Conversation on Race: Moving from Distress to Solutions

The Community Coalition on Race is convening a community Conversation on Race in order to get our residents talking face-to-face about the race and religion-related concerns that have surfaced on social media and other contexts in the wake of incidents in the schools. We can see on social media a high degree of anger over the lack of progress on racial understanding and over the failure to be responsive to the concerns and experiences of people of different racial and religious backgrounds, as well as a need to learn how to talk about race with deeper understanding and without fear.

This community dialogue will be on Tuesday, May 24th at 7:30 pm at Congregation Oheb Shalom. This is not intended to be a discussion focused solely on the schools' issues in particular, but rather on the community response.

Face-to-face community dialogue serves a purpose beyond what online discussions can offer. This is not a workshop or class or lecture. We will share freely with each other from a place of experience regardless of where we are. We believe healing always begins with dialogue; our ultimate goal is to develop action plans for change.

The format will be the same that we use at Coffee House Discussions and Conversations on Race: round-table discussions with facilitators who will have a set of conversation starters all with an eye toward potential community action. We will open with a welcome and an overview of the reason for convening. After the discussions, the tables will do read-outs with a focus on next steps/actions.

For more information on the South Orange/Maplewood Coalition on Race and to join the newsletter to learn about upcoming events, go to www.twotowns.org.

South Orange/Maplewood Community Coalition on Race

The South Orange/Maplewood Community Coalition on Race is a nationally recognized non-profit organization committed to building a unique, suburban community that is free of racial segregation in housing patterns and community involvement. The Coalition was founded in 1996 by a diverse group of citizens concerned about stagnating property values and a perceived decline in the quality of local public schools. Twenty years later, the Coalition has developed programs that promote the advantages of living in a racially inclusive community where all aspects of community life are integrated. To learn more about the Coalition and how you can get involved, go to www.twotowns.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.