Tonight we will sit down together.
I don’t know how many of us it will be.
Ten or so around a table?
Twenty or so around a couple tables?
Maybe more.
Tonight we will sit down and begin a conversation about racism and prejudice as it is experienced in our communities and a part of our cultural fabric. In the deepest and most honest part of me I know it is a conversation we need to have.
A conversation I need to have.

As I have thought about our conversation this evening, I have to say I hope it makes me squirm in my seat. I hope it makes me stand face to face with a part of myself and a part of my community that, too often, gets politely gets swept under the rug. I hope I walk away…I hope all of us walk away…a bit unsettled and uneasy.

We are long past the point of polite conversations about racism and prejudice.
We don’t need to shout at each other or point fingers at each other or blame each other, but we do need to be honest with each other. And for those of us who are white, we need to step back from and acknowledge our position of privilege and to do our best to catch a glimpse of what the world looks like and feels like from the perspective of those who are not as privileged as we are.

Tonight we begin the conversation.
It is about time.