The non-verdict has been announced in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, protests are happening in communities all over the country, and we are presented with yet another flashpoint opportunity for the nation to examine the role race plays in everyday life.

In the December discussion we hope to go beyond seeing the event in Ferguson as a transaction that went terribly wrong. We seek to understand the conditions and milieu that tragically are repeated with alarming frequency all over the country. The focus will be on modern police departments and their relationship to communities of color. We will trace the origins of policing to the slave patrols where the purpose was to intimidate, capture, or kill slaves who escaped plantations or acted in self-defense. Then we will connect the dots to policing during Jim Crow on up to the contemporary war on drugs.

Understanding this entrenched history should help us more clearly identify a way forward. Instead of allowing the events and protests to pull us apart, what can we learn that will contribute to structural change?

As usual our meeting wii be at the Park Hill United Methodist Church. The Church is very busy this Christmas Season so our meeting will be on the main floor in the Parlor behind the Santuary -- the old meeting place we used for years!  Hope to see you all there at 7 PM