What does it mean to belong in America?

Community leaders pondered that very question during a panel hosted by NAACP Vancouver titled “Belonging and Being Othered: Representation, Liberation, Power and the Struggle for Justice.”

The Rev. Michael Jones Jr. moderated the Wednesday evening discussion at Bridgeview Resource Center in Vancouver. He invited panelists to examine the consequences of being othered — that is, being treated as different and inferior.

“It’s about the ways our institutions can either affirm or attempt to erase humanity,” Jones said.

Finding belonging within the current political climate has become increasingly difficult for marginalized groups, said panelist Frank So, executive director of Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon.

“Those in power … can sometimes determin

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