Music, pinatas, food trucks, games, and community members brought life to downtown Crookston on a mid-July evening for the city’s inaugural Fiesta de Crookston. Over 400 attendees mingled, reconnected with neighbors and old acquaintances, and celebrated Latinx culture.
The event aimed to celebrate the strong historical and present-day Latinx population and culture in the Crookston area. As Downtown Crookston Development Partnership (DCDP) board members helped raise pinatas on truck, attendees expressed thankfulness, joy, and wonder at the amount of Latinx community members present.
“People were so thankful to see such a strong turnout of the Latinx community,” said event organizer Malissa Burnette. “They kept saying, ‘We need more of this; this makes Crookston feel more like home.’”
For years, DCDP has worked to raise awareness of both ethnic and socioeconomic diversity, while also organizing events to address this diversity and promote community connectedness. NMF supported Fiesta de Crookston as part of its Welcoming Communities partnerships, aiming to improve the inclusion of newcomers and/or underrepresented community members leading to communities where all residents feel empowered to work with each other in strengthening the social, civic, and economic fabric.
The Fiesta de Crookston event did just that. In addition to supporting crucial bridging efforts the Fiesta also brought ongoing community challenges to the forefront. Foremost, is a lack of awareness about the Latinx community among other residents.
“I’ve received many questions from white community members,” said DCDP Chair Shirley Iverson. “Some were surprised by the number of Latinx attendees, while others asked, ‘Did they all just get bussed here from the border?’
These comments underscore a significant disconnect. Latino individuals and families have been a part of the Crookston community for nearly 100 years and current data from the school district and community census show that 10 to 15 percent of the population identifies as Hispanic. When large segments of the community intentionally overlook or disregard the existence of another group, it weakens the social fabric and creates additional barriers for marginalized groups.
Not all Northwest Minnesotans’ first language is English. Whether it’s through engaging with neighbors (and seeking to understand and connect) or assisting with forms and applications, recognizing language diversity is crucial for fostering inclusive communities. Fiesta de Crookston organizers believe that acknowledging diversity and promoting unity will enhance the Crookston community. Additional events are already in the planning stages.
DEFINITIONS (source: https://www.aecf.org/blog/racial-justice-definitions)
- Bridging: One of the critical steps toward reducing othering and promoting belonging is a practice known as “bridging.” Bridging is a particular form of social capital which describes connections that link people across a cleavage that typically divides society (such as race, or class, or religion). Bridging is a practice where members of different social groups are not only brought into contact, but build social connections and rapport. Thus bridging activities can be as simple as an interfaith dinner or a multicultural concert or as complex and institutionally embedded as a leadership training program or an experiential course on cultural differences. The heart of bridging is listening to and learning from and about the person perceived as different or even as “the other.” Listening means hearing their story, not to confirm their facts or perspective, but to affirm their humanity. Listening is sometimes confused with agreement, although the former does not require the latter. https://belonging.berkeley.edu/practice-bridging
- Interpersonal Racism: How our private beliefs about race become public when we interact with others. When we act upon our prejudices or unconscious bias — whether intentionally, visibly, verbally or not — we engage in interpersonal racism. Interpersonal racism also can be willful and overt, taking the form of bigotry, hate speech or racial violence.
- Institutional Racism: Institutional racism is racial inequity within institutions and systems of power, such as places of employment, government agencies and social services. It can take the form of unfair policies and practices, discriminatory treatment and inequitable opportunities and outcomes.
