DemocracySpace.org

Friday digest-open thread 6/27/08

Welcome to the second official weekend of summer. From coast to coast, we have reports of people working together to strengthen the democracy whose 232nd birthday we'll mark next Friday. Here's an email we received today from Carolyn Lukensmeyer of AmericaSpeaks:

One of our current projects that I am particularly excited about is a workshop that AmericaSpeaks, Demos, and Everyday Democracy are convening in late July. We are inviting 40+ key people from the fields of deliberative democracy, electoral reform and community development to develop an agenda for expanding democracy to be presented to the new president in November.

More and more people are recognizing this is a unique moment in American politics and that it is essential that we seize the opportunity to become more of the country we really want to be. We have the possibility of demonstrating that transparency, inclusion, and accountability, key principles underpinning the foundation of our democracy, can be realized.

That realization is happening at the local level, too. In Burlington, Vermont, a Thursday luncheon with the theme "Vermont Leadership at the Crossroads" drew about 40 people who are eager to promote and pursue a new, more diverse leadership style for the state. The guest speaker, civic entrepreneur Hal Colston (founder of Good News Garage and NeighborKeepers), told of a vision where, by 2018, the state's aging, mostly homogenous leadership would meet regularly with upcoming minority leaders to forge new levels of trust and understanding between races and class groups.  "That apparently sounded pretty good to his audience, which applauded warmly at the end," Tim Johnson of the Burlington Free Press wrote today. " Why wait till 2018, someone then asked. Why not start now?" Wanda Hines, co-coordinator of the Burlington Legacy Project and head of the Social Equity Investment Project - which sponsored the luncheon - confirms that people are eager to get moving. "After the event was over nobody wanted to leave," she wrote in an email today. "Instead the majority stayed discussing what could be, where do we sign up and when do we get started."

Community members in Colorado Springs, Colorado, are looking ahead, too. Today marks the kickoff of Dream City: Vision 2020. "The aim of the project is to give everyone living here - kids, construction workers, artists, teachers, military personnel, engineers, retirees - a greater role in shaping our future," Warren Epstein writes in The Gazette. The first phase is  inspiration, he adds, centered on a Dream City 2020 website, "which will give you many opportunities to participate. Whether you'd like to give your two cents about what our community needs or you'd like to find a place for your classroom or organization in Dream City, you'll find it there." Epstein was among a team of Colorado Springs people at our recent Making Every Voice Matter national conference in Denver, and we are eager to see where citizens and the plan's partners - which include the newspaper, Leadership Pikes Peak, the Pikes Peak Library District, and the Cultural Office of the Pikes Peak Region - go with this project.

And in California (plus one at the NCDD conference in Texas), Antiraciscm.com has a full schedule of its White Ally Learning Lab workshops this summer and fall. Some W.A.L.L. experiences are one day; some are weekend events; all will help participants get the tools to recognize privilege, overcome racism, and pave the way for a better, more socially just world. CoAction also plans a summer reading group club around Understanding & Dismantling Racism: The Twenty-First Century Challenge to White America by Joe Barndt. We'll post more info on that when we get it. You can see a preview of the book here.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court made one of its most anticipated rulings of the year, deciding 5-4 to overturn a Washington, D.C., handgun ban. Many politicians from both major parties hailed the ruling as a 2nd Amendment victory, but Dawn Turner Trice of the Chicago Tribune expressed some reservations in her column today, writing that in the ruling, "five members of the court edited the 2nd Amendment. In essence, they said: Scratch the preamble, only 14 words count. In doing so, they have curtailed the power of the legislatures and the city councils to protect their citizens." (More here.)

We'll skip the Friday digest next week in order to celebrate the Fourth of July. But watch DemocracySpace next Thursday for an opportunity to say what everyday democracy means to you.

Summer book club selection

We're pleased to announce the summer selection for our Everyday Democracy Book Club - Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism. The author of the book, James W. Loewen, will join us to discuss the book at 1 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, July 23, right here at DemocracySpace.org.

Here's what Publishers Weekly had to say about Sundown Towns in its starred review:

According to bestselling sociologist Loewen (Lies My Teacher Told Me), "something significant has been left out of the broad history of race in America as it is usually taught," namely the establishment between 1890 and 1968 of thousands of "sundown towns" that systematically excluded African-Americans from living within their borders. Located mostly outside the traditional South, these towns employed legal formalities, race riots, policemen, bricks, fires and guns to produce homogeneously Caucasian communities—and some of them continue such unsavory practices to this day.

Loewen's eye-opening history traces the sundown town's development and delineates the extent to which state governments and the federal government, "openly favor[ed] white supremacy" from the 1930s through the 1960s, "helped to create and maintain all-white communities" through their lending and insuring policies. "While African Americans never lost the right to vote in the North... they did lose the right to live in town after town, county after county," Loewen points out. The expulsion forced African-Americans into urban ghettoes and continues to have ramifications on the lives of whites, blacks and the social system at large.

You can order Sundown Towns from your local bookseller, find it in many libraries, or buy it online here, here, or here.  Read the book, then be here at Democracy Space.org at 1 p.m. Eastern on July 23 as we join author James  W. Loewen for a lively discussion of Sundown Towns.

Watch, discuss 'Traces of the Trade'

Just a reminder: the PBS series P.O.V. will air the national premier of Traces of the Trade: A Tale from the Deep North tonight (Tuesday, June 24). The documentary explores filmmaker Katrina Browne's discovery that her ancestors were the largest slave-holding family in the early United States, and her contemporary journey with nine relatives to understand both their history and slavery's ongoing role in contemporary race relations.

Traces of the Trade will air from 10 to 11:30 on most stations, but check your local listings. Everyday Democracy's executive director Martha McCoy served as an early advisor on the film, and from that work, she says, "I can vouch that it will be a powerful portrayal of history, the meaning of whiteness, and a great way to a deeper understanding of ongoing effects of racism."

Watch the film, then record your thoughts about it in the comments section below.

Update, Wednesday morning: I've posted some thoughts in the comments below, and I hope other readers will, too. There's also a discussion of the film ongoing at the P.O.V. blog.

Race and geography

Much was made during the recent presidential primary season about how Barack Obama did not do well among white voters in certain parts of the country, notably the Appalachian region. Pundits and political scientists also have speculated about how voting patterns may represent geographical differences more than racist attitudes. Two recent stories out of the Northwestern United States show a regional attitude about race that embraces both cheeky humor and strong affirmative action.

In the mostly white college town of Corvallis, Oregon, two young men - one black, one a white Jew - gained national attention when they rented a booth at the local farmers' market and hung out a sign that read "Meet a Black Guy." The purpose was literally that: for people to stop, chat with 21-year-old Jeff Oliver, and even have their picture taken with him. “It’s a statement about diversity in Corvallis. It’s not a very diverse place,” Oliver told the local newspaper. Some people seemed offended by the notion that a black person was held up as a curiosity, while others saw it as a means to get people talking, which seemed to be the intent of Oliver and his friend, Sean Brown. The booth definitely sparked discussion at the newspaper's website here and here, as well as at NPR, which aired an interview with Brown and Oliver last week.

Meanwhile, in Idaho - which at 90 percent white is even less diverse than Oregon - the state Democratic Party held its convention last weekend and selected delegates to the party's national convention in Denver. Although fewer than 1 percent of the state's population is African American, blacks make up nearly a quarter of the delegation, which also includes two people of Native American heritage, a Latina, a physicist from Calcutta, a college student of mixed racial background, a gay man, and a lesbian woman. The delegation's diversity seems sure to change Idaho's reputation as a place that's less than accepting of racial differences - but then again, Idaho also gave Obama his biggest primary season win, with 81 percent of the state's caucus voters choosing him.

What do you think? Do attitudes about race differ by region? If so, why is that - and if attitudes are less accepting in some areas than in others, how can that be changed?

Denver tool kit

This post will be to list websites and other resources suggested by people here at the Making Every Voice Matter national meeting. Feel free to add others in the comments!

Padres Unidos, an organization right here in Denver that holds multiracial conversations about citizenship

National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. See especially its Bridge curriculum.

Everyday Democracy's recently revised Facing Racism in a Diverse Nation discussion guide.

www.antiracism.com - tools and dialogue to move us through the barriers of racism, toward a thriving and socially just world. "Be open. Be humble. Belong." From CoAction Connection.

More to come ... also, see the list of "Empowering Democracy" and "Democracy at Work" links at left for organizations and communities that are working to make every voice matter.

Denver preview, Part II

Everyday Democracy's 2008 national conference, Making Every Voice Matter, gets started this Thursday evening in Denver, Colorado. From Thursday through Saturday, we'll have live blogging and photos from the conference right here at DemocracySpace. Today and Tuesday, we've been offering previews of the meeting, which will take place at the Renaissance Denver Hotel. Scroll down for Tuesday's posts.

Everyday Democracy recently e-mailed a survey to people who have signed up for this week's national meeting in Denver. We asked, on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being the least challenging; 10 the most), how people would rank the following challenges facing their communities. Here, from highest to lowest, were the mean scores received for each of these issues, based on 44 respondents:

Growing gap between rich and poor - 7.61
53.65% of respondents ranked this an 8, 9, or 10; 56.11% ranked it a 4, 5, 6, or 7; 2.44% ranked it a 1, 2, or 3

Role of race - 7.54
58.53% ranked this an 8, 9, or 10; 31.71% ranked it a 4,5,6, or 7; 9.76% ranked it a 1, 2, or 3

Cost of energy - 7.44
55.82% ranked this an 8, 9, or 10; 41.86% ranked it a 4, 5, 6, or 7; 2.33% ranked it a 1, 2, or 3

Health care - 7.30
60.46% ranked this an 8, 9, or 10; 27.91% ranked it a 4, 5, 6, or 7;  11.64% ranked it a 1, 2, or 3

Poverty - 7.30
48.84% ranked this an 8, 9, or 10; 39.54% ranked it a 4, 5, 6, or 7;   11.63% ranked it a 1, 2, or 3

Changing demographics (new immigrants and resulting pressures on institutions, particularly schools, health care, housing, and jobs) - 6.34
43.9% ranked this an 8, 9, or 10; 31.72% ranked it a 4, 5, 6, or 7; 24.4% ranked it a 1, 2, or 3

Economic downturn - 6.29
38.10% ranked this an 8, 9, or 10; 47.62% ranked it a 4, 5, 6, or 7; 14.28% ranked it a 1, 2, or 3 

These results will be discussed during the Friday-afternoon "What Does It Mean To Make Every Voice Matter?" plenary session at the meeting, but we're interested in hearing from folks who won't be with us in Denver: How do these results compare to what you are experiencing in your community? Are there other challenges you face that aren't listed here?

Denver preview, Part I

Everyday Democracy's 2008 national conference, Making Every Voice Matter, gets started this Thursday evening in Denver, Colorado. From Thursday through Saturday, we'll have live blogging and photos from the conference right here at DemocracySpace. Today and Wednesday, we're offering previews of the meeting. This post highlights some of the key events that are planned. All sessions are at the Renaissance Denver Hotel.

Colorado, the site of the conference, has been a hotbed of civic experimentation for the past decade. John Parr, president of the National Civic League from 1985 to 1995, was at the forefront of this movement. On Thursday from 4 to 6 p.m., we will celebrate the legacy of Parr - who died late last year - through a symposium titled "What Have We Learned About Democratic Governance in Colorado?" A panel of civic innovators will talk about how Colorado communities are developing new ways for citizens to take part in deliberation, decision-making, and problem-solving.

Racial equity, the heart of Everyday Democracy's work, will be a central theme throughout the conference as more than 150 community leaders from across the country will share their experiences of addressing race and racism. Workshops focused on these topics will include "Why Addressing Racism is Key to Making Progress on Other Issues" (10:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Friday), "Making Progress on Democracy and Race: A Two-Way Street" (10:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Friday), "Dismantling Racism: An Essential Element in Creating Community Change" (10:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Friday and 9 to 10:30 a.m. Saturday), and three screenings plus discussions of the documentary Mirrors of Privilege: Making Whiteness Visible (10:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. and 3:30 to 5 p.m. Friday, 9 to 10:30 a.m. Saturday).

The Friday evening Civic Fair is certain to be another highlight. This social and networking event will feature displays, great Colorado food and drink, and some of Denver's finest entertainers offering Taiko drumming, hip-hop stylings, Mexican folkloric dance, Chinese pipa music, Native American magic, traditional storytelling, and more.

For those of you who live in or near Denver, it's not too late to join us at the conference. Onsite registrations will be accepted; the cost is $230 per person (or $195 each for teams of two or more) and $130 for youth and young adults up to age 25. Single-day registrations also are available at $130 for Friday or $100 for Saturday. These prices include meals.We hope you'll be able to join us in Denver. If not, please plan to follow the action here at DemocracySpace.

Wednesday: We'll look at the results of a survey in which meeting participants were asked to identify the key challenges in their communities.

Friday digest-open thread 6/6/08

Today is the 40th anniversary of the death of Robert Kennedy, which seems to be passing more quietly than the April anniversary of Martin Luther King's assassination. Nick Bryant, author of The Bystander: John F Kennedy and the Struggle for Black Equality, penned this remembrance of the president's younger brother for BBC News. He starts with Kennedy's own reaction to Dr. King's death, and how he stood on a flatbed truck and appealed for calm, saying, "What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness; but is love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or they be black." Two months later, Kennedy was assassinated, too. The video above recounts both Kennedy's speech and his killing.

Last month, more than 400 people in Jacksonville, Florida, took part in a Dinner With a Difference and got a taste of dialogue-to-action study circles on race and racism. Jacksonville's Project Breakthrough received more publicity recently when six dialogue participants sat down to tell of their individual experiences in the full round of study circles that recently concluded in Jacksonville. Here are their stories.

The Girl Scouts of America are stepping up efforts to welcome more Hispanic girls into their activities. Ari B. Bloomekatz of the Los Angeles Times wrote in a story this week:

Reflecting an increased effort by the Girl Scouts to attract young Latinas and their mothers, the Spanish Trails Council in Montclair is offering a bilingual camp for the first time this summer. The one-day "Las Divas de Hoy" will be held twice over the summer. Many of the planned activities are the same as other Girl Scouts camps -- painting nails, crafts and fashion shows -- but there will also be salsa dancing and flower arranging. Most important, said Idalia Silva, the council's community partnership manager, is that Spanish will be the predominant language.

Read more here, and see the Girl Scouts' Spanish-language website here.

The Associated Press reported today that young Americans view Barack Obama's race as an asset and a non-issue. Martha Irvine writes: "For young voters, Rosa Parks' refusal to sit at the back of a bus in Montgomery, Ala., in 1955 is schoolbook history. Even the racially charged 1992 riots in Los Angeles are a distant memory. The United States is far from a blueprint for racial harmony, but for today's young adults — all born after segregation was outlawed in the mid-1960s — race is not the issue it once was."  Read more here.

In other election-year news, Michael Waldman (author of the new book Return to Common Sense: Seven Bold Ways to Revitalize Democracy) writes in this Newsweek essay that the United States can build on the enthusiasm of this year's record-breaking primary voter turnouts by enacting public financing of congressional campaigns; eventually abolishing the Electoral College; and ending voter registration "as we know it," granting the right automatically to every citizen. After all, he notes: "Former presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter chaired a commission that concluded, 'The registration laws in force throughout the United States are among the world's most demanding … [and are] one reason why voter turnout in the United States is near the bottom of the developed world.' Today, some 50 million eligible American citizens are not on the rolls."

What news stories piqued your interest this week? Please offer your comments below. The Friday digest will be back two weeks from today, after Everyday Democracy's Making Every Voice Matter national meeting next week in Denver.

Lynchburg moves toward action

This video captures footage and interviews from participants at the Lynchburg Community Dialogue on Race & Racism Action Forum and Youth Dialogue. The three-day Action Forum was open to all and held in a vacant department store where participants could come and go as they were available. 

The attendees had an opportunity to view and vote on the top two ideas from the recently completed 58 Study Circles. Activities included mini-study circle experiences, video taping of personal stories, viewing of all of the ideas from the Study Circles, and an opportunity to make a personal commitment to individual and/or group action related to reducing racism within our community. The votes from the action forum were then tallied and reported out to the community with the next steps.

The Youth Dialogue was a one-and-a-half day event where teenagers between the ages of 13 and 18 had an opportunity to participate in honest and open dialogue around the issues of Race & Racism. The top ideas from the Youth Dialogue were also on display during the Action Forum for participants to vote and view.

The Action Forum was an energetic, community-wide event that brought together study circle participants, program volunteers, and the community-at-large to celebrate and support the work of the study circles.  The Action Forum represented a significant step on our journey from recognition of a problem to dialogue to action to change.

Leslie King is assistant coordinator of the Lynchburg Community Dialogue on Race & Racism. Click here to visit the program's website and learn more about what's happening in Lynchburg.

Friday digest-open thread 5/30/08

Click here for a brief audio message about our National Meeting in Denver!

Yesterday's New York Times featured a story about the Restorative Listening Project in Portland, Oregon. William Yardley writes:

The goal of the project, which is sponsored by the city’s Office of Neighborhood Involvement, is to have white people better understand the effect gentrification can have on the city’s longtime black and other-minority neighborhoods by having minority residents tell what it is like to be on the receiving end.

Once armed with a broader perspective, said Judith Mowry, the project’s leader, whites should “make the commitment that the harm stops with us.” ... Yet what has been clear from the meetings this month and last is that talking about the impact of gentrification is easier than finding ways to reduce it. For some minority residents, the notion that white Portland now says it feels their pain is cold comfort.

Read the whole article here, and a discussion it sparked at Blue Oregon, a progressive blog. It'll be interesting to see what else might come of the talking, now that white, black, and Native American Portlanders have had a chance to hear each other's stories firsthand. How can they act together to address the inequities they've identified?

In other news from Portland, the city last week made history by becoming the largest city in the United States to elect an openly gay mayor, Sam Adams. For the purposes of public engagement, we noted last fall that then-Commissioner Sam was one of the nation's first elected officials to start a blog. Will he be a blogging mayor as well? Stay tuned ...

On the other side of the country, we learned this week of Racial and Class Discourse from an Ivory Tower in Connecticut and added it to our growing list of public-interest blogs written by people of color, which you'll find at our DemSpace wiki. (Do you know a blog that ought to be on there? Mention it in the comments below.) Blog author Dr. Darryl McMiller is an assistant professor of political science at the University of Hartford, and he writes about race and gender inequity in higher ed, black churches, the current presidential campaign, and more. Check it out, and thanks to Carolyne for the tip.