Cadence Dimen: The Founder of the Racial Equity Coalition

The year 2020, the year that genuinely represents the phrase "shocked but not surprised," the year with the pandemic, murder hornets, wildfires, and toilet paper going out of stock. And how can we forget the racial injustice? Cadence Dimen ‘21 came from Holy Name, where he's been since freshmen year. He founded the Racial Equity Coalition over the summer of 2020 with a couple of friends, and ever since then, it's just picked up at school.

Q: Why is racial equality personally important to you?

A little bit about me, I'm half white and half Filipino, I'm mixed race, so race has always been a big factor in my life. I've grown up with two completely different parenting styles and different religions in my family. I've always had a lack of self-identity. I've fit into the white kid group and the black kid group and I've been friends with all the Asian people, but I've never had a sense of self-identity where I talk to someone who's exactly like me: mixed- race. Starting this group is just getting that conversation going about our unique differences and how we can work together to create a better world through those differences.

Q: What are you ready to risk for the people of color in the Saint Paul community?

I'm ready to risk everything. As a person of color myself, it's really important to me that we have diversity in every aspect of our school. That's the main reason I started this club.

Q: What are some of your main goals this year for the Coalition?

For this year, one of our main goals is branching out into other grades because I'm a senior, and most of the people who started it are seniors, and we want this club to flourish for years and years. Another goal we have is working with the administration to improve the curriculum of teachers to be more racially sensitive as well as talk to the administration about, like I said previously, hiring teachers of color and staff of color to promote a more diverse Saint Paul community.

Q: This year, we've seen a lot of protesting and movements for justice for the many tragic incidents involving people of color. What are your thoughts on that?

I think it's important to know the history of America and to know that we're a nation built on immigrants and built on slavery, and knowing that horrible past is important for us to succeed in the future.