A Community Tackles Racism

Following the beating of Rodney King by white police officers in Los Angeles, Rev. Dr. Peter Ives, a local minister, came to my office looking somber and troubled. "I am deeply disturbed about what has happened in LA," he told me. "And I am deeply disturbed about what is happening elsewhere in the country."

I knew Peter Ives only by reputation. A progressive pastor, he had stirred up good trouble by building multiracial coalitions in New Haven, Connecticut, before coming to Northampton, a small, predominantly white city of 35,000 people in western Massachusetts. He was known not only for preaching fine values, but also for living what he believed; he took considerable heat for doing so.

"I am feeling called once again to respond to the sin of racism, and I want you to help me," he said. Pained by the persistent, ugly face of racism in this country, I agreed to join forces with him.

Concerning racism, Peter and I both felt "under the weight" of the problem, as Quakers would say. But as we talked, it became clear that we wanted to do more than simply respond to the Rodney King beating and other daily atrocities. We wanted to be proactive and initiate a series of activities and events that would confront the evil of racism directly.

We talked about how to make the struggle against racism the centerpiece of community life in our city for one year. We wanted to inspire local people from all sectors of the community to grapple with this painful and chronic issue and to become active in the struggle for change.

IN THE LATE SPRING OF 1992, Peter and I wrote an open letter to business leaders; to teachers, principals, and members of the school committee; to members of the clergy and lay leaders; to community activists; and to the mayor and members of the city council inviting them to a meeting to establish a Northampton-based committee whose goal was "to infuse anti-racism activity into every facet of city life." At that meeting a group was formed—we called ourselves "The Com-mittee for Northamp-ton ’93, Eliminating Racism—Build-ing Community." (The mailing list of active committee members began with about two dozen, rose quickly to 75, and stabilized at about 200.)

Having determined our goal, we found ourselves asking: How? We began by identifying all of the components of community life in our city. Our list included schools, houses of worship, the business community, the YMCA, local newspapers, libraries, service clubs (e.g., Rotary Club, Kiwanis Club), the hospital, the arts community, city government, and local institutions of higher education.

We then brainstormed about how each of these institutions could be brought into the committee’s work. Subsequently, we subdivided into working groups, using our lists to develop an outline of tasks: outreach to schools, cultural events, publicity and fund raising, among others. We also established a speakers’ bureau, and a historical committee to research the history of people of color in our community. We chose two co-chairs—a white man and a black woman—to guide us through the year and to represent us in the media.

During the summer and fall of 1992, the committee met biweekly to lay the groundwork for the 1993 activities. At each meeting, exciting new ideas were generated. For example, a committee member told us that 1993 would mark the 150th anniversary of Sojourner Truth’s arrival in our town, and so two special events to honor her were planned.

A local video store owner volunteered to set up a free lending library of race-related educational videotapes. Professional anti-racism educators offered to provide low-cost workshops to the community at large. And at one meeting the mayor announced that she would declare 1993 "The Year of Eliminating Racism and Building Community in Northampton." We also decided to make a gigantic hand-painted banner to hang across Main Street. The banner depicted a white and a black hand clasped in friendship with the committee name across the top.

As December ap-proached, we were electric with excitement. We held our first press conference and described our vision for the year ahead. We were looking forward to beginning 1993 with a great kickoff event. But doubts and anxiety lingered. Although a wonderful program was plan-ned, with speakers, poetry readings, and a gospel choir, we worried that no one would attend.

On January 8, 1993, to our amazement and de-light, we welcomed a standing-room-only crowd at the Northamp-ton Center for the Arts. From the podium, I looked out on a multiracial, multigenerational spectrum of our community. As the event got under way, several speakers’ voices broke with emotion.

In the 12 months that followed, we sponsored 55 events—about one per week. These included a one-woman reading of Sojourner Truth speeches, a July 4th Interdependence Day Picnic, a four-week series of panel discussions on the contributions of various ethnic groups to our community, and "Dismantling Racism" workshops held throughout the year. There were also community potluck suppers, pulpit exchanges, and the Big Sister-Little Sister program established to connect women of color from our local high school and college.

NOT EVERYONE WAS PLEASED that we used the "r" word. When we launched this project, there was a reaction of, "Racism? That’s a problem here?" from diverse sectors of the community.

Much of our early work focused on educating people about what Valerie Batts, executive director of Visions Inc. of Cambridge (a multiculturalism consultation and training organization), calls "modern racism." You could train a camera on "old-fashioned racism," Batts points out, but modern racism is subtle and insidious, embedded in our culture and institutions.

A local bank told us that our ideas were good and they wanted to support our work with a financial gift. But they made their check contingent on the removal of the words "eliminating racism" from the banner and our committee name. They requested that "celebrating diversity" or "honoring difference" be substituted. We lost the funding, but held firm to our belief that the problem is not "difference," but rather the power differential that is the base of racism.

Halfway through the year, we began organizing our closing event. Although we were existing on a shoestring budget—relying on individual donations, business sponsorships, and support from the local college—we decided to take a big financial risk and produce Langston Hughes’ play Black Nativity. Rev. Ives volunteered the use of his church’s sanctuary for the production. Blessed with the talents of a committee member who was an actor and director, we recruited actors, singers, and dancers from the community for the cast. Black Nativity ran for six nights in December, with more than 2,500 people seeing the production—some returning a second night with family and friends.

Although this was an exhilarating way to end 1993, we knew that our work was not over. Consequently, we dropped the ‘93 from our name and vowed to continue as The Committee for Northampton: Eliminating Racism—Building Community.

Early in January 1994 a local newspaper reporter called to write a story on the committee and our plans for 1994. Chuckling to ourselves that reporters were now calling us, we said that several committee members would be delighted to be interviewed.

The reporter began by commenting on the remarkable success of the committee, citing the packed events and cross-section of the community that was involved. "How did you do it?" he asked.

Without thinking, I blurted out, "By the grace of God, and sheer dumb luck." We laughed, thinking about the many mistakes we had made during the year. But we also knew that, in fact, the grace of God had been augmented by hundreds of volunteers with a shared belief that racism is a sin that can be combated directly with action, confrontation, education, vision, and prayer.

ANDREA AYVAZIAN, a Quaker, is an anti-racism educator with Communitas, a non-profit organization providing training and consultation to other non-profits on dismantling racism. The author wishes to acknowledge gratefully the input of Beverly Daniel Tatum and Peter Ives.