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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTRC 2022-06-02 transcript[00:00:00] [MUSIC] We meet today in the community of Iowa City, which now occupies the homelands of the Native American nations to whom we owe our commitment and dedication. The area of Iowa city was once within the homelands of the Iowa, Meskwaki, and Sauk. Because history is complex and time goes far back beyond memory, we also acknowledged the ancient connections of many other indigenous [00:00:30] peoples here. The history of broken treaties and forced removal that dispossessed indigenous peoples of their homelands was, and is an act of colonization and genocide that we cannot erase. We implore the Iowa City community to commit to understanding and addressing these injustices as we work toward equity, restoration, and reparations. I'm going to go ahead and make a motion to approve the minutes [00:01:00] from May 19 2022. Second. Any further discussion? Commissioner Ali? Yes. Commissioner Daniel? Commissioner Dillard? Yes. Commissioner Gathua? Yes. Commissioner Johnson? Yes. Commissioner Harris? Yes. Commissioner Nobiss? Yes. Commissioner Rivera? Yes. Commissioner Traore? Yes. Thank [00:01:30] you. Motion passes. 8-0. Next is public comment of items not on the agenda. TRC members will not engage in discussion with public concerning set items. We're going to start with folks in the Zoom. If you have a public comment, now would be a good time to raise your hand. Anybody in here want to make a comment? Okay. The next [00:02:00] agenda item is going to be led by Commissioner Nobiss in relation to a proclamation for missing and murdered indigenous peoples annually in Iowa City on May 2nd. The floor is yours, Sikowis. Well, sorry, I'm traveling and coincidentally I happened to stop at a Hy-Vee. [LAUGHTER] I'm [00:02:30] really proud to say that Great Plains Action Society put a lot of effort into our work in Sioux City. That's Trisha Etringer. That's our MMIW director and our operations director that's behind all that. I think that Sioux City is the first city in Iowa and Nebraska to make a proclamation recognizing the national day of awareness of missing and murdered [00:03:00] indigenous women and girls. Then making their own personal proclamation on May 2nd for that day, to recognize that day and to promise to take action on this crisis. So I was hoping that the City of Iowa City would do the same thing. I feel like this is the perfect forum to have this happen through a reconciliation. So basically, it would be a proclamation [00:03:30] made each year on May 2nd. Our goal is to have every major city or county or the state itself make this proclamation on May 2nd every year. If anybody wants to know more about the crisis or missing and murdered indigenous women and girls, which we call actually missing murdered indigenous relatives as Great Plains Action Society. Because it is inclusive of trans and non-binary and two-spirit [00:04:00] folks. I guess we can talk about that now. I would also open that up for folks in the Zoom that want to because I did forget to allow for public comment beforehand. Does anyone in here have any questions or comments regarding this? [00:04:30] Um, this question, just mainly just because I have the agenda items written. It's missing in murdered indigenous peoples in Iowa City. I'm just comparing that based on what you said. Is this more of local or state or national in terms of what the target for this is? It's just written as peoples in Iowa city.[OVERLAPPING] I think that's just the punctuation. Yeah. Yeah. [00:05:00] Yeah. I use the term peoples because like we use the term relatives because we're talking about our people. But when we have other folks do it, we use the term peoples. We'd ask them to use the term peoples. I mean, it's just a national effort. I guess this would more likely be a bit more like a statewide effort. But I mean, this actually like a continental, or it's even a global issue. [00:05:30] But we would be basically joining a national, actually a continental effort because in Canada, is also a day of awareness for missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. We would be joining a national and a continental effort in Canada as well. We want to use the May 2nd as the day because May 5th is of Cinco [00:06:00] de Mayo and just since the day came down from Canada that's not such an issue there, but we just would rather not have this day of awareness on the same day as Cinco de Mayo. Are we collaborating with any other local groups on this or is this just on Great Plains? Just Great Plains. I mean, I don't even know if it's a collaboration. I'm just asking the city if they want to just [00:06:30] proclaim it. I have a quick question [OVERLAPPING] I would like us to ask the city to proclaim it. Sikowis, this is Chastity. My only question is, is there anything else besides just proclamation you want from the city. I'm just curious what else is the end goal? What would you like to see? Yeah. I mean, first is the proclamation, right? [00:07:00] Because first people just need to even like see they know this is actually happening and in most cases people don't or they don't want to admit it's actually an issue. There's a lot of stuff that needs to be done. Increased awareness and then increased protections and more funding towards search parties, more funding towards tip lines. I [00:07:30] mean, it's huge. It's a massive thing. I could go on for a while, but Iowa City might not have the issue so much. But this is also very linked to trafficking, which of course is something that is everywhere. We just need to work in solidarity with tribal nations and states and other governments everywhere to put a stop to it. I think that it's [00:08:00] potentially really powerful and important for us to participate and support this type of effort. Something that struck me recently was a comment that was made I think in one of the meetings that I've missed recently and our TRC is taking a really proactive approach in terms of taking action before tragedy strikes. Certainly, there have been atrocities committed against indigenous [00:08:30] peoples in Iowa. But as you mentioned, our proclamation here in Iowa City would be in solidarity with other areas with known murdered indigenous peoples. So I think it's really rad and important for us to be involved in helping you with us. You're [00:09:00] muted. Thank you. Just to give it a little bit of context, this is not something that is far removed from us. Meskwaki Nation has been looking for Rita Papakee now for I think six or seven years. Then we know there's women that have gone missing in the Quad Cities area. There's more women that have gone missing from in the Tama area, in the far distant past. But what's really important to note [00:09:30] is that this is something that happens Des Moines as well. Omaha is eighth in the nation for missing and murdered indigenous women for cities and Nebraska seventh in the nation. This is not far from us and right now Great Plains is working on a project with a bunch of academics and grassroots organizers from South Dakota, Nebraska, and Iowa. Getting statistics so we can better understand what's happening with sex trafficking [00:10:00] and native folks. For instance, Minnesota, which is right above us and has a sex trafficking rate of native woman that's astounding. I can't remember the percentage, but I do know the percentage of where I'm from in Winnipeg, Manitoba, which is right above Minnesota, and just straight North of Iowa. Native women make up 50 percent of traffic victims in that area. I just want you to know this is [00:10:30] out-of-control, in some cases, the murder rate for indigenous woman is 10 times higher than the national average in certain parts of the country. The DOJ tells us that 56 percent of indigenous woman would experience sexual assault in their lifetime. But if you talk to grassroots organizers, that number can be as high as 80, 90 percent in our communities. There's a lot more I [00:11:00] can talk about. But it's a massive issue and it includes more than just women and girls. Our men and our boys are also facing elevated rates of this. It's linked to resource extraction, man camps. There's increased rates of violence when they come into our areas like and they build these temporary workforce housing developments. Then lastly, there's a high suicide rates [00:11:30] and that's linked to this as well. Of course, as you may not think it is but it is because it has to do with oppression and poverty. Then there's police violence. Depending on the year, indigenous peoples often have the highest rate of police murder rates in the country, which is very unknown. In fact, where I'm traveling right now is to Omaha because we're preparing for this Zachary Bear Heels march on Sunday. This is very much linked [00:12:00] to this as well. He was murdered by police, tased 13 times, dragged by his braids and kneeled upon multiple times and beaten. This is a phenomenon as well within our communities high rates of murdered by police. It's a huge thing. I do think it fits into the TRC, our mission. [00:12:30] I think that's all I need to say. I hope that maybe we can vote on, I guess I don't know if we can right now or if this is just a for discussion. I guess somebody can tell me that. Then maybe I have to put together something more formal to be voted on next time. But so if Stefanie or Amel. [OVERLAPPING] You can take a vote on that recommendation now. That was going to be my [NOISE] question to you. When we do take a vote, [00:13:00] let's say it passes. Would Sikowis need to present something to you in order for this to be on the agenda for council? Or would it just be is there just a generic proclamation for lack of a better term request form? How the proclamation process works is that proclamation has to be submitted to the city clerk's office. That's how any proclamation that you hear at a [00:13:30] city council meeting is done. If you're looking at next year May 2nd then a member of the TRC would just need to submit a proclamation, say two weeks before that meeting dates so that it can be read and accept it. But what if they don't accept it? How do we know? I've been at the city for quite awhile and I'm not aware of a proclamation being denied. [00:14:00] I guess I wouldn't have any concerns about that. I don't know any reason why the city council would have any concerns as it relates to this proclamation. Okay. That's good to know. I guess. I'd like to suggest, I like the idea of us, you or people helping you, Sikowis, putting together something more formal, written. [00:14:30] I think that this is such an important issue that I want to make sure that when we're submitting this and presenting this to the city, that we're giving them, the information that you just presented to us in a written down way so that they can realize the gravity of the situation and understand exactly what their proclaiming that there are missing and murdered indigenous peoples, or that we stand in solidarity with our indigenous communities [00:15:00] who are suffering because of these events. I just want to hone this down a little bit more so that we can be very thorough and specific in our recommendation. I was going to echo the same. This proclamation requests form just want to know like what exactly it looks like before voting on a recommendation. I just want to know, are we just saying, hey, we want you to say these words in terms of texts and that's it. [00:15:30] Or are there listed action items or other supporting information we're adding as background for just like a press release with it or something like that. I just want to make sure as where Kevin is coming from. But for me as well of, we did the land acknowledgment thing, and I don't want to just write up a proclamation and send that in just to send it in. Let's get more of the supporting information, get it into a new document, and then also like action items that we're looking [00:16:00] for from that or that Great Plains is in that wants support in and maybe just like current statuses of the most influential, just like movements or actions going on with it right now. Just thinking of ways that you can help us provide better supporting information for anyone else that would want to read more into it after a proclamation is made or if a proclamation comes up. That way, it's not just something [00:16:30] being said, but more information behind it. In case there are other people that want to help or want to assist or have more information. With that, I yield. I have a question. Was there a proclamations made for Juneteenth before it became a federal holiday? The answer is yes, but those are not self-created by the city council, they're [00:17:00] submitted by either city staff or community members. Any proclamation starts with somebody submitting a proclamation to the city clerk's office, so it's not an automatic. Okay. Yeah. There wouldn't be a Juneteenth proclamation if nobody presented a Juneteenth proclamation for their consideration. Yeah. No, I was just curious on how things get going and become more of a thing. Now the city [00:17:30] officially observes it. Is there a step beyond just the proclamation? I guess. There's programming that is being done by several different city departments, not only for city staff, but also for the community to participate in. There is and there's some information about it on city website and stuff, but yeah, one of those things as well of go to find the info. [00:18:00] Yeah, it may be that if by with those words, I'm thinking that we can take it a little bit further and maybe ask for something even more than just a proclamation. Maybe it's something that can go on the website or there can be a day of something or not even a day. I don't know. Just something posted by the city on May 2nd. [00:18:30] But that's a whole other conversation then. [OVERLAPPING] But for now, let's just go for the proclamation. [LAUGHTER]. Then is that decided that you guys will work on the wording and stuff? Sikowis, what support do you need to put something together? I don't really [00:19:00] need much because the Sioux City folks are just going to send me their proclamation. We'll already have something and I like it, it's not bad at all. But it would be nice to have some facts and figures behind it, which we have all of that already, so it's not hard for me to put something together. Okay. Perfect. I can touch back base with you anyway because we had mentioned you having an agenda item at the next meeting anyway. Yeah, that [00:19:30] and then we can just use the Sioux City one with a copy of the Iowa City's form, so we'll just have an easy format to transfer to. Sikowis, do you have anything else? No, just thank you for your time. Thank you so much. I really appreciate you taking this in a Hy-Vee. [LAUGHTER] [00:20:00] I'm super sorry. [LAUGHTER] I'm more sorry for you. Hy-Vee's are the worst. I needed a Starbucks really bad and there's only one in sight. [LAUGHTER]. Well, Godspeed. Thank you. The next agenda item is our discussion and vote on rescinding the recommendation to city council in support of the proposal from Kearns and [00:20:30] West in cooperation with Think Peace and local entities that we made at our May 5th meeting. With discussing this, I want to make sure the public gets to comment. Nicholas, you have your hand up. [OVERLAPPING]. [00:21:00] Yeah. Good evening, commissioners. This may not be germane, but I would like to second the notion that Hy-Vee is the worst. I'm a former employee of Hy-Vee back in the day and it was the most miserable job experience I've ever had. [LAUGHTER] I also want to say that I'm not feeling the greatest, so if this doesn't come out right, I apologize because it's [00:21:30] a little forward. I want to preface my remarks by noting the fact that I've actually been spending the last month and a half interviewing people who participated in the summer 2020 protests here in Iowa City. I mention this because in the year-and-a-half of this commission's existence, people seem to keep forgetting [00:22:00] why it exists at all. While I'm just one person with one perspective on these things, I wanted to make that statements to make you aware of the fact that my perspective is actually very immediately informed by those who put their bodies on the line so that you could all be here tonight. Because it was the protesters, it was the young people of this community who were tear gassed under Duke Street for this. It was they who were mowed down by white supremacists in Burlington. It was they who were [00:22:30] quietly hauled off by the cops every night around the Pentacrest before and after the marches. Frankly, when I hear that one of the facilitators demanding to be paid for doing the work of this commission actually thought a Facebook drinking party for their primary campaign was more important than this, I really have to wonder whether there is a similar commitment for those who were not, in fact, in the streets and did not once put themselves in harm's way for the cause. [00:23:00] Now, I actually don't give a crap about Kearns and West, they can F off. Apologies for the language. What does concern me though is how the actions of those who want to be leaders in our community have already lost the voices of the very people who lit a fire under the city to do something. Now, some of you may recall when this commission met entirely over Zoom back in the day, the large number of young people who turned out from all over the state to see what you would do, [00:23:30] you lost a lot of them when many of our supposed leaders decided to put this commission in a timeout, March of 2021. After many other supposed leaders decided that they actually wanted it to be dissolved in its entirety. Then you lost most of the rest when those same leaders decided to sabotage another attempt to hire a facilitator in the fall that same year. I realize I'm going through a timeline you're all familiar with, but I want to be clear about the context of this. Yet despite the gross disrespect those leaders showed to [00:24:00] the young people who went out night after night, it was actually us, it was the people who were here, those of us left anyway to back you up when the chair of this commission was arrested just outside the room you're sitting in. Now, after spending a month and a half, more or less grieving with my comrades, doing frankly a nontrivial portion of the work this commission should already be doing, I wonder what the point of it all was. Sorry. Like I said, I'm not feeling the greatest. [00:24:30] If you want to run for county supervisor, fine, then do that. You can do a lot of good there and I wish you the best of luck. But if you want to do this work, if you want to facilitate the work of this commission, then you need to show up just like we did night after night because your actions screen your true intentions. If one of those people I sat with asked me now, hey, Nicholas, should I participate in this thing that the Angie and Annie are doing with the TRC? My answer would be no. [00:25:00] But it doesn't have to be no. I don't really know any of you that well, but I have immense respect for Angie, so I am hoping, bleeding really that they take to heart what I've had to say and more importantly, act upon it to honor the actions of those whom you-all seem to have forgotten. Thank you. [00:25:30] You can't respond to a comment from a person who's a public comment. I'm really sorry. It would be okay because it's an item on the agenda. [OVERLAPPING] Do anything we find out [OVERLAPPING] With that being said [NOISE], I appreciate you, Nicholas. Thank you. I hear you and I totally understand exactly what you're saying. There's a lot of responsibility in our hands [00:26:00] right now that we need to make sure we take charge of and move forward with and I appreciate that. It's been on my mind as well. But that being said, I'll let that go. Thank you. I think Eric wanted to say something. Yeah. I'm going to say something. It's just I agree with you totally Nicholas. Explaining to people, how you described it, it's like that's the way that things have been born, but how you described how the TRC went, [00:26:30] how we got blocked by a different people or individuals because of what we failed or what we said. I agree with what you're saying. It just, it just doesn't make sense. In a real reality, in a real American world, we will uphold laws, but it's not happening right now, so people are doing whatever they want to do. It sucks a lot because when I turn on [00:27:00] my phone or look at my phone, I have to see people just put just ridiculous things on the internet and things that just with this so ridiculous. Sometimes I respond and sometimes I don't. But it's ridiculous everyday. I'm a candid person so, I'm going to say what I want to say. We have to look at, Sullivan Salvo's and just things like that. That's terrible things. That's [00:27:30] in if nobody agrees with me about that, his last Salvo was terrible, don't agree with me, but go read in what he said. It's okay for people to be killing people of color. But it's not okay for people to process or burn down things or whatever they did because I don't agree with that either. But it's okay for people to do racist things. Go read the last Ross Sullivan Salvo's and you will [00:28:00] see what I'm talking about. It's just not okay right now, and with that I yield. I just had a question for clarification. I didn't quite understand this Facebook party or something. Could somebody clarify that for me. [00:28:30] I would like to know as well. I'm guessing but I'm reading between the lines. I don't really check Facebook, but sounds like he's saying that someone in the facilitator group that's running for Johnson County supervisor is having some Facebook event around it. [OVERLAPPING]. [00:29:00] Can the commentor clarify that for us? Yeah. I don't know about the event, so that's why I'm just not comfortable giving specifics. Stefanie. Can the commenter clarify that first? [OVERLAPPING]. We're trying to Sikowis. He has his hand raised. Yep, he has his hand raised and he's a panelist. Well, I I didn't want it to be like a call-out or anything, but [00:29:30] the fact of the matter is... Okay. Fine. It will be a call-out. Truth. V is currently running for Johnson County Supervisor. We'll set aside the whole Facebook thing because that's just stupid. Like, sure you want to win your primary campaign or you're going to hold events, whatever. The fundamental point is that [00:30:00] that is going to be a full-time job. It seems like to me people keep coming along to this commission and wanting to essentially grift. They want to [LAUGHTER] put this on their resume or how should I put it? I'm so upset. [NOISE] I'm sorry I can't. Take your time. [00:30:30] Go ahead, man. I only speak. Take your time. Sorry. No. It's okay. I'll wait all night. I want to hear what you got to say. This commission, basically from its inception, was set up to fail. [00:31:00] Despite the best efforts of and I actually have to applaud the commissioners, both former commissioners, well maybe not some of the former commissioners, and the current commissioners for attempting to make it not a thing that would fail. That would not be just a way for the city to cover its ass for shit that has happened for years and years. Frankly, I find the whole language of healing and reconciliation [00:31:30] to be extremely coercive because it seemed to me when I saw Angie speak at the city council meeting where she essentially gave a press release about why she and Annie and V we're going to go their separate [00:32:00] ways which seemed odd to me at the time. But but I was like, okay, that's a weird way to do it. But then the fact that she was immediately followed by the very same individual who has gone out of her way and used her political power to do everything that she can to dismantle and to disrupt this commission simply because [LAUGHTER] of her [00:32:30] fricking ego. But I think that the people who wants to think of themselves as "local leaders" need to realize what message that sends like when- The reason I didn't want to get into this too much because what I experienced interviewing people was despair. No one has hope. [00:33:00] What I experienced was people who are basically doing whatever they can to a wait the apocalypse. Because they got nothing from what they did. They were literally assaulted and the city, doesn't give a shit. [00:33:30] That happened two years ago tomorrow. What has happened since then? This city has gotten more expensive to live in, more callous, more full of dipshit liberals who don't give a shit about what happened to those people. Their voice it's not only that it hasn't heard, it's just like there's a giant fucking memory hole and everything gets dumped into it. I'm so [00:34:00] angry all the time about it. I try to talk to these people who just don't want to fucking hear anything. When I see individuals who want to represent the local community, who want to be local leaders and wants to have a local facilitator to treat this [00:34:30] whole thing like just a fucking shell game. Because to me, I don't care what you say. I really don't. I care what you do, and that is why I made that absurd statement that your actions scream your true intentions. Because the thing is, at the end of the day, if someone goes off to be a county supervisor, someone goes off to run their non- profit, this is going to essentially be a hobby for them. I don't love [00:35:00] these mediator, like non-profit groups, but at least they are professionals. You have literally a world renowned [LAUGHTER] expert in this very subject matter who is basically giving you his time gravitas. It feels like the city just keeps constantly taking a dump on it. I don't get a sense. Maybe this isn't serious anymore. [00:35:30] Maybe this is not a serious prospect. I'm sorry. That was really harsh. I apologize. That sounded shitty the second I said it. Keep doing it. Say what you want to say. Keep going. [00:36:00] Apologies if I'm putting words in your mouth, Chair. But there doesn't really seem to be the impetus on the part of the city to really advertise what the TRC is doing to get people involved. It's almost like, well, it's there, you can come along if you want. We'll put out an RFP, you can apply if you want, you can come talk if you want. Because if you look at the history of Truth and Reconciliation Commissions in other countries, [00:36:30] they were active investigators. In case of South Africa, they were tied to a general Amnesty. There was force behind what they were doing. I didn't get the sense that there's force behind this. It's crappy for me to be like coming here and saying this to you-all because I don't feel like that's your fault. I'm just screaming into the void, I guess, at this point and I've already [00:37:00] said far more than I had originally intended to. I think I'm just going to leave it there. If you have any specific questions, I guess I can answer them. But really, I think I just want to take my leave if that's okay. Thank you for clarifying. Sorry, I didn't think it was going to make you emotional. I just didn't understand the context of what you were talking about, so thank you so much. I just want to say that this whole process [00:37:30] has been very difficult for myself for these exact same things. I've personally spoken about it many times. I'm feeling like I don't know if this is the right place for me because action is not taking place. I was feeling very happy today because this was the first time I felt like I could participate and add something, tip for us to start doing. My thoughts have been that we should just do these things regardless of the facilitators or not. [00:38:00] I do want to say that yes, this whole process is difficult. Coming from a truth and reconciliation, I guess by myself being indigenous Canadian and my whole family going through that process in Canada, my aunt being a professional social worker within the whole paradigm, I will tell you that It's not easy to find somebody to facilitate this kind of stuff. Because in the end, it seems like the facilitators, [00:38:30] the lawyers, all the people with the white collers or whatever you want to call it, they end up making a lot of money and the grassroots folks pretty much get nothing. So yeah, whatever it is, I just wanted to say I understand that. Thank you. Nicholas, this is Commissioner Johnson, you're not screaming into the void. We hear you loud and clear. Your tears and your thoughts are also [00:39:00] heard and we want to do better. I'm not going say I speak for all of us, of course, but I believe I do to a degree. We want to do better and we want to make things work. Your voice right now is a extremely powerful. It's moving me. I feel what you're saying. You're speaking with people and they're communicating to you and let you [00:39:30] know how they really feel and that's extremely important. That to me is the first steps that we need to take and I appreciate you for even stepping up and being brave enough to do that. So with that being said, I yield. In terms of the recommendation that we had on May 5th and then congress [00:40:00] with what happened around that, I'm not sure what everyone knows or what everyone's comfortable with saying publicly. But for me, pretty much what I learned is it just doesn't seem like a tenable situation for Kearns & West and our local facilitator partners to continue working together. Just seemed like there was actually a misalignment on the final budget number. From what I [00:40:30] heard from the local group, they were just surprised at what the final budget number was, but unwilling to say anything during the meeting. As you know, they just didn't want to be alarming in the middle of a live meeting. It's disappointing to hear that in terms of the last steps of the process and why the budget numbers weren't seen by both sides and agreed upon finally before [00:41:00] the meeting. I'm not exactly sure. It's just been something where I tried not to get too far into it. Don't want to think too much about it because the main thing that happens from here is knowing that thing we voted on May 5th, that can't go forward. I mean, if it's untenable for the two sides to work together, then that's not a recommendation that is responsible [00:41:30] or we're good to put in front of City Council from what it sounds like to me, and also the fact that it is still required that this commission does get a facilitator. So in terms of next steps, I guess the search continues. I don't really know what to do with that at this point. I know we've had a lot of people bring about their frustrations and I agree it is frustrating, but yeah, it's [00:42:00] just running out of ideas at this point. We already agreed to add another year to the time we volunteered for this. That agreement was made back in December. It's now June 2nd, 2022, the commission was originally supposed to end at the end of this month. I don't know how much extra time or if any extra time past June 30th, [00:42:30] 2023. I'm willing to commit at this time just with how things have gone so far. I just want to be completely honest and out in the open about this. Just haven't been speaking in meetings very much lately, but I just want to be honest completely here. I'm having a hard time just knowing whether this is the right thing to have attached to the city in itself. It doesn't make any sense at [00:43:00] all why when we need to have a meeting between the commissioners and talk about something important or private matters that is something that affects someone personally and is giving such private information. Why? Just because more than a majority of us want to meet, it has to be public or it has to be recorded in some way or whatever it is. The stuff being done for planning the initial steps of this process, some of that is just tough to have to always resort [00:43:30] to being in public meeting for or pretty much playing phone tag because you have to go from group to group to group to get the same information across. It's annoying and it's just not conducive to a scalable process and without a facilitator do that makes it even harder because that puts more and more time on each of us to have to play that phone tag, to have to do all this extra stuff. I spend a lot of time with my work already, sending out e-mails like talking to people [00:44:00] constantly daily and checking all these other emails, TRC knowing that till we get a facilitator, going to have to hop back to what I was doing last summer or just doing all that correspondence on my own. Again, this is just for the honesty and not to try to be like, hey, I do all this stuff, but yeah, last summer, I can show you the records on my sleep app. Literally four 4.5 hours of sleep I averaged the entire summer. Diving into this whole process [00:44:30] and knowing how to put in all this extra time because of these budgets are hard to pass, so big part of it. I have a very close friend of mine that I've known since I was seven years old, who I was pretty much watching him struggle the entire last year-and-a-half, tried to step in before things got too late, and he's now homeless. It's been hard watching that happen, there's been occasions where I've been walking to these meetings and just watching [00:45:00] him out on the benches and wanting to stop and say something, but it's, yes, I got to go to that TRC meeting. Sorry. I can't sit here and talk to you and do something about it. When the whole point of this commission is to be able to maybe figure out why things like that happen, why I can grow up on the same exact street as another boy from an African immigrant family, and that I can be where I am and he is where he is, and what exactly happened there? Can we figure that out? Can we [00:45:30] find a way to remedy that situation so other people don't have that problem? But no money, no budget, tough to get the organization going, and I don't have a love for politics, I don't have any future wants in it whatsoever, so this is just hard to keep as the ultimate focus for years on end. If anything, for me it's about the individual people [00:46:00] rather than this one individual, like city government in itself. If it's not going to be a process that's ever going to help people individually, and I'm just going to have to sit here and watch them deteriorate or whatever it is, then I don't know why continuing to be a part of it. Not saying anything final and definitive with that, but it's just my honest opinion at this time. With that, I yield. [00:46:30] I will say something that I want to say. This is Commissioner Harris. If anybody listened to what Nicholas said, that's the climate. That's what's going on in Iowa City right now. What Nicholas said is what's going on in Iowa City right now. Another thing I want to say is, what Mohamed is saying, that's saddens me to hear, that a person that puts so much time and so much effort [00:47:00] into the things that we're trying to get done in Iowa City, and he says it's things like that. This time for people to call out the people that need to be called out, and there's just not no more time to waste with that, it's not time to be like, I got through this relationship with this person, but I don't want to call them out. I know people that's on this commission that want to call out those people, but they haven't done it. Because they won't do it because of different relationships [00:47:30] that they have with people. The things that I heard from the public comment, and I don't know why we got so long to public comment, we don't supposed to respond to it, and stuff like that, but what Nicholas said is a definition of what Iowa City is going through right now. It's a lot of hypocritical people, it's a lot of people who are doing things that are destroying this community, and it just doesn't make [00:48:00] sense. We are two years in with people still trying to get Excluded Workers Fund checks. I'm not going to go into that anymore, but that's just what I'm saying. With that, I yield. This doesn't make sense. Wait. Is there anyone on Zoom that wants to make a comment and then we can go to people that are live? Is there anyone else on Zoom? [00:48:30] Cool. Also I just wanted to add I didn't mean to get us off track, just that long tangent, but just the main focus again for this discussion and vote on rescinding the recommendation to the city council in support a proposal from currents and lists, so I started out just with that theme but ran off of track, but I just want to make sure we just get refocused. That way we can just get this decided and figure out whatever we're doing. [00:49:00] I think that's fine. I think we need to have these discussions. I think that's important, and you expressing how you feel is also important and it needs to be heard. Thank you. Commissioner Rivera, I agree that I don't think that any comments that were made tonight were out of line. As commissioners and as people who live in this community and who have also [00:49:30] I think suffered as being a part of this commission and doing this work, we're all entitled to both have and acknowledge and bring to the table both the response to the reality of our situation, and then come back and say, what is our responsibility here. It's hard for me to acknowledge that because it also keeps putting into perspective how large the scope of our responsibility is, and how deep the grieving [00:50:00] has been for us being part of this work. I too have been part of this commission from the very beginning, I've lost faith and regained it multiple times. Every time that I've regained faith is because of the relationships I have with my fellow commissioners and the ways that we've all supported each other and tethered each other along. But the story of this commission is setback after setback after setback. [00:50:30] It's been really disheartening, and in some ways I feel like we're back at square one again and again, and that anything that we try to do it's wrong in someone's eyes and we can't move forward. That's hard, because I think that we as a commission are trying to be leaders, but we're also trying to have open hands. We say, well, we want to push forward, but if city council [00:51:00] is going to put some obstacles then we're going to try to creatively move over those obstacles, and we still get shit on. [LAUGHTER] If the community says, the TRC isn't doing enough and we say, well, how can we do more and then it's crickets. Then we try to move forward, and again, we keep getting push back. I unfortunately have not been able to be part of these meetings [00:51:30] for the last couple of months which is regrettable, but I also feel like I'm coming back to the commission and we're now regressed from where we were when I left it, and that's also disheartening to come back to. That being said, we're here, we exist, we have to amplify and make space for the despair that is brought to this commission. [00:52:00] We have to in some ways amplify it and be a mouthpiece for it, but we also have to generate a certain amount of hope, a reason for keeping going because we all signed up for this work for a reason and I think that can still find its way to the light. I don't know what that path forward is yet. I have not gotten to that place, but I do want to say that I think that it's necessary for us to rescind the recommendation in support for the proposal that was [00:52:30] previously voted on. I don't think there's a way around that. I also know and predict that there's no winning for us tonight. I just want to name that. I think that press will come out saying that the TRC has rescinded two proposal, this is a second time there's a major roadblock to submitting a proposal for a facilitator, which is the only thing that really we have been working [00:53:00] on for the past year-and-a-half. The public has another reason to say, what are we doing here? Why do we have a TRC? Luckily, we can say, we haven't been spending any of your money, so we've been doing this work for free, but we also haven't helped anyone. I plan to stay on. I plan to explore what the future holds for us, but I don't know what it is. I just know that in the next two weeks we're going to [00:53:30] be victims again. Sorry to end with that. [NOISE] Can we make the vote? Yeah. Does somebody want to make an official motion to withdraw the recommendation to the City Council for the Kearns & West facilitator proposal? Is that all the discussion that we're going to have amongst all of us? Anybody else have anything else they want to say? After our motion, we can discuss. [00:54:00] After our motion, we can discuss. I'm going to make a motion to resend the recommendation to City Council in support of the proposal from Kearns West and cooperation I think peace and local entities that we made on May 5th of 2022. I second. Was that Chastity? Yes. Thank you. With masks sometimes it's hard for me to. Commissioner. Before we vote. You want to go into discussion? Before we vote just for the record for one and two, just star the I's [00:54:30] cross the T's because again, it's the requirement. I'm going to have to go back to the drawing board here on this facilitator thing so to do some check-ins and see where we're at on any of these groups, if they're pretty much all out or if there is even any individuals within that. I just mean like all get on the same page for that first and foremost. Then figure out for opening up any type of process as well for more groups [00:55:00] to come in. From there, I just want to make sure that this is something outlined for at least a discussion within our next meeting. What is your question, Mohamed? My question is pretty much is, I don't want us to vote on this rescinding and then just moving on because this agenda item doesn't cover anything in terms of next steps. That would leave me to [00:55:30] announcements of pretty much just announcing, "Hey, I want to have these next steps in the next meeting." I'd like to just rather cover that now. Are we wanting to keep any of these groups? Are any of these groups seeming viable still? Are we wanting to go back to an open call, maybe like a shorter period for an open call, or just continue with the current groups that are viable and just come back with a proposal to review again in a meeting to vote on anything to the Council? I have a [00:56:00] quick question for us. Before the whole argument was we wanted local, that's the main thing that I kept hearing all the time and we didn't want anybody from the outside. Why exactly are locals not wanting to be a part of this? I would love to have this conversation with you one-on-one after the meeting and tell you exactly what the situation is. I think that this conversation [00:56:30] and these questions would be way better answered at a work session if we could have one as soon as possible. I know the last one didn't work out because everyone couldn't make it, but we really, really, really need to have this conversation at a work session. I'm begging. That does bother me. [OVERLAPPING] The thing with the work session aspect too though is that's still going to be open and publicly viewable so all the same information will be disseminated so I'm just like, do we have to go to the point of scheduling [00:57:00] an extra work session to do what we could just do in another meeting? It's like I'm just thinking of rescheduling. Well, then that's fine. Hi, this is the Sikowis. I just wanted to ask why we can't have this conversation right now? Agreed. I just want to know what the reasons are. Because nobody from any entity is here. I'm not going to speak for V and Angie and Larry, and I'm going to say that someone did something when they're not here. That's not fair. Eduardo's not here. I've spoken [00:57:30] to all of them outside of this because I have taken the time and the concern to wonder what is going on and I've emailed and cooperated, but I just don't feel comfortable speaking about it. No. I'm not trying to make it an issue, I just wanted to know why like- Yeah. I just don't feel comfortable without them here to speak for themselves. Yeah, no, absolutely. That makes sense. I say amongst us in discussion with that only because they don't need to be here. That's [00:58:00] something for us to discuss is what I am saying. They have the option of being here. We're here right now, and I'm wondering because the last work session, I will say it was disappointing that we weren't able to get on the same page for that work session. I feel like this is the hamster wheel going on. I don't want the hamster wheel. Just like when Nicholas was saying, if we continue to keep doing this, it is disheartening to everybody out there that we're standing up for. If we constantly keep always [00:58:30] pushing it back and being nice and not stepping on toes at every corner, we're never going to get anything done. That's not what we're here for and that's not what we're going to do. We are going to get things done. Yeah. Okay, so can we. Yeah. Let me say something real quick because I want to say something too. What the problem is, why people can't get together and it's going to be like this for the next couple of years, it would keep on going the same way that we want, people just don't get along. We don't get along. [00:59:00] People don't get along with certain people. Every person on this commission, know what I'm talking about. People are 50, 60, 70 years old and still hold grudges against different people. It doesn't make sense. If we can't get along as human beings. Can we please make the vote, please? Can we please make the vote? Before we do that, I still [OVERLAPPING] want to make sure we get these points clarified. Yes. There are clarified that we are going to have that as something on the next agenda item that was in the minutes. Mohamed [00:59:30] said that at the beginning of him talking. Okay. Okay. Go ahead. I would like rather than a work session just making it clear that just continuing with our process in the next meeting to look back with this local group or whoever it is we're still talking with and say, "Hey, where are we at on this facilitator agreement? Are you still moving forward with the agreement with the part that you had thus far?" That way we have [01:00:00] part of a proposal, at least to put forward. As if some part of the tasks are addressed, maybe that helps with getting something passed. I have a question, who are we inviting to the next meeting? This is [inaudible 01:00:10]. This is what I'm saying, is like we need to talk to each of these groups after this, outside of this, figure out, which one of you guys are still in for this process right now? Who is actually out? Who's going to do that? Then from there. I've already done that and I know the answer, so can we take a vote, please? I would like to vote on contingent [01:00:30] on knowing what our next step is though. Agreed. That's a [inaudible 01:00:33] Are we going to have a work session? Are we going to discuss this in our next meeting? At our next meeting. Who's going to be there? [OVERLAPPING] I would have to discuss that with them I don't know what their schedules are like because they're not here at this meeting. I want to go to bed and these guys keep on arguing all night long. We can hear you, Commissioner Harris. Yeah, we can hear you. Yeah, you're on and can we vote? Before we vote because I'm going to add my voice to this discussion, [01:01:00] can we still talk about this after we vote or we're done and we have to move on to the next? I mean, usually, you make a motion, it's seconded, and then you have discussion and at the end of discussion you vote, and then you would move on to the next agenda item. We can essentially have these votes and then talk about next steps? Can we agree to do that? Because we all pretty much agree that we can't move forward with what's going on now. That does not mean that we can't talk to other people and see what's going to happen afterwards. Can we please take the votes, [01:01:30] so we can make sure that's on whatever paperwork [LAUGHTER] and then we can talk about next up because I'm very interested to know what we're going to do next too? Yeah, either way we do it. I mean, the vote's going to happen regardless. It's going to be the same thing. Well, I think the next steps, I mean, really, I think and I know this is the open records public meeting, but I mean, I think you can talk about next steps if that would influence how you would vote on this particular agenda item. [01:02:00] I think that's the context in which you can talk about next steps. Okay. But if you just want to talk about generally about next steps and it would not influence your vote then it probably needs to be kicked to the meeting on the 16th. That's the main thing for me because to me it just looks weird for anyone on meeting minutes or just generally like to vote on rescinding something and then not having the next steps that was agreed upon before making that vote. That just looks weird. I see [01:02:30] that. From what I'm hearing from Amel, she has spoken to each of them but we still need to confirm actual dates and times that they would be available. Yes. Okay. For the next meeting, yes. That's cleared up. Which ones of these individuals that are going to be attending, they'll just confirm that with you outside of this and then with them too. If [01:03:00] any other groups are going to be joining them, that is not yet known. Essentially it just sounds like in the next meeting we'll have a lot more clarity on next steps for this facilitator process. But from what I'm hearing so far, doesn't sound like it's completely shut down and back to square one but rather that we're just having a smaller set of requirements filled out for a full agreement. I would just suggest, as Commissioner Amel is always suggesting, that we all communicate [01:03:30] with each other in the next two weeks. I will do better about that myself to also add to the next step so we can plan accordingly with different ideas outside of this. If it's okay for me to talk, this is Commissioner Wangui Gathua, for the record. Thank you, Chair, for clarifying that little piece because between our last [01:04:00] meeting and now I was still lost as to why the rescinding. But now that you have said, it's not everything, it's just some things, at least, moving forward and giving my vote, I know why when I am voting for rescinding. Because between, we had a meeting, [01:04:30] we made a recommendation, and then, okay, I'm here, I still don't have the clear picture but at least when you said some things to be cleared up. Thank you, I yield. Commissioner Johnson, it's hard for me to make a vote when I haven't heard anything on why they've made their decisions [01:05:00] the way they did. I understand you're saying that you'll discuss that afterwards. I mean, that's all well and nice but that's after the vote. I completely understand why that's still confusing but I will just give the point that should be the nail in the coffin of, it pretty much has to be rescinded and the groups have already made it known that it's untenable [OVERLAPPING] for them to work together. But in the way that this proposal is written, they would have to work tightly integrated together through the entire process. [01:05:30] If that's not possible from them saying it's untenable then the agreement as written is also not possible so it has to be rescinded. Fair enough, good to go. Okay. Any further discussion from members of the commission before I take vote? Okay. Commissioner Ali? Yes. Commissioner Dillard? Yes. Commissioner Gathua? Yes. Commissioner [01:06:00] Johnson? Yes. Commissioner Harris. Well, wait. What? I think he's gone. Yeah, we lost him. Okay. Commissioner Nobiss? Yes. Commissioner Rivera? Yes. Commissioner Traore? Yes. The motion passes seven, [01:06:30] zero. The next agenda item is Commissioner and staff announcements. Stephanie, do you have anything? I don't but thank you. I'll go first because I need to get out of this room for the sake of my mental health. Chastity had mentioned earlier that I did make this point multiple times to communicate with me between hand and multiple of you guys have thanked me for all of the effort and everything I've put in [01:07:00] into putting this facilitator thing together. I just want you guys to remember how much this fucking sucks for me because I've put in that effort and it's just like me getting kicked down. Then the other thing that stinks about it is I've actually been in communication with Annie, V, Angie, Eduardo. Not Larry. Larry's mother-in-law passed and that is why he unfortunately couldn't attend the work session last week and that's what happened. But it's really [01:07:30] frustrating because you guys completely have the ability to communicate with these people. They emailed you, that's on record. You can reach out to Angie, and V, and Annie, and see what's up. I sat with them for three hours in a circle outside in a parking lot. You're fully capable of doing all of these things and with these next steps too, it would have been so cool if people reached out to me and asked me about [01:08:00] these things because one really freaking, awesome next step is Eduardo Gonzalez is coming to Iowa City. He's coming to Iowa City and I really want to get you guys pumped about that. Keep in touch with me and I can give you guys the updates on everything that's going on. But for the sake of my sanity, I literally [NOISE] don't think that I can sit here anymore. But I have faith in this Commission. I'm never going to give up on this Commission. I'm not going to let this city [NOISE] just do what they [01:08:30] will with this million dollars that they offered to this cause. I will forever keep trying every time they kick me down. There is absolutely nothing that's going to get me out of this Commission. I yield to the floor. Thank you. Any other commissioners have announcements? I just wanted to announce that there's a collaboration, if you want to spread the word, for kids [01:09:00] at Wetherby Park. My organization, Neighborhood Centers, Dream City Community, Iowa City Community School District, Parks and Rec, and UAY, are going to be doing Wetherby nights on Monday evenings, this summer, for kids. We're going to offer basketball, art groups, DJ side hat, and beat making, video games, flag football, TikTok Studio. There's going to be a special Hoops in the Hood Basketball Tournament, August 5th and 6th. I [01:09:30] just want to let people know about that. I also want to just point out that if you go on to Facebook, there is a Juneteenth Facebook page and they're currently making the events for the Juneteenth celebrations that will be happening the week right before Juneteenth on June 19th. I yield. On Saturday from 3:00-8:00, the African [01:10:00] Network in Johnson County. We have a get-together in City Park Shelter 11. If you attend, you want to bring a plate of food to share but we also have some food made. We're not just relying on what the attendees will bring. If anybody feels like tabling and [01:10:30] letting people know about the TRC, that's okay. I'm not offering myself because we are hosting as one of the board members of the connection. With that, I yield. ICOR Boxing. [NOISE] ICOR Boxing is working with the Big Brothers Big Sisters and looking for volunteers who might want to [01:11:00] join in and help out being a Big. It would be nicer if you are available to come out and help out the kids. There's a lot of kids out there who need extra or a big brother and big sister come out and help them along the way. Also will be having a community event on the 25th. Just in general, a lot of fun, food, and good time. Everybody just celebrating [01:11:30] each other as a whole. Everyone in the city is invited. But that's all I have for an announcement. This is Commissioner Rivera. There's been a lot of tragedies over the past couple of weeks with mass shootings affecting communities [01:12:00] of color throughout the United States that have been really devastating and I wanted to remember the lives lost and mourn with the families of those who are deceased. It's really devastating to carry. Those stories affect us as we read them. They trigger us and we also live our own lives here, experiencing discrimination and violence. In our own forms [01:12:30] that are more prescient. One reminder that I have been giving people is, with whatever you can do to remember or to be with, to spend time with, to be present with the people who give you hope that the world can be good. Please do that. Please seek solace in your communities and the people who you identify with because I think that helps [01:13:00] us get through. My stepdad passed away on May 5th, just a few weeks ago today, my family is having his memorial. It should be ending right around now. I wanted to remember him here too. He was an immigrant from the Philippines and made my family's lives really wonderful. As immigrants often do, he also made his community wonderful around him. The thing that's [01:13:30] giving me hope in the face of all of the suckiness of the world right now is I asked him a question once and I asked him what's one message that you want to give to the world? This is after he was diagnosed with cancer. He said, tomorrow is not promised, live each day doing the best you can. I hope that those words will fall on your ears tonight and anyone [01:14:00] else listening. Do the best you can. Thanks. This is Commissioner Sikowis. [inaudible 01:14:12] I wanted to talk about police violence actually. I wanted to say that I know this Commission was formed out of resolves to end [01:14:30] colonial violence in general. Then obviously the police violence that has stemmed out of that. I'm on my way right now to Omaha to prepare for the fifth year. The fifth prayer march and vigil for Zachary Bear Heels. Omaha is not Iowa City but it's 3.5 hours away from Iowa City. I just want to say that this is one [01:15:00] of the most disturbing and violent acts of murder ever carried out by police and it was carried out on an indigenous man. A mentally ill indigenous man at that. I would really like everybody to look it up and learn more about it so that they can start understanding the type of violence that indigenous peoples are facing at the hands of police. To support the event if you can, you can go to Great Plains Action Society's [01:15:30] Facebook page and check out the event page. Then just look up the article. There's lots of articles on it. You can go to indianz.com. There's a great article on it there. Because where– Our voices in terms of the violence that indigenous peoples face, this is really not heard even on this Commission. Thank you so much. [01:16:00] I just want to address the fact that we have had two commission members leave us tonight and just want to make sure this is addressed for the record and also because this might be in the news story but I just want to make sure we're giving each other some grace here. Obviously, this is not easy. It's a lot of time put in by everybody. [01:16:30] It may not be just the commission that's causing issues for someone or keeping them on an edge but may be other circumstances. We don't know that ever I'm not assuming that or saying that for anyone, just adding that. Then also can't ever really tell other people how to feel. That's on them. They're going to react [01:17:00] the way they react. Just try our best to just treat each other how that person themselves would like to be treated, not how we would like to be treated, but how they would like to be treated. I know that's difficult and not always fun but if that helps us to just get through these conversations easier and more amicably and have a stronger bond and relationship then we would really prefer it that way. Because again, [01:17:30] the community is watching what or whoever in the community is watching is seeing this. If we're going to be going out and saying that trying to bring other people together and healing and reconciliation if we're not showing those ideals or selves or acting in that way, then it's really difficult to get people on board. That's all I have. I yield the floor. [01:18:00] Motion to adjourn. Second. You're adjourned. Thank you.