WS Chronicle

(Above: Panelists speak at one of IDR’s discussions on race)

The city of Winston-Salem, the Ministers Conference of Winston-Salem and Vicinity and Institute for Dismantling Racism (IDR) are some of the entities that have been sponsoring recent public forums about race relations.

According to city officials, their talks were going on before Michael Brown and Eric Garner, unarmed black men, were killed by police officers last year in Missouri and New York City.

The Darryl Hunt case, in which an innocent black Winston-Salem man in 1984 was wrongfully convicted of the rape and murder of a young white woman, prompted the city to move toward dialogues on race, Council Member Derwin Montgomery said. Hunt served 19½ years in prison before he was freed after someone else confessed to the crime.

Also, Winston-Salem dealt with a riot on Liberty Street in 1967 after police killed a black man during an arrest for drunkenness.

Lately, the amount of talks has increased since Brown and Garner were killed. IDR has held a series of talks, with a third one in the planning stages, for instance.

The talks seem to involve establishment-type people or handpicked participants. They usually involve panels. Grass-roots community workers don’t seem to be involved.

Mayor Allen Joines and the Faith Based Coalition presented “Black Lives Matter Late Night Musical” on Friday, March 27. It started at 10 p.m. at Diggs Memorial United Holy Church. This seemed to be a switch from the norm. It was billed as an event “Educating & Raising Awareness On the Plight of ‘Young Men of Color.’”

Team BAM (Becoming a Man) is helping young black men grow into productive citizens. Money was raised to help the organization at the March 27 event. But when has Team BAM members been on the list of panelists in the community dialogues?

A 40-year-old black man asked a question on March 27 at the Black Lives Matter event. He asked: “As a 40-year-old black man in this community, how can we get our people in this community to be less intimidated against police?”

With all the talking among all the groups in Winston-Salem, why doesn’t this community member know the answer to this question? How many 40-year-old black men are a part of the conversations about race? How many 20-year-old black men are part of the dialogue? How many black teenagers are part of the talks? These are some of the main people who interact with police. These are some of the main people who want answers. They want to know how to prevent escalation of incidents with the police. But if they are not part of the dialogue, how will they know?

The “Black Lives Matter” event seems to be moving in the right direction. Not only was good information provided, but entertainment also was added to attract peo

The dialogues about race in Winston-Salem should be expanded. How many white residents, not panelists or chosen participants, are part of the conversations?

How many other people of color are talking about race? How many Latinos are part of the dialogues? Police-and-community relations affect people of color of all hues.

More representatives from the Winston-Salem area need to be part of the conversations. Where are the gang members in the talks? Where are the single mothers who are raising the black boys who statistically will interact with police at some time in their lives? Where are the elderly men and women who want to trust police but have questions about that trust?

Montgomery, who represents the East Ward, said March 27 at the Black Lives Matter event that he wanted people to act after the event.

“The question is, what do we do when we leave here tonight? I hope when you leave here tonight, you feel empowered to do something,” he said.

One thing that could happen is someone could form a dialogue that includes a wider variety of participants.

If Winston-Salem truly wants to move ahead, all parts of the community need to be part of the dialogues on race. Without comprehensive inclusion, the talks could do more harm than good.