diversity within schools. I think the school system has a long way to go as far as educating and being uncomfortable with the truth. 

Be uncomfortable with the truth. People are used to doing what it takes to stay comfortable. So until we can shake things up and make things uncomfortable, we will not progress. For me, it was very powerful to have people come out after the George Floyd killing because I have never seen that amount of support. It was great to not only get that support, but have people be mindful and active in wanting to change our system for the better permanently. We don’t have anything in the system that’s meant to last very long, we just have this occasional event that makes them look good.

How has the city council been responding to the Solidarity Space?

Kate: Honestly, they have been fantastic. I took over the space without asking for their permission, and a lot of the city council members have been going out to support the space. The Phoenix Coalition headed by our new mayor, Gloria Partida, has been super supportive. We also organized an event for pride in the space. Davis Phoenix Coalition and Bike Party Davis decided to do an event in solidarity with black lives for pride. Mak did an amazing speech in which they talked about the intersectionalities of anti-police, how pride started with a riot and how the folks in the LGTBQIA+ community who started these changes were black. It was really cool to see all the different kinds of support and solidarity with the different groups in this town within the space. We also have a summer camp, and it’s called Sol Summer Camp. It explores what defunding the police looks like, what abolition looks like, and teaching the children the truth in our history while also incorporating fun activities such as chalking and learning how to strike. It’s focus is on how to keep our kids engaged in these conversations and inspire them to be better than our generation. 

How can we make sure that this movement isn’t just a trend?

Kate: I can only speak from my perspective as white woman, and I think as a white person, it’s our job to be in our own spaces and create change. We need to understand that the movement will be by black people for black people. We, as the white people, have created racism, and if we want change, it starts with educating ourselves. We have google and all these social media platforms where you can follow black people speaking out. It’s important to take this information, go back to your circles, and educate others. We should also talk about the microaggressions and really calling out the folks that we love in a way to expose them to how it’s not okay anymore. It’s also about donating and make lasting donations if you have the means.

Don’t let it just be a square on Instagram. Critically think about what you can do in your circles that is anti-racist learning and teaching. Be about it, and don’t think of it as a fad. Black liberation is not a fad. Don’t let it be something that’s going away, even if it does feel like its going away. Find your lane and find something you can actively change especially in your own community for black folks and do it. There’s got to be a commitment to changing up that white supremacist routine that we do. There’s always intersections and always ways to support the movement for freedom. 

What can we do to help the fatigue for those that are super active in the movement to allow them to take that break?

Kate: If you see something that you think you have skills to support— if you are a graphic designer, have a huge social media following, money, or make succulent arrangements, use these skills. You don’t have to be an organizer, but you can find the skills that you have, the status that you may have, and contribute to a movement in that way. Figure out ways to support, but don’t be too reliant on people of color to educate you. Educate yourself and be ready to navigate and change if someone from that community calls you out on it. 

DO you have Any advice for those starting their own organizations in the community?

Kate: It’s scary and may be something that you’re not completely comfortable with. Educate yourself and critically think before you jump into things. The best you can do is just try. And when I say try, I mean if you make a mistake and if something happens, brush yourself off and say that this is part of the journey. Surround yourself with people that have the knowledge. Have a vision, have a goal, and have something you can contribute to their lives if you’re gonna bring those folks in.

What are your future plans for Solidarity Space?

Kate: We’re figuring out the funding and permanence of the space. A lot of this is online, and we’re working to engage the community in supporting black artists and thinkers. Solidarity Space has turned into more than just a place to go. With COVID-19, we use our Facebook page and Instagram to share anti-racist information. We have amazing people that are sharing content online that you don’t usually see. Our curators are people of color, which is important to keep those messages authentic.

We’re also hoping International House will be a fiscal sponsor to support the work were doing now. And it’s for creating art that will be representative of Solidarity Space and fund the moving parts and content online for future events and Facebook, Instagram, social media for the folks that can’t physically get out to the space. It’s in the works, but we’re trying to make it a permanent art installation. Something that is not just signs and portraits on wood, because those are not permanent. We need to think outside the box. Right now, we have an interest to do a mosaic on that bottom part that includes a lot of the signs, messaging that has been documented from the space, portraits, as well as have some historical black excellence involved. It’s for black lives, and that’s been a big thing that I think the city is finally ready for.

Contact Information

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Community Spotlight: Dzokerayi Mu

Dzokerayi Mu is a local Davis resident who wears a multitude of hats in our community. In conjunction with raising three beautiful kids, she has run a nonprofit organization called Tese Foundation for the last 7 years. Dzokerayi is also a part of Yolo Committee for Diverse and Inclusive Elections. Just recently, she has created a group called WiLD Events that supports women in leadership positions.She and her husband are food entrepreneurs as well and started Zim Cuisine to showcase Zimbabwean culture and cuisine in our town. Zim Cuisine does catering, food pop-ups, and has recently started at the Davis Farmers’ Market. Catch them at the farmers’ market and try a taste of Zimbabwe every second Wednesday of the month! (Next events will be August 12th and August 26th)

****** For the Davis Farmers Market event on August 12th, Zim Cuisine is donating 100% of the profits raised from the event to rebuilding the home of one of Tese Foundation’s students and her grandmother who lost their home due to heavy rains and have been homeless since February. They are $5000 away to reaching the goal of rebuilding their home. ******

We recently shared a truly eye-opening conversation in which we discussed the intersections between food, diversity, culture, racial justice, and entrepreneurship.

Read more below to see Dzokerayi’s illuminating insights and get a taste of the passion she has for creating and sharing delicious food!

HOW HAS THE PANDEMIC BEEN AFFECTING ZIM CUISINE’S OPERATIONS? 

If we’re gonna be specific in Davis, a lot of the food businesses in Davis have been suffering before the pandemic. Rents downtown are high, and there’s just not a lot of diverse food there. Recently the city of Davis had the initiative to bail out downtown businesses, but you had to be registered as a downtown business. While that helped many businesses, it didn’t include us. We were not able to get any of the benefits because we’re a micro-business and we didn’t get the PPP loan either. We’ve struggled with trying to set up, getting out there, and getting ready for the farmers’ market. We need a ton of equipment and so it has been a challenge. And even now when we’re in the farmers market, we are relying on our followers to come out and buy our food. The truth of the matter is that the farmers market is very slow right now. So basically the only way that we can survive and continue to do this is if people support Zim Cuisine with our GoFundMe so that we can subsidize our costs with all the donations people are giving us.

DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR THOSE STARTING THEIR OWN FOOD BUSINESS OR ORGANIZATION?

My advice is to just go for it, whatever season of life you may be in. For us, we are branching out during the most risky time in history. Sometimes it’s kind of overwhelming to think if it’s going to be okay, but if you don’t take any risks, you would never know. So it’s better to try and fail than to never try at all. If you have an idea and look for a mentor or support group, just go for it, start small and increase it as you go.

WHAT HAS BEEN THE MOST REWARDING PART IN STARTING ZIM CUISINE?

My favorite part is the kids. A lot of families have very picky kids and consistently, our biggest fan base is the young kids that their parents swore don’t eat curry, spices, beans, or mushrooms. And we make them believers! We have quite a following with the young kids, and that is just a testimony to how wholesome our food is. Slow-cooked foods are the best kinds of food, and it’s the food that you prepare yourself with fresh vegetables and is cooked in a loving environment. So for me, the most rewarding part is just really seeing the children enjoy our food.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE BEST ABOUT WORKING IN DAVIS?

We have been really well-supported in Davis since we’ve started, and we’ve seen that people want us to be here and are creating space for us and opportunities for us. It’s really humbling because the first day we were at Davis Farmers Market, we were overwhelmed with business and that is a good problem to have. We just really want that to be consistent and to continue to be overwhelmed with business so that we can stay open. We’ve been in Davis for 11 years now, and we’ve definitely seen Davis become a little more diverse. We still do have issues with diversity since it’s getting harder to live here as systemic oppression financially and economically causes people not to be able to live here. It was really difficult being the only black family we could see for miles while taking a walk and doing everyday things. Over the years I did see the number of those increase, but more so now than ever, we see somewhat of a slight decrease because families of color cannot afford to live here.

HOW HAVE YOU SEEN THE DAVIS COMMUNITY STAND IN SOLIDARITY FOR BLM?

The Davis community has been overwhelming in terms of supporting. In fact, I’ve lived in Missouri, Portland, Washington, and even in New York; and in all these cities that I’ve lived I have not met as many allies as I have in Davis. There’s definitely people that understand when I say ‘white privilege’ and aren’t super mad, in fact they use it themselves. This is the place to start a revolution and make a change for good. We had a march and protest that I planned a couple months ago, called “For our Fathers, For our Brothers, For our Sons”, and we saw almost a 1,000 people show up in our small town. We definitely see white allies have more of a role than ever before and in Davis, they’re really activating it and playing a role. 

WHAT DO YOU THINK NEEDS TO BE DONE IN DAVIS RIGHT NOW TO HELP WITH BLM?

This is not the time to be silent. You can’t just say, "I’m not racist”, you have to hate racism. What needs to be done in Davis is that white parents need to have that talk with their kids. I have three kids, all different ages and all different personalities, and they have all experienced racism in their classrooms. Parents need to have the talk with their kids about race from ages 3, and every couple of months reminding their kids about skin color, about what white privilege is, what we can do in this situation, and engaging their kids. If we’re going to change things, more conversations have to happen in the home.I also think more than ever, people need to be in community with those that don’t look like them. In our city, we see people of different colors and races, but we don’t see much interaction. You need to normalize people by having relationships. As long as someone has never had me inside their home, it’s easy for them to separate issues of me or my children. So now, more than ever, invite families of color to your birthday, to barbecue, to go on vacation. Many times we have seen things on the outside, been friendly enough that we say hi and chat, but not enough to have deeper relationships that make us accountable to each other. And I would say the same for many races. If you look at your friend groups, look at how many people of different races you interact with and actively pursue relationships with the many different races. It’s not enough to have a token black friend, you have to have multiple black friends to understand the struggle. We as a society need to integrate socially and then have those conversations with our kids.

WHAT IS YOUR INSPIRATION FOR ZIM CUISINE?

Our inspiration is African food. I was born in Zimbabwe and I’ve been in the US all of my adult life. And I’ve noticed that when people think of African food, they think of Ethiopian. There’s a lot of Ethiopian immigrants in the US, and so the only food, if you ever were exposed to African food, would be Ethiopian. I have tried to explain to everyone in my life that Africa is not a country, it is a continent with different countries, different cultures, and different foods. I just wanted to bring that into the mix and have people taste a different region of African food.

WHAT ARE THE DISHES YOU CREATE FOR ZIM CUISINE?

We have a lot of things and we can’t serve them all on one day, so our goal at the farmers market is just to introduce people to our food and rotate it weekly. It will also help people come back, so if they know that the next time we have a different dish they might be inspired to try it and come back. We always serve our meats with vegetables and starch. For vegetarians, we serve it as vegetables and a starch. 

So generally, African food has something to do with braai. Braai is barbecue, but when someone says that, they’re usually thinking about hot dogs and burgers. With African braai, they’re basically putting a whole cow on the grill, steaks, pork chops, and Boerewors (traditional African sausage). While it’s heavy barbecue, it’s also heavy vegetables. 

At Zim Cuisine, almost every vegetable dish of ours is vegan and gluten-free. We have coconut green beans, which is sauteed green beans with black pepper and fresh coconut shavings. Then we also have sauteed veggies, which is sauteed kale and cabbage. It’s very simple but it’s always a crowd favorite. I have always thought of it as a simple base of our meal but I’ve had an international chef tell me that it’s their favorite dish. People look at peanut butter here and see it as a dessert, but it’s a savory dish for us and we put mustard greens in our peanut butter sauce and we simmer it for hours. 

As for starches, we have jasmine rice and sadza. Jasmine rice is pretty fluffy and yummy on its own. Sadza is simple and made of just two ingredients: water and cornmeal, but the way you cook it is very hard. In our African traditional culture, when somebody is about to get married, they test them with a big pot and ask them how well they can make their sadza as a rite of passage. It’s gluten-free and almost bland on its own, but you use it to dip into all these foods that we make. 

We do appetizers as well! We have sausage rolls, beef and veggie samosas, and meat and vegetarian pies. Zimbabwe was a British colony, so we have a lot of British food crossover. Our sausage rolls are basically ground sausage, spices, and stuffed pastry-- you can’t go wrong with that. Our samosas are different from Indian samosas as the pastry and flavors are a bit different. Our pies are similar to pot pies but more dense and handheld that you can grab and eat on the go. 

WHAT’S THE PLAN FOR ZIM CUISINE IN THE FUTURE?

Our goal is not to be in the farmers’ market for the long term. Our goal is to have a restaurant where we can interact with our customers and have a cultural experience. We can only do that if people want us here and raise their concerns to say how do we make this happen, how do we bring this business in, and how do we help them survive. I encourage people to eat in Davis, and while a lot of us try to go to Sacramento to eat diverse foods, the more people mention the need for diverse food in Davis, the more opportunities that businesses like ours have for spaces. 

WHAT CAN WE DO TO HELP ZIM CUISINE?

If people can constantly come out and support us and make Zim Cuisine a part of their dinner plans every other week and commit to buying a plate from us, that would really help us survive. We also would really appreciate help with our GoFundMe. Our initial funds were all just spent on equipment and we didn’t even get all the equipment we needed. We need to subsidize the costs of just being able to offer our food at the farmers’ market. In the future, we’re looking for a space to grow as well as looking for investors who believe in what we’re doing to help us open a business in Davis. Some things people can do is just share about our food and our calendar, follow and like our Facebook and Instagram. We also have a website where you can look at options into catering for small gatherings and parties. 

HOW IS IT JUGGLING ALL THESE PROJECTS AND RAISING 3 KIDS OF YOUR OWN AS WELL?

Very busy, but they help in every which way they can. The eldest one has more of a responsibility. If you come up to the farmer’s market you can see him taking orders and really participating and helping with bookkeeping. We don’t think there’s really an age to start learning about bookkeeping. Since we’re first generation business owners, we were never really taught these things at a young age. But at 11, if he already knows how to keep his books, you can imagine how much better of a bookkeeper and business owner he would be. Those are the skills we’re trying to impart on our kids, whichever fields they choose to be, but we think experience is experience and there’s never too much experience in life. 

MORE INFORMATION ON THE PROGRAMS IN DAVIS THAT DZOKERAYI ADVOCATES FOR:

Tese Foundation is a non-profit organization that Dzokerayi founded. Tese sponsors children, mostly girls, in Zimbabwe to go to school and help with education packages. At the moment, they are trying to rebuild one of the girl’s home because they had their home washed away in February rains. Their whole family has been homeless throughout COVID-19, so it is urgent to help rebuild their home. If anybody is interested, please follow the Tese Foundation page!

Just recently Dzokerayi is part of creating a support group called WiLD Events in Davis. As they realized that there is not an institution to support women in our community that would involve anything in leadership. This is a support base for anyone that identifies as female and is needing support in any area. They planned the march, “For our Fathers, For our Brothers, For our Sons” in June. On August 9th, they will be having a march, “For our Mothers, For our Sisters, For our Daughters”. Visit their Facebook page for further information!

She is also a part of the Yolo Committee for Diverse and Inclusive Elections. Recently, the school board made a decision that they felt was made without really listening to the public or taking in consideration our experience. So this committee is in conjunction with WiLD to make sure that people that are elected into power are concerned about issues of diversity and inclusion. They want to support any candidate that represents and has a track record of caring for minorities in any issues of inclusion and diversity. Visit their Facebook page if you are interested in learning more!

Contact info for zim cuisine

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Community Spotlight: International House

For our first community spotlight, we had the pleasure of talking to Shelly Gilbride from International House here in Davis. Shelly is the Executive Director of I-House and started her position there last year. She has been a local Davis resident for the past 16 years where she has been active in the celebration of cultural diversity as Programs Officer of the California Arts Council.

We had a great talk about the efforts in continuing this cultural exchange in light of COVID-19, the fight for racial justice, and what I-House is doing to best support our community in these times. Read more below to learn about International House and their great work in tackling these issues!

What is International House Davis?

We are a Davis community non-profit organization dedicated to cross-cultural exchange and exploring the global issues at the time. I-House is a social gathering space that strives to make sure all people feel a sense of belonging and welcoming in our community. At the moment, we are providing virtual gathering opportunities due to COVID-19.

What kind of events does I-House develop or partake in?

We do tons of events throughout the year. Our program includes an international parent community that meets every Friday and discusses issues of parenting. It’s really a networking group to support parents within our community. We also have a community gathering of people on Wednesday mornings called Connections to allow local and international people to meet one another, share, and be in a community with another. We also have language and conversation classes, and you can practice around 11 different languages here. However, our biggest event of the year is the International Festival, which usually takes place in October at Central Park in Davis. It’s a festival of all the cultures that contribute to our community. We have dance, music, and food from all over the world to really highlight and uplift communities, especially marginalized communities that aren’t at the forefront.

How has I-House been doing? 

COVID-19 and moments of racial injustice are challenging for everyone. With COVID-19, I-House has been closed for the public since March, and we were looking to open on August 1st. However, that’s not likely right now due to the increase of COVID-19 cases and we do not have revenue. I don’t know how any non-profit or for-profit organization is going to survive without more support from our government and our community. We’ve done some online lectures, talks, and programming but a majority of our events are closed and we’re really preparing for what it means to open again.

In terms of the fight for racial justice, I-House has always been a place that celebrates diversity. Our mission and vision are to make sure all of the contributions of the cultural groups in our community are recognized and appreciated. In light of the occurrences in the last couple of months, this has only further revealed how much further we have to go.

What is I-Fest going to look like this year?

We are thinking of how to utilize International Festival to its fullest potential. The focus is to make the contributions of our cultural communities in the Davis region central and visible, and celebrate those communities. While we have always celebrated unity and diversity, we’re going to be a little more intentional with highlighting the contributions of BIPOC communities. Accompanied with that, we are in the really interesting and challenging struggle of how to do that during COVID-19.

I-Fest is going to be on the first Sunday of October (October 4, 2020). It’s most likely going to a much smaller event in the park that will have physically distanced audience, but it will be online as well. We’re currently working out what that looks like, but most likely we’re going to have an online directory of cultural groups. All the cultural groups in the region will have an online profile on the I-Fest website that will give a little profile, showcase videos and photos, and will be filtered with whether they are music, dance, storytelling, historical, oral tradition and language groups. We’re also working out how to do the live stream broadcast for I-Fest. It’s a much more extensive event to do online and we’re trying to figure out what that means for us because this is the event that actually supports all of our programs throughout the year.

How is I-House addressing the fight against racial injustice?

I recognize that I am also a white leader of a non-profit and understand that white women have particularly found places of leadership in the non-profit world. As accomplices, allies, and abolitionists, we need to do better at recognizing that we have often reached places leadership and have been complicit. In terms of the fight against racial injustice, I feel a responsibility personally to internally investigate I-House’s ways of working and externally make sure that our programming is uplifting the contributions of BIPOC communities. We’re doing internal work to make sure that our processes in they way that we hire and program are really exploring the ways that we are part of the nonprofit industrial complex, and how we can push against that to make sure that our internal workings are fighting against white supremacy. And then externally, in our public spacing work, making sure that we support BIPOC communities and publicly promote anti-racism.

What do you think we can do as individuals and allies to stand in support with the fight against racial injustice?

Number 1, I think as individuals we can educate ourselves. I’ve heard of a lot of reading groups and book clubs in Davis for White Fragility and How to be Antiracist. There’s also a lot of resources out there on the internet as well. Number 2, it’s making sure that the education is facilitated and not done in a vacuum of white-ness. Davis has a predominately white demographic, so it’s easy to be insular.

This is also coming as my perspective as a white woman, but we have to not be afraid take the criticism and learn to be better. And that comes through making sure that we are communicating with the people of color in our lives. So that’s part of he reason why I-House is working with April Jean from Impact Foundry to do the really hard internal work to analyze our own complicity in the system and then to really be accomplices in the work and call it out when we see it.

As a town in Davis, I think there’s some great work being done by some of our city council members. Will Arnold, in particular, is working on how to reframe and reposition the police department. Solidarity Space is doing great work to continue to make BLM visible in our community. We did an anti-racism panel that got a lot of attendance. And that was showcasing just a few antiracism leaders in Davis and in Sacramento. Davis is interconnected in our region and there’s great work being done in Sacramento with their Decolonization Project and Black and White Shut it Down. There’s really great work and it’s just uplifting and supporting that work that is really important. 

How can we make sure that the activism we do is not just a performance? How do you make sure this movement isn’t just a trend?

I think that the performance does serve a purpose in that it is a public demonstration of your values and I believe that we still need that. But that’s just the first step, and the next steps are what are the actions, internally and externally, that we are going to take to change the system with our processes and policies. For I-House, we must make sure to recognize this is in an international context. For us, it’s not just anti-racism work in the United States, we also serve the international community. We are thinking of anti-oppression work in global communities, because many of our members are not from here and may only be here for a short period of time.

We also need to look at the fatigue that is among the people that have been organizing the marches. We need to give them the space to rejuvenate and keep up the fight because it’s exhausting for the people that have been organizing marches and have been on top of it. I’m sure it’s exhausting to be in the constant educating mode, especially in our town where we have been looking to our communities of color to help guide us.

How do you think the events are going to change as restrictions are slowly getting lifted?

I definitely think events are going to be smaller. We are also getting assessed right now to increase our technology to do more of hybrid programming, where some people may be in the space, but some people may be participating online and virtually from their homes. We don’t currently have a definitive answer as to what that will look like, but we do know that the values that are driving us have never been more important. Uplifting communities and making sure that all communities feel safe and welcome here in Davis and the Yolo county hasn’t changed. We’re trying to figure out how we can uplift those communities as we deal with COVID-19 and the events of racist texts and incidents of police brutality. 

How have you been able to connect with your members amidst this and how have volunteers been able to help local members of the community feel safe?

Most connections have been online. We have an online newsletter that goes out every week. . We’re connecting to people through Zoom, our newsletter, and through some online programming. We have a virtual exhibit of a local artist work called Communidad by Stephanie Thayer. While in quarantine, she has done a series of portraits of local community leaders and cultural leaders. We are showing them online and hoping to have an in-person showing of that in September.

What are you most looking forward to once our shelter-in-place order is lifted?

I am looking forward to social connection. I miss being able to connect with people in real-time and real place. That being said, we’re working on the ways to do that safely, and thinking about the protocols that need to be taken in order to do that safely. I’m definitely looking forward to when we have a vaccine and when we can fully be in public space again and not have to worry about physical distancing. I also really miss music and dance. We work with Mamadou Traore, who is a local African drummer. While he has transitioned to doing drumming circles online, there is still something lost when you don’t feel the rhythm of the drum in person. A lot of the things we do at I-House is for the celebration of music and dance, so I really hope we get to a place where we’re really enjoying the arts together again. 

What do you like the most about working in the Davis community and what has been your favorite part about developing I-House here?

I’ve been living in Davis for about 13 years, but I’ve only been at I-House for less than a year. We’re in a leadership transition at I-House and really thinking about what I-House is going to be in the future. We are especially looking at how we’re going to stand in solidarity in the fight against oppression and racism. I think that I-House is the place to explore the global issues of our time. When I started at I-House almost a year ago, I did an informal community survey about what are the biggest global issues that we should be exploring. The things that kept coming back were climate change and racism. Though I’ve always felt a sense of urgency to address these issues, now more than ever, I think we’re trying to figure out and approach that with a sense of community and solidarity.

Is there anything the local community can do to help with International House?

We’re always looking for volunteers, particularly for the International Festival coming up in the fall. We need a lot of volunteers for that event, and it’s such an awesome event. If people have translation skills, we would love help with that. We are also always looking for people interested in potentially doing programs.

What are some tips you have for those starting work in non-profit organizations?

I think in terms of working in non-profit, the wonderful thing is that non-profits rely on people learning as they go and people doing tons of different jobs. You could be working on a grant one day, planning an event one day, fixing a door the next, or answering phones. You do everything, and there’s a breakdown of the traditional hierarchy where people can be given leadership positions. With working for a nonprofit, you’re working for something that you really believe in. You also get such a wide range of experience because you could be doing social media, marketing, development, fundraising, and programming; you could do it all. So you’re kind of getting a bit of everything in non-profit. Similar to entrepreneurship, if there’s something you want to do, you just go out and do it.

Contact info

If you have any questions about I-House for Shelly, you can contact her at shelly@ihousedavis.org!

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