- Jeff Roberson/AP Photos
- August in Ferguson, Missouri
The national conversation recommended as the antidote to the racial toxins of Ferguson will begin just as soon as the Super Bowl’s been played, or once March Madness is behind us, or after we’ve paid our taxes. If there’s nothing good on television.
A friend, Judy Wise, has played a critical role in organizing Facing History in Chicago and London. I’ve been to their annual dinners. I’m impressed.
How, in the name of healing, does a chasm so wide get bridged? And how does Facing History illuminate both sides without seeming noncommittal at a time that demands commitment? High school students aren’t journalists who coolly watch the world fall apart and scribble the reasons why in their notebooks (and sometimes even journalists can’t stand being that); they want to be engaged.
• How do we as a civil society, governed by just laws, confront the long and troubling history of the relationship between police and the African-American community?
• If the laws that govern the police responses are unjust or insufficient to preserve the life of unarmed citizens how do we change those laws?
• If data shows that law enforcement officers are more likely to shoot an unarmed black male as compared to others, how do we as a just society change this? What does this say about the value we place on the lives of black males?
• What role does stereotyping play in the way we see an event? How does stereotyping impact our judgment of both Officer Wilson and Brown?
• For those who feel that justice has not been served what are some effective responses? Is violence ever appropriate?
• How do we responsibly place Ferguson in a larger conversation about the state of race relations in America?
• How do we place these events in an historical context without making facile comparisons but learning from the past?
• What do I need in my tool box to create change and how do I work with people whose perspectives are different from my own? Where do I get reliable information?
I can’t really picture that conversation. I can picture a quiet process of cultural and educational osmosis we won’t even recognize until it’s changed us. Or superseded us with our children.
