Donna Walker was born in Alabama, and she still remembers growing up in a segregated state.<\/p>\n
Since 2014, when her husband, Bill Walker, was elected governor of Alaska, she\u2019s been working to spread \u201cunity and community around the state.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, after a summer of racially motivated violence across the Lower 48, she\u2019s helping host an event named \u201cA Call to Unity!\u201d at 6 p.m. Tuesday in St. Paul\u2019s Catholic Church.<\/p>\n
Sherry Patterson is leader of Juneau\u2019s Black Awareness Association.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019ll be some speaking and prayer, of course, and maybe a couple of songs,\u201d Patterson said with a smile. \u201cWe just want to join the chorus of all those who have gone before us in the past month or so, sponsoring events.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walker has long been a supporter of Bridge Builders, an Anchorage-based group that brings Alaskans of different ethnic backgrounds together for social events. In 2015, Walker and Patterson brought the project to Juneau. A food-themed event called \u201cTaste of the Nations\u201d was its pioneering program, and other happy celebrations have followed.<\/p>\n
[Building a bridge to a better Juneau<\/a>]<\/p>\n Now, Walker said, \u201cwe want to get more into the trenches with things.\u201d<\/p>\n Segregation is illegal in the United States, and Alaska hasn\u2019t seen the violence that many Lower 48 urban areas have, but both Walker and Patterson believe that racism and discrimination haven\u2019t been annihilated here any more than they have in the Lower 48.<\/p>\n Instead of outright, visible discrimination, racism shows up in veiled forms.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m from Louisiana where a lot of this stuff happens,\u201d Patterson said.<\/p>\n \u201cI know someone \u2014 and this shocked me \u2014 she told me she wouldn\u2019t go into Walmart anymore because \u2018there\u2019s just too many people that don\u2019t speak English,\u2019\u201d Walker said.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve heard the same thing about McDonald\u2019s,\u201d Patterson responded, alluding to discrimination against first-generation immigrants.<\/p>\n Patterson and Walker each said that sometimes it can be uncomfortable, but confronting concealed, dog-whistle racism is necessary.<\/p>\n \u201cI was in a coffee shop here in Juneau,\u201d Patterson explained, \u201cand I was next up, and the guy (behind the counter) said, \u2018somebody get to the dark woman. No \u2014 the dark woman is up next.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI knew he was talking to me,\u201d Patterson said. \u201cI just stood there, and I\u2019m looking around. Everybody around started looking at the floor. They looked at the floor.\u201d<\/p>\n Patterson asked the 40-something man to step aside and talk to her in semi-privacy.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat you did is not cool,\u201d she told the man.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat did I do?\u201d he responded.<\/p>\n He didn\u2019t understand, Patterson said, and so she explained it to him.<\/p>\n \u201cYou just called me out in front of a whole store of white people as the \u2018dark woman,\u2019\u201d she recalled telling him. \u201cThat\u2019s not cool. I am black. It would have been better for you to say help the black lady, and I still wouldn\u2019t have liked that, but that would have been better. All you had to say is the lady in the pink shirt is up next.\u201d<\/p>\n The man apologized to her with tears in his eyes and said he hadn\u2019t known.<\/p>\n \u201cNow, I\u2019ve shared this with other black folks, and they said, \u2018He knew \u2014 he just wanted to embarass you,\u2019\u201d Patterson said. \u201cBut looking into his face as I did, he had no clue. He had no clue. And now every time I go in there, I say, \u2018Hey, how you doing?\u2019 And we\u2019re cool.\u201d<\/p>\n Patterson said it isn\u2019t always easy to confront people about something they\u2019ve done, but she\u2019s glad she talked to the man.<\/p>\n \u201cHad I not done that, he would have gone away not knowing. I would have been mad, never patronized the store again and put it all out that the store\u2019s racist. And that\u2019s what happens a lot of times. People are ignorant about certain things,\u201d Patterson said. \u201cYou would think that not in this day and age, but ignorance exists. It really does.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 Contact reporter James Brooks at 523-2258 or james.k.brooks@juneauempire.com.<\/p>\n Read more news:<\/strong><\/p>\n A scientist, a Native voice, and a former public radio chief compete for Alaska’s Democratic chance at the U.S. House<\/a><\/p>\n Ready, set, latch on! Juneau moms, babies & families celebrate breastfeeding<\/a><\/p>\n