In attendance: April Dahm, Feico Kempff, Dale Jennings, Jen Courtney, Rainer Coutney, David Nelson, Brady Blade, Bill Wiener, Janine Demerath, Kelly Weeks, Maurice Loridans, Troy Messina, Loren Demerath
The meeting began with Loren and Feico reporting on their meeting with Don Shea. Loren's recommendations to Brady Blade in preparation for his trip to the International Council of Shopping Centers are posted in the preceding post.
Jen Courtney, who is the head of a food coop in town, described the nature of her group. Jen said the group aveages about 15 people, operates out of her house and truck, and is just big enough so that she can handle it alone, that they are able to get organic food at wholesale prices, but, after being asked, she said that the members were more interested in the quality of food than the price. We discussed what a full, store-front coop would require, how it would help with convenience and organization, and how there could be enough interest in Shreveport to support it. Brady said there may be buildings downtown, such as the former location of Brothers Seafood, with about 8,000 square feet where the coop could be located rent-free and have no sale tax. There was discussion of parking, how proximity to the bus terminal would help, whether a location on Texas Avenue would be preferable or would detract from the density being sought for the core of downtown around Texas Street.
The point was rasied that downtown grocery stores in other cities are often connect to, or linked through pedestrian space to a vertical parking garage. Also, that Don Shea noted that access to groceries is one of the most desired elements by downtown residents.
The restoration and bicycle coops were also discussed, briefly, and how the area around Fertita's is likely also too removed from the core of downtown to work.
Bill Weiner mentioned that one of the problems with Shreveport development in the past has been that we have put things not where they should be, but where cheap and available real estate has been. The group noted that such a pattern has led to the sprawl that gives us the unhealthy and unhappy transportation lifestyles that we now have, but that good planning should be combined with pragmatism and opportunism.
The group then turned to the topic of the developement of the core downtown area, and Bill Wiener spoke to the group about how his experiences. Bill talked about how he had onced tried to live downtown but was not allowed build for a residence, though he would have been allow to build a hotel. The group noted a number of elegant loft and townhouse residences that have recently been developed, perhaps indicating a change in city priorities and policy.
Bill Weiner also talked about the "string of pearls" plan he had helped develop several decades ago. The plan connected parks, universities, and cultural centers using public lands such as the bayous cum drainage ditches. The group noted how similar that plan is to our more recent "Bayous to Use" proposal that the National Park Service is helping us to develop.
Bill described the possibility of using a public corporation to buy land, and lease it back to the railroads where necessary. Brady talked about his experience working with railroad companies, and how reaching agreements can be challenging.
Bill described his "three C's" of good planning: accounting for capacity, cumulative effects, and character. It was noted how downtown location of retail and residence alongside work spaces would more efficiently handle capacity, produce fewer cumulative effects and take advantage of Shreveport's unique downtown character.
The discussion then turned to the kinds of retail to recruit for downtown, and whether they large retailers would kill local stores or whether they already had done so, and whether their presence would increase foot traffic and actually help smaller local merchants.
Feico Kempff described work he had done recently on the Coates Bluff trail. He is scheduled to meet with the heirs of the cemetaries that are now overgrown with forest. The cemetaries are located on two hills alongside the bayou that goes from the Montessori School, by Stoner Elementary, and behind Magnet High School. Feico and others noted how Caddo public schools and SPAR could be partners in developing the trail. Dale Jennings, a local history buff, talked about the history of the area as well.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
Importance of Local Cultural Ammenities for Growing an Economy
Feico Kempff just passed on to me a report released by the Texas Cultural Trust that should motivate us to continue what we've been doing as ABetterShreveport.
In a nutshell, the report states that a growing economy needs a creative sector that includes a highly paid innovative work force, and that cultural ammenities are critical attracting and retaining that work force.
The study finds that successful communities provide cultural ammenities in three principle forms:
Imagine a Shreveport where you can safely, conveniently, and pleasantly bike to a downtown where there is enough diverse activity that just sitting and people watching over a cup of coffee would be entertainment enough. That's a quality of place that would make people want to live here, be they software designers, filmmakers, inventors, researchers, or creative people of any type.
Having those people here helps our economy, the report says, so creating a quality place to live doesn't just help our quality of life, it helps us our bank accounts too!
So here's to developing Texas Street, a cultural district, creating a coop plaza, a recommended bike route network, a system of greenways, community gardens, creating avenues for public dialogue on community issues, etc., etc.!
We should be heartened by the report. We're on the right track. Onward and upward, for the good of us all!
In a nutshell, the report states that a growing economy needs a creative sector that includes a highly paid innovative work force, and that cultural ammenities are critical attracting and retaining that work force.
The study finds that successful communities provide cultural ammenities in three principle forms:
- active and diverse nonprofit cultural arts organizations and programs
- well-rounded curriculum in public schools
- economic development efforts that emphasize the quality of place
Imagine a Shreveport where you can safely, conveniently, and pleasantly bike to a downtown where there is enough diverse activity that just sitting and people watching over a cup of coffee would be entertainment enough. That's a quality of place that would make people want to live here, be they software designers, filmmakers, inventors, researchers, or creative people of any type.
Having those people here helps our economy, the report says, so creating a quality place to live doesn't just help our quality of life, it helps us our bank accounts too!
So here's to developing Texas Street, a cultural district, creating a coop plaza, a recommended bike route network, a system of greenways, community gardens, creating avenues for public dialogue on community issues, etc., etc.!
We should be heartened by the report. We're on the right track. Onward and upward, for the good of us all!
Next meeting Tuesday the 12th, good past meetings with Brady Blade and Don Shea
next ABetterShreveport meeting is this Tuesday, the 12th, at 8:20 a.m.
We'll be set to pick up where we left off in discussing:
* the cultural district
* a cooperative center for food, bikes, and restoration
* Texas Street development
* signs and labeling of bike routes
* pedestrian-bicycling building standards legislation
Feico Kempff, Maurice Loridans, and myself had a great meeting last week--if a bit smaller than usual--with Brady Blade, the assistant director of economic development for Mayor Glover.
This past Monday Feico and I met with Don Shea, Director of the Downtown Development Authority to talk about Texas Street and the cultural district.
We'll report on that meeting on Tuesday as well. In a nutshell, though, both Brady and Don were very encouraging, and Brady is even headed to the International Council of Shopping Centers convention next week partly to work towards the ends we've discussed.
As usual, we'll meet at Centenary Square, across the street the George's Grill, room 206. Enter from the parking lot in back and you can't miss us.
The coffee will be fresh!
We'll be set to pick up where we left off in discussing:
* the cultural district
* a cooperative center for food, bikes, and restoration
* Texas Street development
* signs and labeling of bike routes
* pedestrian-bicycling building standards legislation
Feico Kempff, Maurice Loridans, and myself had a great meeting last week--if a bit smaller than usual--with Brady Blade, the assistant director of economic development for Mayor Glover.
This past Monday Feico and I met with Don Shea, Director of the Downtown Development Authority to talk about Texas Street and the cultural district.
We'll report on that meeting on Tuesday as well. In a nutshell, though, both Brady and Don were very encouraging, and Brady is even headed to the International Council of Shopping Centers convention next week partly to work towards the ends we've discussed.
As usual, we'll meet at Centenary Square, across the street the George's Grill, room 206. Enter from the parking lot in back and you can't miss us.
The coffee will be fresh!
ABetterShreveport profiled in "Voices" newspaper
Thank you April Reynolds for your fine article about us in this week's Voices newspaper! Always nice to get press like that.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Preservation of Historic Shreveport Meetings this week
A list of meetings from Teresa Edgerton-Scott on downtown historic preservation:
If you are in favor of preserving the historic districts and buildings in Shreveport, now is the time to make your voice heard. The importance of historic preservation ordinances will be discussed at both the City Council special session called for this purpose and at the regular meeting of Parish Commission. Frank B. Gilbert, a national expert on preservation and the law, will be in town next week to try to jump start legislation in Shreveport to protect historic sites. Please try to attend and invite others.
Special Session of the City Council, Tuesday, May 5, 2:00 pm, Government Plaza--the National Trust for Historic Preservation consultant, Frank Gilbert, will be there discussing the need for ordinances to protect historic properties. This meeting was called just for this purpose. Jean Sayres, his local host with the Louisiana Trust, has urged me to get as many people as possible to attend this special called meeting to show support for historic preservation. We need to show the council there is grassroots support for this initiative in Shreveport. If Highland can't turn out for such a cause, then we are in trouble. Shreveport is the only large city in La that doesn't already have Historic Commission and ordinances to protect historic properties.
Mr. Gilbert has an extremely busy itinerary next week in Shreveport. Sue will be accompanying him on driving tour of Fairfield and Highland Historic Districts upon his arrival. Monty Walford and Matthew Linn will have meetings with him prior to his speaking to their respective "groups." I have his resume and other information provided by Jean Sayres should anyone want to see it.
Regular meeting of Caddo Parish Commission, Thursday, May 7, 3:30 pm, Government Plaza--Mr. Gilbert is first on their agenda and will speak for about 15 minutes, then answer commissioner's questions. Again, it would behoove us to have as many people there as possible to support idea of preservation in Shreveport.
Please rearrange your schedules if possible to attend (as I have had to do during this busy time of year at my work) these meetings. Invite other people who are interested in preservation to attend as well. It is time to be proactive, rather than just respond to problems as they arise.
If you are in favor of preserving the historic districts and buildings in Shreveport, now is the time to make your voice heard. The importance of historic preservation ordinances will be discussed at both the City Council special session called for this purpose and at the regular meeting of Parish Commission. Frank B. Gilbert, a national expert on preservation and the law, will be in town next week to try to jump start legislation in Shreveport to protect historic sites. Please try to attend and invite others.
Special Session of the City Council, Tuesday, May 5, 2:00 pm, Government Plaza--the National Trust for Historic Preservation consultant, Frank Gilbert, will be there discussing the need for ordinances to protect historic properties. This meeting was called just for this purpose. Jean Sayres, his local host with the Louisiana Trust, has urged me to get as many people as possible to attend this special called meeting to show support for historic preservation. We need to show the council there is grassroots support for this initiative in Shreveport. If Highland can't turn out for such a cause, then we are in trouble. Shreveport is the only large city in La that doesn't already have Historic Commission and ordinances to protect historic properties.
Mr. Gilbert has an extremely busy itinerary next week in Shreveport. Sue will be accompanying him on driving tour of Fairfield and Highland Historic Districts upon his arrival. Monty Walford and Matthew Linn will have meetings with him prior to his speaking to their respective "groups." I have his resume and other information provided by Jean Sayres should anyone want to see it.
Regular meeting of Caddo Parish Commission, Thursday, May 7, 3:30 pm, Government Plaza--Mr. Gilbert is first on their agenda and will speak for about 15 minutes, then answer commissioner's questions. Again, it would behoove us to have as many people there as possible to support idea of preservation in Shreveport.
Please rearrange your schedules if possible to attend (as I have had to do during this busy time of year at my work) these meetings. Invite other people who are interested in preservation to attend as well. It is time to be proactive, rather than just respond to problems as they arise.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Some food for thought on downtown revitalization
Here's some news stories germane to our projects:
How to get big retailers into constrained downtown spaces--like BordersBooks in downtown Baton Rouge in the article here.
How to target specific stores for downtown that offer something different from the 'burbs.
And two "Smart City" stories from NPR:
How connecting a city through greenways can increase civic engagement.
And how to design parking downtown.
How to get big retailers into constrained downtown spaces--like BordersBooks in downtown Baton Rouge in the article here.
How to target specific stores for downtown that offer something different from the 'burbs.
And two "Smart City" stories from NPR:
How connecting a city through greenways can increase civic engagement.
And how to design parking downtown.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Earth Day Celebration Saturday the 25th at Sankofa Gardens
The annual Sankofa Earth Day Fest is this Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at Sankofa Gardens, 1561 Tulane St., Shreveport, LA 71103. There'll be plenty of green living festivities, including community garden planting, "edu-tainment," music, games, and food!
The event is free and open the public. For information, call Leia Lewis at 318-230-2892.
(Sankofa Vision, Inc. is a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to celebrating and cultivating the art, culture, and community life of people of African descent.)
Just FYI, my family attended this a couple of years ago and loved it. Much recommended!
The event is free and open the public. For information, call Leia Lewis at 318-230-2892.
(Sankofa Vision, Inc. is a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to celebrating and cultivating the art, culture, and community life of people of African descent.)
Just FYI, my family attended this a couple of years ago and loved it. Much recommended!
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Apologize for Segregation? Why Bring it Up? It's Not Happening Anymore.
For nearly 100 years Jim Crow laws mandated racial segregation. I described in a previous post, Larry Griffin's talk at Centenary on April 16, and his description of how other societies have recovered from eras of widespread and deliberate civil and human rights abuse.
In speaking of that time here, Griffin said: "Segregation was the law of the land, and most southern whites, politicians and ordinary citizens alike, resisted, too often with violence, any challenge to it. ...We in the region were very much a people divided, divide here by race. I need only allude to the horrors of African American life in the segregated South, the daily humiliations and degradations and fear; the systematic, routinized exclusions; the hint, or more than the hint, of violence to be unleashed at any time for any reason or for no reason at all. Unfortunately, death came all too frequently to the South: more than 4000 black folk—true figures will never be known--were lynched by white mobs during the time of Jim Crow. So, again, we were, in the mid-1960s, a people divided, a quarter to a third or so of the South’s own without much in the way of economic comfort, physical security, or political voice."
Griffin noted how other societies have healed from such pasts by installing into power those who'd been oppressed, by conducting trials, leading truth and reconciliation commissions, issuing apologies, or paying repatriations.
One thought people might have with regard to apologizing for slavery or segregation is this:
"Why should bring it up? There's no segregation anymore. Aren't we creating differences between people that don't exist? Why apologize for something that isn't affecting anyone?"
And it doesn't make sense to apologize for something that isn't affecting anyone in the first place. If I make a mistake, but correct it before it affects anyone, I wouldn't apologize.
So, if we're all treated equally now by race, why bring up the past?
First, we all behave differently towards people based on race (as well as on gender, attractiveness, age, etc.) even when we think we don't. It's common for whites to think racism doesn't exist anymore. And that's natural. It's impossible to see all the subtle differences in our behaviors towards others.
In fact the research is overwhelming that racism still exists today, though it's not necessarily not the kind of racism that any well-meaning white person would perceive. For example, am I conscious of how race affects who I'd hire for a job? No. But the evidence is indisputable that they do affect those choices, even for your average, well-meaning white person. In one experiment whites were much less likely to call someone with an who'd sent in job application if they had Afro-centric name, even when everything else on the resume was exactly the same. Would I do that? Odds are that I would, even if it's subconscious. Just as I treat people differently by their age, obesity, attractiveness, disabilities, status, even when I don't think I'm doing it.
So, racism is happening, and apologizing for the original inequalities that led to current prejudgements and assumptions, might help us be aware of them and reduce our racism.
The other reason we should apologize for segragation, even though happened decades ago is because it lives on today in terms of black and white differences in wealth. The endowments that old universities and colleges have built, the capital that long-standing companies have accumulated, the wealth, and even opportunities and advice that families have handed down over the generations, all amount to resources that African-Americans were systematically excluded from amassing themselves. Non-African Americans today are effectively sitting on a bigger pile of resources than African-Americans, and that difference began illegitimately.
The examples are right in front of us. In a city that is half black, for example, Centenary College's custodial staff is predominantly black, while it's faculty is all white. There's a tendency to think such patterns are the result of voluntary choices: we chose our career paths, don't we? how hard to try in school? or who we associate with? One of the people I associate with is my dad. I didn't chose him, and I ended up a lot like him. He's a sociologist and--what a coincidence--I happen to be one too. So our social networks aren't a result of choice, and they've got important consequences.
Neither I, nor my father would be exactly where we are today if the competition had been a little stiffer at any point along the way. When he was applying to colleges in 1953, his black counterparts in segregated schools in North Carolina couldn't hope to compete with him equally. Nor could my African-American counterparts in Massachusetts twenty five years later. For example, I got plenty of invaluable advice from my dad on how to navigate the course from high school to a professorship. That's advise you don't get if your dad was kept out of that same experience.
Do I feel guilty about it? No. I didn't design segregation. Neither did my dad, mom, granddad, or any of my ancestors. Could they have done more to work against it? Sure. Could I have done more? I now see that I sure could have. And I regret that. And that's what I'd apologizing for, personally. I'm sorry I've never admitted to myself how my own advantages were traceable, in part, to segregation. I just didn't see it. Now that I do, I'm going try to own up to it; to admit that I've achieved what I have only partly because of my smarts and effort. A lot of what I have is due to my race. (And for that matter, come to think of it, my gender, my sexual orientation, my looks, my height, my non-disability status, etc.)
But I don't feel guilty. I will feel guilty, though, if I don't apologize. And if I don't help guard against our society making the same kind of mistake we made in segregation.
When we make mistakes that hurt other people, we apologize for them. And we hope those people will accept our apology to mean we'll guard against making that mistake again in the future.
We know segregation was a mistake, and that it's still hurting people today. So let's be honest about that. It might help us be aware of similar mistakes we make in the future, and for those who've been hurt by our mistakes to trust our intentions to not repeat those mistakes.
A number of institutions have apologized for slavery--the University of North Carolina, the University of Alabama, and Wachovia Securities, to name three--but none have apologized for segregation.
Let's lead the way, here in Shreveport. For Shreveport to be the first city, or Centenary the first college, would be something to be proud about, wouldn't it?
In my next post, I'm going to suggest a paragraph that we'd presumably sign as an apology.
In speaking of that time here, Griffin said: "Segregation was the law of the land, and most southern whites, politicians and ordinary citizens alike, resisted, too often with violence, any challenge to it. ...We in the region were very much a people divided, divide here by race. I need only allude to the horrors of African American life in the segregated South, the daily humiliations and degradations and fear; the systematic, routinized exclusions; the hint, or more than the hint, of violence to be unleashed at any time for any reason or for no reason at all. Unfortunately, death came all too frequently to the South: more than 4000 black folk—true figures will never be known--were lynched by white mobs during the time of Jim Crow. So, again, we were, in the mid-1960s, a people divided, a quarter to a third or so of the South’s own without much in the way of economic comfort, physical security, or political voice."
Griffin noted how other societies have healed from such pasts by installing into power those who'd been oppressed, by conducting trials, leading truth and reconciliation commissions, issuing apologies, or paying repatriations.
One thought people might have with regard to apologizing for slavery or segregation is this:
"Why should bring it up? There's no segregation anymore. Aren't we creating differences between people that don't exist? Why apologize for something that isn't affecting anyone?"
And it doesn't make sense to apologize for something that isn't affecting anyone in the first place. If I make a mistake, but correct it before it affects anyone, I wouldn't apologize.
So, if we're all treated equally now by race, why bring up the past?
First, we all behave differently towards people based on race (as well as on gender, attractiveness, age, etc.) even when we think we don't. It's common for whites to think racism doesn't exist anymore. And that's natural. It's impossible to see all the subtle differences in our behaviors towards others.
In fact the research is overwhelming that racism still exists today, though it's not necessarily not the kind of racism that any well-meaning white person would perceive. For example, am I conscious of how race affects who I'd hire for a job? No. But the evidence is indisputable that they do affect those choices, even for your average, well-meaning white person. In one experiment whites were much less likely to call someone with an who'd sent in job application if they had Afro-centric name, even when everything else on the resume was exactly the same. Would I do that? Odds are that I would, even if it's subconscious. Just as I treat people differently by their age, obesity, attractiveness, disabilities, status, even when I don't think I'm doing it.
So, racism is happening, and apologizing for the original inequalities that led to current prejudgements and assumptions, might help us be aware of them and reduce our racism.
The other reason we should apologize for segragation, even though happened decades ago is because it lives on today in terms of black and white differences in wealth. The endowments that old universities and colleges have built, the capital that long-standing companies have accumulated, the wealth, and even opportunities and advice that families have handed down over the generations, all amount to resources that African-Americans were systematically excluded from amassing themselves. Non-African Americans today are effectively sitting on a bigger pile of resources than African-Americans, and that difference began illegitimately.
The examples are right in front of us. In a city that is half black, for example, Centenary College's custodial staff is predominantly black, while it's faculty is all white. There's a tendency to think such patterns are the result of voluntary choices: we chose our career paths, don't we? how hard to try in school? or who we associate with? One of the people I associate with is my dad. I didn't chose him, and I ended up a lot like him. He's a sociologist and--what a coincidence--I happen to be one too. So our social networks aren't a result of choice, and they've got important consequences.
Neither I, nor my father would be exactly where we are today if the competition had been a little stiffer at any point along the way. When he was applying to colleges in 1953, his black counterparts in segregated schools in North Carolina couldn't hope to compete with him equally. Nor could my African-American counterparts in Massachusetts twenty five years later. For example, I got plenty of invaluable advice from my dad on how to navigate the course from high school to a professorship. That's advise you don't get if your dad was kept out of that same experience.
Do I feel guilty about it? No. I didn't design segregation. Neither did my dad, mom, granddad, or any of my ancestors. Could they have done more to work against it? Sure. Could I have done more? I now see that I sure could have. And I regret that. And that's what I'd apologizing for, personally. I'm sorry I've never admitted to myself how my own advantages were traceable, in part, to segregation. I just didn't see it. Now that I do, I'm going try to own up to it; to admit that I've achieved what I have only partly because of my smarts and effort. A lot of what I have is due to my race. (And for that matter, come to think of it, my gender, my sexual orientation, my looks, my height, my non-disability status, etc.)
But I don't feel guilty. I will feel guilty, though, if I don't apologize. And if I don't help guard against our society making the same kind of mistake we made in segregation.
When we make mistakes that hurt other people, we apologize for them. And we hope those people will accept our apology to mean we'll guard against making that mistake again in the future.
We know segregation was a mistake, and that it's still hurting people today. So let's be honest about that. It might help us be aware of similar mistakes we make in the future, and for those who've been hurt by our mistakes to trust our intentions to not repeat those mistakes.
A number of institutions have apologized for slavery--the University of North Carolina, the University of Alabama, and Wachovia Securities, to name three--but none have apologized for segregation.
Let's lead the way, here in Shreveport. For Shreveport to be the first city, or Centenary the first college, would be something to be proud about, wouldn't it?
In my next post, I'm going to suggest a paragraph that we'd presumably sign as an apology.
Summary of "What do Southerners do about a difficult past?" talk given by Dr. Griffin
"The Past is never dead, it's not even past." - William Faulkner
If we keep in mind the truth of that statement by one of the south's great writers, we'll be able to answer the call to action issued by Dr. Larry Griffin, one of the south's great sociologists, at Centenary this past Thursday.
I know a lot of people couldn't attend, being in the middle of a work day and all, so for those of you are interested me to sum it up. I'd then like to propose something, inspired by his analysis.
Dr. Griffin began with a quote from William Faulkner, about how the past makes us who are, and how contemplating it can make us wish we were someone else, and lead us to ask for forgiveness.
Dr. Griffin described how growing up and going to college in Mississippi in the 50's and 60's was a formative experience, but it's taken him a while to realize how that's so, for better and worse. He said it has taken him a long time to get where he is today: giving a speech like this at a place like Centenary.
Dr. Griffin first pointed out that many societies have made transitions from illegitimacy to legitimacy. Those societies have to peace with a past of violent oppression and injustice.
A common feature of societies that have successfully completed transitions is that the previously oppressed take their turn in power. This has not happened in our region. Whites maintained political control after slavery, and immediately after the end of segregation.
Societies such as Poland after communism, Chile after Pinochet, Guatemala after the death squads, Cambodia after the Khamer Rouge, and South Africa after apartheid have also used mechanisms aimed specifically to restore faith in the goodness and justice of the society.
A key part of Dr. Griffin's talk was reminding us of the grim past for which our society and its organizations might want to apologize. For example, we might want to collectively apologize for the over 4,000 African-Americans who were lynched, or for the daily humiliation and degradation blacks had to suffer through segregation.
So, should our society, as a whole, apologize? Should our state? Should our city? Our historically white universities and colleges? Companies?
In my next post I'll talk about why we'd want to apologize for something that happened a long time ago, doesn't seem relevant today, and might appear to only make things worse.
As always, feel free to comment.
If we keep in mind the truth of that statement by one of the south's great writers, we'll be able to answer the call to action issued by Dr. Larry Griffin, one of the south's great sociologists, at Centenary this past Thursday.
I know a lot of people couldn't attend, being in the middle of a work day and all, so for those of you are interested me to sum it up. I'd then like to propose something, inspired by his analysis.
Dr. Griffin began with a quote from William Faulkner, about how the past makes us who are, and how contemplating it can make us wish we were someone else, and lead us to ask for forgiveness.
Dr. Griffin described how growing up and going to college in Mississippi in the 50's and 60's was a formative experience, but it's taken him a while to realize how that's so, for better and worse. He said it has taken him a long time to get where he is today: giving a speech like this at a place like Centenary.
Dr. Griffin first pointed out that many societies have made transitions from illegitimacy to legitimacy. Those societies have to peace with a past of violent oppression and injustice.
A common feature of societies that have successfully completed transitions is that the previously oppressed take their turn in power. This has not happened in our region. Whites maintained political control after slavery, and immediately after the end of segregation.
Societies such as Poland after communism, Chile after Pinochet, Guatemala after the death squads, Cambodia after the Khamer Rouge, and South Africa after apartheid have also used mechanisms aimed specifically to restore faith in the goodness and justice of the society.
- Public trails of especially culpable individuals
- Truth and reconciliation commissions offering public forums for confessions and requests for forgiveness
- Apologies of organizations for their complicitness in the injustices of the previous era
- Reparations paid to ancestors of victims
A key part of Dr. Griffin's talk was reminding us of the grim past for which our society and its organizations might want to apologize. For example, we might want to collectively apologize for the over 4,000 African-Americans who were lynched, or for the daily humiliation and degradation blacks had to suffer through segregation.
So, should our society, as a whole, apologize? Should our state? Should our city? Our historically white universities and colleges? Companies?
In my next post I'll talk about why we'd want to apologize for something that happened a long time ago, doesn't seem relevant today, and might appear to only make things worse.
As always, feel free to comment.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Centenary Talk Thursday on Race and Responsibility Open to the Public
On Thursday, from 11:10 to 12, in the Whited Room of Bynum Commons at Centenary College, Dr. Larry Griffin, the Reed Professor of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will be giving the following talk that is open to the public:
"Race, Memory, and Historical Responsibility: What do Southerners do with a difficult past?"
Larry Griffin is not only one of the most published and celebrated sociologists of his generation, he's also a down-to-earth, funny, engaging speaker.
Please join us on Centenary's campus next Thursday to address an issue of importance for all of us.
"Race, Memory, and Historical Responsibility: What do Southerners do with a difficult past?"
Larry Griffin is not only one of the most published and celebrated sociologists of his generation, he's also a down-to-earth, funny, engaging speaker.
Please join us on Centenary's campus next Thursday to address an issue of importance for all of us.
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