Announcements
Greenwood Commonwealth, August 12, 2009
By Tim Kalich, Editor
A group working to improve race relations in Greenwood has a new name.
Formerly known as the Greenwood Committee on Race Relations, the organization is now known as “The Bridge.”
Freddy Baine, one of 14 steering committee members, explained the change Tuesday during an invitation-only dinner at the Crystal Grill that attracted a biracial crowd of about 50.
He said the Yazoo River historically has symbolized the racial separation in Greenwood, with whites living on the north side and blacks on the south. Although there has been a gradual infusion in recent years of black families in North Greenwood and whites continue to live in the downtown area to the south, the symbolism remains.
"A lot of people think that the river divides us," said Baine, a 47-year-old computer programmer with Staplcotn. "The bridge is the medium that brings us across to each other."
The race relations initiative, which was launched almost two years ago with the help of the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation, has also adopted a mission statement: "to provide and promote an environment that builds trust and relationships across ethnic and cultural lines."
A big part of that effort, according to organizers, includes gatherings like Tuesday's, where people of all races can get together in what Susan Glisson of the Winter Institute calls a "safe space" and talk honestly and respectfully.
"It is really hard to build your community in a way that benefits everyone if people don't trust each other," she said.
The Winter Institute, based at the University of Mississippi, is named after William Winter, the former Mississippi governor who has been hailed nationally for his work in the areas of civil rights and race relations.
The Winter Institute, with the financial assistance of two Michigan foundations, is hoping to help Greenwood and four other Mississippi communities master the art of fostering biracial trust with a "welcome table" initiative.
Twenty-five individuals from Greenwood - and similar-sized delegations from Oxford, McComb, Philadelphia and the Gulf Coast - will converge for a fall retreat to learn how to prompt this racial dialogue. The idea, said Glisson, is that those who are trained at this retreat will go back to their home communities and teach others over the next year. Then, for the next 10 years, these pilot communities will begin to spread the example to other cities in the state.
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Fetzer Institute are funding the initiative, but Glisson stressed that its success will hinge on the local buy-in.
"We're in it for the long haul, but we believe communities have to provide the initiative," he said.
As an exercise, Tuesday's participants talked over dinner about signs of racial progress they have seen occur in Greenwood. The list included, besides the obvious example of the gathering itself, the integration of the Greenwood-Leflore County Chamber of Commerce, the Greenwood Rotary Club and the Greenwood Country Club. Participants noted the efforts to bring young people of all races together, such as the recently concluded summer workshop at Greenwood Little Theatre.
The location of Tuesday's meeting itself was cited by many as a symbol of racial progress. The Crystal Grill, in its former incarnation as the Crystal Club, was a private dining facility whose membership was restricted to white patrons.
"I've been eating here since I was 6 years old," said Henry Flautt, a white 75-year-old retired insurance agency owner, as he commended the transformation in the landmark restaurant's clientele that began slowly in the 1980s.
William Stanciel, the city's building inspector, said he was encouraged about race relations by his own life experience. The black 54-year-old said a generation ago, he would never have had a chance at the job he now holds.
"I've seen so many things change around here, but all of them good things," he said.
Stanciel said he has tried to follow the example of his grandmother, who died in 1992 at the age of 106. She lived through all the indignities of the Jim Crow laws but maintained a loving outlook.
"She didn't dislike nobody," Stanciel said. "How can I?"
Individuals interested in getting involved in The Bridge can sign up at www.greenwoodinclusive.org.
