After a long year of closures due to COVID-19, many museums across the state are re-opening. The fascinating exhibits listed below feature everything from reflections on recent social movements to the colorful illustrations found in some of your favorite children’s books. If you’re looking for a fun way to spend a summer day, a day trip for the whole family, or an exciting event to attend from the comfort of your couch, consider checking out some of these exciting collections.  

Justin Favela: Central American: Justin Favela is a Guatemalan-Mexican-American artist whose work is inspired by Latinx culture, art history, and food. His beautiful pieces are created by layering multi-colored paper in a style reminiscent of pinatas and party decorations. Known for his beautiful large-scale installations, Favela’s work has been showcased across the United States and internationally. His exhibit Central America is currently on display at the Des Moines Art Center. For more information about the exhibit visit their web page.

Our Voices: Celebrating the Coretta Scott King Awards: The Coretta Scott King Illustrator Awards recognize outstanding African American children’s book artists who demonstrate an appreciation for African American culture and universal human values. For the first time, Grinnell College has put together a collection of all the winners and honorees since the award’s creation in 1974. The exhibit features the work of over 30 artists and is a great option for the whole family. More information about the collection can be found here.

Unwavering: 21st Century Activism: The African American Museum of Iowa is currently showing Unwavering: 21st Century Activism. This exhibit explores the biggest social movements of recent years. This collection covers everything from the Black Lives Matter movement to the #MeToo movement. The exhibit examines how these important social movements have impacted African Americans, with a special focus on how they have sparked activism in Iowa. More information is on the museum’s website.

The Colors of Culture: The Putnam Museum is currently showcasing The Colors of Culture, an exhibit illustrating the importance of color in adornment, home, and celebrations. The exhibit is made possible through a partnership with World Relief Quad Cities and features artifacts on loan from families in the organization's refugee resettlement program. The Colors of Culture is part of the Putman’s World Culture Gallery, a collection put together to celebrate the diverse cultures of the community. To learn more about the exhibit and how to get tickets visit their website.

Virtual Poetry Reading: Ray Young Bear: Hosted by the Figge Art Museum, this is a great option for those looking for something to do but don’t want to leave the house. From 6:30-7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 29, 2021, Ray Young Bear will be giving a free reading of his work. Young Bear’s work focuses on the dislocation of modern-day Native Americans and the pull they feel between two distinctly different cultures. Born and raised in Marshalltown on the Meskwaki Tribal Settlement, Young Bear’s work pulls from his personal experience as well as Meskwaki culture, myths, and history. For more information about how to join the reading, visit their website.

Race: Are We So Different?: A permanent exhibit of the Science Museum of Minnesota in St. Paul, this is a great destination if you’re looking for a weekend trip. The exhibit explores how the idea that we can group people into “races” is only a few hundred years old. It was, and is, tied to power and hierarchy. Today, scientists have disproved the idea of race and its notions of biological superiority. But this idea of race continues to shape our lives. How did we get here? And how can we do better? For more information, go here.

In her book “Legacy,” author and educator Suzanne Methot uses history, human development, and the power of stories. Methot traces the roots of Indigenous community breakdown in a moving and provocative examination of the lasting impacts of colonization. Generations of colonization have taken an immeasurable toll on the Indigenous people of the Americas. These communities suffer disproportionately high rates of substance use disorders, depression, and other chronic health conditions brought on by the trauma of genocide and colonial control. Methot not only provides readers with an unflinching portrayal of colonialism's ugly legacy but also shows us a path to healing based on Indigenous ways of knowing as a guide. 

 Other reads:

• Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist by Judith Heumann.
• Central America’s Forgotten History: Revolution, Violence, and the Roots of Migration by Aviva Chomsky.
• How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith.

Bijou Maliabo has been an outspoken community activist for more than seven years. She is well known as an advocate for immigrants and refugees across Iowa and has spent most of her waking hours serving Eastern Iowa in any way possible. 

Bijou’s passion for serving others has ushered her into leadership roles for several non-profit and social justice groups, including The Human Rights Commission, The Congolese Health Partnership (CHP), Program Management Plus with the University of Iowa for Refugees, The Center for Worker Justice (CWJ), and The United Nations Association-Johnson County chapter. She has also lent her professional ability to speak five languages to the school district, Iowa Human Services, the Johnson County court system, and multiple police departments in the area. 

Bijou is deeply passionate about helping others and serves as a mentor for youth across the nation and abroad. She is eager to use her voice and employ her experience to empower others and inspire change by supporting others and giving back to the community.

On July 26, 1990, President George H. W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) into law. The law prohibited discrimination against people with disabilities in areas such as employment, transportation, public accommodations, communications, and access to state and local governments’ programs and services, according to the US Department of Labor. This law was a huge step forward in protecting the rights of Americans with disabilities. But while the ADA was a huge step forward, the US still has a long way to go when it comes to full protection and equality for the disabled community. 

The fight for equal rights and protections for members of the disabled community continues to this day. While issues like education, access, and healthcare costs have gotten a great deal of attention, one area people may not have heard of is the fight to end “marriage penalties.” Forbes reported that “Marriage penalties” refer to a collection of Social Security benefits that can be reduced or even completely taken away if an otherwise eligible disabled person gets married. Along with this decrease in financial support, marriage penalties can also result in a loss of health insurance. The loss of services like Medicare and Medicaid can be incredibly detrimental, especially considering Medicaid is one of the few healthcare plans that cover long-term home care, an essential service for some people with disabilities. 

The threat of losing essential benefits can force people with disabilities to choose between marrying the person that they love and having the healthcare that they need to remain independent. Private healthcare costs can be incredibly expensive, and even with the added financial support of a partner, essential care can become unaffordable. 

The idea behind revoking certain benefits is this: when a person with disabilities gets married, their partner can help support them, The person with disabilities would then need less financial support from the government. Unfortunately, the way benefits are impacted after marriage can vary widely from person to person, according to Forbes, making it difficult to understand exactly how one person’s benefits will be impacted. And even with the additional financial support of a partner, it is very hard to make up for the cost of losing Medicare.

People with disabilities shouldn’t have to worry about losing essential benefits simply because they want to get married. A simple reassessment of how financial support is given out could help solve this problem. Doing this right would require legislation from Congress. Fortunately, there is currently a bipartisan bill called the Marriage Access for People With Special Abilities Act that would allow people to keep their Supplemental Security Income and their Medicaid benefits regardless of their marital status, according to Congress.gov. If the bill passes, it would mean a massive improvement on an issue that disability rights advocates have been fighting for these past few decades. 

 In 2018, 383 refugees were resettled in the state of Iowa, according to the Governor’s Office of Iowa. The United Way reported that since 2010, 40% of Iowa’s population growth has come from immigrants and refugees choosing to put their roots down in the state. While only a small portion of refugees entering the US are placed in Iowa, a significant number of refugees settling in our state have come in a wave of “secondary migration.”

Secondary migration refers to a process in which a refugee or immigrant comes to the US and settles in a state, then decides to move to a new state where they can permanently put down roots. This second migration within their new country could be for a variety of reasons but common causes are the cost of living and economic opportunities. 

For the most part, the cost of living in Iowa is significantly less expensive than the national average, reported BestPlaces.net. Eligible refugees can, according to the Department of Social and Health Services, receive financial assistance from the government for up to eight months after their arrival date in the US. However, when that financial assistance runs out, it can become difficult or even impossible for refugees to afford to live where they were resettled. Refugees who enter the resettlement process don’t choose where they are placed and for those assigned to states with high living costs, a second migration may be unavoidable. 

Coupled with the low cost of living, Iowa’s large meatpacking industry has brought many refugees to the state. According to the refugee organization EMBARC, 10,000 refugees from Myanmar alone live in Iowa. EMBARC says that the majority of these refugees work in meatpacking plants across the state. According to the nonprofit Fiscal Policy Institute, meatpacking has the fifth-highest concentration of refugee workers. With an industry that relies so heavily on the work of immigrants and refugees, it’s unsurprising that many refugees choose to resettle in Iowa, a state that employs substantially more meatpackers than the rest of the country according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

The Des Moines Register reported over 30,000 refugees have been resettled in Iowa since the 1970s. This impressive number doesn’t even begin to account for the thousands of refugees who have decided to move to Iowa after their initial placement in the US. Although the state saw a decrease in refugee resettlements in 2020, the Daily Iowan reported Biden administration’s plans to increase the number of refugees allowed into the US will undoubtedly result in more refugees deciding to call Iowa their new home.

Title IX, the federal law prohibiting sex discrimination in federally-funded schools, was interpreted to include transgender students during the Obama administration. The Trump administration did not recognize discrimination against transgender students, effectively voiding Title IX’s protections for them. According to the New York Times, Miguel A. Cardona, Education Secretary under President Biden, will resume interpreting Title IX as extending protection to transgender students.

Bostock v. Clayton County, a 2020 Supreme Court ruling, paved the way for the change. In Bostock, the Court ruled that protection against discrimination in employment based on “sex” extends to LGBTQ+ people, according to Oyez.org. By extension, protections against discrimination based on sex in other areas, such as education and housing, are also being interpreted to include LGBTQ+ people. The Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Justice Department, and the Department of Health and Human Services have all issued guidance affirming the rights of transgender Americans, using the court’s ruling as a template.

The New York Times reported at least 31 states have introduced bills limiting transgender students’ rights, typically in the arena of restricting transgender girls’ right to play on sports teams that correspond to their gender identity. Five states have already enacted laws to this effect, setting up a tension between state and federal law that some believe the federal government will be reluctant to enforce. “Some schools, especially in the states where there is legislation, will simply ignore what the federal government says,”  R. Shep Melnick, a politics professor at Boston College and the author of “The Transformation of Title IX: Regulating Gender Equality in Education,” told the New York Times.

President Biden, as Vice-President, helped craft President Obama’s overhaul of Title IX, according to Inside Higher Ed. Biden has now directed Secretary Cardona to review all policies related to the law. Biden’s Office of Civil Rights has also retracted the federal government’s support for a Trump-era lawsuit seeking to block transgender students from participating in girls’ high school sports.

The Education Department has not yet reinstated the Obama-era guidance and is still conducting its review of policies related to Title IX. In April, officials invited students, educators, and other stakeholders to share insights on “the issue of sexual harassment in school environments, including sexual violence, and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.” Mr. Cardona told the New York Times the department had heard from thousands of teachers, students, parents, and administrators who wanted to weigh in on the existing rules and noted, “We are going to move as quickly as possible on it. We know many folks are waiting.”

For detailed information on current trainings, initiatives, or programs, visit icgov.org/SJREinitiatives, and scroll to Social Justice and Racial Equity Quarterly Updates.

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