Our next meeting is next week on Tuesday February 9th at 7 PM at the Park Hill United Methodist Church at Montview Blvd and Glencoe St. in Denver. We will be meeting downstairs in the Youth Lounge this month.

Won't you please join us!.

Political Decision Making in the Future

This month we will cycle back to the visioning process we started in November and focus on making political decisions in the context of emerging norms. One of the themes that came out of our discussions in November was a desire to improve the way decisions are made in groups, at local levels, and even nationally.

Most people will observe that the current process is not working for the vast majority of citizens regardless of their political persuasions. This process is a consequence of and supportive of values that revolve around separation, hierarchy, and achieving dominant power.

We will explore your ideas of what decision making could look like in the future as the norms shift to an awareness of interdependence and a celebration of a diverse population. An important task we have is to identify concrete steps that we can take to start or continue this kind of shift.

The Second Tuesday Race Forum meets on the second Tuesday of most months at the Park Hill United Methodist Church at Montview Blvd and Glencoe St. in Denver. Here is a link to a map on Google: http://goo.gl/maps/sSc86

 

Our next meeting is next week on Tuesday January 12th at 7 PM at the Park Hill United Methodist Church at Montview Blvd and Glencoe St. in Denver. We will be meeting downstairs in the Youth Lounge this month.

Won't you please join us!.

 What is the Potential for an American Truth and Reconciliation Commission?

Several countries have used a truth and reconciliation process as a tool in promoting healing and achieving justice for state-sanctioned violence committed on its citizens. The January meeting will explore whether a TRC can work in the United States. A report from Human Rights Watch on the need for truth and reconciliation said this about South Africa:

“If a country is to come to terms with its past and successfully turn its attention to the future, it is essential that the truth of the past be officially established. It is impossible to expect ‘reconciliation’ if part of the population refuses to accept that anything was ever wrong, and the other part has never received any acknowledgment of the suffering it has undergone or of the ultimate responsibility for that suffering.”

So there are many issues to consider. Is America ready for such a movement? What are the preconditions necessary for it to be effective? What model would particularly fit this culture? How can it make a difference to the financial and emotional lives of those who have been oppressed?

We will open the meeting with several panelists who will address critical components of a truth and reconciliation process. Then engage everyone with your thoughts on how to move forward. To stimulate your thinking, please take a look at this article by Fania Davis (sister of Angela Davis) that was originally published in Yes! Magazine:

http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/27806-the-us-needs-a-truth-and-reconciliation-process-on-violence-against-african-americans

Note: this posting did not go up until after the event.

Regrets!