Category: Guest Speaker Roundup

(The following are Dr. Ivonne Wallace Fuentes’ remarks as delivered to Roanoke Valley Democratic Women Membership Meeting attendees on March 22, 2024.)

Thanks to Barbara and Priscilla for inviting me to speak to you for Women’s History Month.

As a professional historian, and a feminist historian, every day is women’s history month for me, but I do love how March offers us all an opportunity to reflect on the historical impact of women.

Too often, I think, we tend to think of history in the way we might think of antique china and crystal — lovely, in its pristine cabinet, where its mostly admired in passing; treasured — maybe it was passed down to us by elder generations of women we loved. Maybe something we might even think to use, pulling it out for important ritual occasions like Thanksgiving, but not really a part of our daily life, like the rough and tumble Target dishes that go into the dishwasher every night. But history, and historical thinking, is not china we pull out once and twice a year. It is part of the air we breathe every day, whether we recognize it or not. As I teach my students, it’s not an empirical list of facts about the past — it’s not a long CVS receipt of names and figures. History is an argument, it is an x-ray, and it is a weapon.

RVDW’s January meeting reminded us of the importance of engaging with our elected local leaders. Capturing the enthusiasm and heart for service guest speaker Roanoke City Sheriff Antonio Hash has for his job, his city, its residents, and his staff will likely prove impossible.

RVDW highly recommends organizations invite Sheriff Hash to speak to learn about his department, his vision, and to enjoy his contagious positivity. (“You’re welcome!” in advance for that recommendation.)

City Sheriff is a Constitutional Office. In 2021, Antonio Hash, then a 13-year veteran of the Roanoke City Sheriff’s Department, proudly ran and won election as a Democrat. While he will run for re-election as a Democrat in 2025, Hash reminded his audience that his sworn duty, like all public servants, is to the Constitution (State of Virginia and US), his department, his city, and to all the citizens of Roanoke City.

Hash eagerly explained the Sheriff Department’s mission, values, structural organization, and its relationship to other agencies.

by Barbara Andes, VP Communications

“It was the foremost topic of discussion” at the state’s recent professional conference for librarians [Virginia Library Association] is how Sara Sprague describes book banning and book censorship. Sprague, October RVDW guest speaker, a Roanoke-based attorney, librarian, and consultant, had much to share in her “Freedom to Read: How to Resist Book Bans in Your Community” presentation on Friday, October 27. Her unique perspective, sharpened by the intersection of her professional expertise in law and librarianship, gave attendees a lot to consider and ways to resist the trend toward censorship.

“Book banning is ‘the practice of removing or restricting access to books that are deemed objectionable or inappropriate by some individuals or groups’,” explained Sprague. This can include removing books from school or public libraries, prohibiting books from being used in classrooms or curricula, requiring parental consent or notification for books that contain certain content and even filing lawsuits or complaints against authors, publishers, librarians, or teachers who promote or distribute books. “It’s kind of a catch-all term that can be a little murky, but in all cases is a restriction on freedom to read. When government is the one doing the directing, we get into censorship issues that potentially violate the first amendment.”

RVDW’s summer meeting hiatus came to an end on Friday when members gathered to focus on September as National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. With compassion and clarity, our guest speakers led attendees through sometimes difficult facts while encouraging discussion about the prevalence of and increase in suicide in our daily lives. There was opportunity for questions and answers and powerful personal reflection.

Ms. Scales, Ms. Johnson, and Ms. Goodman all expressed hopefulness as they see the stigma around discussing suicide receding. In this environment, and beyond September, we can all take action to make a difference and help prevent and reduce suicide:

• Educate your friends, families, coworkers.
• Mobilize support in your community, churches, civic groups, etc.
• Pay attention to legislation and funding (local, state, national).

The following presentation file was prepared for RVDW and has been shared by Julia Scales. Note: This presentation is meant to be informative, not diagnostic.

Some of the resources referenced in the above presentation include:
Homepage | Zero Suicide (edc.org)
SAMHSA – Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline – Call. Text. Chat. (988lifeline.org)
Suicide Prevention Resource for Action | Suicide | CDC

As next month is Gun Violence Awareness Month across our nation, and as gun violence is ever-increasingly in our daily headlines, in our neighborhoods, and for far, far too many for too long, in our and our loved ones’ lives, RVDW is humbled and honored to welcome three distinguished guest speakers for our May 26th Monthly Membership Meeting: Dr. Catherine Koebel Stromberg, Ms. Rita Joyce, and Vice-Mayor Joe Cobb to address gun violence and gun violence awareness. (Read more about speakers below.)

This year, the 9^th annual Gun Violence Awareness Day will be recognized here and across the country on June 2. In anticipation and preparation for this and other activities and activism of the next several weeks, we hope you will join us on Friday, May 26^th. Each of our guests will share their experiences and expertise in gun violence and gun violence prevention and bring us information on how and where to get involved during June and beyond. A sampling of upcoming events to support and amplify includes June 2-4, WEAR ORANGE: Roanoke Gun Violence Awareness Weekend, 2023 Annual Community Prayer Breakfast, and June 24, Groceries Not Guns – 2023 Buyback Event.