Racial Justice Committee of the League of Women Voters of Louisville Update
September 2021
Submitted from the League of Women Voters of Louisville
The Racial Justice Committee of the League of Women Voters of Louisville held a community forum on August 25 that focused on “LMPD Policing Reform.” This was our first in person event since March of 2020. Our guest speaker was Louisville Police Chief Erika Shields. The forum was moderated by Wayne Tuckson, MD and host of KET’s Kentucky Health. Due to Covid, the registrations were cut off at 65 attendees and we had a full house. Mr. Tuckson posed a series of very tough questions to the Chief. Chief Shields was very forthright and direct and did not dodge any sensitive questions. The event was covered by four TV stations and two radio stations. League committees have community forums planned for our FY2021-22 year. The next forum will be hosted by the Natural Resources Committee on September 20 and focus on “The Importance of Sewage Monitoring for the Covid Pandemic” with Dr Ted Smith with the University of Louisville Environmental Institute. As of today, we plan to meet in person, but are ready to move to a virtual format depending on Covid cases.
We were sponsors again of the 2021 Women’s Equality Day at the Frazier History Museum on Saturday, August 28. The guest speaker was quilter Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi who shared with us her beautiful quilts that are stitched with stories of social justice.
Our Voter Services Committee has been busy with tabling events at public events and registering voters and our Performance Measurement Committee sent out a detailed member survey that gathered committee/issue interest as well as skills members can donate to move the League forward.
This fall we are hosting an online raffle to raise some funds to support our mission. This will be a small raffle because we hope to hold a larger one in the spring of 2022. There are several packages that anyone in Kentucky would want to win, including CASH, so we hope League supporters across Kentucky will support us and buy at least one chance! Click Here to buy a raffle ticket: https://event.gives/vote1920/items
The Louisville League held a board retreat in August and is busy planning the new year. President Margie Charasika will focus on four goals: Develop succession plans; Build healthy and effective committees; Develop a strong financial foundation and develop community partnerships. Work on building healthy and effective committees has started with each committee developing work plans for the upcoming year. We are off to a great start!