The Dialogue on Race will hold its 14th annual winter summit on January 24th, with the theme “Taking Action for Change.” After two years of planning and another year of focus group studies, an interracial steering committee assembled by Penny Franklin scheduled our first community meeting, which was held during the Martin Luther King holiday weekend in January of 2013.
The goal of the Dialogue on Race (DOR) is to end racial injustice against African Americans in Montgomery County, Virginia, and our objectives are to change specific racially discriminatory policies and practices in the County. Thus, “Dialogue on Race” is a misnomer. We were never about just talking. We are about changing policies and practices.
From focus group sessions, we gathered a set of racial issues that we organized into five Issue Groups – Education, Law Enforcement, Income and Employment, White Privilege, and Limited Presence (of African Americans on boards and committees in the County).
Hundreds of concerned local citizens have worked with DOR over the years. And with the issue groups meeting regularly, we have addressed a long list of issues and achieved some successes. I will note some of the key results and activities.
Three of the objectives of the Education Issue Group, as established by the focus groups, are to decrease the achievement gap, reduce differential disciplinary treatment, and recruit African American teachers and administrators. The education Issue Group works with the school system with emphasis on these issues. Some results so far: The achievement gap has not been eliminated, but it has been reduced. One year, no African American student was given an out-of-school suspension, where previously African Americans were several times more likely to be suspended. However, racially disparate suspensions continue to be a problem that we work on.
The number of minority teachers and administrators has increased substantially. This result was aided by DOR’s collaboration with the county school system in developing a student video that emphasized the importance of hiring minority teachers. This video became a powerful recruiting tool.
Critical issues for the Law Enforcement Issue Group are racial profiling and hiring African American police officers. To determine if racial profiling is behind the fact that black motorists are stopped at a much higher rate than whites, the police chiefs and the Sheriff agreed to collect data on all traffic stops. These data include race, gender, age, and reason for the stop, time of day, and the result of the stop. We continue to analyze this data as the State now mandates its collection.
To enhance the possibility of steering youth, especially black youth, into police work, we decided to “grow our own.” First, we raised $40,000 and started a scholarship program at New River Community College (NRCC). Next, we proposed, and the County Board of Supervisors approved our plan to provide two free years of education at NRCC to all high school graduates who meet the criteria. The Education Issue Group raises funds to help support this county-wide program. Over 600 students have benefited from this program.
Early on, the Income and Employment Issue Group succeeded in getting local government agencies to “Ban the Box” on employment applications, which had been causing employers to avoid considering people they might hire despite their criminal records.
Other notable activities: A graduate student member of this Issue Group conducted her master’s thesis research on approaches to diversity by executives of agencies and corporations in the region for work in employment issues.
For the White Privilege work, we conducted a White Privilege Walk at a summer public event. Since then, this issue group has developed and tested a white privilege education program to be used in their efforts to raise awareness of the effects of this phenomenon.
To facilitate its work, the Limited Presence Issue Group sponsored a survey of organizations in Montgomery Cunty on the demographic representation on their boards.
During the COVID pandemic, DOR conducted webinars on racial trauma, vaccines, and policing.
In 2019, DOR was awarded the Virginia Education Association’s Annual Fitz Turner Award, which honors outstanding leadership and contributions to enhance respect for human and civil rights in Virginia.
We have had some successes, but problems remain, and we continue the work.
