Phillip Rakowski: LBCC Student, Mentor and Felon

Phillip Rakowski, 42-years-old, standing over six feet, muscular in build and with a shaved head, may fall into the stereotype of a guy you would expect to see behind bars. Well, he actually has been. For an accumulated 15 years, in fact. He collected 27 felonies along the way, most of them from his gang affiliation and drug use as a younger man.

He has essentially lived two lives. One known as "Thumper" on streets, using his hands to get his message across. The other in his new life, the dual-enrolled sociology major planning for graduate school and using his mind to get his message across.

"All my classes are no less than 400 level, I'm getting ready to graduate, looking at a free ride to grad school, and I'm a crackhead from the streets."

He uses grit and gumption and is hard to ignore. He sits on the Governors Reentry Council Subcommitte Implementaion Education Team, inspiring change in places he feels need more resources for felons trying to reintegrate into society.

"I could have gotten a felony-friendly job in waste management, but that was the easy way out," said Rakowski.

After serving his last prison term of 13 months, for a DUI in which he crashed a car and injured his friend, he had the goal of getting an education.

"I was 37 when I got out, and I really accomplished nothing in life. My grandfather challenged me, telling me, 'Boy, you better try something different because you're not a good criminal,' because I was always getting caught."

Sober since Feb. 4, 2010—the day he walked into his last sentence—he knew part of his transition was staying distracted by positive influences, meaningful tasks, and being productive. That mindset landed him at LBCC, although he had no idea what to major in until he took his first sociology class.

With a life-long struggle of anti-social behavior and bipolar disorder, he had his share of moments worth analyzing in such classes. After his first felony in Silverton, Ore. at the age of 12, his bad behavior got him kicked out of his house by the age of 13. Almost immediately he joined a gang.

"I got kicked out and that's who took me in. They became my family."

That family led him down a dark path, into a world of drugs, violence and intimidation for the next two decades.

"The disease of addiction is a progressive terminal disease. It will get you mentally and spiritually."

His acquired networking skills from the streets were important for the confidence needed to approach any situation, even some at LBCC. He knew how to talk to people to complete a task and how to find the right person to get that task done. He gives credit to mentors on campus stemming from administration to coaches to instructors, and even, the guy who washed towels in the locker room.

The first thing on Rakowski's agenda was to get the weight room open to all students. At the time, it was closed for class use only. He saw the weight room as a needed recreational activity for students that was healthy, a stress reliever, and free.

"I was told to write proposals. I had never written them before. It took two years and seven proposals and finally the administration decided they would allow an open weight room."

His exposure to the tedious process needed to inspire such change on campus landed him in the role of Event Coordinator on the Student Leadership Council. Involvement in student government carried over to OSU, where he is now an intern at the Office of Dean and Student Life.

Next on his agenda was one more personal to Rakowski. As a recovering addict, he had no resources on the LBCC campus for support. Last summer he met with Bruce Clemetson, associate dean of enrollment management. Clemetson advised Rakowski to show the need for narcotics anonymous classes and use his connections to draft a plan for meetings on campus.

Clemetson recognized that many recovering addicts have no credit, no money, the wrong friends, the lure of old habits, and hard decisions. LBCC and OSU counselors did a community health assessment a few years ago asking 150 students specific questions, and according to Clemetson, that group showed they were dealing with substance abuse.

"It certainly raised the profile to, 'Yes, we absolutely have people dealing with these issues.' So I was happy when Phillip came and had the connections to make it happen," said Clemetson. "Phillip comes from a different world than a lot of us come from, and he brought that here in a way."

This term, Rakowski successfully got NA meetings on campus. There are five to 10 regular attendees that meet from noon to 1 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays in NSH Room-105. The meetings are open to anyone and are a safe zone for complete confidence, with the exception of admission to harming others. All attendees have access to the advisor and counselor Charles Madriaga.

With the goal of being a mentor and working in the wellness field, Rakowski is proud to say that several of his former partners in crime, back in his gang days, are now attending LBCC.

"I was a real big mess up, a screw up, and a lot of people thought if I was going to school, they could too. I accepted who I am and changed what I was about."

His sobriety is so important to him that he carries a urine analysis kit in his backpack. The deal he has with his roommates is that they can give each other on-the-spot tests, and if they fail they move out.

"I have to stay around people who are clean and sober, and I regularly attend NA meetings. You have to be willing to put what you put into your recovery what you were willing to put into your addiction."

His purpose may have been blurred in his youth, but he has found the end to his story. It's a story of hope, strength, struggle, and pain. It is uniquely his story, yet a common theme shared by many.

"When we take a step back and look, everyone is recovering from something."

He defies the label some may give him as a 27-time felon. He is crushing the stereotypes of a man that many could have written off. He is a leader, putting his talents to good use, even if it took half a lifetime to realize the potential scope of his impact.

Phytoplankton: Small in size, large in importance.

Phytoplankton are simple-celled plants, often transparent, that have little resistance to the ocean current. There are two classifications: Nannoplankton which are too small to be caught in a net, and Net Plankton which are large enough to be caught in a net. They vary in shape; some make chains, some grow wings and some grow spines. There are 5,000 known species including diatoms (algae), dinoflagellates (marine plankton) and cyanophyta (bacteria).

Phytoplankton can reproduce both sexually and asexually. The process they use is called simple-celled division when the "parent" cell splits itself into two "daughter" cells, dividing everything inside. When it splits, the parent cell ceases to exist. Phytoplankton have rapid reproduction dividing once a day, producing a billion copies of itself in a single month.

Phytoplankton are essential in the food web. They produce 95% of the sea's oxygen therefore sustaining nearly every living creature in the ocean and making them primary producers. They create energy through photosynthesis, using sunlight to create organic materials such as sugar, starch, fat and protein. For this reason they are required to stay near the surface of the water in the "euphotic" zone, which is where photosynthesis can occur. Zooplankton, also at the base of the food web, are organisms that convert plant material into animal tissue providing a vital link between phytoplankton and the rest of the food web. Phytoplankton is a staple food for numerous creatures ranging from sea stars to shrimp to snails and whales.

Since they are slightly denser than water and need to stay near the surface despite their tiny size, phytoplankton have adapted several mechanisms. They will sink lower to obtain nutrients in deeper water but they need to control their fall from and return to the surface. The rate of the fall is proportionate to the amount of resistance their body has to the gas or liquid in which it moves. The temperature and the salinity of the water affect the water density and are factors in their buoyancy. Keeping their body size small is important in their resistance to sinking, which is especially important for tropical plankton because the water is warm and therefore less dense. Their buoyancy is controlled by altering their body fluids to be less than the density of water or equal to the volume. To achieve this, some phytoplankton will develop a gas-filled float. Others will use excess oils and fats to form oil droplets under their armor to aid buoyancy. Some may even change their body shape to become more buoyant by evolving a flattened body or growing appendages, projections or a spine. 

LBCC President Greg Hamann Goes to Puebla, Mexico

photos courtesy of Greg Hamann

LBCC President Greg Hamann recently returned from Puebla, Mexico from a six-week learning adventure. Accompanied by his wife Rita for a cultural emersion program via the Spanish Institute of Puebla, they studied the language and culture for six hours a day and took "field trips" to historic sites.

They lived with a host family, a retired couple with a large extended family, in what is the fourth largest city in Mexico. The metro area of Puebla is home to 2.7 million people. In comparison, the Portland metro area has 2.3 million people.

"Our host family didn't speak any English. It was very interesting but we still found ways to communicate," said Hamann.

After the 2010 census, data showed that over the next decade LBCC will need to prepare for an increase of students in the region of Hispanic decent. In preparation for this, Hamann decided to pursue the emersion program to better understand their roots, and in return, better serve them as students.

"We have all kinds of false ideas of what Mexico is about based on the media or the 100 miles along the border. We think of it as this lawless place and that's not true."

Puebla is a designated historic city and is the site of the battle Cinco de Mayo. Built by the Spanish in the 1500s, it has a Roman Catholic influence. There are century-old stone buildings towering among modern skyscrapers.

"You don't run into things that are very old in the U.S. but there are buildings, churches, that are hundreds of years old."

Puebla is now home to large industrial and manufacturing entities such as Volkswagon, making all the Beetles of the world there.

"People everywhere are suffering from growing pains, there's construction there everywhere."

The city draws most tourists from other parts of Mexico or Europe but is not frequented by many Northern Americans. For this reason Hamann recalled meeting only a few people from the States, most of which visited Puebla and never left.

His time there revealed differences in the way that people relate to each other in comparison to people in the U.S. For example, he saw very little homelessness. His interpretation of this is because families have a cultural setting, putting their members above all else, giving a deeper fabric of connection and sharing all they have with each other.

He saw a culture of trust that is beyond anything he has seen in the States. Namely, the way street food is purchased. The sidewalks are lined with food choices. When getting a meal, you are not expected to pay for it until you are done eating. It's considered impolite to ask for money ahead of time.

"People take their food, wander around, and then come back and pay for it. I saw it many times."

Just like in the U.S., there are people that don't have a lot, but by his account it didn't seem to matter.

"They did seem to be happier with less than we have. They just seem to be happy with each other."

The sense of community was integrated into neighborhoods. Social gatherings and street parties with tents and activites took over the streets daily. Everyone was invited and many brought food to share.

"I ran every morning, and every morning somebody was celebrating something."

Hamann enjoyed exploring the food Mexico had to offer. He tried native eats such as cactus and fried crickets. He rarely ate bread but had plentiful tortillas. He ate a lot of eggs, chicken, fresh fruit and juices, and sauces on everything.

"A sauce which we call molé is from Puebla. The real and original molé is made of chocolate and I can't tell you how many times I ate it!"

On their first weekend, he recalled an afternoon they attended a family lunch with their host family.

"I didn't know that meant we were going to eat, talk, and drink for the next seven hours. It was fantastic. They just like being together."

But some things remain the same. As in the case of interaction between the host family and their granddaughter who visited them every Thursday and who is shopping for colleges.

"It's the same conversation we have here - they argue about where they will go to school."

One afternoon Hamann and Rita rode the bus for 40 cents from one end to another. They decided to walk much of the way back seeing the city as the locals see it, discovering cafes serving coffee locally grown and stopping into sports bars with avid futball fans.

"Sometimes I think you can really learn about a place by intentionally getting lost."

Their emersion classes were with a diverse group of students from Ireland, Slovakia, London, Canada, and the Netherlands. One of the trips the class took was to the pyramids of Teotihuacan just outside of Puebla in Cholula. The pyramids date back to 100 B.C.E.

"You walk amongst these pyramids and these houses, or what is left of them, and it's amazing. We just don't have things like that here."

Because of the migration of many indigenous peoples of Central and South America, Mexico is scattered with hundreds of sub-cultures. Some have prominent facial features identifying their lineage, but all seem to live in harmony.

"We in the United States are so aware [of our differences] but I didn't get the sense that's what they fixated on."

His emersion taught him to read Spanish and he can now grammatically organize a sentence. He admits he is still a little lost when speaking and hearing the language but can get the general idea.

"You really can't understand the language if you don't understand the culture because it's all a matter of context. So you have to learn culture at the same time you learn language. That's the beauty of an emersion school. We felt really positive about our experience."

LBCC: Reduce, Recycle and Reuse

Fall term 2014 was the first term LBCC offered free printing. During Fall term 2013 when printing cost 10 cents a page, a total of 102,773 pages were printed campus wide. Fall term 2014 when printing was free 202,275 pages were printed campus wide. That's a 96 percent increase, estimating the use of an additional 12 trees.

The Library staff noticed the increased usage and spent six weeks last term collecting paper from the recycling bins and unclaimed print jobs. Their "winter wonderland" display seen in the display windows of the Library entrance was made entirely from what they collected.

"As important as it is to highlight this, it's not to shame people," said Laura Nagel, librarian. "There is a correlation between it being free and people forgetting [their print job] because they didn't have to pay for it."

Last term the Library was responsible for nearly 50 percent of all printing on campus with an estimated 1,600 pages printed a day. By the end of the term that's enough pages to be lined up all the way to Grants Pass!

Half the paper used in the "winter wonderland" display was left unclaimed in printing areas. One print job left behind was a third of a ream of paper, which can be seen held together by a rubber band in the display.

Staying true to the message to reduce, recycle and reuse, the display was made using as many reusable items as possible such as reusable tacks and sticky adhesives instead of tape. 

In an effort to be more sustainable, the staff at the Library advise students to be more aware of their usage. Students are encouraged to print double-sided with approval from instructors, to select only the pages you want to print from a document, and submit electronically whenever possible. 

"I've thought a lot about when I pick up a paper to write a note, 'Do I really need to write this?,' said Nagel. "Just putting up this display has made me realize my own use and how I can reduce."

Recycling is a global issue. According to the EPA, producing recycled paper causes 74 percent less air pollution and 35 percent less water pollution than making new paper. In the U.S. paper makes up 40 percent of all waste estimating 71.6 million tons. Keep in mind that every page matters when you look at the bigger picture.

Tips to Reduce:

• "Print preview" before printing to make sure it will print as you want it to avoid a reprint.
• Print double-sided with your instructor's approval.
• Submit assignments vis Moodle, Email, Google Drive, or Dropbox when possible.
• Select specific pages of a needed document rather than its entirety.
• Don't forget what you have printed.

LBCC: Presidential Election for Student Leadership Council

Fall term at LBCC marks the time for a presidential election! This Friday, Jan. 16, is the deadline for applications from presidential hopefuls for the Student Leadership Council.

Current student body president, Adelaine Carter, and vice president, Jeff Lehn, will not run again as they have already had the two year maximum involvement in SLC. Carter will graduate this year with an A.A.O.T. in Political Science and Lehn will graduate with three degrees: Associates of General Studies A.A.O.T.,  Associates of Applied Science Accounting Technology, and Associates of Science Business Administration.

The presidential election will take place towards the end of this month. Students will cast their vote at designated booths on various LBCC campuses (to be announced). The candidate with the most votes will be named president and the candidate with the second most will become the vice president.

The 2015/16 elected officers will inherit the current 14 member team in the SLC office to oversee. Anyone can apply.

For those considering applying, Carter and Lehn provided some insight as to what one can expect to do, learn and accomplish in SLC leadership. Carter offered suggestions as to characteristics one should possess for president.

"[They should be] somebody with a strong personality but someone who also knows when to tone that back, when to lead, when to be firm, and when to observe. Someone who has no qualms with being disliked for a little while if something does go awry. And someone who likes to have fun. At the end of the day we're here to help students have fun."

As for vice president, Lehn offers desired qualities needed for the job.

"It is hard to say what kind of person would be ideal in this position but ultimately it is someone who can work well with anyone. Also, to be able keep all members of the SLC in line with the constitution and bylaws of the group. This is the primary job of the VP." 

The time commitment varies from a part time to full time job, depending on your level of involvement. You will be active on campus sponsoring events, working booths at school-sponsored events, and advocating for fellow peers.

In the SLC presidency, you are required to attend several meetings a month. Once a week you will facilitate an inner-office meeting in which the team discusses campus news, upcoming events, or general awareness. Once a month you will attend the Board of Education meeting with elected officials in the community, and one weekend a month you will attend the Oregon Student Association board of directors meeting.

"It's important the president remembers you're not just sitting at board meetings, you are the face of a team that's working so hard for students."

With learned information, SLC runs awareness campaigns. Last year, for example, they were involved with campaigning for the $34 million bond for LBCC and registering students to vote in the November midterm elections.

"We're the best friend you didn't know you had on campus, that's what student government is," said Carter.

SLC is designed as the bridge between students and the school, and on a larger scale, a bridge between students and the state. Those who hold the president and vice president positions will not only be impacting the student body, they will be grooming themselves for the future.

"I've learned so many leadership skills like time management, how to balance outside work with school work. I've learned everyone has their own leadership style and it's good to go to as many trainings as possible. I've learned to have an open mind to learn what you don't know, that's probably the biggest thing," said Carter.

"The biggest thing that I have learned in the position as VP for SLC is how to be able to work in an office environment with people from all walks of life. In the SLC everyone brings a different story and a different set of talents to the group. It is trying to get all of the personalities to mesh well that has been a learning experience," said Lehn.

Applications can be picked up in the SLC office by the Hot Shot Cafe. Return them with a copy of your official transcript to Barb Horn or Jeff Lehn in SLC. The deadline is Friday, Jan. 16 by 4 p.m.

2014: A Recap of Race, Tolerance, Equality and Social Change

As 2014 came to a close and we gathered highlights for The Commuter timeline of events that hit the printed and virtual headlines, there was a theme that arose locally, nationwide, and worldwide: Tolerance.

Worldwide we saw countries battle themselves for control, as in Syria and Russia. On a national level we saw uprisings in response to claims of police brutality resulting in citizen deaths, and we saw high-ranking politicians apologize for spying on each other. Locally, we saw Benton County residents organize protests in response to police injustice and Linn County residents respond to a hate letter distributed in Albany.

Despite citizens protesting in support of tolerance or siding with the opposite, it seems that 2014 was a year when many people simply had enough. Moving in the direction of social change seemed to be a common goal at home and abroad. We saw entire countries band together to give themselves a voice, as in India, China and Scotland. The United States and Cuba even called a truce to their 50-year intolerance of each other.

On the other hand, in the wake of all the action it seems we also may have taken some steps back in separating ourselves from one another. The events in Ferguson and New York had an overwhelming impact on an "us-versus-them" mentality. Whether it be the police against the public or black against white, lines were not so blurred as people gathered to fight for their community. 

In the United States we have spent the better part of a century creating a place for all to live equally despite color, heritage, or orientation. We even saw same-sex marriage become legal in Oregon last year. However, at the expense of racial protests and angry rants directed toward people of the opposite group, have we lost a bit of the camaraderie we share as the people of one nation?

We saw high profile celebrities such as Bill Cosby abuse the lines of racial equality when he publicly asked "black media" to be "lenient" in their coverage of his alleged sex scandal. For an individual of any influence to make a clear distinction between skin color, and in addition, to request that someone should be supportive depending on that color, is troubling. Some protesters blatantly demonstrated in support of their fellow race instead of in support of humanity.

In 2014 conflict seemed centered around how people fit into a particular group. The LBCC community had a challenge of its own in 2014 when a white staff member approached a black student about his choice of dress, resulting in loss of the staffer’s job and judgment on the motives of the staffer by the LBCC community. 

Moving forward, we should ask ourselves if an incident was based on a racial bias or if it was a case of a community making it about race, simply because of the coincidence of it involving people of different ethnicities. Ask yourself if we as a community are being too observant of whether a person is white, black, Asian, Latino, or Middle Eastern? Is there a chance that we are creating these racial issues instead of focusing on the real issue of a disagreement or mistake?

As we start 2015, I challenge each of us to be conscious of the way we choose to respond to such events. Modern-day America is a melting pot of diversity. Our ancestors have worked to make it that way and we should work to keep it that way. It starts with one person at a time.

Sincerely,

Allison Lamplugh

LBCC: Interview with Mike Smith

I understand that Jamaal McGinty came to you at the Learning Center and apologized for his behavior a few days after the incident. Is that correct?

"He did. The thing was settled. The young man came and said, 'I own this," and I was really impressed he came to us [Shay Newman]."

How low were Jamaal's pants actually below his waist?

"I could see between his legs. I could see his bare legs, not his butt. I could tell you what boxers he was wearing."

I understand there was training in the past advising staff that student clothing could be adjusted if it was a distraction. Did you receive that training?

"Yes. After that training with Lynne [Cox] I went to Chareane [Wimbley-Gouveia] about dress and she told me it can be considered a hostile work environment."

Chareane was on vacation when the incident occurred, so when did she become involved?

"Chareane came over after [the apology] and said it was racial and she was going to, 'take it to task.' At that point she was judging motives of my heart. It was like taking a smoke grenade and yelling fire."

Did a student complain about his pants or did you take it upon yourself to confront him?

"I did. There had been people before complain about that style of dress. I approached him because of the training in the past from Lynne Cox."

Had you ever confronted a student in the past regarding that style of dress?

“I had. Seven or eight white guys have been asked before. It wasn't until it was this man and his color, and the coordinator's color, that anything happened."

Were there any witnesses to the confrontation?

"Yes, a work-study student. He actually said, 'I thought I was going to have to restrain the kid and he was going to start breaking things.' At this point, it wasn't about dress, it was about a disruption."

I understand that you called security for help with the permission of your supervisor. Is that correct?

"Shay came out [of the computer lab] wide-eyed. In six years I had never seen him rattled. The first thing he said was 'call security.' Calling security was the escalation they claimed caused all the problems. Vikki Maurer told me to call them. I didn't suspend him. I couldn't. I turned it over to the powers to be."

Is it true that you were told not to attend the forum held on campus a few days after the incident?

"Shay and I both were told a half hour before the meeting that we were not to attend the meeting by direction of Human Resources."

After that meeting, a campus-wide memo came out from Greg Hamann about tolerance and inclusion. How did you feel about it?

"The funny thing about the message was they were totally intolerant of me."

Greg Hamann suggested that maybe you didn't see eye-to-eye with the school's opinion of the situation. Do you agree?

"It had nothing to do with if I would change. I was the fall guy. I knew the very first meeting I had with HR that they were going to fire me."

Why do say you were the fall guy?

"By letting me go they were afraid the kid would go to the paper and that would appease him."

It's been nine months since the incident. Why come forward now?

"Everyone at the college has heard that I am a racist. I've had people confront me at Walmart. It's on Facebook. I was seeking representation and didn't want to cause complications. The smoke has cleared, things have settled, and it's time to tell the truth. I think the issue is at this point the damage it has done to other students and staff. There have been people that have quit. I've talked to people [at LBCC] for 15 or 20 years and they feel there is no protection. A lot of people have come forward and said, 'We're so sorry, this was so wrong.' So if I can give them a sense of security, I want to do that. I'm not looking for my job back, or to apologize, I just want it to change for the next guy."

LBCC: Interview with President Greg Hamann

Mike Smith worked for two weeks before he was terminated. How long after the incident with Jamaal McGinty were you aware of it?

"I knew about it pretty quickly because a faculty member chose to bring it to my attention and I became concerned about the issue."

Do you believe that employees should not confront students about their choice of dress?

"I don't think the institution should be in the role of defining what's socially acceptable. When an employee chooses to impose their standards on a student, it's a problem. I don't care if it's personally offensive, I don't want to exclude people from campus."

Do you recall a situation a few years ago involving Diane Hunsaker approaching a student wearing a shirt she was unconformable with?

"I do know about the incident. I think it's similar but maybe we concluded we didn't do that one right. The difference was Jamaal wasn't putting up with it. We love to come out of these situations learning something, always being redemptive, and saying, 'I see what we did wrong.'"

So you didn't think that this situation with Mike could have been resolved with counseling as it was with Diane?

"When you deal with people who persist in their sense of being right, that's where we have a problem. We can't be a community that includes a bias of super imposing our bias on someone else, specifically an employee. A world cannot survive if we can't learn to be tolerant of our differences. If we can come to a common understanding, termination is seldom the resolution. To the extent I understood it, I don't think there was a possibility of redemption."

Are you saying that you didn't believe Mike agreed with LBCC's opinion about the incident?

"I like to think of reality as the image of a hologram. Every one of us has a two-sided reality, which if we bring them together, we see reality more wholly. That's what we're trying to teach, and it comes down to a conversation about someone's pants. I can only speak personally, and I don't care if Jamaal is white, black or green, I wouldn't confront someone about their pants."

Was this incident handled differently than Diane's because one person was white and the other black?

"The worst possible situation is thinking we were careful because he was black. It's disrespectful to everyone. I think people want to focus on the issue and it obscures things. I think all issues stem from a larger issue. I don't think we were trying to take sides."

Did you have problems with Mike in the past?

"We have no record of students complaining about him before."

Do you think this situation was racially motivated?

"I think understanding our own motives is hard enough without understanding someone else's. There's unconscious racism, even when we don't know, we do it. Racism is still there but it's often expressed in ways we don't recognize, like cultural bias. My son is black and there are circumstances he had that I had no awareness to. It opened me up to a healthy view about reality."

I understand that Chareane Wimbley-Gouveia, who is also black, seemed very concerned about addressing the incident with Jamaal. Do you think their shared race had anything to do with it?

"Jamaal and Chareane's reality doesn't mean it's the same just because they're both black. She didn't make it out to be a prominently racial issue, rather, a sensitivity to differences and our institution's role."

It's been nine months since this occurred. Looking back are you satisfied with the outcome?

"I think for those who believe there was a racial component, conscious or not, they believe that we took a big step in affirming our cultural differences."

Albany: Racism and Diversity at Linn-Benton Community College

During the last week of fall term a board was displayed by the doors of the library posing the question, "Have you experienced racism in the community?" Markers were provided for students to respond in whatever way they were compelled. The testimonies and opinions to follow were similar to the subject itself: eye-opening and controversial.

Albany residents may recall the hate flyer that blanketed cars at the 2014 Veterans Day Parade. The flyer was clear in its message that Africa is for Africans, Asia for Asians, and "white" countries are for everyone else. The racial remarks in the flyer led to local news outlets responding, the Albany Police Department investigating, and much of the community outraged.

The slander brought to thousands on a day designated to honor Americans that fight for the country, many of whom are not white, was considered in bad taste. Yes, people have freedom of speech, however, the blatant disregard in this instance of those minorities who fought, were injured, or lost their lives to protect the self proclaimed "Nazi" writing the flyer was shocking.

Librarian Richenda Hawkins attended a discussion on campus shortly after the flyer was circulated. The goal of the conversation between LBCC staff was to brainstorm how they could initiate conversation with students regarding the issue of racism in our community. The question prominently displayed in the library was Hawkins' solution to bringing awareness to campus.

"I'm not a classroom teacher but I am faculty, and I found a way to engage dialog," said Hawkins. "Let's let the students talk and express themselves, just write their thoughts and not feel confronted."

Keeping the comments anonymous gave comfort to those often afraid to speak up. Albany is overwhelmingly caucasian, and having an outlet to share the impact of racism in the community led to powerful statements reminding us that racism still exists.

Elikamida Toran works at the Help Desk in the library. She sat directly in front of the board and observed people reading it and sometimes writing on it.

"Whenever I saw anyone come up they had a very intense look on their face," said Toran. "I saw a lady with a head-cover (hijab) come in and it looked like she came in just to write something."

In modern-day America—where a black man was voted into the most powerful position in the country—people may dismiss the issue of color as something of the past. Yet, one-by-one students began to write their experiences revealing century-old mindsets as a reality today.

"In the town I live in, my friend gets called a n****r by the locals and has been threatened with a noose. Racism is still very real."

Someone else wrote about a woman in their class talking about immigrants taking jobs from Americans.

"Why are they here? They're just here to take our jobs and to do nothing for our community."

Some left testimonies of racial tolerance personally effecting those in interracial relationships.

"I and my fiance get jeered and booed sometimes when we are walking together."

Others were candid about their thoughts of the ability, or inability, to erase the ongoing issue in our nation.

"Racism will never die."

One person commented on the overuse of "racism" as a reason to explain conflict.

"When in doubt, play the racism card."

As the board filled with real-life experiences and opinions, some people responded to comments left by others.

"Blacks and Native Americans need to get over what happened in the past." In direct response a student countered with, "But racism is still prominent in the United States. The Ferguson protests aren't 'Blacks getting over it,' it's real racism. The Trayvon Martin shooting was undoubtably racism. Blacks aren't doing anything wrong, they are just black."

"The key to ending racism is to stop talking about it." This provoked an opposing opinion of, "Just completely ignore a real issue facing us as a nation? It needs to be fixed, not ignored!"

Regardless of each opinion, it was clear from the board in the library and from the hate letter at the parade that racism is alive in the Willamette Valley. Advancements in embracing diversity have surely been made, but much work is left to be done. Talking is the first step.

"Black, White, Hispanic, Asian--it doesn't matter! We are one race: human," said anonymous.