One Kalamazoo marches against discrimination

By Josh Holderbaum
Western Herald

Shawn Brier from ONE Kalamazoo speaking on the Non-Discrimination Ordinance at the Strutt on Sunday Oct. 25, 2009. (Chyn Wey Lee/Western Herald)

Beneath an overcast sky, non-discrimination ordinance supporters gathered to drum up support before the Nov. 3 election.

The One Kalamazoo Student Action Team led a march starting at noon Sunday downtown to The Strutt, 773 W. Michigan Ave., for the One Kalamazoo Fest benefit at 2 p.m.

The ordinance would prohibit discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender individuals in employment, housing, and public accommodations.
“It was an amazing experience,” EJ Dean, One Kalamazoo campus coordinator, said. “I give everyone a round of applause for marching in the cold. We had over 100 people. For an event publicized for only a week, that’s pretty amazing.”

The march started off with guest speakers, including Kalamazoo City Commissioners David Anderson and Stephanie Moore and Commission candidates Terry Kuseske, Mike Kilbourne, and Karen Wellman.

“You are stepping into the stream of everyone who has fought for human rights,” said Don Cooney, Ph.D., city commissioner and WMU associate professor of social work. “People will see who stands for dignity not by what you say but by how you act.”

Kalamazoo Mayor Bobby Hopewell also spoke before the march.

“The last time I was on the campaign trail, people would come up to me and ask me, ‘Vice Mayor Hopewell’ – I was Vice Mayor back then – ‘do you support this ordinance?’” Hopewell said. “And I said, yeah. It makes Kalamazoo One. We can stand up to anything we face when we’re One.”

After making it to The Strutt, some campaign workers took volunteers for impromptu neighborhood canvassing while many of the marchers headed inside for the One Kalamazoo Fest from 2 to 7 p.m.

Musical acts included Dooley Noted, the Duffield/Caron Project, Meagan McNeil & Melodic, members of the Corn Fed Girls, Mark Duval and Two-track Mind, Darryl Loiacano and Bill Ginn, Brothers Kalamazov, Blue Dahlia, Funk 211, and Western Michigan University professors Allison Downey and John Austin.
The suggested $10 donation went towards funding One Kalamazoo, and all the musicians played for free.

“It’s hard to have almost 20 acts with a 10-minute turnover work for free,” Downey, WMU associate professor of creative arts education, said.
Downey and Austin, professors of psychology, wrote and recorded the One Kalamazoo theme song, which was played at the end of the event.

The event also featured speakers between musical acts.

“Even if we lose on Nov. 3, something has already happened in this community,” Amy Hunter, director of transgender support group Transcend, said. “The community knows what’s going on now with us.”

Antonio David Garcia, executive director of the Kalamazoo Gay Lesbian Resource Center, discussed how he came to the Center after being fired from his first job at a high school for trying to start a Gay-Straight Alliance.

“Whether or not this passes, when this gets over, the Resource Center will still be here after Nov. 3,” Garcia said. “What makes me angry is that the opposition says this isn’t a problem in Kalamazoo. We’ve had over 20 phone calls in the last year from people who have lost their jobs or their houses because of what they are.”
Garcia praised the peaceful nature of the demonstrations.

“This sort of thing often ends quickly in violence,” Garica said. “We need to remind ourselves that we are on the right side of history.”

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Posted by HeraldAdmin on Oct 25 2009. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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