Equity expert shares strategies to ‘Speak up!’ against bigotry, hatred

If you’ve ever used the phrase “crack the whip,” there’s something you should know.

Seema Pothini, presenter for this year’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day event hosted by the Owatonna Human Rights Commission (OHRC), talked at length about how well-meaning people can stand up and speak out against racism. It’s an area she knows well; she’s a Lead Equity Specialist with the Equity Literacy Institute.

In one of the stories she told, an organization leader used the phrase “crack the whip” when talking about getting people to work faster.

“There were two Black adults at that table. And the second she said, ‘I'm cracking the whip,’ everybody's face changed, right?” Pothini said.

Thankfully, she added, someone interrupted the conversation to ask what the speaker meant by the phrase, which to her was about riding horses and cracking the whip to get them going.

“And then this person took time to educate her and say, ‘Hey, you might not know this, but when you say that, it reminds us of slavery.’”

Questioning and educating were among four responses Pothini talked about in her presentation, “Speak Up! No More ‘Next Time’,” delivered to more than 120 people Jan. 15 at the Steele County History Center. The others are interrupt and echo.

Interrupting can be something as simple as saying “ouch” or “that’s not okay with me”.

The latter strategy may be more comfortable for those who aren’t comfortable speaking up themselves. Instead, Pothini said, you can agree with something someone else has said. It’s as simple as saying, “I agree. Thanks for saying that.” It can make the person who spoke up feel better, Pothini said.

While responding to bigotry and hatred of any kind can be uncomfortable, she added, “a lot of times, it's because we don't have the practice. My goal is to get you to a point where speaking up comes really natural to you, and you don't even think of that.”

OHRC chair Ethan Cords said the annual MLK Day celebration “promotes the legacy of Martin Luther King in a positive way that brings community members together.” The organization has typically hosted a breakfast but changed to a lunch event hoping to increase attendance–and it worked.

“This was very successful, and we saw an approximate doubling of the number of attendees,” he said.
The MLK event, which was sponsored in part by Riverland Community College, and a Welcoming Week celebration this fall fit with OHRC’s overarching mission, Cords added.

“The City of Owatonna is a rapidly growing community that has seen many changes throughout the past few years, including the recent rebranding initiative between the Chamber of Commerce and the City,” he said. “Part of this rebranding effort is to promote Owatonna as a welcoming and inclusive place. The Human Rights Commission is at the forefront of this effort with its mission of promoting and educating the public on diversity and inclusion.”