Somerville, MA, October 20, 2015 — The city of Somerville is tackling the issues of race and racism through the platform of community conversations.
With the last two years full of highly publicized events involving race relations and the growth of the Black Lives Matter movement, it is now a critical time in the nation to face these issues. Mayor Curtatone and his administration recognize this and are bringing the national conversation to a local level, through Community Conversations.
Race and racism are not easy subjects to talk about, and the city wants to learn more about residents’ experiences and perceptions on the topic through these talks. Karla Rab is one of many residents participating in these conversations. She said she attended the talks because “I read in the Somerville Journal of an incident making it clear that there is racism in Somerville.” She continued on why she was so dedicated to participating in the effort to resolve racism in the city: “because nobody wants there to be racism in our city, in fact one of the reasons that I stayed in Somerville for as long I have is because it’s a very ethnically diverse city.”
Community Conversations provide a safe place for members of the city to talk openly about racism and offer suggestions on ways to approach the issue. Natasha Naim is a facilitator of one of the scheduled talks and said, “I’m expecting a lot of feedback, and really good recommendations for the city and people to just get out and share what they believe and have a space to do so.” These conversations are being held throughout the month of October in each of the city’s seven wards.
Dough Kress, Director of Health and Human Services for Somerville helped bring this program to life, “If you notice all the locations that we’re hosting these in, they’re not in city buildings, they’re actually in community buildings; And that’s important to me because I want to make sure people feel comfortable coming to the different locations, but also we should be going to the community, not the community coming to us.”
The facilitators keep the conversation flowing — and ensure that participants feel comfortable sharing their opinions and concerns. Naim said she prepared for the Community Conversation she facilitated by observing how people interact in difficult situations and learning how to maintain balance during heated discussions. Naim says, “A facilitator is someone who listens to the group is able to sort of move the conversation around. If someone’s hogging the space or is just sort of talking too much, talking too little; just getting a better sense of a… third party in the group. Being able to make sure things don’t get too rough and too raw.”
The Somerville police department, led by chief David Fallon, has been vocal in its support of the Black Lives Matter campaign. A police officer from the department has been in attendance for each conversation thus far in an effort to work with the community on tackling the issue of racism.
Organizers hope these meetings are just the beginning of conversations on race and racism. Kress said, “The idea was to get them to participate in hopes that they would continue the conversation either in their or home or come back to another Community Conversation or with the recommendations that they’re bringing forward to begin a different type or a different series of conversations within this.”
Each conversation has its own focus, making sure all segments of the community are heard. The city has teamed up with the group, Teen Empowerment, for an upcoming conversation. This talk will be a forum for the city’s youth to share their thoughts on race and racism.
Nancy Bacci, Director of human services for Somerville, who worked in conjunction with Kress to organize Community Conversations, elaborated on the upcoming talk with Teen Empowerment. “I’m really excited for that one, to just kind of see the perspective that the young people are coming from, and I think that when we’re hearing the experience stages, I think that content will probably vary from what we’ve heard in the past just because of the generational difference,” she said.
After all the conversations are completed, recommendations from the community on how to handle racism will be compiled and then presented to Mayor Curtatone. The input will be part of a framework around which policies to improve race relations in Somerville can be formed.
Somerville resident, Henry Parker, participated in the very first Community Conversation. He supports change, but recognizes that change takes time, “ It’s going to be very slow and ongoing. There’s an old saying: dissatisfaction brings about change. The more people are vocal– the mayor seems open to change, which is a positive thing– and they gotta focus on the youth because the older generation, they’re not going to change their mindset.
The final Community Conversations will be held Mon., Oct. 26, 6-8 p.m., at Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave, Somerville.