For Ati Nasiah, the way for people to open up a discussion on personal issues starts with trust.
Building trust that leads to conversations on racial and gender-based violence was the goal during Wisdom in the Circle, a gathering held to bring ideas together at Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall Monday afternoon.
“I have learned that if we are striving to promote social and gender equity, we can only move at the speed of trust,” said Nasiah, prevention outreach director for Aiding Women in Abuse and Rape Emergencies (AWARE).
Nasiah said the idea for Wisdom in the Circle came together as Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, AWARE and the Juneau Violence Prevention Coalition joined together and invited other groups from Alaska and around the U.S. The goal was to talk about racial and social equity as a group and on how to work on ideas and how to implement them back into their organizations and with each other.
The circle portion of Wisdom of the Circle was not a misnomer: People worked in small circular tables and also joined in as part of larger circle design to give everyone an equal opinion and thought on what could best be done to reduce racial and gender-based violence. Nasiah said the day was designed so people could come together and build on current and new relationships. Nasiah said the group would then work on strategy and how to implement the ideas formed during Monday’s discussion.
The day started as the group of people from affiliated organizations and others from not only Alaska, but around the U.S., went around the circle and shared some of their background and a word on what they thought when they were invited. “Grateful,” “excited” and “nervous” were just some of those words.
Darlene Trigg, of Nome, who was invited to help host because of her time working at First Alaskans Institute’s Alaska Native Dialogue on Racial Equity. First Alaskans Institute is a nonprofit foundation dedicated to developing the capacities of Alaska Natives and their communities to meet the educational, economic and social challenges of the future.
“The intention is to bring this amazing group of people through an experience both so we can reestablish positive relationships with one another and dreams that we wish to accomplish together with one another,” Trigg said.
According to numbers given to the Empire by AWARE, the program worked with 614 individuals who entered the program for assistance in 2017.
Using that, guests were invited to share their own ideas on what they believed could help find a solution to racial and gender-based violence.
Arvind goel Lahv, with the International Association of Human Values based out of Washington, D.C., said he came up with the idea of one aspect in life that everyone shares. Lahv said the agency has been working on stress reduction and how stress relates to assault.
“We have noted that violence and crime happen because someone is stressed out,” Lahv said. “If we can address issues at the root then they can be rooted out. There are expectations if life and if we don’t meet them, we get stressed out. The secret is in breath. If you know how to breathe properly, you can handle the day-to-day issues of life easier.”
The idea of taking in all the different ideas from the group, Trigg said, is to help continue to create a good space that allows people to feel comfortable working together.
“This is an ongoing effort of the community itself,” “Trigg said. “The biggest goal is to bring people together to do good work.”
Nasiah said Monday’s event was really just a small part of the larger solution.
“I hope that we achieve more deepen connections with one another, some shared vision and concrete steps towards coordinating our effort,” Nasiah said.
• Contact reporter Gregory Philson at gphilson@juneauempire.com or call at 523-2265. Follow him on Twitter at @GTPhilson.
