Skip to main content
Member LoginJoin UsDonateContact Us
HomeDEI & Justice Committee
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI)

DIVERSITY, EQUITY, and INCLUSION POLICY

 

LWV is an organization fully committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in principle and in practice. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are central to the organization's current and future success in engaging all individuals, households, communities, and policy makers in creating a more perfect democracy.


Discrimination or harassment of any kind will not be accepted within the League, including but not limited to race, socio-economic status, age, ability status, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, gender identity, or marital status. The League is committed to fostering, cultivating, and preserving a culture of diversity, equity, inclusion, access, and belonging for all people. The League is an organization that respects and values the richness of our community and our members. The collective sum of our individual differences and life experiences represents not only our culture, but our reputation and the organization's mission and achievements as well.


LWVTC Board Approved 8/28/24


Land Acknowledgement

Today, we acknowledge the original stewards of the land we call Thurston County: the Nisqually, the Chehalis, and the Squaxin Island people who thrived here for thousands of years. We also confront the truth that their land was unjustly taken, causing generations of trauma to its people.

 

Acknowledgement is just the beginning. It is our responsibility to educate ourselves on the history of these tribal nations, on our joint history, and on the role they continue to play in the Thurston County community.  We must create authentic connections with our neighbors, amplify their voices, recognize the unique concerns they face, and support their continued call for justice. 

DEI & JUSTICE STEERING COMMITTEE MEETINGS


 

Join us: 

Thursday, September 11th

Instead of our usual monthly on-line Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice Committee meeting, we’re attending the History Talks event. Registration required for online attendance. Doors open at 6:00 p.m. This special event includes a 30-minute presentation followed by a 30-minute open conversation with the audience to encourage dialogue and reflection.


History Talks – Lacey Museum 

September 11, 2025 6:30 – 7:30 PM 

Available In-person and On-line

Join members of the League and Thurston Community

Black History USA Rail Tour


Hybrid Format: Come in person to Lacey City Hall, Council Chambers or join online. Lacey City Hall 420 College Street SE Lacey, WA 98503 

 

Thurston Forward DEI Summit photo collage




 

DEI Recent Events:

Committing to Equitable, Inclusive K-12 Schools:
An Informational Forum held March 04, 2025 can now be viewed.
WATCH FORUM

 

BOOK GROUP: Let’s Talk About Multicultural America
We  meet every other month to read  about people of various cultural, economic, indigenous, ethnic, racial,gender, and immigrant backgrounds to better understand the diversity around us. After our discussion,members suggest books they've read and appreciated for the next time. 

Next Meeting: November 11, 2025 6:30pm - 8pm on Zoom:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86736355235?pwd=6nZ5zXL8RRhjqImWHIYz5nPK2NOCCc.1
  

 In the 1830s Muscogee people were rounded up by the US military at gunpoint and forced into exile halfway across the continent. At the time, they were promised this new land would be theirs for as long as the grass grew and the waters ran. However, when Oklahoma was created on top of Muscogee land, the new state claimed their reservation no longer existed.

Over a century later, a Muscogee citizen was sentenced to death for murdering another Muscogee citizen on tribal land. His defense attorneys argued the murder occurred on the reservation of his tribe, and therefore Oklahoma didn’t have the jurisdiction to execute him. In the summer of 2020, the Supreme Court settled the dispute, reaffirming Muscogee rights to their land.

 

DEI Resources  
THIS WHOLE SET OF RESOURCE LINKS NEED REVIEW, EDITING, ETC

 

DEFINITIONS


LWVWA Definitions 

Accordion Widget
Links to inclusive language, including non-binary pronouns
Links to inclusive language, including non-binary pronouns
 American Psychological Association

MyPronouns.org

Racial Equity Tools Glossary

REFERENCES & resources

Accordion Widget
Books
Books
  • Trailblazing Black Women of Washington State, Marilyn Morgan
  • How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America, Clint Smith
  • The Sum Of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone And How We Can Prosper  Together,  Heather McGhee*
  • Murder At The Mission: A Frontier Killing, Its Legacy of Lies, And the Taking of the American West, Blaine Harden*
  • Against Civility: The Hidden Racism in our Obsession with Civility, Alex Zamalin*
  • Caste:The Origins of Our Discontent, Isabel Wilkerson*
  • The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander
  • Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates*
  • So You Want to Talk About Race, Ijeoma Oluo*
  • Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People, Mahzarin Banaji
* Titles read by the Let's Talk About Race Book Group
Accordion Widget
Articles
Articles
  • The Language of Anti-Racism (excerpted from, “Stay Woke, A People’s Guide to Making All Black Lives Matter," Candis Watts Smith and Tehema Lopez Bunyasi, February 2020
  • Before you rage against Critical Race Theory, it might be helpful to know what it is, Marcus Harrison Green, February 2022
  • The Dictionary Definition of Racism Has to Change, John McWhorter, The Atlantic June 2020
  • Ta-Nehisi Coates Revisits the Case for Reparations, The New Yorker, June 2019
Accordion Widget
Movies & Websites
Movies & Websites
Accordion Widget
Recorded Workshops
Recorded Workshops

CIVICS & CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE EDUCATION

Accordion Widget
The State We're In - Your guide to state, tribal, and local government
The State We're In - Your guide to state, tribal, and local government
The League produces two compelling civics textbooks, The State We're In: Washington. A new version is designed for elementary grades 3-5, and  the eighth edition of the original is for grades 6 and up.

LEARN MORE
Accordion Widget
Office of Superintendent Public Instruction (OSPI)
Office of Superintendent Public Instruction (OSPI)
Washington SEL Implementation Brief: Focus on Culturally Responsive Practices

Since Time Immemorial: Tribal Sovereignty in Washington State

Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Education Civic Education


LWV dei event recordings

Accordion Widget
A Look at Local Tribal Approaches to Health Care
A Look at Local Tribal Approaches to Health Care

Link to recorded forum coming soon.

LWVTC Event
Featured speakers:

  • Vicki Lowe, Executive Director of the American Indian Health Commission for Washington State (AIHC)
  • Angela Tobias, Family Medicine Doctor and former Skokomish and Squaxin Tribe physician
Accordion Widget
Native American Women and the Suffrage Movement
Native American Women and the Suffrage Movement

 LWVUS Webinar - Native American Women and the Suffrage Movement


COMMUNITY PARTNERS

Accordion Widget
The League of Women Voters of Thurston County is proud to co-sponsor events and educational opportunities to:
The League of Women Voters of Thurston County is proud to co-sponsor events and educational opportunities to:
Amplify concerns and  work together with community partners to face inequities of historically marginalized people. 

Act when we can, after study and based on the teachings of those with knowledge of appropriate actions that are responsive to community.

Community partnerships have included:
 

Join  |   Donate |   Volunteer  |   Newsletter

info@LWVThurston.org

P.O. Box 2203
Olympia WA 98507