RECENT COMMENTS
Dialogues for Change – Building Trust Across Divides of Race, Class and Culture
Matthew Freeman passes along this opportunity:
Come join us for Hope in the Cities’ series of strategic dialogues on metropolitan Richmond issues. Highly trained facilitators will lead a dialogue for 25 participants on January 16th & 17th at Richmond Hill.
The dialogues will address two critical questions:
- How can the region reconcile longstanding historical and cultural differences that undermine trust, breed caution and prevent needed initiatives?
- How can we build relationships of trust across divides of race, class, and jurisdiction in order to benefit of our entire region?
The curriculum is based on both an academic and experiential learning model. The focus is on understanding historical events that have led to present realities in order to enhance regional cooperation.
Ultimately participants will learn to craft collaborative strategies to take our region into the future.
Dates: Jan. 16thâ€â€Jan. 17th (Friday 6 pm- 9 pm, Saturday 9 am- 4 pm)
Location: Richmond Hill, 2209 East Broad Street, Richmond, VA 23223
Cost: $75 (scholarships available to those who qualify)
Participation in this workshop is limited to 25 participants.
Please contact Sylvester (Tee) Turner or Matthew Freeman at (804) 358-1764 or at matthew.freeman@us.iofc.org with any questions and for an application.
These so-called dialogues have been going on for years and all that ever seems to happen is that people do plenty of talktalktalktalk and nothing comes of it.
How many of these talkfests have ever resulted in anything positive actually happening? How will this group measure its success?
Yes, please. Would anyone that has attended one of these meetings like to share their thoughts about what was discussed and more important, if anything was put in place?
I’d like to attend but would have to rearrange my schedule to make it happen.
These events have not taken place yet, so no one can tell you what was put in place because it hasn’t yet happened!
They’re not meetings and not intended to be action-planning sessions. Rather, they’re intended to create a safe space for honest conversation on issues that divide our community- issues like race, affordable housing, and gentrification which are currently being discussed heatedly in the post about Ms. Dotts quest for a city council appointment.
The Crupi report said one of the things holding Richmond back was its inability to address “longstanding historical and cultural differences [which] undermine trust, breed caution and prevent needed initiatives.” These dialogues are a space to do that.
These dialogues are not about forcing folks to take a course of action and add a new initiative to their lives and to our city (we’ve tried that before, and people are usually already involved in so much they don’t have time to add much to their schedule, and the region has plenty of good initiatives out there already). It’s about increasing our capacity as a community to understand and interact in healthier ways across the divides of race, class, and jurisdiction.
So, for example, when you go to your civic association meeting and a tense racialized conflict happens, those of us who’ve dealt with some of those issues in a healthy, productive way will be able to bring that skill to that conflict.
Answering JoeRichmond, things like the slave trail commission and the reconciliation statue have their origins, in part, because of folks coming together in dialogue to discuss Richmond’s difficult history. They began to recognize together how little Africa-American history was memorialized in this city, and work to remedy that. There are other examples, that’s just one.
UR Professor (and VCU emeritus) John Moeser will be presenting at this dialogue as well, giving an overview of the state of our region.
I’ll be happy to talk further with anyone who would like to discuss this, either in the comments or through personal email- my address is in the post above.
Matthew,
I tried to e-mail you @matthew.freeman@us.iofc.org, but it keeps coming back. Will you e-mail me the application and scholarship info at edmondstj@yahoo.com
All for the sum of $75 …. do we also get absolution of white and black guilt? How much does that cost?
Speaking of trust across divides, McQuinn needs to start explaining this comment on the Dotts thread left by Judith #9:
/2009/01/06/dotts-officially-seeking-interim-appointment/
“Not only is mcquinn working to get newbille appointed to the vacate seat that belongs to the people of the 7th district, by giving her an address in the district. The other reality check we all need to know, theirs an agreement not to appoint anyone other than an African American to the seat. Everyone who lives in the 7th district and in the City of Richmond should be outraged, both BLACKS and WHITES, that mcquinn, marsh and newbille, think they could even have that conversation with Council.â€
Joe, absolution of guilt is up to you. Torey, I will email you soon. If others are having issues with the email address, just comment here and I will get in touch. I’ve sent a few test messages to the account and it seems to work for me.
On guilt – I do believe what’s past is prologue. The ability to learn from history is what (our) greatness will be built on. I cannot see building, nurturing any relationship solid with guilt as a foundation. Therefore, I have never carried guilt for sins I did not commit.
Personally, I’ve never given color, status, wealth much consideration as far back as I can remember. Born in KY, the humble offspring of miners and farmers I spent summers on the mountain with grandparents and was schooled in Detroit as a child in the fall and spring. We moved to the burbs as a teenager that had a large middle eastern population. I’ve always looked at people as people even as a child. My interaction has always been about the content of one’s character, never about the shell someone is in or what they had in their pocket.