Four Clinton School students are working with Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas to facilitate conversations about race in Helena-West Helena.
Kate Cawvey, Derrick Rainey, Hilary Trudell and Stephanie Ryan Williams will work with the college to establish a process to address racial issues and equip a group of faculty and staff members to facilitate the process in the future.
The students hope to create a dialogue centered on the needs and resources of the community that will help its members deal with racial issues in the future.
The college’s mission to create change and build community relationships prompted the project. The college wants to spearhead these conversations on the campus and eventually in the community at-large to combat a community history of racial divisions.
“It’s bigger than the concept of race,” said Vice Chancellor Lynn Boone. “It’s about understanding the human condition.”
Phillips Community College Chancellor Steven Murray said the project is “a starting point.” The college has already begun to foster conversations about class and race by holding sessions with faculty and staff.
During their first meeting with the Clinton School students, faculty members said the college is “not as colorblind as we would like to believe.” While the college has launched efforts to explore issues of race, it wants to delve deeper into the community’s racial atmosphere.
“If we are to transform the culture of the college,” Murray said, “we must begin with an honest look at what we believe and how we act on those beliefs.”
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