A Day of Learning

By R.T. Andrews

There is so much happening of grisly consequence these days, starting with the health, economic and civic ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic and the responses thereto by so many of our leaders, ranging from disappointing [DeWine] to it-is-what-it-is [Jackson] to absolutely horrendous [Trump].

Throw in what has quickly shaped up to the largest public corruption scheme in Ohio history, involving yet another Speaker of the Ohio House and the everyday mayhem of life in these United States, and we are seriously looking for some silver linings.

Thanks to an eagle-eyed friend from our college days, who has the same eclectic info-harvesting gene that energized the legendary Icabod Flewellen, we can share some sense of possibility that may exist in this moment of racial recalibration.

We say recalibration, although we know the term-du-jour is racial reckoning, which seems to us to be a bit more conclusive than the moment warrants. The issue of race is top-of-mind for millions of Americans these days in ways that it has not been since perhaps the 1960s. Of course, most of those new millions are white, because as they are discovering, America was founded, structured, and continues to operate on a basis of white supremacy that centralizes race in the mental operating system of virtually every person of color in the country.

But humans are fascinating creatures, and we all have the possibility of learning and self-improvement when sufficiently motivated by a desire to engage in the hard work of change.

That’s when programs like the following can provide us with insights and learning that the following programs are offering us today, via the continuing magic of the internet and the consequences of a COVID quarantine.

Leading off at 3p today is a webinar on “The Hidden Rules of Race”, a discussion about wealth inequality and why reparations are a critical tool and powerful tool to address it. The program is a presentation of The Roosevelt Institute and features RI’s president and CEO, Felicia Wong, Community of Change president Dorian Warren, and William A. Darity, the Samuel DuBois Cook Distinguished Professor of Public Policy at Duke University. Register and join via Zoom.

At 4PM comes a program from Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and American Research, “America’s Racial Reckoning: The Pandemic[s] and the Election”, hosted by Henry Louis Gates and moderated by Charlayne Hunter-Gault. Their assembled panel includes Charles Blow, Donna Brazile, David Brooks, Shermichael Singleton, Neera Tanden and Lawrence A. Bobo. This event will be streamed live at www.pbs.org/newshour and www.youtube.com/hutchinscenter.

Arthur Schomburg

If there is a can’t miss discussion today, it may very well emanate from New York Library’s Schomburg Center [the likely inspiration for Flewellen’s dream project], named for the famous Afro-American bibliophile Arthur (originally Arturo) Alfonso Schomburg (1874-1938) of Puerto Rican and German descent.

That is where noted author Isabel Wilkerson will discuss her acclaimed new book, Caste, The Origins of Our Discontents, officially published just yesterday. I read her essay last month on the topic and was blown away by its power and language, so I was not surprised to see a New York Times critic rave over the book — “about how brutal misperceptions about race have disfigured the American experiment” — in a review headlining it as "an ‘instant American classic’ about our abiding sin".

If it’s not too late, you may be able to register for tonight’s 8PM free program here.

Zack Reed

Closer to home, and actually first on the clock for today, former Cleveland city councilman and 2017 mayoral runner Zack Reed up will be the featured guest at the City Club of Cleveland. It’s no secret that Reed, currently a statewide minority affairs coordinator under Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, plans to run again for mayor next year. His appearance is one of an unspoken series of appearances by 2021 hopefuls being hosted by the City Club. Tune in here at noon to hear Reed’s views on issues including police reform, safety, gun violence, and affordable housing.

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We report with sadness the passing of Dr. Shirley S. Seaton on July 29. A memorial service will be held next year. Her obituary will be posted here later this week.

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The Real Deal

Wednesday, August 05, 2020

CPT | Racial Recalibration seems more like it

Cuyahoga Politics Today

A Day of Learning

By R.T. Andrews

There is so much happening of grisly consequence these days, starting with the health, economic and civic ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic and the responses thereto by so many of our leaders, ranging from disappointing [DeWine] to it-is-what-it-is [Jackson] to absolutely horrendous [Trump].

Throw in what has quickly shaped up to the largest public corruption scheme in Ohio history, involving yet another Speaker of the Ohio House and the everyday mayhem of life in these United States, and we are seriously looking for some silver linings.

Thanks to an eagle-eyed friend from our college days, who has the same eclectic info-harvesting gene that energized the legendary Icabod Flewellen, we can share some sense of possibility that may exist in this moment of racial recalibration.

But humans are fascinating creatures, and we all have the possibility of learning and self-improvement when sufficiently motivated by a desire to engage in the hard work of change.

That’s when programs like the following can provide us with insights and learning that the following programs are offering us today, via the continuing magic of the internet and the consequences of a COVID quarantine.

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