The Davis community hosted an array of events celebrating Black History Month

By CHRIS PONCE — city@theaggie.org

As Black History Month comes to an end, the Davis community organized many events to empower Black voices this month. These events, both on and off-campus, ranged from film premieres to celebrations of beauty and art. As the last few days of February approach, more events are still occurring towards the end of the month. 

The UC Davis African American Faculty and Staff Association (AAFSA) held events and meetings throughout the month that were advertised on their website. On Friday, Feb. 18, Dr. David Cooke, the vice chair for faculty development and wellness and chief for the Division of General Thoracic Surgery, spoke about lung cancer’s effect on the Black community. 

On Wednesday, Feb. 23, there was a digital screening of “100 Years From Mississippi” along with a Q&A hosted by AAFSA. On Thursday, Feb. 10, AAFSA hosted an event with Dr. Candice Price on her groundbreaking findings regarding insulin sensitivity linked to sex and racial differences. 

A long list of non-UC Davis organized events also occurred this month. On Sunday, Feb. 20, The Old Sugar Mill hosted its third annual Black History Month Art & Crafter’s Show. The event showcased multiple Black artists and featured live music and food. Event Director Rachelle Wiggins spoke on the event being back in person following the pandemic.

“We are back and really are focused on making this event bigger and better than ever,” Wiggins said. “We have over 25 artists that will be showcasing their art.” 

When asked what people should take away from this year’s Black History Month, Wiggins said, “the beauty in the artists and the unity,” and “the unity of all of us coming together to showcase and put together a people presentation.”  

In partnership with Black Lives Matter Sacramento, Our Streets Coalition will be hosting a celebration titled “Black History (every) Month Celebration!” on Saturday, Feb. 26. This socially distant celebration will feature “music, food, and activities,” according to a Facebook post made by the group. The event, located at 3229 Martin Luther King Jr Blvd in Sacramento, will last from 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM. Masks are required. 

Freddie Griffin, a U.S. Army 101st Airborne combat veteran who served in the Vietnam war, organized “Salute with Honor and Respect – Black History Month.” The event is detailed in an Eventbrite post, “Join us to Salute and Honor our Black Veteran Heroes.” A long list of respected veterans will be speaking and in attendance. This free event is open to the public as long as registered via the eventbrite post. 

On Sunday, Feb. 27, a film premiere of “The Talk” will occur at The Guild Theater, with a discussion following the film. The premiere is hosted by Journalist Ed Fletcher. In addition to the film, a Black media panel and live Q&A with the cast and crew will occur. 

“The Talk” showcases an African American family giving their child a talk about their race and how the world can view them. Director D’Adonis Moquette described how this film is relatable for many Black individuals in the U.S. 

“This intimate moment between a parent and their African American son about how to be safe in the world when it deals with race,” Moquette said. “Living as an African American in America — a lot of people that are in that kind of situation can relate to this talk. I believe it is something that the majority of minority children, possibly African American children specifically,  go through with their parents. For me personally, I’ve had this talk several times throughout different times of my life.” 

Moquette said he wants audiences to “Come in and leave with an open mind. This film was made specifically for everyone,” Moquette said. “One thing we’re kind of missing right now in the world is empathy,” and his films seek ”to close that gap.”

Tickets for the premiere can be purchased on Eventbrite. When asked what Moquette wants people to take away from this year’s Black History Month, he focused on the diverse contributions Black people have made to the U.S. 

“We are more than just Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcom X [in] that we have contributed to society more than our hardships that we’ve had,” Moquette said. “We are inventors, creators, more than just entertainers as well.”

Written by: Chris Ponce — city@theaggie.org

Through the program, students can earn points toward adopting a polar bear for their school

By SHRADDHA JHINGAN — city@theaggie.org

On Jan. 28, the City of Davis announced in a news release that the Polar Pedal program organized each year by the Safe Routes to School program will be starting for 2022. Throughout the month of February, elementary school students in the Davis Joint Unified School District (DJUSD) will be able to earn points for their school that will go towards adopting a polar bear by walking or biking to school. 

The goal is ultimately to amass enough points to be able to adopt 20 polar bears. This will be done through Polar Bear International, an organization that helps protect polar bears.  One polar bear will be adopted when 500 walking or biking trips are made. In total, the program is aiming to reach 10,000 trips by biking or walking in February.

Safe Routes to School Coordinator Daniela Tavares said that biking or walking reduces the amount of traffic near schools. In order to promote these efforts, there is a group of parents helping out. 

“As the Safe Routes to School Coordinator I am fortunate to have an amazing group of Parent Volunteers at all 8 DJUSD Elementary schools that encourage and support students to walk/bike/roll / even get dropped off a block away and walk to school […], allowing the City of Davis to have less car congestion and traffic in front of each school in the morning,” Tavares said via email. 

To participate in the program, students have to “scan in” upon reaching school using the Active4me program, which they can register for online. The program was developed and donated to schools in Davis by Tim Starback, a resident of the City of Davis, Tavares said. 

Tavares also said that when students reach school and scan in, parents get notified on their devices that their students have safely reached school. The scan can also keep track of mileage, trip quantity and carbon offsets. 

“This program is active at each elementary school site and used to record rack counts at secondary schools,” Tavares said. 

The program is a collaboration between various members and organizations in the local community: A Kaiser Permanente grant partly funded the initiative, Tim Starback developed Active4me and Tara Parker-Essig, who attended UC Davis, designed promotional items for the program such as stickers, pledges, banners and the goal chart for the program. 

Parker-Essig explained that the designs for the program were inspired by sketches from Loretta Moore’s son. Moore is the Street Smarts/Safe Routes to School Program Coordinator for the City of Davis.

Parker-Essig said that the sketches from Moore’s son were incorporated into simplified designs that allow “a way to track students’ progress in adopting polar bears.”

Parker-Essig also used to be a bike mechanic, and thus there were accurate depictions of bikes in the designs, as well as reflective stickers.

Jeffrey Bruchez, the bicycle program coordinator in the Department of Transportation Services, said that there are various benefits to biking in Davis, such as the fact that the city is flat, only around six miles wide and dry for specific seasons.

“Davis is a wonderful place to bicycle for a multitude of reasons, but the single most influential reason is likely that the city (and campus too) was very clever with bike-forward policies which insured that the city was built to be incredibly friendly to bicycling (see the 1977 Bike Plan),” Bruchez said via email. 

The main benefit, however, is being able to enjoy local environments and sceneries from a bike, which can only be matched by being a pedestrian, Bruchez said. Having a bike allows individuals to access nature and other sites that may not be accessible by motorized vehicles.

“A bike affords you access to the numerous greenbelts, quick convenient transportation, and a vehicle which is impervious to road congestion,” Bruchez said. “Yes, we have bike traffic on campus, but on average the slow down you experience in bike congestion only changes the entire journey by seconds, not minutes or hours like you can be delayed in a car. From a car, or a bus, you can’t smell the flowers, watch the birds, and enjoy things like the Arboretum.”

The Polar Pedal program also helps reduce the amount of fossil fuels, Tavares said. By biking or walking instead of driving, students are doing their part to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. 

“The link to polar bears is direct, because most vehicles burn fossil fuels, which create CO2,” Tavares said. “And the more CO2 in the atmosphere, the warmer the Earth will be. Students help by biking and speaking up for a bike friendly community.”

Bruchez said there is a course called CyclingSavvy on Canvas to get people used to biking alongside traffic. Bruchez also noted that many cyclists have been following the things that were taught in the education platform at Aggie Orientation, such as yielding to pedestrians and signaling. In addition to ensuring bikes are properly maintained, having working brakes (which the Bike Barn has been helping with) and locking up bikes correctly, Bruchez said it is important to get bikes registered. He said that registered bikes are more likely to be returned, and though thousands of bikes are stolen every year, only a few hundred are reported.

Ultimately, Tavares said that the Polar Pedal program received such positive recognition that it was showcased on Polar Bear International (PBI)’s website. 

The idea for the program and resources were shared with Safe Routes to School partners in the area. North Natomas also created their own, inspired by the one in Davis, Tavares said.

“We are proud to continue to find innovative solutions to support student health and wellness goals, and to empower students and their families to support global environmental health and sustainability,” Tavares said. 

Written by: Shraddha Jhingan — city@theaggie.org

Yolo County Library has hosted several events for Black History Month

By LEVI GOLDSTEIN — city@theaggie.org

During the month of February, which is Black History Month, Friends of the Davis Public Library, Yolo County Library and the Yolo County Health & Human Services Agency are jointly sponsoring a series of virtual discussions and viewings of ”The Cost of Darkness,” a documentary that reveals the depths of white supremacy and systemic racism in America. The series, hosted Wednesday evenings from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., was announced in a Yolo County press release published on Jan. 26. 

“The Cost of Darkness” was created by the organization The Culture C.O.-O.P. to “envision strategies for interventions and impact from a holistic and systemic perspective,” according to their website. 

The Culture C.O.-O.P.’s founder and host of the discussions, Sandy Holman, is an activist, educator and author. She also founded The Culture C.O.-O.P.’s sister organization, United in Unity. 

Holman is faithful that “The Cost of Darkness” will play an important role in the fight for racial justice. 

“The documentary is part of a paradigm for transforming individuals, communities, systems and beyond,” Holman said. “The goal is ultimately to create a mindshare among people so they understand root causes and historical happenings and structures that have built what we’re seeing today.”

The discussion series is serving as a training. Employees of the Health & Human Services Agency and other organizations are receiving professional development credit for attending, according to Katrina Laws-Ewald, a Youth Services Librarian of the Mary L. Stephens Branch of the Yolo County Library. However, the series is open to the public as well, and Holman believes that it is valuable for all.

“When individuals are exposed to the true information and the root causes of what we’re experiencing in each of our institutions, they’re often more likely to come up with better interventions and strategies,” Holman said. 

Holman intends for the film to be just one part of the education that The Culture C.O.-O.P. provides and prepares citizens to advocate for systemic change. 

“It may be tough, […] but it’s the foundation of being able to be more strategic in our policy making, our interventions, our strategies,” Holman said.

Yolo County Library, eager to host these events, is fully invested in acting as a center for cultural education. 

“I’m part of the Black History Month work group,” Laws-Ewald said. “The Black History Month group is basically creating content or activities or advertising to celebrate that heritage.”

The non-profit organization Friends of the Davis Public Library, one sponsor of the program, is also highly involved. According to their website, they “make substantial donations to the library […] [to] ​develop the Library’s book collection, encourage reading programs for children, and to promote the Library as a cultural center for the city of Davis.”

“It creates a unity within the community,” Rory Osborne, president of the organization, said. “It provides a place where people come together and have dialogue. […] You have opportunities for kids to come together to learn about things they have no experience in prior to that, and in doing so they integrate with other children from around the community.”

Funding for donations comes from regular book sales events and Logos Books, a non-profit bookstore in downtown Davis, according to Osborne.

The Yolo County Library also published a list of books with Black authors and stories representing Black youth, according to Laws-Ewald. The Library has chosen the book “We All Have A Heritage” written by Holman as this month’s Dial-A-Story reading. Families with young children can call (530) 298-9990 to listen to an audio recording of the story in Spanish, read by Ruby Buentello, the outreach and programming librarian, or in English, read by Tessa Smith, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Coordinator with Yolo County. 

Smith and Buentello both attend the discussion series as facilitators. Those who are interested in attending can find the Zoom links in the press release, on the Yolo County Library’s website or on The Culture C.O.-O.P.’s website. 

Written by: Levi Goldstein — city@theaggie.org