A Forum for The People in the Galesburg area

Adding 'class' to the issue of 'race' broadens the potential awareness of poverty issues (especially the youth and community needs here, touched on at the first Town Hall Meeting). The kind of single-image view (for example, what we get from television) can then be seen for what it is, a form of racism. And it begins the dialog on class, which is interwoven with racism in part, and which illuminates a disprivilege connection shared across races.

Suddenly it's no longer 'them vs. us' and full focus on difference; it's a greater complexity, where we are different and alike and somewhere in between, and we can work together to understand all facets of this reality. There is rich tradition in difference, beauty to be learned from one another. And there is commonality, a language (for example, love and care for children) that transcends dialect and group identity.

I am tremendously interested in helping to start a group on race & class in Galesburg, and I'm very willing to facilitate its beginning and then step back and follow. Send me a pm here, send an e-mail to diana@thepeopleingalesburg.org, or even better, post a reply to this topic and we can begin the discussion publicly. I have ideas, but no expertise, only concern that racism and classism flourish in an environment of enforced silence.