(upbeat music)- Hello and welcome to Prairie Purse.

Coming up a little bit later in the show, we'll take a look at the Forced To Flee exhibit that was recently displayed at Hjemkomst Center in Moorehead, Minnesota.

But first joining me now is our guests, Dr. Terry Hogan, the director of Diversity Equity and Inclusion for the city of Fargo.

Dr. Hogan, thanks so much for joining us today.

- Thank you so much for having me on your platform.

- I told him, we always ask the folks, tell us a little bit about yourself and your background, maybe where you are originally from.

- Well, I have very humble beginnings from the Delta of Mississippi, born, raised, reared.

I was raised by great grandparents, if you will.

I believe is that they have made me who I am as of today and so forth.

I was brought up on picking cotton and chopping cotton and picking beans and butter beans and things of that nature.

And one thing is that my great, great grandmother would say, "Make sure you get your good education."

Because she couldn't pronounce the word education, she couldn't read nor could she write.

but she wanted to make sure that, we all got a good education, meaning my siblings at I.

And this is what we have tried to do and so forth, and I think that we have done that as being a good product of society.

In regards to the educational background, I have a BA in Sociology, I have a master's in MPA, in Public Administration, I have a PhD in Public Administration, Public Policy.

I have been consulting for many years.

I have somewhat retired from teaching after 20 plus years in higher end.

Courses that I've taught is Sociology, Public Administration, Political Science, etcetera, and I have done that for many years and I have enjoyed every moment of it.

- We hear currently a lot about terms, diversity, equity, and inclusion, can you give us a definition and tell us what does that actually mean?

- Why don't we look at it from this respective and just to keep it in very simplistic terms.

A diversity means differences, in personality, life experiences, etcetera.

And with that being said, it is something that these differences bring new perspectives and new ideologies to the table.

Equity on the other hand means equal or equality, or if in fact, choosing to say in fact that everyone does have a stake at the table.

When you look at race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, LGBTQ, disabilities, all of these things plays a part in that.

Inclusive or inclusion means that you're taking all of that life experience, everything that have been done in regards to the personality of that individuals, and you put in all that stuff together, and you are saying, now I know that we are different, but let me listen to what you have to say.

You have given me a stake at the table towards creating ideas or whatever it may be to get to the end result, I'll use that term.

- Well.

Okay.

So you've been hired to be the Director of Diversity Equity and Inclusion.

Why were you hired and tell us about the position?

- I'm assuming, is that, the city of Fargo wanted more diversity.

And obviously how that diversity was going to look, I know at this point, but then I didn't know, obviously.

They wanted to make sure in fact, that when people come into the city of Fargo, whether you're flying in or driving in, is that this is a city that welcomes you as an individual, as a family.

And there's a possibility, that you just might say, I wanna stay here, I wanna live here, I wanna be part of the Fargo and perspective and so forth.

And so, with that being said, these are some of the strategies and initiatives and best practices, that I'm working on right now.

As a matter of fact, I'm working with NDSU, trying to keep these graduates, here in the city of Fargo, to make Fargo continuously, to be diverse with all of the student populations that they have at NDSU.

- You're relatively new on the job, how's it going so far?

- Things are going well.

I have experienced a great deal of, we're glad to have you here, we're glad that you are here and we want you to make an impact while you are here.

And with that being said, I couldn't ask for more.

Because oftentimes when people, that is involved in diversity, equity and inclusion, better known as DEI, sometimes just pushback, because individuals and persons, and groups, they just don't know what it means, you see.

And that is my job, it's to educate.

That's my first job, it's to educate, to make sure that people understand that, no, we're not bad people, we're just here to help.

- What does it all mean for, I guess the city of Fargo employees, do you work mostly with the city of Fargo employees, or are you working for the city and the greater community?

- It's twofold, and what I mean is that, I'm working internally and externally.

One of the visions and the plans, objectives and goals that I have, is that I am reaching out to not-for-profits, for-profits, as well as me being in the public sector.

I want to build that relationship, and upon building that relationship, I want to form those partnerships from those relationships.

I don't want anybody to feel left out.

It is a long strategic process, because as you know, I'm a one man show for right now.

But in answer to your question, I am going twofold, I'm working internally and I'm working externally, and so.

- Are there seminars or meetings?

So what-- - What I've done thus far, is that, I have done what you call an environmental scan.

An environmental scans entails that, I want to see how the departments are run internally.

I wanna know if in fact, if the right hand knows what the left hand is doing, how well are they having a dialogue with each other and one another?

But at the same time too, another thing that I want to examine, is what do you know about diversity in regards to this environmental scan?

How do you feel about diversity in regards to this environmental scan?

What do you feel about equity in regards to this environmental scan?

In that perspective, when I go out and I am speaking with client clientele or some of the citizens or businesses or stakeholders of Fargo, I'm asking the same question, because I need to understand what is the theme of Fargo?

What is it that you guys know in regards to diversity, equity and inclusion?

And then I wanna know if, you know, in fact how it works.

- How are you applying these things within the city of Fargo so far?

Are you doing the environmental scan or where are you in that?

- Right now, I am in the internal stage of it.

I am practically almost done with many of the internal employees, if you will.

The next stage of this process is going to be, is that we're going to do is what you call a climate assessment.

What is that climate assessment?

That climate assessment, and this is going to go into the external part of it as well.

Meaning working with the citizens and things of this nature, not-for-profit, for-profit etcetera.

But the climate assessment by and large, what it's going to do, is that, it's going to examine everything, it's going to come behind me.

Examine everything from the internal employees to the external employees, in sanitation, things of this nature, all the way down to the citizens.

How is that going to be done?

I am going to hopefully bring in a team, because I can't do this by myself.

I'm going to bring in a team that specialize in the climate assessment.

And in terms of that, I am going to manage what this team actually does.

I don't know what questions or what they're going to do at this point, but I do know, and, in my view on what I have seen, in my consulting, they do focus groups, they do interviews, they do surveys, all of those research mechanisms to get to where they need to get to, in the cities that they go out and do the work for.

- I understand you've said your job is about more than race.

What does that mean?

- Well, the thing is that, first and foremost, race is a socially constructed idea.

It's not the old school of thought and being as that I have been in academia, I wanna make that very clear, it is a socially constructed idea.

What does that mean?

That means that, it is a man-made prospective.

When I look at that, I look at people.

People are people, regardless of your race, your creed, your color, it really doesn't matter to me.

We are all in this circle together.

We are here to do whatever we can to work together in order to get to the end result.

When you, you think about race and I think about race, I look at it in totally different dynamics.

I look at race as being a socially constructed paradigm, but I look at people as being people.

It is a situation that, we are all in this one bag together and we just make it work.

- Can you talk about the diversity in Fargo and maybe even the region a little bit and what you've learned since you've arrived here?

- Well, the thing is this, when I arrived here in Fargo, I would look around and oftentimes, I'll back up.

When I heard this term new Americans, that was a term that was new to me, new Americans.

So I began to ask, and here it is, I'm a Sociologist, I'm a person in academia.

And I began to ask, what is new Americans?

And they began to educate me on it, and then I began to google some stuff and research as I often do, come to find out, it was people that were coming in from the other venues and so forth.

I come to find out that, there is a culture, but there's a lot of culture here, in the city of Fargo, there's a lot of culture.

With that being said, one of the most pivotal things that I learn in regards to Fargo is that, I went to, you guys had a farmer's market downtown.

And I decided to just ingrain myself into this farmer market, I wanted to see the makeup of Fargo.

Everybody comes out doing this farmer's market.

And I was really amazed at the differences that I saw in the downtown area.

And so I said to myself, what do I need to do in order to bring more diversity to the city of Fargo?

And the final analysis to this, I just basically continue to build off of the people that are different and the cultures that are different here in the city of Fargo.

So what did I do?

I had my business cards with me, I passed them out.

I passed them out to all the businesses, and I want them to know I'm the new Director here in the city of Fargo, if there's something that you may need, or if I can accommodate you in any way, feel free to contact me.

And with that being said, I'm building, number one, relationships, I'm building, number two, partnerships, and then again, I'm building a foundation to keep and to uphold diversity in the city of Fargo.

- Have your interactions that you're talking about, have they been mostly positive-- - Absolutely.

Whether a person feels intimidated by me and I hope not, because I'm just a little humble guy, or whether a person is basically, they're like, we don't know what this guy here is for.

I want them to know is that I'm a person that they can come and talk to at any time, and the most important thing, is to educate.

- You've talked about you're a teacher and educator, you come from that background.

Do you believe that the United States is inherently racist and built on white privileged?

- I will tell you from this perspective, do I believe is that a systemic racism is ingrained in the American value system?

I do.

However, one must understand what are the forms of racism, you have overt, you have covert, you have institutional, you have individual, there's a lot of different forms of racism here in America, and it is all over.

- Let's turn to another term, that's out there right now.

Can you tell me what is critical race theory?

- (laughs) That has been a hot burning topic here in North Dakota that I've been listening to the media and so forth.

And I could say, when I did my research on it and I still do, is that, a critical race theory, better known as CRT is basically, it is a legal term that is centered on the academic framework of Derek Delgado.

Derek Delgado is one of the authors of the critical race theory.

And with that being said, it came more to Furnishia in the early 1970s, going into the early 80s, by, I think it was Kimberly Crenshaw, Richard Delgado, and some of the other people.

What the research often entails, when you dive deep into it, is that they were trying to find out, why there were so inequality in regards to the criminal justice system, why there is so much inequality in regards to class systems, why there are so much any equality in regards to the educational system.

By providing that all the civil rights act and all of that stuff was very prevalent, to give some sort of consensus to all the good stuff, if you will.

They wanted to study and to understand, why is there so much of a degree of disadvantage when it comes down to these paradigm systems and so forth.

And not only did they get involved in this, but you have Hispanics, you have Asian Americans, and obviously African Americans doing all of this research.

Why is America, when you look at the criminal justice system, why is there such a disadvantage?

When you look at housing segregation and educational segregation, why is there so much of a disadvantage?

And so the critical race theory looks at a lot of these issues, whereas that, we wanna talk about race, but it's deeper than that, and I looked at it more from an academic standpoint.

- We're running out of time, so real quick, what is your vision for your job in the city?

- My vision for this job is to make Fargo, the best that it can be in every way.

It is to continue to build these relationships, to continue to form the partnerships, it's continued to do whatever I need to do.

My job is so widespread because I can be an arbitrator one day, I can be a facilitator the next day, I can be an assessor the next day.

My job is all about assessing and trying to do the right thing for the city of Fargo and working with every group here in the city.

- Well, we are just about out of time.

So if people want more information and we'll probably need to bring you back in about a year and see how it's going.

- Absolutely.

- Where can they go, who can they contact?

- Right now I don't remember my number right off the top of my head, but I'll give it to you on this card.

My cell phone number is 7012125146, and the office number is 7014617861.

Feel free to call me anytime to be educated when it comes down to diversity, equity and inclusion.

- Dr. Hogan, thanks so much for joining me.

- It's a pleasure, thank you.

- Stay tuned for more.

(upbeat music) Forced to Flee is a traveling quilt exhibit recently on display at the Hjemkomst Center in Moorehead, Minnesota, with 36 quilts created by artists around the world.

The exhibit portrays the reasons refugees fled from homelands and the hardships they face seeking safety in a new and foreign country.

(Soft music) - Our team generally selects exhibits based on what we know about what people here like to see.

And we know there is a major quilting subculture here, a lot of fiber artists in the community who especially appreciate the art form of modern quilts.

And this exhibit came to our attention and we thought this is a perfect one to have here because Fargo Moorehead is a major refugee resettlement community.

And so many people today seem to misunderstand what is a refugee and what is the situation worldwide regarding people who are literally forced to flee for their lives.

And I think this exhibition very beautifully and movingly illustrates that particular definition of refugee.

- I think of refugees who have fled the border of their country, have applied for asylum, have been granted permission.

But in the general population, a refugee is someone that is fleeing from their home.

Political refugees are really the ones that are gaining acceptance around the world, we can argue for that.

But our new reality is that we see economic refugees and we see natural disaster refugees.

Politically, they don't fit that definition, which just creates more tragedy for them.

- There are 36 in this collection, which is a large collection of quilts.

And the quilters come from all over the world.

13 of them come from different countries, including Germany, the UK, Ireland, Australia, even Korea, Japan, and the rest come from the United States, different states throughout the country.

The quilts really show a wide range of refugee situations throughout the world and throughout history.

I think the main thing is to draw some sympathy for the refugee crisis globally, and also to educate people.

Many of the artist's statements are about this realization about what's going on in the world and providing a lot of great information about it.

A lot of the exhibit appears to be probably that they were made during the Syrian refugee crisis, because there's a lot of reference to that, but there are also references to other refugee conflicts throughout the world and in different time periods.

- There's a quilt here in this display that lists dates and names and how that particular asylum seeker lost their life, and it's just for like a 10 day period of time.

There's another one of a small child that died on a trip across the Mediterranean, We saw that image on the news a few years ago, that he drowned.

I'm looking at all of these gorgeous quilts, and it's just making me recall so many stories that I've been told by the families that I've met and places that I've been and things that I've seen.

This is just a powerful exhibit.

I imagine somebody sitting, every stitch brings back a memory of the trauma.

Some of the artists are spouses of people that were refugees or grandchildren of people that were refugees.

And it's them conveying the stories that they've been told into a medium that can speak to those of us that didn't have the opportunity to hear that story.

The colors are gorgeous, the balance is perfect, and then you read deeper back into it, and see that there's a dark story in here.

- I have walked through a number of times, I've been struck by first, the creativity of the medium, how people can make a quilt into a book and into a collection of dolls mounted on the wall.

I'm also struck by the color orange, which is very vivid throughout the exhibit, and it is the color of the life jackets that many refugees have had to use to escape their countries of origin, and that have been found along the shores of different countries that they seek refuge in.

And it has a sense of igniting or maybe a flame of awareness throughout the exhibit that I think is actually very intentional in terms of what the creator maybe have been going for.

- My hope is that people will come and see this and study it and read the stories behind it.

Or if you're not able to come, there's some really wonderful videos online that you can watch.

And that it would just open their heart to people who really have, and are currently experiencing the need to flee for their lives.

And hopefully move them to reach out and do what they can, to help people transition into a prosperous, peaceful existence, anywhere.

- People who see this exhibit come to a better understanding of what's going on worldwide, and also seem to have a greater sympathy for refugees.

- I'm having a hard time not crying.

The imagery is just incredible, the imagination and how those stories are being told.

(Soft music continues) - Well, that's all we have on Prairie Pulse this week, and as always, thanks for watching.

(Upbeat music) - [Narrator] Funded by, The Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4th, 2008, and by the members of Prairie Public.