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I sometimes think that, for all the talk about race we think we’re hearing, that incidents involving clear human and civil rights infractions – whether individually perpetrated (physical and psychological violence), or institutionally perpetuated (segregation, employment discrimination, environmental injustice, voter suppression, economic and health disparities, housing discrimination and predatory lending) – are seen as essentially isolated occurrences and not the culturally and emotionally, therefore institutionally, manifestations of embedded sickness in a society whose history belies its founding principles embodied in the Declaration and Constitution and Bill of Rights. We are NOT facing race as a reality in this culture. We are NOT talking honestly about this leprosy of democracy – at least as much as we ignore the other pestilence destroying democracy: homeland security and the misuse of law enforcement to turn average citizens and journalists into criminals.

African-American folk, American Indians, Latinos, Asians – and now, with a vengeance, Arabic and Muslim citizens and immigrants – have all felt the sting of racial separation in all those categories, considered The Other in this country on so many levels, one wonders if we can recover from the parasites that infuse our rhetoric and official behavior such that the harm inflicted could be permanent.

It must be difficult, if not impossible, for majorities of our brethren and sisters of color to hold out hope for any sort of positive outcomes of any effort to work in concert with the white community and white-run institutions to bring honesty and open dialogue to the table to expose that embedded fear and loathing for its very real danger to our nation’s economic and political stability.

Not all answers can be covered by dialogue only, of course, but that’s where it must begin. Many groups in our communities of color – and, yes, among white folks as well – are taking a stab at such opportunities as present themselves for opening up the conversations necessary to start the ball rolling. But, the question remains – and we will ask it: after the discussion, what? What will participants do as next steps to move to outcomes that serve the communities in ways that bring very real change. How much is geography responsible for the continued isolation among such communities – in institutions – churches, schools, governments, companies and unions? Can we breach the physical segregation by breaching the psychological and emotional separation among peoples that share this larger space of ours?

Again this year, the evening following our show featuring some key presenters and awardees, the The Saint Paul Foundation’s Facing Race Initiative will present its awards to outstanding mentors of this notion of addressing race and its implications for their own and other communities. Last year’s Honorable Mention, author, filmmaker and Native language advocate, Dr. Anton Treuer, will give this year’s keynoter. Old hands at combating racism, like Macalester Professor Emeritus Mahmoud El-Kati and Steve Pederson, an executive leadership team member with Diversity Resource Action Alliance up in Alexandria will be recognized as Ambassadors, along with Honorable Mentions emerging business inclusion coordinator Elizabeth A. Campbell for contractorsRyan Companies US, Inc.; Taneeza S. Islam, Esq., civil rights director, Center for American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)-MN Chapter; and T. Gregory Stavrou, executive director of the Rochester Civic Theatre. The free program will be held at St. Paul’s Crowne Plaza Riverfront at Wabasha and Kellogg Blvd. starting at 6:00 PM, with hors d’oeuvres, program at 7:00.

TTT’s ANDY DRISCOLL and MICHELLE ALIMORADI talk with key figures in this year’s Awards event.

Guests:

  DR. ANTON TREUER – Professor of Ojibwe, Bemidji State University; cultural preservationist working to restore the Ojibwe (Anishinaabe) language as a means of healing the wounds of racism; Author, Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to AskThe Assassination of Hole in the Day and seven other books. 

  TANEEZA ISLAM ­– Attorney and former Civil Rights Director, Center for American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) -MN Chapter

  SHARON GOENS – Racial Equity Conversation Coordinator, Facing Race InitiativeThe Saint Paul Foundation