When Penny Ives immigrated to the U.S. more than 30 years ago, she had no idea it was possible to change how people were treated by society. In college, where she first got to mix with people who were not white, she became aware of how limited and biased was the view of the world in which she’d been raised. But not until she was living here in Minnesota, and facing a career change, did she encounter people who believed that anti-racist change was both necessary and not impossible. She then chose to work in childcare, for the Minneapolis Public Schools, initially helping prepare inner-city kids for school, then later working with elementary- age kids after school and in the summers, attempting to bring an anti-racist perspective.

Now retired, she lives half a block from George Floyd Square and volunteers with Plant, Grow, Share, a multiracial community organization led by BIPOC people.