Greetings!
The
story of Hope in the Cities continues to spread nationally through Rob
Corcoran's book, Trustbuilding. This
issue of Breakthroughs features a national symposium on racial reconciliation in
Tulsa, OK, at which the Richmond experience was showcased. Hannibal
Johnson, a Tulsa attorney, author, and graduate of a Hope in the Cities training
program, writes a commentary on the significance of Tulsa's effort to uncover
its history.
Corcoran
spoke at book launching events inToronto,
Canada and Washington, DC. And staff of Search for Common Ground, a Washington
based international NGO came to Richmond to walk the historic Slave Trail.
In
recent months Rajmohan Gandhi, the president of Initiatives of Change
International, has visited Indonesia, South Africa, Kenya, Egypt, the Middle
East, Norway, Ukraine, and Japan. The
goal of the mission is to raise a "coalition of conscience" and to build
ethical leadership in public and private life. For most of this Voyage of Dialogue and Discovery he has been
accompanied by a diverse international team of young leaders. We report on a recent visit by Prof. Gandhi to
Washington, DC.
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From Tragedy to Triumph:
Tulsa's Road to Reconciliation
Tee Turner leads workshop in Tulsa.  | Nearly ninety years after what has
been described as the worst act of domestic terrorism in US history, Tulsa, OK,
is starting to come to terms with its painful racial past and to "turn tragedy
into a triumph of reconciliation."
Leading this effort is the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation, named after the acclaimed
historian and Tulsa's most prominent son. Earlier this month, the center convened
a national symposium of scholars and practitioners to consider "Reconciliation
in America: Moving Beyond Racial Violence."
Rob Corcoran, IofC national director
and author of Trustbuilding, and Tee Turner, Hope in the Cities
director of reconciliation programs, led an interactive workshop on "walking
through history." Corcoran was the final speaker of the symposium. The Tulsa World quoted him
as saying that "tolerance is not a strong enough glue to hold our communities
together . . . Honest conversation means asking serious questions . . . You
have to be inclusive. You have to take the risk of approaching even the most
difficult - maybe especially the most difficult - people as potential
allies."
At the June 2-4 symposium Scott
Ellsworth, author of Death in the Promised Land: The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921
(LSU Press 1982), was interviewed at a town hall meeting by Hannibal
Johnson, an attorney and author of Black Wall Street and one of the
organizers of the symposium. Johnson is a graduate of the Hope in the Cities
Connecting Communities Program. In the interview Ellsworth stressed the
importance of being able to face the past together and to understand that
"while it may have impacted us in different ways there is only one American
history."
Read the complete story here. |
Trustbuilding in Toronto and . . .
Rob Corcoran with a group from Canada at the Toronto book launch.  | "I believe in Canada's great role as a trustbuilder in a world that must deal with diversity as never before," said Rob Corcoran, national director of Initiatives of Change USA, in his keynote address to the Annual General Meeting of Initiatives of Change Canada in Toronto.
One hundred and forty languages and dialects are spoken in Toronto, making it one of the most multicultural cities in the world. Thirty percent of all recent immigrants come to this city and half its population was born outside of Canada. This diversity was reflected at the May 22-23 event which drew people from across Canada and from many different racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds.
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Washington DC
In Washington, DC, Search for Common Ground hosted a Trustbuilding book signing event. The event drew representatives from non-profit organizations and universities as well as young professionals. Welcoming the audience, Jana Carter, project director of the One America Project, said Search for Common Ground appreciated the growing collaboration with Initiatives of Change and noted that several SFCG staff had visited Richmond where they walked the historic Slave Trail.
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New HIC Council Looks at Poverty
 Thirty Richmond community leaders have formed a new Hope in the
Cities Council to provide a space for networking, sharing of concerns
and insights, and exploration of opportunities for honest conversation
on critical issues. One Council member described it as "a committee of
conscience for the community."
At its first meeting in April, co-chairs Anjum Ali and Andrew
Schoeneman welcome the participants who met over dinner to discuss:
What are the "unspeakable issues" which, if addressed, would build
trust in the region? Poverty and social/jurisdictional isolation in the
Richmond region topped the list of concerns.
In June the Council wrestled with the question: What is the poverty
of imagination that keeps us from being willing or able to address the
tough issues? Who are some of the people in the region who might be
supported to take risks of leadership? The Council will meet quarterly.
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Gandhi Voyage of Dialogue and Discovery in Washington, D.C.
By Chris Breitenberg
Prof. Gandhi greets Rev. Moss  | The Voyage of Dialogue and Discovery rolled into Washington, DC, on the heels of a number of recent public events in support of
Trustbuilding, a recent book release from IofC National Director, Rob Corcoran. Rajmohan and Usha Gandhi spoke at a number of events throughout the week about building trust through honest conversation, personal conviction and trustworthiness.
Urs Ziswiler, Switzerland's Ambassador to the United States, opened the week's events by hosting a June 8 benefit at the Swiss Embassy on behalf of the Caux Scholars Program and the Caux Forum for Human Secutiry. In his remarks, Ziswiler, a two-time visitor to Mountain House, shared his experiences: "I believe that the conversations and work that take place in Caux are of great importance in helping to change the world a little bit in these very complex times."
Professor Gandhi provided key remarks about Caux's role in the world. "Caux is a place for honest conversation, for deep dialogue, a place where we seek inspiration, and sometimes reconciliation takes place. I often say to myself when I am in Caux that this is exactly what my grandfather would have wanted."
Read the complete story here. |
Race and Reconciliation:
Tulsa, OK, Leads by Example
By Hannibal Johnson
"One might argue the historian is the conscience of the nation, if honesty and consistency are factors that nurture the conscience." Dr. John Hope Franklin (Race and History, Selected Essays, 1938 - 1988)
 In life, Tulsa's hometown hero, Dr. John Hope Franklin, challenged us to identify that which is broken in the world, and then set about fixing it. That legacy has now passed to the Tulsa institution that bears his name, The John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation (the "Franklin Center"). The Franklin Center is focused on pushing forward racial reconciliation.
Tulsa is a fitting venue for racial reconciliation work of national scope. As is true of so many other American communities, our history still haunts us. Because we have been slow to acknowledge and, where appropriate, apologize and atone, we have allowed old wounds to fester and new ones to surface.
Tulsa is the site of the worst "race riot" in American history. The catastrophic 1921 Tulsa Race Riot obliterated the prosperous, nationally renowned Greenwood District, "Black Wall Street." In fewer than twenty-four hours, people, property, hopes, and dreams vanished. The Greenwood District burned to the ground. Property damage ran into the millions. Scores, likely hundreds, of people died. Many others lay injured. Many African-Americans fled Tulsa, never to return. In an instant, Tulsa stood defiled and defined. We are, in some respects, still recovering.
The decades-long silence surrounding this tragic past left an air of suspicion and mistrust among some sectors of the community. The absence of dialogue, let alone truth, about the city's darkest hours tarnished black/white relations for generations. Only by owning our history do we stand a chance of real racial reconciliation. Coming to grips with our racialized past requires intentional, constructive engagement.
John Hope Franklin helped illuminate, and then span,
our generations-old racial chasm. We honor his memory when we do the hard work
necessary to sustain the momentum he and others generated toward racial
reconciliation. That is what the Franklin Center is all about...
Read the complete commentary here.
HANNIBAL B. JOHNSON, a
Harvard Law School graduate, is an author, attorney, and consultant
specializing in diversity issues, human relations, and non-profit
management & governance.
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Noteworthy Press
Stories
The
Richmond Times-Dispatch lead story on June 20 reported on a poll
on racial attitudes in Richmond. Fifty-nine percent
of whites and 56 percent of blacks rate race relations as good or excellent.
Two-thirds of longtime residents, black and white, said race relations had
improved over the past 20 years. But the biggest surprise was the number of
black participants (a higher percentage than whites) who said Civil War history
helps race relations "by educating people about the facts of the Civil
War, the institution of slavery, and the impact the war had on the people
living here - black and white."
The cover story of the June 21 Metro Business
section featured a profile of Don Cowles, mentioning his role as former
executive director of IofC and his activity with Hope in the Cities.
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Upcoming Events
Metropolitan Richmond Day: November 9
Click here for the full schedule of Caux summer conferences. |
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Global Update
Read about the
Gandhi Voyage of Dialogue and Discovery in Indonesia, South Africa, Nairobi,
Kenya and Palestine. Click here to read the latest Global Update! |
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