Developing leadership that moves an organization toward antiracist multicultural practice requires (1) understanding the dominant culture, (2) redefining concepts of leadership to include diverse perspectives, and (3) maintaining accountability to communities struggling with racist oppression.

Approximately 82% of the non-profit workforce, and 86% of the members of boards of directors, are white (Lapovskey, 2009). These are the people who define leadership, and they tend to recognize leadership potential in others that resonates with their own values and experience.  Continue.

On the evening of April 29th last year, in the southern Minnesota town of Waseca, a woman was doing the dishes when she looked out her kitchen window and saw a young man walking through her back yard. He was wearing a backpack and carrying a fast-food bag and was headed in the direction of the MiniMax Storage facility next to her house. Something about him didn't seem right. Why was he going through her yard instead of using the sidewalk? He walked through puddles, not around them. He fiddled with the lock of Unit 129 as if he were trying to break in. She called the police. A group of three officers arrived and rolled up the unit's door. The young man was standing in the center. He was slight of build, with short-cropped brown hair and pale skin. Scattered around his feet was an assortment of boxes and containers: motor oil, roof cement, several Styrofoam coolers, a can of ammunition, a camouflage bag, and cardboard boxes labelled "red iron oxide," filled with a red powder. His name was John LaDue. He was seventeen years old.

One of the officers started to pat LaDue down. According to the police report, "LaDue immediately became defensive, stating that it is his storage unit and asked what I was doing and pulling away." The officers asked him to explain what he was up to. LaDue told them to guess. Another of the officers, Tim Schroeder, said he thought LaDue was making bombs. LaDue admitted that he was, but said that he didn't want to talk about it in the storage locker. The four went back to the Waseca police station, and LaDue and Schroeder sat down together with a tape recorder between them. "What's going on today, John?" Schroeder asked. LaDue replied, "It's going to be hard for me to talk about." The interview began at 7:49 P.M. It continued for almost three hours.  Read full article.

This archived wepisode describes SAMHSA's definition of trauma, the long-term effects of unaddressed trauma, and ways communities can work together to minimize the impact of trauma.  View webisode.