CommUNITY Dialogue opens discussion about racism
On Aug. 22, members of Grace Missionary Church in Zion welcomed more than 50 participants to the final CommUNITY Dialogue hosted by Zion Township, Illinois Humanities, Coalition for Healthy Communities and Foundation grant recipient YWCA of Lake County.
On five separate dates over the summer, residents of Lake County gathered at Grace Missionary Church in Zion for the Love Thy Neighbor summer series. The aim of these dialogues was to facilitate discussions about race, cultural experiences, and takeaways for the community to work towards healing.
Throughout these sessions, participants had the chance to explore racial biases, build awareness of their own mindset, and share various community events designed to combat racism.
During the final installment of the series, the theme was unification as a community, emphasizing that to improve society, people must build alliances, and that the foundation for these alliances lies in intelligent, friendly and open conversation with one another.
Marcus Burnett, grandfather of two Waukegan High School students, emphasized this point.
"Many of us don't know how to have dialogue. Or the dialogue we do have is antagonistic. These sessions give us the skills needed to effectively communicate with one another," he said.
The evening began with an activity called "How Diverse is Your Community?" where participants were asked to explore and consider the diversity of their circle. The main takeaway from this activity was that that many day-to-day social interactions lack in diversity.
"We must not only be open to diversity, we must seek out diversity," said Claress Pettengill, director of resource development for YWCA of Lake County.
Zion resident and chairman of the Lake County chapter of Black Lives Matter Clyde McClemore spoke to an increasingly prevalent theme in society, one that is especially common on social media.
"We see media headlines on certain groups and make automatic assumptions on the characteristics of the people in them," he said.
"We see groups like Black Lives Matter and We Back the Badge and assume we know everything there is to know about the people in these groups. We assume that they are opposites of one another. Why can't you support Black Lives and the police at the same time?"
During the evening, participants spoke on institutionalized racism present in local communities. When discussions about moving forward as a unified community were brought up, McClemore emphasized that elements of the country's past cannot be forgotten.
"We can't dismiss the past because institutionalized racism is a product of the past."
As the evening came to an end, Grayslake North Social Studies Department Chair Chris Kubic asked participants "What's stopping you from doing anti-racism work?"
In the closing moments of the fifth installment of the Love Thy Neighbor series, attendees were invited to share their own events and sign up for at least one event designed to take action in the fight against racism.
Those interested in hosting a dialogue in their community can contact Courtney Combs at combsc@ywcalakecountyil.org. Keep up with The Lake County Community Foundation on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To learn more or contribute to local efforts to address poverty locally or countywide, visit www.lakecountycf.org or call (847) 377-0520.