Initiatives of Change - Bridging the Gaps by Robert Corcoran, United States

Recently I attended a forum at the University of Denver to examine approaches to intergroup relations fifty years after Brown. As one of just half a dozen practitioners among thirty leading academics I was somewhat overawed by the concentration of intellectual firepower.

There’s an obvious need for greater dialogue between those in the field and those doing research. Practitioners sometimes shy away from research and evaluation for fear that the assumptions of their work will be challenged. Researchers can get so enamored with theory that they overlook the simple realities of life.

The good news is that the latest research supports what practitioners have observed: bringing people of divergent backgrounds and views together under the right conditions does tend to reduce prejudice. Tom Pettigrew of UC Santa Cruz and Linda Tropp of Boston College reached this conclusion as a result of their meta-analytical test and reformulation of Gordon Allport’s Contact Theory. Some 250,000 individuals from 38 nations were involved in the studies.

Those of us in the field should welcome the interaction with scholars. I was also glad to find an eagerness among some researchers to engage in real community encounters.

There are other gaps that need to be bridged in the work for racial justice and reconciliation.

Often those on the political left are so certain of their analysis that they make it hard for others to join the conversation as equals. Some years ago, a dentist friend of conservative views, who devotes much time to pro bono work, attended a dismantling racism training session. He left in frustration because the trainer insisted on acceptance of a particular social analysis and historical interpretation. He was made to feel that his contribution to the community was of no value. A potential ally was lost.

In this work everyone is needed and no group has all the answers. We are all teachers and learners.

A second gap was highlighted for me by my rector Bob Hetherington. During his seminary days at Yale, he took part in voter registration drives in the South. A classmate, Jonathan Daniels, died when he took the gunshot intended for a young black woman. Those were heroic days. But, says Rector Bob, “We ended up becoming so busy doing the work that we forgot to pray, we forgot to worship.”

Are those of us working for racial justice taking enough care of our inner lives to sustain the work? Are we paying attention to the things which drain energy or need healing?

In recent years as the political right has claimed the religious high ground, many in racial justice work have developed an allergic reaction to any overt linkage of spiritual life to efforts for social change. I received an email from someone with whom I was serving on a committee to develop structures for a national network dealing with race relations. Almost apologetically the writer said, “I get the impression from some of your comments that there is a spiritual dimension to what you do. I hope I am not embarrassing you by asking this, but if it is true I would like to talk about it.”

How can we create a safe space in which to encourage open dialogue about these things?

At an organizational level, there is not nearly enough conversation and exchange of learning between those working for systems change and those focused on community transformation through faith-based reconciliation work.

A leader of Europe’s labor movement once observed that when people change the structures of society change, and when the structures of society change people change. Both are needed and both go together.