Fayetteville event on understanding racism a chance to talk

I am hoping Thursday’s workshop sponsored by Organizing Against Racism draws many people, including and especially those who are skeptical of the workshop’s premise.

When retired Superior Judge Gregory Weeks rose to speak last Thursday, he knew he had a receptive audience at the Fuller Recreational and Athletic Complex on Bunce Road.

More than 100 people had gathered to hear Michael Allen, visiting from South Carolina, and here to talk about the post-Civil War period known as Reconstruction.

With Allen’s blessing, Weeks spoke for a few minutes toward the end of the Q&A. He promoted an upcoming Community Conversation event on the subject of “Continuing to Understand Racism.” It is sponsored by Organizing Against Racism in Cumberland County, an effort of which Weeks is a part. The program is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Headquarters Library on Maiden Lane downtown.

Weeks acknowledged the name, “Organizing Against Racism,” may be off-putting to some people.

But he said in a divided time for our community, state and country the organization has learned the way to make progress is “to engage with one another. All they are is a diverse group of folks — multiracial, different religious congregations.”

Thursday’s library event is a continuation of a workshop that Organizing Against Racism held in the fall at Methodist University entitled, “Organizing Against Racism Groundwater Training.”

Weeks pointed out an online resource, The Racial Equity Institute, as a beginning point for open and honest discussion.

He added: “You will come to see that much of what led to the Civil War, much of what has caused us to be where we are today is systemic, structural, institutional …

“Groundwater is a metaphor. And in this metaphor you have fish dying in a pond. The logical thing for most of us to say is, what’s wrong with those fish, what’s wrong with that pond. But the truth is that most of the water on this earth is underground, and it’s those underground waters — the systems, structures and institutions that are feeding the pond, polluting the pond, that are killing the fish. And it impacts all of us.”

The judge received applause as he sat down. Not surprising that a diverse group of people interested in our complicated and racially charged history, as personified by the Civil War and Reconstruction, would also be keenly interested in the workshop.

But I am hoping the workshop draws in many people from outside that group, as well, including and especially people skeptical of the workshop’s premise. These are talks we need to have, and as the title of the event suggests, these conversations need to be held community-wide.

The library event will be broken up into four conversations led by leaders from the judicial system, education, employment and health, according to a news release.

Afterward, participants will be encouraged to get with one of the presenters and come up with a call to action to address racism in the community.

The event is based on the 1619 Project, a series published by The New York Times which discusses the central role American chattel slavery played in the founding and success of the United States. Last year marked the 400th year since enslaved Africans were brought by ship to Port Comfort, Virginia.

We live in a time when race-based assaults are spiking and hate groups are proliferating, with much of the toxicity spread online.

Cumberland County is a diverse community, in part because of Fort Bragg and its diverse military population.

But we are not immune to what’s happening in the country today.

As Weeks put it Thursday: “We as a community have an opportunity to come together and to do something that is beneficial to all of us and more importantly for the generations to come.”

Columnist Myron B. Pitts can be reached at mpitts@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3559.

organizedarFayetteville event on understanding racism a chance to talk