Discovering Civic Empowerment

The voices of immigrant and refugee neighbors in Lincoln matter! Often, New Americans feel their thoughts, opinions, and values are overlooked.

On July 23rd, the Asian Center hosted our first Civic Tuesday event. Our space was crowded with New American neighbors in Lincoln from seven different cultural communities. The multilingual event celebrated a cross-section of cultures to engage over 50 guests in civic discussion.

Asian Center staff led the presentations. A Vietnamese group, led by Thuy Ngoc Ho, performed a beautiful dance. Sabrina Salrin wrote and shared an original poem. And, Khamisa Abdalla delivered a civic sermon in Arabic challenging guests to discover their own civic power.

Lisa Guill led an activity asking each guest to identify their voice in the community by listing a few community building actions they already perform. The room buzzed with conversation, ideas, and questions. Then guests were challenged to take a step beyond their comfort zone and commit to taking a new action.

The evening concluded with a delicious multicultural potluck. Before eating, a Chinese poem was shared, followed by a Sundanese blessing. Several guests talked about the food they prepared to share.

Guests dove into the international feast with excitement, testing and tasting new foods with curiosity and delight. Plates of falafel, Chinese sesame balls, egg rolls, roasted lamb with saffron rice, and bánh mi were devoured. At the conclusion, a post-meal Afghan blessing was shared.

Guests and staff alike thoroughly enjoyed the evening. Our community is hungry for events like this that help people feel seen and heard… and let’s not forget fed!