{"id":10392,"date":"2020-08-28T01:34:42","date_gmt":"2020-08-28T01:34:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/?p=10392"},"modified":"2021-01-29T17:54:03","modified_gmt":"2021-01-29T17:54:03","slug":"on-the-spot-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/2020\/08\/28\/on-the-spot-6\/","title":{"rendered":"On the Spot: Hana Dinku"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"HanaHana Dinku<\/strong> served as director of Augsburg University\u2019s Pan-Afrikan Center from March 2019 to July 2020. Her most recent project at Augsburg, \u201cOne Day in May,\u201d was featured on WCCO-TV this spring, prior to Augsburg\u2019s virtual commencement<\/a>. Between her work leading programs and supporting students, she outlined the importance of Augsburg\u2019s history and present moment.<\/p>\n

Q: Why was One Day in May such a pivotal moment for the Augsburg community in 1968?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:\u00a0<\/strong>One Day in May forced Augsburg to recognize all the ways it had failed to live up to its mission and values. In the wake of Dr. Martin\u00a0Luther King Jr.\u2019s assassination, higher education institutions across the country saw a wave of protests and a demand for structural change. One Day in May was Augsburg\u2019s response to the moment. The community speakers, Augsburg students, staff, and faculty who participated shed light on systemic white supremacy in the Augsburg community and the nation. This public acknowledgment created a level of transparency and accountability that helped move Augsburg in the right direction.<\/p>\n

Q: How did the reintroduction of One Day in May arise and become the theme of this year\u2019s\u00a0commencement ceremony?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:\u00a0<\/strong>When I started my job at Augsburg, one of my mentors, community elder Mahmoud El-Kati<\/strong>, told me the real history of Black folks at Augsburg. Elder Mahmoud was one of the community speakers at One Day in May and spent years working closely with the Pan-Afrikan Center. Very few people on campus knew about One Day in May and the contributions of Black students, staff, and faculty. After learning that Augsburg\u2019s sesquicentennial book, \u201cHold Fast to What is Good,\u201d didn\u2019t mention it, I worked with other Augsburg leaders to make One Day in May the theme for the university\u2019s 2020 MLK Day celebration. As more people heard the story and understood the significance of One Day in May, it took on a life of its own. Directors of International Student Services, LGBTQIA+ Student Services, and Multicultural Student Services worked with faculty member Leon Wang<\/strong> and the administration to build and promote a sesquicentennial campaign about One Day in May.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> What is one component of One Day in May that is especially relevant for our current social and\u00a0political environment?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0A:<\/strong> All aspects are relevant, but if I had to identify one particular component, it would be the demand to decolonize the curriculum at Augsburg. The Eurocentric core of the education system is the clearest example of how our institutions are embedded in white supremacist ideology. This is why we gathered this year to begin the creation of a Critical Race and Ethnicity Studies department.<\/p>\n

Q: What do you hope is accomplished through the reintroduction of One Day in May?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> My goal for this campaign was to help Black students understand and appreciate the battles fought by those who came before them. I want Black\u00a0students and other marginalized students to know that we are a part of Augsburg history; we are not guests at this institution. When the whole Augsburg community understands this, we will see the kind of institutional changes that marginalized students, staff, and faculty have demanded for years.<\/p>\n

\n

WEB EXTRA: Visit inside.augsburg.edu\/one-day-in-may<\/strong><\/a> to see more ways Augsburg is building on the foundation of One Day in May.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hana Dinku served as director of Augsburg University\u2019s Pan-Afrikan Center from March 2019 to July 2020. Her most recent project at Augsburg, \u201cOne Day in May,\u201d was featured on WCCO-TV this spring, prior to Augsburg\u2019s virtual commencement. Between her work leading programs and supporting students, she outlined the importance of Augsburg\u2019s history and present moment. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":375,"featured_media":10393,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[90],"class_list":["post-10392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-around-the-quad","tag-spring-summer-2020"],"wps_subtitle":"How One Day in May in 1968 forced Augsburg to reevaluate its posture and practices regarding racism and education","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/375"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10392"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10908,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10392\/revisions\/10908"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}