In an event titled Peace Proclamation, a memorial to George Floyd and the meaning of Black Lives Matter was discussed in Washington by Dr. Kesho Scott on Sunday. Over 200 people, most wearing masks, spread out in Central Park to hear the professor from Grinnell College. The 67-year-old grandmother shared the event was a chance to reflect, “What I want to bring here today are my experiences about racial facts, about racial reckonings, about racial tolerance and diversity, about racial reconciliation. That in fact all lives do matter, I do believe that. And I believe that because that is the insurance that Black lives matter.”
Scott said demographics are changing and increasing diversity across the country and in towns of all sizes as the minority population today in Iowa is half of the of the population under 30 while only 27% of the population are over 55 years old, “We are having cultural contrast in these small, predominately white, agricultural and rural towns, are we not? Does contrast mean conflict? It means contrast. And as a result these contrasts have turned sometimes into conflict because people are unfamiliar with differences. They are either out and out ignorant of differences in their own country or people have relied on past racist traditions of the ‘50’s.” Scott added that Iowa’s last five governors all supported minority recruitment programs.
Scott’s family has a special tie to Washington due to the Safe Haven Act, which allows parents to take newborns up to 30 days old to a healthcare facility without fear of prosecution for abandonment, “That means that the community has agreed how to handle that situation. Your Washington, Iowa community did that for my son. For my son. And I want to thank you. Because that 19-year-old mother who came to Iowa to go to college to improve her life, who could not care for that child. And she walked into that hospital and saw that sign, that logo sign, in the hospital. Applaud, please! Because that meant to her that she could leave that child in the safety of this community. I’m telling you that you already have the ingredients and elements of making change, to being inclusive, because that son who lived in the foster care system for seven months ended up in my family.” When he was a teenager, she brought him back to Washington to see where he was safely given a future.
This was Scott’s sixth such event in Iowa. She encouraged the crowd to get involved in improving their communities by doing anti-racism work in a variety of ways – whether updating school curriculum, meeting people of other backgrounds and experiences, working alongside activists, donating to organizations doing such work, and participating in the democratic process by voting.
After the crowd took a knee during two minutes of silence in honor of Floyd and others who have lost their lives, the event ended with a prayer led by Reverend Kate West asking for forgiveness and help to be better. West encouraged people to move toward ‘radical inclusivity.’
