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[0:09] Well, my name is Regina Neville and I've

[0:12] lived in Adina now almost 25 years and

[0:15] it it is a city of choice for my husband

[0:18] and for me. We both grew up in Iowa. We

[0:21] met in Iowa and we've had the

[0:24] opportunity to live in several different

[0:26] places including Connecticut, North

[0:28] Carolina, and then 10 years in San

[0:31] Francisco. We both had good jobs and our

[0:34] kids were starting school, but we missed

[0:37] the Midwest and we wanted the kids to be

[0:39] closer to their grandparents. So, we

[0:41] looked at cities in the Midwest and for

[0:45] lots of reasons, Adina stood out. It's

[0:47] close to an airport, which my husband

[0:49] needed for travel. The schools are

[0:51] great. It's on the southern side of this

[0:55] city in so easier to get to Iowa. Uh,

[0:58] and it just seemed like a great

[1:00] community. So, we have we've never

[1:02] looked back. Best decision we've made.

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[1:11] I'm still growing. I'm still learning.

[1:13] And growing up in Iowa, my community was

[1:16] homogeneous, mostly white, uh, primarily

[1:19] Protestant and Catholic, so mostly a

[1:22] Christian community. And diversity is

[1:25] something that we talked about, but the

[1:27] terms are a little bit different. Were

[1:28] you of German or Irish origin? And for

[1:32] my grandparents, they were GermanIrish.

[1:34] So they had to choose a different

[1:35] church, one that spoke English and

[1:38] didn't have mass in German. So that was

[1:40] my upbringing. that even as a little

[1:42] kid, race inequity was not something we

[1:45] talked about in our community. It wasn't

[1:48] that it was um not recognized because I

[1:51] think everybody was aware, but it wasn't

[1:54] something that there was a conscious

[1:55] effort to discuss. When something when

[1:59] there was uh what I now know were

[2:01] microaggressions, I did not know that as

[2:03] a child, but when that came up, what I'm

[2:06] grateful for is there was something

[2:07] inside me that made me feel

[2:09] uncomfortable. It was it was like a a

[2:11] switch or a a jerk. It's like did I did

[2:15] I really hear that first questioning?

[2:17] Did it sound like what I think it

[2:19] sounded like? And one specific example

[2:22] when I was probably elementary school

[2:24] was watching a basketball game on

[2:26] television with a lot of family members.

[2:29] I think it was a high school tournament

[2:31] and there were Iowa teams playing

[2:34] students in this case from Waterlue Iowa

[2:37] which is a more diverse community. One

[2:39] of uh my family members talked about the

[2:42] dark skin of everyone on the court who

[2:45] was from Waterlue and phrased it in a

[2:48] way that I found very jarring and I ju I

[2:54] wasn't used to being around people who

[2:56] didn't have white skin certainly was

[2:58] aware of it but hearing the term hearing

[3:01] it called out now fortunately it wasn't

[3:04] as derogatory as some terms that can be

[3:06] used but definitely a recognition

[3:08] there's there's a difference. Something

[3:10] is not the same and it's not about the

[3:12] skill in basketball. So that was

[3:14] jarring. And then many years later in

[3:17] college, I had the opportunity just to

[3:20] study for a while in New Jersey, much

[3:22] more diverse school than where I was

[3:24] attending in Iowa. And when some friends

[3:27] of mine came to see the production, what

[3:30] I didn't expect, but what was clear is

[3:33] some of them were extremely

[3:34] uncomfortable. And this was the 1980s.

[3:37] The idea of interracial relationships

[3:40] was not new to the United States by any

[3:43] means, but recognizing that people who I

[3:47] thought we we had the opportunity for an

[3:50] education to meet many other people, how

[3:53] uncomfortable that made some people

[3:54] feel.

[3:56] I didn't know everything about where we

[3:58] had come from as a country. Certainly

[4:00] didn't know where we were going. But

[4:02] that idea of being colorblind, it felt

[4:04] like that was um like, okay, now I know

[4:08] and this this is an answer. We were

[4:11] looking for an answer and thought that

[4:14] that might be it. In the late8s,

[4:17] conversations between Robert Brewstein,

[4:19] who was the artistic director of

[4:20] American Reparatory Theater, and August

[4:22] Wilson, who has some St. Paul roots and

[4:26] nationally known playwright, had a

[4:28] conversation about colorblind casting.

[4:30] Can we just put any role in a play? Can

[4:35] we cast it with a performer of know

[4:38] regardless of the color of their skin?

[4:40] It was a tense debate. And I remember

[4:43] having been taught that colorblind

[4:46] casting was the a right way to look at

[4:50] casting. And in hindsight, being able to

[4:55] recognize that it is a way, there is not

[4:58] a right way. And there are so many other

[5:01] factors to consider. Um, and that

[5:05] doesn't necessarily make it equal. So

[5:07] just because it is a different way of

[5:09] doing things than what has been done

[5:11] before, specifically in theater arts,

[5:13] but also with a lot of athletics,

[5:16] staffing the boardroom and hiring

[5:18] people, hiring practice. It was a way,

[5:21] it was part of a journey, and we needed

[5:23] to come farther.

[5:30] We were not progressing in some cases at

[5:33] all communally. I was not asking enough

[5:36] questions of myself. I was not

[5:39] intentional enough with my learning and

[5:42] my unlearning. And the anti-racism

[5:45] collective conversations

[5:48] allowed for one a safe space to share

[5:52] and collectively try to do better. If we

[5:56] know better, we do better. And we can't

[5:59] do much if we really don't know. And we

[6:02] remain ignorant and unable to move

[6:05] forward if we have no idea that some of

[6:07] the things that that some of the things

[6:09] I might do might be a microaggression.

[6:12] And I'm not aware of that. I need to be

[6:14] made aware of that. And it's

[6:16] uncomfortable. And I have to go through

[6:19] the discomfort. I can't just put it

[6:22] aside and say, "Well, I'm going to

[6:24] deflect and go another direction because

[6:27] I won't move forward."

[6:35] Having the opportunity to travel and to

[6:38] live for extended periods of time in

[6:41] different parts of the country has been

[6:43] great, mostly through school and work.

[6:45] being able to live in places where I get

[6:48] to meet people from many different parts

[6:51] of the world and many different cultural

[6:53] backgrounds and in Minnesota very much

[6:57] focused on education and governance. So

[6:59] looking at policy, looking at how do we

[7:03] support all of our students and all of

[7:06] our staff so that everyone has the

[7:08] opportunity to succeed and then

[7:11] recognizing that our systems aren't set

[7:14] up to let everybody succeed or to

[7:17] support that kind of success. needing to

[7:20] take that deep dive into one just

[7:23] learning what I had not been aware of

[7:25] before of policies that we have on the

[7:28] books or that might have unfortunately

[7:30] still been as part of our systems. Um

[7:33] looking at our governmental systems just

[7:35] looking at what happened and getting to

[7:37] know people and then asking them what

[7:40] what makes a difference what makes you

[7:42] feel welcome? How do you feel at home?

[7:44] Uh that's been tremendously helpful.

[7:55] Adina is willing to ask hard questions.

[7:57] I will say that from our city council.

[8:00] They are willing to ask the questions

[8:02] and recognize that the there may not be

[8:05] answers and that a lot of the

[8:07] conversation is difficult because of the

[8:11] development of the anti-racism

[8:13] collective. And it's not the only

[8:15] organization in our community that is

[8:17] asking these kinds of questions. It's

[8:19] one that is partnering with EAA, you

[8:24] know, representing Asian voices. Uh we

[8:26] need to have indigenous voices. We need

[8:29] to have voices of people with white

[8:31] skin. There is no standing still. Being

[8:34] silent is not neutral.

[8:37] So given that I'm appreciate the fact

[8:41] that there's a choice with many people

[8:43] in the community to try to do better. I

[8:46] am so impressed with young people

[8:49] because one, they've had the opportunity

[8:52] for conversation that I didn't have

[8:55] growing up. So to see that difference

[8:58] one, how comfortable they are with

[8:59] conversation,

[9:01] how comfortable they are with each

[9:02] other, and they're willing to call

[9:06] things out. I'm learning from them, and

[9:08] I feel like the future is in good hands.

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