I have started and restarted a post on racism for this blog too many times to count. Trying to figure out a way to talk about a subject that is often the elephant in the room without instigating a ferocious battle is difficult, if not impossible. So much of the status of race and racism is in the mind of the person who is discussing it. But I believe that it is only by discussing it that we come to some understanding of the different perspectives. So let me tell you a bit about Norfolk United Facing Race.
In the mid 1990s, a group of Norfolk activists were meeting and discussing issues and holding forums about various issues that the citizens face. I was invited to join this group. Either at that time or shortly thereafter, the group began planning a public forum on race. We put together a panel of ordinary citizens, comprised of an equal number of blacks and whites, male and female, and representing young, middle-aged, and older people. We compiled a list of questions to ask the panel, which they did not see beforehand. We arranged to hold this public forum at Lafayette Winona Middle School, which has a great auditorium and is often used as a gathering place for community meetings.
You wouldn’t believe the fight we had trying to put this forum on. The city was concerned we would start race riots. Nevertheless, the forum was held and attended by a full house. I was the moderator for the event. It was obvious that this topic was one that Norfolkians wanted to talk about.
The media was invited to cover the event and they did. The forum ended early enough for the 10pm news to have a first crack at it. It was straight-up reporting of what had happened. But by 11pm, the newsmakers had time to add their spin to the coverage. (I have the videotapes of the news coverage.) The segment at 11 opens with a shot of the KKK in hoods riding horses. The interviews they chose to show were all of the extremists: the militant black and the redneck. If the only thing you knew about the forum was from the 11 pm newscast, you really got no sense of the magic that was in that auditorium.
The next day, I got a phone call from someone who had attended the forum. The lady invited me over to her house to watch a video. Bev Sell and I headed over and watched “Healing the Heart of America” at the home of Tinsley Amburger. The subject of the video was a Day of Healing that had been held in Richmond. At the end of the video, the credits rolled and we discovered that the event had been the work of a group called Hope in the Cities (HIC), based in Richmond. We decided to contact them.
Over the next couple of years, Bev & I attended a couple of HIC conferences, each time seeing more and more people becoming involved and the idea spreading. HIC had sister organizations all over the world, including London, Oregon, Alabama and Ohio. We decided to form our own sister organization. After some wrangling over the name, Norfolk United Facing Race was born.
NUFR, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, encourages conversation on the issues of race, reconciliation and responsibility. The process of conversation is in the form of small group dialogues. Each group contains 8-12 participants with equal numbers of blacks and whites, led by a pair (one black, one white) of trained facilitators. While each group sets its own ground rules, one that generally appears is the “what is said here stays here.” The freedom to discuss racial issues in a safe environment is the key. You can peruse the NUFR website for more details.
Since its formation, hundreds of people have gone through dialogue. I think it is fair to say that many of the participants have completed the process with a greater awareness of race and racism.
Norfolk United Facing Race is trying to change hearts, one small group at a time.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
Bravo!
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve argued on the side of airing it all out, just as you and your group are doing.
Lots of people in Richmond, too, are terrified of talking about race. It’s been that way as long as I remember. But it’s changing. Blogs can/should be a part of the changing.
— Terry
Believe it or not, I think Richmond is ahead of Norfolk on race issues.
Vivian — This is just wonderful, and I wish you all the best and hope you will continue to put this issue in front of your readers. I can’t tell (and wouldn’t guess) how old you are, but I am old enough to have been in the first high school class to be integrated in south Georgia (I’m white). This discussion needs to be conducted over and over again with an ever-broadening audience and under the conditions your describe. I did not know about HIC or NUFR until reading your post, but I am so encouraged to learn about them. Keep this going. This is important.
RJL – I don’t know if there is a sister organization in your area but look around – I think you’ll be surprised at how many organizations are out there, trying to really do something about this issue of race.
The issues of race and racism are ones that I’m very passionate about because way too much of what goes on comes down to them. I think it was actually easier when racism was overt. Having it be just below the surface means that it is too easy for people to deny.
Excellent!
As F.T. Rea points out, people are terrified to talk about race, and this only serves to exacerbate the polarization (on many fronts) that I sense occuring in our society. As you have so rightly suggested, Vivian, dialogue is pretty much our only way back to the clearing in middle of the woods.
I should like to participate in an NUFR dialogue, or even attend an HIC conference with the idea of starting sister organizations in other areas (as you have done). I’m also wondering whether you (NUFR) would be available to assist fledgling organizations with the mechanics of start-up, training, promotion, etc.
I’ve been paying a lot more attention to race over the last couple years because I think with the changing of the guard at the top of a lot of organizations, there’s a chance for a younger generation to make some progress.
It still amazes me how trapped in the past we are at the national level with senior senators who once belonged to the klan or fought desegregation a half-century ago.
There needs to be a way for blacks and whites who have never lived without Brown v Board, the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the Voting rights Act etc to sit down and talk about how we go forward.
Michael – email me & I’ll make sure your info gets passed to the right folks.
David – I agree that our hope is in the youth. The problem is that we still live with all of the things you mention. Since Virginia is one of the states being monitored by the Justice Department under the VRA, Justice had to sign off on the elected mayor plan before it could be implemented. The VRA of 1965 was necessary because the CRA of 1964 was basically ignored because the Brown 1954 decision was ignored. Prejudice and racism gets less with each generation but as long as one parent teaches his/her child to be prejudiced or racist, those things will always be with us.