On today’s show, host Dana Pellebon is in conversation with April Kigeya and Linda Ketcham about their struggles doing anti-oppression work in majority white spaces. They focus on their work in the Madison chapter of the Rotary Club, an international service club, and the insidious forms of racism and sexism they faced there.

They joined Rotary because it is a good place to network, meet business leaders in the community, fundraise, and connect with members of the public. After joining, Pellebon and Kigeya say they were immediately met with racism and sexism. They describe the dominant white, male, and wealthy space as unwelcoming and culturally uninterested in repairing harm. They discuss a particular incident where a member used a racial slur and how the institutional response was to focus on damage control and protecting the reputation of the organization rather than accountability. They all worked on the organization’s DEI committee, but Pellebon and Kigeya found that trying to work for change within the organization came at too high a cost.

Linda Ketcham is the Executive Director of JustDane.

April Kigeya is a mother of four children and former Vice Chair of the Dane County Board. In 2020 April was named one of Wisconsin’s most influential Black leaders and was the first person of color to serve on the Middleton Police Commission, where she served as the Co-Chair from 2021-2022. She is currently attending Edgewood college where is a PhD candidate in Business Administration. She is also the author of Couch Confessions: The Chronicles of a Black Woman in Therapy.

Dana Pellebon serves as the Executive Director of RCC Sexual Violence Resource Center, in Dane County and coordinates community partnerships for county-wide sexual assault victim services through the Sexual Assault Response Team, the Commission on Sensitive Crimes, and the Domestic Violence and Sexual Violence Coordinated Community Response Team. She is also a theatre professional and former Dane County Board supervisor.

Featured image via Pexels.

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