Right time to speak of race

On the day that Barack Obama is inaugurated as the nation’s first black president, Charlottesville City Council will discuss race relations.
Actually, it will discuss how to discuss race relations.
Previous discussions have been reactive, often triggered by controversial incidents and often conducted in an atmosphere of suspicion and distrust.
Launching a community conversation about race at a time when issues may be able to be addressed more comprehensively is a wise move.

“We may not have some of the issues that larger cities may have, but to say racism doesn’t exist is not a practical way of looking at it,” said Councilor Holly Edwards, who is largely credited with getting the program going.
Assistant City Manager Maurice Jones will present the proposed program to Council Tuesday night.
The plan is to create study circles, bringing together diverse groups of 10 to 15 people to talk about racial tensions and their causes. Volunteer moderators, trained by consultants, would lead the discussions.

Much depends on whether the city can draw together that diversity. Ob-servers have noted that other municipal issues tend to draw different audiences — debates about the Meadowcreek Parkway attract white residents; meetings about violence attract black residents.
If the two groups don’t come together to discuss race, there is little point in pursuing the program.
The measure of success for the program, Mr. Jones said, would be an action plan based on problems uncovered in discussion groups. But unless both white and black citizens — and Hispanics and others — join in agreement about those problems, any resulting action plan would have little credibility.

To the contrary, if black and white residents fail to come together to discuss race, there is the risk of creating a two-track program. That would confirm racial divisions, not solve them.
Certainly, city organizers will work diligently to ensure that the study circles include residents from a wide variety of racial and socioeconomic groups.
For now, the program hasn’t even been heard or approved by Council.

Meanwhile we’re just wondering about the timing of Council’s first look at the proposed program, on the day of Barack Obama’s inauguration. Is this timing a brilliant symbolic move, linking the city effort to a new era? Or is it a practical miscalculation, since many city residents will be attuned to inaugural coverage and may not even pay attention to a City Council meeting?
Stay tuned. This is only the first installment of the discussion, after all.