I have been wanting to share the following letter that was sent to
Sue deVeer, my Small “Zones of Peace” Project collaborator, and myself since we
received it, right after our last Coffee House Conversation On Race Relations
event, March 21.
Sue and I are very proud to have been honored with Kathryn’s
participation as a member of our first panel for the Coffee House Conversations
On Race Relations project. And, at our last event – as an ordinary, willing and
touchingly vulnerable participant, especially in our small group conversations.
Kathryn’s letter to us is as follows, dated March 22, 2015.
We hope it will inspire you to want to know more about the power
of what we are creating – and – possibly to even join our endeavors.
A letter from Kathryn Ruud
Hi Anastasia & Sue -
I was really impressed with the event yesterday, and I could tell how much work
and thought had gone into the planning behind it. One thing I get over &
over again in my talks on polarization is the sense people are looking for a
way out of it. I am so encouraged by the DEPTH of understanding and practice
you both are bringing to this effort. And I wanted to share this cut &
paste of a Facebook post I made this a.m. (in which I including a link to your
New Horizons web page, Anastasia):
"On one local conservative talk radio program last week,
there was mention of organized community efforts to be pro-active in addressing
racism in our community. Both the host and callers (likely all white) trashed
these efforts, saying "if there is no problem, what is there to talk
about?"
Quote from a local (Frederick News-Post) article on these
efforts:
"It can be very uncomfortable," Capt. Jason Keckler,
deputy chief of the Frederick Police Department, said of the conversations
undertaken Saturday. But that doesn't mean they shouldn't be had, he said.
"We've made a lot of strides over the last several years, but we have a
way to go. Things like this are a good part of that."
I was glad to see Capt. Keckler again yesterday, at the 2nd
session of this ongoing conversation.
About 10% of the population of our main town in our community,
located in Central Maryland, is African American. We also have a growing
Hispanic population and a small Muslim population. Increasingly, locals hear
Spanish (and other languages other than English) spoken. Needless to say, given
that this area has been mostly homogeneous (white) since the founding of the
country, this new blend of faces, languages and faiths is a challenge to
traditional ideals of "community".
Yesterday I participated, again, in one of these local community
efforts to bridge divides and to open conversations on differences. At least 3
uniformed officers (including one officer who was African American) and one
former police official participated, and of the additional 25 or so persons
there, perhaps a third considered themselves to be a part of a minority community of
some sort.
We spent four hours together, first listening to a few speakers,
then breaking up into small groups, where we were encouraged to tell our own
stories: about our early experiences, whether ~ as children ~ we had
encountered or understood the existence of racism, why we enjoyed living in
this particular part of Maryland, and also our experiences in our town with
differences across race, religion, etc.
So to the question, "What is there to talk about?,"
I'd say: plenty. And storytelling (about our own lives, our own experiences)
does break down assumptions and stereotypes. The face-to-face aspect of these
conversations is vitally important, as you are not just reading that story, but
hearing it first-hand, and taking in the full experience of that person's
expression of it: his/her gestures, facial expressions, tone of voice, etc.
As the organizer of the event said, "An enemy is someone
whose story you have not heard."
With polarization in our society
encouraged, inflamed and sold as part of a particular talk radio business model
(and that includes programs broadcast by the station I mention above), it was
refreshing to see people simply being together, enjoying each other's company,
chatting across the divides.
At the end of these smaller group sessions, I
observed how people seemed reluctant to leave those groups, and to go back into
an assembled audience. We had just made new and interesting connections with
others. This program left me hopeful that at least some are tiring of the
promotion of polarization, are hoping for a different way of communicating, and
are actively committed to getting back to what is best about living in a
democracy: being together and enjoying at atmosphere of mutual respect.
It is no accident to me that the organizer of these events,
Anastasia Rosen-Jones, has training in therapy for addictive personalities. I
personally see political, racial, religious polarization as a kind of addiction
that needs some kind of intervention to be interrupted and diminished.
There have been several stories written in local papers about
this community effort by Anastasia and her New Horizons Project. There is a bit
about Anastasia's background here, as well as links to her radio program,
should you be interested in learning more about this project."
I was thrilled,
Anastasia, to hear you say you are committed to this effort for the long run.
Kathryn
