Washington For Justice sets speaker on race

WASHINGTON - Washington for Justice is hosting a guest speaker this weekend to discuss race, implicit bias and discrimination.

Professor Yolanda Spears is the speaker. She is a licensed master's level social worker. She has a master's degree from the University of Iowa School of Social Work.

Washington for Justice Director Meredith Henderson said Spears teaches a course at Iowa about discrimination, oppression and diversity.

'She has years of experience working with diverse populations, creating community partnerships and program development,” according to a news release.

Henderson said she attended one of Spears' presentations in 2019 and was thrilled they were able to coordinate the meeting.

The event is taking place virtually at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 10.

A link to the Zoom meeting can be found on the Facebook page Washington For Justice.

Henderson said having talks such as this one is important in light of the recent events, including the riots at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.

'Race issues are in the limelight right now as they should be,” Henderson said.

She said it is good to have these conversations, even in small-town Iowa.

'We have misinformation and racist people,” Henderson said. ”We need to work on ourselves and education is a great way to do that.”