At ‘America Healing’ conference, groups attack racial inequities

13th June 2011   ·   0 Comments

By Hazel Trice Edney

(TriceEdneyWire.com) — Justin Flores of Asheville, N.C., no longer takes his wife to his family reunion. And many of his relatives don’t even talk to him anymore, even when they see each other in grocery stores.

Flores says this backlash is because he has taken a stand. The half-Caucasian, half-Latino 34-year-old is married to an African-American woman. And he has decided not to tolerate racially bigoted words like “spic, wetback and nigger” — even when used in casual conversation.

“Being the way I am, I see prejudice on a daily basis,” says Flores, a cab driver carrying this reporter as a passenger. “I have co-workers or other friends that I hang out with and they might use a negative word that I don’t agree with and I’m not ashamed; nor do I keep my mouth shut. I speak up and I let it be known that, ‘Around me, don’t say those words. I don’t care how you think, but I don’t think like you.”

Frankly, it’s not always that simple, he said. “It’s a challenge … It’s that Appalachian culture.”

Ironically, structural racism in America was the focus of a national conference to which this reporter was being driven by the chatty cab driver. At the Kellogg Foundation’s “America Healing Conference,” Kellogg Vice President Gail Christopher was determined that even the deeply entrenched cultural racism that Flores faces on a daily basis can be reduced.

“You’ll always have both. You’ll always have the progress that’s being made and the reality that we’re working against,” Christopher said in a brief interview between the daylong string of plenary and breakout sessions on everything from education to civic engagement. “The people here are from across the country. Our challenge is to keep them resourced and supported and united enough to reach a critical mass.”

In what Kellogg calls “an unprecedented effort to address the devastating impact of racial inequities on communities across the country” it launched a five-year, $75 million initiative – America Healing – about a year ago. It aims to build better lives for vulnerable children and their families by” promoting racial healing and eliminating barriers to opportunities.”

According to Kellogg, “Children of color are over-represented among the 29 million low-income children and families in this country, particularly among families living in concentrated poverty. According to data from the National Center for Children in Poverty, about 61 percent of African-American, 62 percent of Latino, 57 percent of Native American, 58 percent of children with immigrant parents, 30 percent of Asian American children and 26 percent of white children live in low-income families.”

The NAACP, The National Urban League, The National Council of La Raza, the Advancement Project and the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies were among anchor community organizations.

Leaders of these groups discussed deeply embedded race issues from their veteran perspectives.

“Those who care deeply about the education budgets understanding that in fighting for increases in state education budgets, we have to be prepared to really talk about where the cuts can come from,” said Ben Jealous, president and CEO of the NAACP, suggesting that the incarceration budget is a good place to start “if you just sent more people to rehab than to prison,” he said to applause.

Marc Morial, NUL president and CEO, pointed out that $1.1 trillion a day is spent in Iraq and Afghanistan while only $20 billion a year is the federal commitment to elementary and secondary education.

“We’ve got to have a difficult conversation about our priorities,” Morial said.

The depth of issues discussed was pleasing to Christopher.

“This conference has exceeded my expectations,” she said. “The level of engagement, the level of connecting is what we wanted. We’re trying to build a national community of practice. And so, it’s happening.”

This story originally published in the June 13, 2011 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.