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'Doing nothing' isn't an option

Even though everyone in Burlington, Vermont, wants the “same” thing for our children, Janice Fields, a facilitator for the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, notes that “sameness means mixing it up.”

This is exactly what the Burlington Boys & Girls Club did on Thursday, September 11. Led by nationally renowned moderator Dr. William Hyman, about 50 community members representative of all ethnic and professional backgrounds participated, including youth, parents, non-profits, local government, grassroots organizers, law enforcement officials and the State’s Attorneys office.

The most impressive turnout was youth. In fact, Dr. Hyman said the representation was the best he’d seen in four years of working with the Boys & Girls Clubs, and he hailed the “wonderful blend of young folks and adults.” The youngest in the group were Joseph Baker and Brianna Sibley, each 11 years old.

Mary Alice McKenzie, director of the Burlington Boys & Girls Club, credited much of the high turnout success to Wanda Hines, director for the City of Burlington’s Social Equity Investment Project. The SEIP supports existing and emerging Vermont leaders from diverse backgrounds to help provide the necessary tools and training to be effective.

Dr. Hyman encouraged the Burlington community to develop a partnership with youth in order to answer, “What have we gotten into?” He said NOBLE’s primary goal is to help provide equity justice to the community, which means “uncompromising integrity and having the integrity to do the right thing when no one is looking.” He taught the group to identify partners, including among community police officers. “You have to help the police department, if you want quality of life for all youth,” he added.

Dr. Hyman, made reference to the “broken window” theory as he asserted, “Crimes tend to happen in dirty, ugly, run down places. When you show you care and question ugly behavior in the neighborhood. The ugly behavior will move to another ugly neighborhood.” Youth leader Ricky Stewart added, “Crimes do not have color.”

Earlier in the process, local television station WPTZ interviewed Mary Alice of the Boys & Girls Club. “We want one issue we can do something about and do something quickly,” she said. “So in 60 to 90 days, we want to see improvement. We have to be wise in the issue we pick and put together a realistic work plan to work as a group.”   

Divided into three groups, participants identified drugs as the number one issue. By consensus, the group created a three-point action plan to tackle the challenges. The Peers, Parents and Police action plan consist of 3 tiers:

•    Coordinated Community Response (CCR) will include targeting police patrol, neighborhood watches and increased sharing 
•    Peer Outreach Leadership (POL) will focus on youth teaching youth and parents teaching parents
•    Brochure specific to this community’s identified drug issue and the action plan.

So, what’s next? The Burlington Boys & Girls Club Peers, Parents and Police action plan committee will meet Wednesday, September 17, at the Club to recap the event, renew newly found partnerships and commence a journey united in vision. NOBLE facilitator Janice Fields articulated the community’s journey best, “We did not come over in the same boat, but we are on the same boat now.”

In closing, Burlington is a community “just like many across our great nation” and everyday I became more and more inspired by this one specific community embedded in the beautiful landscape of Vermont’s Green Mountains. Right now, I’m most enthused by the leadership of the Boys & Girls Club as they decided months ago that “to do nothing” is not an option.

Here's one video from last week's event, showing moderator Dr. William Hyman, Burlington Police Chief Michael Schirling and Chittenden County State's Attorney T.J. Donovan talking about how to engage the community against drug abuse. You can view more here, and click here to read an earlier post about the NOBLE meeting in Burlington.

Three steps toward healing

Yesterday at the summer meeting of the Everyday Democracy Book Club, we had a good exchange with James W. Loewen, author of Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism. Dr. Loewen offered this three-point plan for the thousands of U.S. communities that have a history of excluding people of color, writing:

Every (former) sundown town in the US needs to do at least these three things:
1. Admit it. ["We did this."]
2. Apologize. ["We did this and it was wrong, and we're sorry."]
3. State "We don't do it any more," and put teeth into that last statement -- if someone thinks we have discriminated, we have this racial ombudsperson to see, or this civil rights commission, or whatever. And we have indoctrinated our real estate agents. And we are hiring diversely for our school system and public works departments.

He also suggests:

• That cities consider becoming part of the National League of Cities' Inclusive Communities Partnership of cities that are committed to diversity in all its forms. Nearly 200 cities - including at least one former Sundown Town - have done so.
• "If you know a history teacher whose students might do this as a project, or if you can form a study group or action group at your church or civic organization, or if you need a project for a course you plan to take next fall in college ... consider something on sundown towns. It's virgin territory, and your work will likely lead to change." You can report anything that you learn about a town's history at Loewen's website. Click this map to learn more about what's already known.

You can read a transcript of yesterday's discussion here and order Sundown Towns here or from your local bookseller.

Friday digest-open thread 5/2/08

Have you registered yet for "Making Every Voice Matter," Everyday Democracy's National Meeting, set for June 12-14 in Denver? There are only 10 days left to get the early-bird rate, good through May 12. (Until then, individual registration is $200; afterward, it's $230.) Team, youth, and single-day discounts are available. Registration includes meals, workshops, and a fabulous Friday-night Civic Fair. Click here to get much more information, and here to check out the preliminary conference program. We hope to see you in Denver!

Last Friday, three New York City police officers were acquitted of all charges in the shooting death of Sean Bell, an unarmed man who was killed in November 2006 in an incident in which the police fired 50 bullets. As seen on our website, New York Faith & Justice - a diverse group of churches, faith organizations, and individuals dedicated to addressing poverty-related injustice - called this week for NYPD  Commissioner Raymond Kelly and Mayor Michael Bloomberg to endorse the Conversations for Change project and mount a city-wide truth commission on police-related violence. The Conversations for Change aim to bring together citizens and police officers, using discussion guides developed by Everyday Democracy (formerly the Study Circles Resource Center). Pilot circles have taken place, and the project will culminate in a five-week community-wide series of up to 50 small group conversations between police and members of their communities this fall. Click here to learn more about New York Faith & Justice and here to see Everyday Democracy's tools for forging better police-community relations.

Our friends at Movement Vision Lab have gotten into the podcasting game, with portable interviews of leaders like Andy Stern of the Service Employees International Union, Gabe Gonzalez from the Center for Community Change, Burt Lauderdale of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, and Emira Palacios of Sunflower Community Action in Kansas. You can access individual interviews or - better yet - subscribe to the podcasts via the link to iTunes from this page.

This week marked the fifth anniversary of President George W. Bush's declaration that major combat operations had ended in Iraq, and yet the war continues with no end in sight. As seen on the NCDD website, an organization called Vets4Vets is offering free weekend workshops all over the country where returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have a chance to share their stories and set up peer groups for continued support and conversation. More than 500 Iraq-Afghanistan veterans have taken part in 22 weekend workshops over the past two years, and local groups are meeting in eight cities across the U.S. with more forming every month. For more info, check out Vets4Vets' website.

What have you been working on this week? What's ahead? Share your comments below.

SPLC: 888 hate groups in U.S.

The Southern Poverty Law Center released its annual "Year in Hate" report this week, and it wasn't good news. From the news release:

Led by three states on the southern border, the number of hate groups operating in America has swelled by 48 percent since 2000, a staggering increase mainly attributable to the anti-immigrant fervor sweeping the country ...

... The latest annual count by the SPLC found the number of hate groups operating in America rose to 888 last year, up 5 percent from the 844 groups in 2006 and far above the 602 groups documented in 2000.

At the same time, new FBI statistics suggest a 35 percent rise in hate crimes against Latinos between 2003 and 2006. Experts believe that such crimes are typically carried out by people who think they are attacking immigrants.

"Hate groups continue to successfully exploit the immigration debate to their advantage, even though the immigration issue has largely disappeared from the presidential debate," said Mark Potok, editor of the SPLC's Intelligence Report, an investigative journal that monitors the radical right. "The fact is that they've been aided and abetted by mainstream pundits and politicians who give these haters a platform for their propaganda."

Other hate groups continue to target blacks, gays, and immigrants. Read the full release here.

Everyday Democracy - formerly the Study Circles Resource Center - has resources for communities that want to hold large-scale, inclusive dialogues on sensitive issues including immigration and racial equity. One community - Springfield, Illinois - used its dialogues in part to counter a visit from a white supremacist. Another community - New Haven, Connecticut - will focus on immigration as it takes part in Everyday Democracy's  new Communities Creating Racial Equity project.

Friday digest-open thread 2/22/08

So far, this has been a presidential election season of historic turnouts and inspiring moments, but something happened in Waller County, Texas, this week that recalled the glory days of the women's suffrage and civil rights movements. More than a thousand students from Prairie View A & M University marched seven miles to the county seat of Hempstead, the nearest early voting location for Texans' March 4 primary, to mark their ballots and protest the fact that there wasn't a closer polling place to campus.

Prairie View A & M is a historically black university in a rural county near Houston, and state Rep. Sylvester Turner told reporters that Waller County has a history of thwarting its students' attempts to vote. From the Houston Chronicle (full story here):

Freshman Brittney Veasey, who was voting for the first time, said she took the 2 1/2 -hour journey because she believes her vote will make a difference.

"I feel like we're making history today," she said. "Instead of making it inconvenient, students should be encouraged to vote."

Last week, under pressure from federal authorities, Waller County officials added three temporary polling places for early voting, ditching plans to open only one voting site in advance of the March 4 primary.

The Justice Department questioned the county's original decision to cut early-voting sites from a half dozen throughout the county to one in Hempstead. Officials said the county could not afford equipment or staff to operate the additional sites.

Score one for democracy.

Or maybe not: Reflecting on the strong interest in this year's elections, Michelle Obama told a Milwaukee rally on Monday that, "For the first time in my adult life, I am really proud of my country. Not just because Barack is doing well, but I think people are hungry for change." Conservative commentators pounced on what many perceived as a lack of patriotism, but Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly soon found himself nationally reviled for this statement on his radio show (audio here):

"I don’t want to go on a lynching party against Michelle Obama unless there’s evidence, hard facts, that say this is how the woman really feels. If that’s how she really feels — that America is a bad country or a flawed nation, whatever — then that’s legit. We’ll track it down."

Ironically, O'Reilly's comment came just a week after President George W. Bush condemned noose displays and jokes about lynching. "The noose is not a symbol of prairie justice, but of gross injustice,'' the president said at a Black History Month event at the White House. "Displaying one is not a harmless prank. Lynching is not a word to be mentioned in jest.'' Then again, this week's news also brought more commentary on the recent news that Bush's family held slaves in Maryland.

As we reported last week, Conversation Cafe is looking for questions to spark discussion at its Conversation Week 2008 one month from now. More than 600 questions have been narrowed to 50, and voting is now open for the Top 10 finalist questions. Watch this video at QuantumShift.tv, then click here to rate the finalists.

Just a reminder: If you enjoy what you read here at DemocracySpace, you can get our daily posts (Monday-Friday) delivered right to your email box by subscribing via FeedBurner. See the box at the top of the right-hand column of this blog. See you next week!

Friday digest-open thread 1/25/08

As Martin Luther King Jr. Week winds down, take a few minutes to watch this wonderful video from Delaware-based Hearts and Minds Films. It features clips of Dr. King himself interspersed with children of today speaking his words. It's beautiful stuff ... click on the image above, and pass it along.

In other news:

Nearly 600 people in Lynchburg, Virginia, have signed up to take part in that city's Community Dialogue on Race and Racism. More than 400 of them showed up last Friday for a kickoff celebration. The action-oriented dialogues begin during the first week of February. Lynchburg has been selected as one of eight communities that will partner with the Study Circles Resource Center - soon to be renamed Everyday Democracy - on our Communities Creating Racial Equity initiative.

Also in the Middle Atlantic region, the YWCA of Lancaster (Pennsylvania) also has launched study circles on racism in the nearby community of Lititz, with plans to possibly grow the discussion series throughout Lancaster County. "Study circles are definitely in keeping with the two key missions of the YWCA, as an advocate for women's issues and confronting racism," Dorothy Evans, assistant executive director of the Y, told the Lititz Record.

Lima, Ohio, is a city that pioneered study circles in the early 1990s amid racial tensions after the Rodney King verdict in Los Angeles. Now, Lima residents are on edge again following the January 4 fatal shooting of an African American woman during a drug raid in which police officers arrested the woman's boyfriend.

"The shooting has led to much soul searching about the mistrust between minorities and police and what happens to cities when manufacturing jobs move out and drugs move in," Associated Press reporter John Seewer wrote in an article this week. Read it here. Another recent AP story - this one by Ramit Plushnick-Masti - explores the rise in the drug trade in other Rust Belt cities.

Now, go back and re-watch that video.

Hate crimes: Do stats tell all?

In an annual report released yesterday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation reported that hate crimes rose 8 percent in the United States last year, with 7,722 incidents reported by participating agencies.

That last phrase raises questions. At the Southern Poverty Law Center's Hatewatch blog, Heidi Beirich noted that only 12,600 of the nation's more than 17,000 local, county, state and federal police agencies took part, and that some states (including Alabama, Hawaii, and Mississippi) reported suspiciously low numbers or no hate crimes at all. In fact, she adds, a 2005 Department of Justice study found there are actually closer to 200,000 hate crimes in the United States each year. The FBI website itself, however, says, "Whether it’s cross burnings or noose incidents, we continue to take all hate crimes seriously. Please contact your local field office if you believe you have witnessed or been victimized by a hate crime."

The FBI reported that more than half of all hate crime victims (51.8 percent) are targeted for their race, though sizable numbers of crimes were motivated by biases against religion (18.9 percent), sexual orientation (15.5 percent), or ethnicity/national origin (12.7 percent). The Study Circles Resource Center - soon to be renamed Everyday Democracy - has helped communities take action to promote racial equity for nearly 20 years. Click here to learn more about how your community can face racism and other forms of oppression head on.