Civil Discourse/Discussion Topics

Race topics are frequently charged with emotion and intense positions.

Expressions of positions are sometimes strongly delivered.

Civil Discourse Involves the following principles and concepts:

  • the polite exchange of thoughts and ideas relating to public affairs.
  • It’s about striving to talk politely and listen w the intent of understanding
  • rather than the intent of replying w ridicule, venom and anger.

Topics:

1. The statistically proven solution to poverty

—-Finish High School
—-Get a Job
—-Avoid having a child until HS graduation and marriage

[see Brookings Institute]

2. The prosperity and well being of the at risk Black Community [~9 million on welfare]

What do you see as the greater threat to the prosperity of the Black Community?

Or Which poses a greater obstacle to full development of individuals and healthy families in the at risk black communities?

Systemic racism
White privilege
Biased Justice System

or

Issues internal to those communities such as
low HS graduation rates
Low academic testing results
Single parent homes
Gang affiliations and violence

3.The taboos of racial correctness:

Can whites openly discuss their grievances toward the black community…Without being told they’re blaming the victim?

Or being called a racist?

4. Dr. Shelby Steele:

ON WHITE AMERICAS TRANSFORMATION
“One of the most remarkable things in all of human history is the degree of moral evolutions, of moral evolution, that white Americans have made from the mid-60s to this day. No group of people in history have morally evolved away from a social evil that quickly and to that degree in this sort of short span of time. And very often, in our calculations in thinking about race, we don’t give whites credit for that.”

ON THE GOOD WILL OF WHITES

“My feeling is, again, that the real fact is–and I think if you talk to many blacks, their experience would sort of verify this. What I’ve encountered in my life, most often in the white world, is good will, is people who have wanted to help me. When I was younger and starting a career, people who mentored me, who really felt it was important to give me the best opportunity to pursue my dreams. And my sense is that that’s really been an experience for most blacks who have tried to venture out and develop themselves.”

1960s
White supremacy was deligitimized
White supremacy has been defeated
America acknowledged that it was wrong about how it treated others
Now and for decades whites are being put into a cultural
Dead end that they have to prove the negative..”I am not a racist” This approach is counter to the supreme principle of American jurisprudence that the burden of proof lies with the accuser NOT the accused.

Blacks: Goals and Understandings:
1. Thrive in our new freedom
2. Develop our individual Cultural Capital
3. Understand and act on the reality that strong families make strong and healthy individuals which leads to healthy communities and society
4. Opportunity is everywhere
5. Whites and blacks should be proud of the moral advancement we’ve made in the 60s and beyond
6. Remember Brookings institutes formula for poverty avoidance