Coffee & Conversation: We Are Ferguson

Originally posted Sept. 4, 2014 – After a hiatus, Coffee and Conversation returns this Friday (check out the ground rules).  Lots happening this summer, but shall we begin with a conversation about recent events in Ferguson, Missouri – or, actually, throughout the States?

I thought I was mad about it all, but I just realized that it is not anger, but heartbreak. And the heartbreak got worse when I started to ask myself questions.

Is it time to finally begin morning the American Dream instead of celebrating it as a possibility? Can and should it be resurrected?

Middle class?

Are we willing to continue to accept urban spaces without museums, universities, courts for play, businesses, and poetry writing? Can we afford not to pay young people to find their way? Can we afford not to require national service?

Is it time for us to revisit civic education that is uncritical of police taking control over – sometimes lethal – the bodies of dissenters and truth–tellers?

Declare a cease-fire and the end of hostilities in the War on Drugs? Is there anything wrong with claiming defeat?

Is it the process or the people that create communities without representation?

Where are all the White folks?

Instead of a national conversation, how about a campaign and a fight against the global attitudes of our own racists extremists?

Can our social spheres still rest on the notion that the level of humanity for Black folks is less than that of all others in the society?

News?

Can we afford to continue to be colorblind?

Why do we question the morality of Black folks as a condition for allowing them to exercise their rights?

Do we know each other?

This Friday, let’s discuss the tragic death of Michael Brown and other heartbreaks.  We’ll be in the Howard Thurman Center – 3-5 p.m. I’ll bring the coffee, you bring the conversation (and a cup).

Peace.

#buconvo