Anti-bigotry workshop coming to Northern

Montana State University-Northern’s Office of Diversity Awareness and Multicultural Programs will host “Speak Up: Responding to Everyday Bigotry.”

Office Director Cristina Estrada-Underwood said Wednesday that she and Samantha Balemba, an assistant professor of criminal justice at Northern who specializes in victimology, the study of crime victims, will facilitate the workshop that will take place Feb. 12 from 9 to 9:50 a.m. in Hensler Auditorium in Northern’s Applied Technology Center.

The workshop will focus on what bigotry is, how targets of bigotry and other people are impacted and barriers that prevent people from speaking against instances of bigotry. Participants will also watch a video, learn about frequent situations and places where bigotry takes place, learn strategies for stopping and diffusing bigotry, and engage in group discussions and role playing.

Bigotry based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, economic class and age will all be examined, Estrada-Underwood said.

Workshop curriculum will be provided by the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights organization based out of Montgomery, Alabama.

The workshop is free and open to the public.