Sunday, April 22, 2001
Akron program brings groups face-to-face
By Richelle Thompson
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Talking about race is hard. But it can be done.
After the 1992 riots in Los Angeles, the residents of Akron, Ohio, began to take stock of their own race relations.
Led by a year-long newspaper series, Akron residents discovered there were disparities between blacks and whites in housing, crime, education and economic opportunity.
The Coming Together Project was the outgrowth of the series.
The group began as a loose coalition of more than 60 civic, social, religious and educational groups, organized by the Akron Beacon Journal. By December 1995, the project was chartered as a tax-exempt, non-profit corporation.
The first task for the project was to bring people together to talk about race, executive director Dr. Fannie L. Brown says.
In Akron, “people worked together and tolerated each other,” she says. “They didn't have meaningful relationships.”
The project sponsored a series of community forums that attracted about 500 people each time. Moderators set ground rules at the start of each meeting: People had to make “I statements,” not accusations. They had to be considerate of each other. They had to be succinct. They had to allow people to express themselves from their own personal viewpoints. And they had to accept different styles of communication.
The crowd was broken into small groups, eight or so to a table, plus a facilitator and a secretary. One person presented the table's findings to the group.
“You cannot accomplish anything until you know what is on the heart of each individual,” Dr. Brown says. “Blacks have their views, and whites have their views. Unless you share with each other, you're never going to know. You have to come together and get the issues on the table.”
As the project evolved, it attracted more members and focused less on communitywide events. Today it pairs diverse groups for common activities. For instance, a primarily black sorority and the predominantly white League of Women Voters hold voter forums together.
“We try to pull people into situations where they must be together and have opportunity to get to know each other,” Dr. Brown says.
Her advice to Cincinnati is to start with communitywide forums — and invite everyone, from community leaders to the young adults who were rioting. Once people start talking, the city can move forward and address other issues, she says.
The Coming Together Project has made improving race relations an active and sustained effort, says Lathardus Goggins II, director of the Pan-African Culture and Research Center at the University of Akron. The project has opened the door to frank talk about race, he says.
“If you don't get to honest dialogue, then race reconciliation cannot take place,” Mr. Goggins says. “People will be be cordial for now, but you're not getting to long-lasting change. You're just postponing your next riot.”
