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http://www.leesburg2day.com/articles/2009/03/02/news/fp264anaacp030209.txt
NAACP Panel Explores Status Of Race Relations
By Kara Clark
(Created: Monday, March 2, 2009 5:49 PM EST)
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Slideshow
A little over a year since its inaugural panel discussion of race relations, the Loudoun County Chapter of the NAACP gathered again Saturday in Purcellville for a second forum to explore what had, or had not, changed during the year.
"Race Relations: Things Have Changed" featured panelists from different sectors of the community. Moderated by SYMBIOSIS President Walt Hogan, the forum featured representatives from the civil rights, business, education and political sectors, and Islamic, Jewish, Christian, African, Asian and Hispanic communities. Angela Ciccolo, interim general counsel/secretary to the NAACP, Kenneth Robinson, representing the business sector and Farhanahz Ellis of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society, all sat on the panel for the second year. New to the panel were: retired Loudoun educator Jerry Hill; Phyllis Randall, representing the political arena; Sherry Sanabria, representing the Jewish community; the Rev. Paul Campbell of the Abundant Life Church of God in Hamilton; Baffour Agyemanduah Jr., representing the African community; and Marty Martinez, co-founder of La Voz and also a Leesburg Town Council member.
Dozens came out to the Carver Center Saturday to hear the lively discussion on the subject of race relations. Despite one significant change for the African-American community, and the country as a whole, over the past year-namely the election of the country's first African-American president-there was consensus among panelists and guests that change was still needed.
Randall recalled seeing a sign at President Barack Obama's inauguration that read "We Have Overcome."
"Although we elected Obama and I think that's a great victory, I also think we should be careful into reading too much into that one act," Randall said. "There is a long way to go. We have not overcome and there's still a lot of work to be done."
Ciccolo pointed to several gaps that continue to exist in the African-American community, including the rates of incarceration among young black men, disparities in education and educational achievement and the rate of HIV/AIDS infections.
"Working together we can make a difference," Ciccolo said.
Several recent news stories, given varying degrees of emphasis nationwide, continued to point to the fact that racism persisted, panelists said. Along with the printing of a controversial editorial cartoon in the New York Post that portrayed an ape being shot by police officers that then say, "I guess we'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill," Hogan and others in the audience highlighted local stories of residents interrogated or treated unjustly by authorities.
Many panelists chalked these incidents up to ignorance, or the arrogance of a set of beliefs that are perhaps no longer in the majority.
"We are on the cusp of tremendous change," Robinson said. "The demographics in this country are changing. When you look at the U.S. 30 years from now it will not look the same and neither will its power base."
Pam Taggart, who chairs the Loudoun NAACP's Education Committee, pointed to a local instance where an African-American woman was walking in her River Creek neighborhood, a gated community east of Leesburg, when she was interrogated by security workers as to when her service was over and when she would be leaving. According to Taggart, authorities thought the woman was a maid, not a River Creek resident, and she had to walk to the community clubhouse so the general manager could confirm her residency.
Racism, Taggart said, "is right here in Loudoun County."
http://www.leesburg2day.com/articles/2009/03/02/news/fp264anaacp030209.txt
NAACP Panel Explores Status Of Race Relations
By Kara Clark
(Created: Monday, March 2, 2009 5:49 PM EST)
| Text Size | print | e-mail | comment (1 comment(s)) | upload your video with voped voped
Slideshow
A little over a year since its inaugural panel discussion of race relations, the Loudoun County Chapter of the NAACP gathered again Saturday in Purcellville for a second forum to explore what had, or had not, changed during the year.
"Race Relations: Things Have Changed" featured panelists from different sectors of the community. Moderated by SYMBIOSIS President Walt Hogan, the forum featured representatives from the civil rights, business, education and political sectors, and Islamic, Jewish, Christian, African, Asian and Hispanic communities. Angela Ciccolo, interim general counsel/secretary to the NAACP, Kenneth Robinson, representing the business sector and Farhanahz Ellis of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society, all sat on the panel for the second year. New to the panel were: retired Loudoun educator Jerry Hill; Phyllis Randall, representing the political arena; Sherry Sanabria, representing the Jewish community; the Rev. Paul Campbell of the Abundant Life Church of God in Hamilton; Baffour Agyemanduah Jr., representing the African community; and Marty Martinez, co-founder of La Voz and also a Leesburg Town Council member.
Dozens came out to the Carver Center Saturday to hear the lively discussion on the subject of race relations. Despite one significant change for the African-American community, and the country as a whole, over the past year-namely the election of the country's first African-American president-there was consensus among panelists and guests that change was still needed.
Randall recalled seeing a sign at President Barack Obama's inauguration that read "We Have Overcome."
"Although we elected Obama and I think that's a great victory, I also think we should be careful into reading too much into that one act," Randall said. "There is a long way to go. We have not overcome and there's still a lot of work to be done."
Ciccolo pointed to several gaps that continue to exist in the African-American community, including the rates of incarceration among young black men, disparities in education and educational achievement and the rate of HIV/AIDS infections.
"Working together we can make a difference," Ciccolo said.
Several recent news stories, given varying degrees of emphasis nationwide, continued to point to the fact that racism persisted, panelists said. Along with the printing of a controversial editorial cartoon in the New York Post that portrayed an ape being shot by police officers that then say, "I guess we'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill," Hogan and others in the audience highlighted local stories of residents interrogated or treated unjustly by authorities.
Many panelists chalked these incidents up to ignorance, or the arrogance of a set of beliefs that are perhaps no longer in the majority.
"We are on the cusp of tremendous change," Robinson said. "The demographics in this country are changing. When you look at the U.S. 30 years from now it will not look the same and neither will its power base."
Pam Taggart, who chairs the Loudoun NAACP's Education Committee, pointed to a local instance where an African-American woman was walking in her River Creek neighborhood, a gated community east of Leesburg, when she was interrogated by security workers as to when her service was over and when she would be leaving. According to Taggart, authorities thought the woman was a maid, not a River Creek resident, and she had to walk to the community clubhouse so the general manager could confirm her residency.
Racism, Taggart said, "is right here in Loudoun County."
