#IBelongWDMCS Newsletter

• #IBelongWDMCS Letter from Dr. Jok, Executive Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)
• Save the Dates: Dec. 7 Community Engagement and March 23 Student Voice Symposium
• Observances: December and January Calendar Observances
  

Team,

Good day! I hope this finds you and your family well.

November was Native American Heritage Month, and I want to acknowledge and thank the Indigenous owners and custodians of the land on which we stand today, the Ioway, and honor their Elders past, present, and emerging. #IBelongWDMCS because of the Indigenous communities of this land…thank you!

Nobel laureate Nelson “Madiba” Mandela urged humanity to embrace interdependence, the combination of self-acceptance, self-actualization, and effort with a community that embraces diversity, meaningful relationships, and collective values — “for to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”

Individually, belonging requires a great deal of effort. We must examine our dimensions of identity, recognize the way our actions impact others, liberate ourselves from external expectations and cycles of socialization, and confront systems of oppression. This pursuit of aligning our values and behaviors is a constant, continual process.

But #IBelongWDMCS is a relational effort maximized by interdependence. Let us leverage our individual and collective knowledge, wisdom, and humanity to lift and celebrate each other. Let us avoid ethnocentrism. Let us remember that respect for other people’s ways of knowing, being, and experiencing life, especially those different from ours, is a reflection of our humanity and values.

As we end the calendar year, please lean into our collective being. Cultivate meaningful relationships built on respect, interdependence, and our shared humanity. Other people’s belonging liberates and enables us to belong — to ourselves and to a community.

Write a "Dear Me" letter to yourself 10-20 years in the future. The letter should answer the following questions:

• How have you liberated yourself?
• What are you grateful for in your self-discovery journey?
• How did you impact other people’s lives?
• How did your presence transform the communities you were privileged to live in?

If you or your family would like to learn about national and international observances in December and January, you can start with these resources: