Race in Norfolk

Local, Norfolk, Politics, Race 1 Minute

I didn’t write today’s editorial in the Virginian-Pilot but I could have:

It is hard to think of anything in Norfolk of public importance that race doesn’t bend and shape, from crime to housing and real estate taxes to education.

Perhaps now folks will realize that it is not race-bating to tell the truth. Race is the elephant in the room in Norfolk. Acknowledging this allows us to move towards solving the problem. Ignoring it simply allows it to fester.

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10 thoughts on “Race in Norfolk”

  1. Vivian, not that I oppose meetings, but what solutions are meetings of civic league presidents supposed to produce?

    I mean, fine if people want to talk with each other. Happy dance by me for that. But what are the specific problems you think need to be solved, and how do some civic league presidents solve them?

    There’s got to be more than this tha City Council PR.

  2. Brian – I have no idea what they think will come out of the meetings. They are not planning to talk about race specifically; instead, they want to talk about economics.

    Norfolk has always used the civic leagues as a way to gauge the citizenry. My own experience is that, with notable exceptions, the civic leagues are not representative of the citizens.

    I don’t think this is City Council PR, since only two of the council members are involved. PR for the two of them, perhaps, but not for the council.

    I wish them the best. Norfolk United stands ready to hold community conversations on race.

  4. Vivian, thanks. I’m glad that they have a topic focus other than themselves. At least there’s a chance of some specific answers being generated.

    I’ve seen these efforts be nothing more than vent sessions and I’ve seen them actually generate progress. Usually the bigger they are, the less likely thet generate anything specific. Just my experience.

    As far community coversations on race, well, seems to me a whole lot of people have been talking about race for a long, long, long, long time. Some distinct folks want to talk about little else.

    Without a more specific goal than “talking about the elephant in the room,” those wheel’s are gonna turn, but the wagon ain’t budging.

  5. I am the northside civic league preservation chair, at best 3 black members out of 100, about 98.00 will not talk to them [blacks members] when they come to the meetings.
    do we need help, YES.

  8. Tom – the occasional link is fine but my blog is not a place for you to advertise yours, especially when the post has nothing to do with the topic at hand.

  10. And just for the record I wasn’t advertising and I have no reason or need to. It was just an easy way to link to my subject. Sorry I was being lazy. If you’ll also notice I haven’t been inserting my url.

    I noticed the post was picked on topix. Someone must of found it interesting.

    Thanks again for allowing me voice my opinion. Hope you are feeling better.

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