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

We are moving our meeting to the THIRD Tuesday, November 18th. Please note this is the second month in a row we have done this -- this is not last month's message!!

We invite you instead on the secondTuesday, November 11th, to attend the second of the FWD series at History Colorado. Carolyn Love will be leading the panel on Economics of Race/The Health of Race. http://www.historycolorado.org/events/fwd-part-two-economics-racethe-health-race-history-colorado-center Dr Love is a steady participant at the Second Tuesday Race Forum, and has presented to us.

For the next meeting Harold wants to focus on a racial analysis of the election and what it means for people at the margins, and those who don't realize they are at the margins. Harold will be returning from the Facing Race conference in Dallas (another reason we are moving the meeting) where he expects to get lots of briefing on the election, and he will bring that to us. It will be interesting to hear the perspecitve of each of you on your experience of the election too!

Be alert also that our meeting on the THIRD Tuesday will be in the upstairs in the Balcony Parlor so we can leave Fellowship Hall to some 100 rambuncious Boy Scouts.

 

We are moving the meeting this month to the third Tuesday, October 21st. The reason is a conflict with another event on the 14th.

On the second Tuesday, October 14th you are invited to attend the "FWD: Part One: What Does the Science Say?" event at the History Colorado Center.  Harold will be moderating the panel at this event. And you should know that there's a $4 or $5 charge for the event. Reservations are not required. Tickets can be purchased on-line, by calling 303-866-2394, or at the door.

You can see more information about this event at this link:

http://www.historycolorado.org/events/fwd-part-one-what-does-science-say-history-colorado-center 

Also, you can see an article "Why Talk About Race?" that talks about the exhibit in the Denver Urban Spectrum in the October issue. You can find it on news stands now, or at this link:

http://www.denverurbanspectrum.com/articles/11669

On the third Tuesday, October 21st,  we will be having our October meeting at  7 PM at the Park Hill United Methodist Church at Montview Blvd and Glencoe St. in Denver. Won't you please join us!

A Report on Ferguson & White Culture

In the second half of September Harold Fields attended a meeting of more than 50 activists, funders, and affinity groups about Ferguson, MO, and Other Structural Racism Flashpoints.  He will give us a high level report on the discussions and major themes coming from this group.  One of them is the rise in white anxiety that the group felt must be addressed.

In order to identify strategies for dealing with this anxiety we must explore the nature and characteristics of white culture as an ideology.  We will explore concepts in the areas of rugged individualism, competition, communication, history, orientation around progress, status and power, aesthetics, religion, and more.  So much of this is invisible to whites and can be hard to identify.  But we are going to jump right in!

For more detailed analysis take a look at Tema Okun’s work on White Supremacy Culture at this link:

http://www.cwsworkshop.org/PARC_site_B/dr-culture.html 

 

Please note the following schedule change for October.

• Our meeting in October will be the third Tuesday, October 21.

• On the second Tuesday, October 14, we would like you to come to the History Colorado Center for the first community conversation supporting the exhibit RACE: Are We So Different? Harold Fields will be moderating the panel that evening. That is why we are moving our meeting -- Harold can't do both!

More details will be posted very soon.

Please see http://historycoloradocenter.org/exhibits/race/

 

One year ago this month we were discussing the killing of Trayvon Martin. This year the headlines have been dominated by the shooting of Michael Brown and the protests in Ferguson, Missouri. When you consider the extra judicial killings of hundreds of other young people of color, it seems like we are looping again and again. A recent poll conducted by the Pew Research Center showed that blacks are about twice as likely to say that the shooting of Michael Brown “raises important issues about race that need to be discussed.”

Why does this gulf in attitude continue to persist? Is it growing or shrinking? What are the factors that contribute to such different perceptions of reality? What are some steps to help us get in the same page?

This month we will explore this persistence and look for strategies to change the cultural chasms coming from 400 years of history.