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Diversity & Inclusion

Loving Month

Join us monthly as we celebrate a different community on campus. UWL Celebration Months amplifies voices from the many vibrant cultures and communities on campus. Join us throughout the year as we celebrate our friends and neighbors and gain a deeper understanding of our community.

The purpose of this project is to give others on our campus, in the surrounding community, and anyone that visits the UWL website a chance to learn more about different experiences and perspectives of the community that we are celebrating on any given month.

Allies and advocates are invited to share their stories.

UWL Celebrates

Loving Month

Nhouchee Yang Employee 2022

Nhouchee Yang

Employee

I hope everyone chooses to show appreciation of any type of relationship every day or as much as possible. With this month being Loving Month, I celebrate by being understanding and having an open mind. Never forget where you come from and who you represent. You'll never know what kind hope you give for future generations. ^_^

About Loving Month

For starters, it's actually a day, but why limit love to just a day? National Loving Day is the annual celebration (June 12) of the anniversary of the 1967 United States Supreme Court Decision Loving v. Virginia which struck down all anti-miscegenation laws remaining in sixteen U.S. states.

Interracial relationships and marriage were legalized in the United States in a unanimous decision. The justices found that Virginia’s interracial marriage law violated the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.

More about Richard and Mildred Loving the couple who battled for their marriage in the landmark Loving v. Virginia case: https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/loving-v-virginia-1967/

Past celebrations

This content was created and gathered in part of UWL student organization, IOPA in 2021.

AJ Clauss

Alex Jeske

Alexia Walz

Celinda Davis

Ella Harris

Jaiya Edwards

Mya Salinas

Renee Smith

Sophie Alvarado

Vang Xiong

Marvin Labre

Alex Jeske

IOPA will always have a special place in my heart because it was the first MSO that I got involved with when I came to UWL. I grew up in the Twin Cities and went to a high school much more diverse than UWL. I began my journey in social justice education when I was a senior in high school and was nervous to move to La Crosse and UWL which is a Predominately White Institution.

One thing I love about IOPA was that it was a space intentionally created for transracial adoptees (among other multicultural identities). I loved this because I myself am Chinese American and adopted into a white "American" family. I have also met so many amazing people through IOPA and have connected with other MSOs here at UWL.

I identify as multicultural as I grew up in a white household with white parents surrounded by white culture, inside of a Chinese body. I still struggle with understanding and accepting my multicultural identity, but IOPA and the other UWL MSOs have helped me in my own identity work and social justice education. IOPA and other MSOs have helped me find comfort, growth, and acceptance within myself and shown me love and community here at UWL.

Celinda Davis

"I have always gravitated toward other multiracial people during my lifetime. But, serving as IOPA's advisor has been the first time I've gotten the chance to talk about what my identity means with other people who just get it. It's so important to have community, to not feel alone, to feel seen." ~Celinda Davis

Being biracial means living in contradiction; sometimes living in a country who wants to put people in boxes has been difficult, but more often, I love breaking those boundaries. I get to see the world from multiple perspectives. Both sides of my family have such rich history, and I am proud to be the result of all that resilience, love, and hope.

Sophie Alvarado

Belonging to a mixed family and identifying as biracial is one part of my life that is very important to me. It has given me so many amazing experiences that I would not be experience if I wasn’t mixed. I have eaten so much delicious food from my parents’ cultures. From pazole (Mexican stew/soup), to Greek spinach pie, to pork schnitzel and spaetzle (German), it is all equally amazing and important to my life. I also am grateful to be a part of a mixed family because of our shared cultures. My mother learns about my father’s Mexican and Greek heritage and my father learns about my mother’s German heritage and my brother and I learn about both of theirs. I am very proud to be biracial and nothing could change that.

AJ Clauss

Jaiya Edwards

Bio: My name is Jaiya Edwards (she/her/hers) and I am IOPA's Co-chair for the past two years. It was a journey coming in as a First Year and being asked to start IOPA back because it fizzled out. I am a Psychology Major with a double minor in At-Risk Child and Youth Care.

I am Black and White (Bi-racial). Some things that stood out to me growing up is the fact that I never fit in anywhere growing up when it came to my race. I was confused what group to fit in because I never felt that I belonged.

I also felt that I was an imposter of being Black because growing up I was not exposed to my Black culture, but I was Black. My mother and father are separated so it was in two different worlds. Because of struggling with my own Identity IOPA means the world to me.

I was able to find a community that I call my family now. We have these conversations that I never had before.

Renee Smith

Being in an interracial relationship is incredibly beautiful. We've learned so much about each other, our unique backgrounds, our cultures, our traditions, and our values in a deeper way than if we'd never ever come together as a couple. We've faced many struggles but have supported each other in deep and meaningful ways throughout our relationship, we wouldn't trade it for the world!

Mya Salinas

My name is Mya Salinas (She/her/hers) I am a second year student from Milwaukee WI with a Psychology major and a double minor in International & Legal Studies. I also am proud to say I have been one of IOPAs co-chairs for the last two years. I have been a part of IOPA since my first year on campus where I was asked to take control over this fizzling org which has been a wild journey to say the least

I identify as White (Polish) and Mexican but I have always struggled with which one I feel more like, or which one to mark on a form. Do I put White or bi-racial? It wasn’t until coming to college where I really felt severely conflicted or displaced, and I really began to struggle adjusting to this new environment. IOPA has been a space for me and others on campus to talk about this identity crisis and connect with others who share the same feelings and difficulties, which has been life changing. Being the leader of IOPA has been one of the best things to happen to me. I now have a community within the org and other MSOs on campus, people I can be vulnerable with and connect with on a deeper level because of our shared experiences. This org is so unique because conversations about mixed identity or transracial identity happen so rarely. IOPA really holds a special place in my heart and I am blessed to be a part of such an amazing group of people.

Alexia Walz

Growing up in a family where I was the only person of color wasn’t easy. But I don’t think I really realized that it would be an ongoing problem throughout my life. I thought my racial identity was simply about how I looked and how other people perceived me, but when I got to college, it became much more complicated than that. I am 20 years old, I am just now learning how to be an adult and the last two years of my life have been filled with many moments of self-discovery. I am just beginning my journey of discovering what my racial identity means to me and IOPA has already helped me in so many ways in just a few short months. IOPA allows me to be surrounded by people who look like me and have similar experiences as me. They’ve helped grow within myself and find pride in being a biracial black woman. My time with IOPA is just beginning, but I already know that the effect they will have on my life will be huge!