CONTACT INFORMATION:

Raymond Winbush, Ph.D.

Phone: (615) 329-8575/865-9500

E-Mail: rwinbush@usit.net

Jackie Jones

Phone: (615) 366-7108

E-Mail: JJones1838@aol.com

National Dialogue On Race Continues As RRI Launches Effort To Add 2000 Communities By 2000

(Nashville, Tenn.) --- As President Clinton's one-year initiative on race nears an end, Fisk University's Race Relations Institute announced today (June 1) an ambitious goal of engaging 2000 communities in dialogues to encourage racial reconciliation by the year 2000. The Institute will launch the national effort during the 32nd Race Relations Institute (RRI), July 7 -12 at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee.

"If recent news reports are any indication, Americans are still struggling with the issue of race," said RRI Director Dr. Raymond Winbush. "Over the last few years, the Institute has become a national resource and clearinghouse for race and related issues. Our goal to actively engage 2000 communities by the year 2000 will allow those communities in rural and remote areas to have a national vehicle to articulate their views and a formal structure for designing customized local strategies to address key issues. This effort is national tie-in to President Clinton's vision of One America in the 21^st Century."

Recently named by the White House as one of the nation's "Promising Practices," the Institute will continue to facilitate the national dialogue on race this summer with a diverse roster of African, African-American, Asians, Latino/as, American Indian and White speakers who will offer a variety of perspectives on ethnic issues.

Dr. John Hope Franklin, chair of the President's Advisory Board on Race, begins the dialogue with a keynote address on Tuesday, July 7. Other panelists include:

Naomi Tutu, program officer at the University of Cape Town's African Gender Institute and daughter of Bishop Desmond Tutu;

Dr. David Campt, President Clinton's Advisory Board on Race;

Andrew Hacker, sociologist and author (Two Nations: Black and White, Separate, Hostile, Unequal);

Jill Nelson, author (Volunteer Slavery and Straight, No Chaser);

Tavis Smiley, author and commentator for Black Entertainment Television (BET) and The Tom Joyner Morning Show;

Great Eagle, American Indian Activist;

John Seigenthaler, chairman of the First Amendment Center;

Dr. Dorothy Height, chair emeritus, National Council of Negro Women;

Catherine Le Blanc, executive director of the White House Conference on Historically Black Colleges and Universities;

Dr. Henry Foster, senior advisor to President Clinton on teen pregnancy and youth issues and professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Meharry Medical College;

Dick Gregory, activist and author;

John Conyers, Democratic Congressman;

Sherman Evans and Angel Quintero, founders of Nu South Clothing;

Richie Perez, founder of the Young Lords Political Party;

Lee Mun Wah, film maker (The Color of Fear);

Russell Means, American Indian Activist, actor, and author;

Will Campbell, civil rights activist, author (Brother to a Dragonfly);

Bill Barnes, minister, Edgehill United Methodist Church;

Sarah Buel, attorney, race and domestic violence expert;

Rose Ochi, director, U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Service;

Rene Linares, activist and radio host, Greenville, SC;

Lisa Bland, director National Urban League's Race Relations Department;

David Du Bois, chair, W. E. B. Du Bois Foundation and son of W. E. B. Du Bois;

Dr. Frances Cress Welsing, psychiatrist and author (The Isis Papers);

Neely Fuller, author (The United Independent Compensatory Code);

Rebecca Mouse Yahola, American Indian Activist;

Tim Wise, founder, ERACISM;

Yolande Beckles, British Civil Rights Activist;

Haunani Kay Trask, author and professor of Hawaiian Studies, University of Hawaii;

Fred Cloud, Human Rights Activist and author;

Johnathan Hutson, author, Center for Living Democracy

Kingsley Abrams, British Civil Right Activist;

William Leftwich, deputy assistant secretary, Department of Defense Equal Opportunity Office;

Colonel Fred Torres, director, Marine Corps Equal Opportunity Office;

D. Michael Collins, deputy director, U. S. Air Force Equal Opportunity Office;

Adjoa A. Aiyetora, Esq., director of administration, Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Inc.;

Ron and Natalie Daise, television hosts of Nickelodeon's Gullah Gullah Island.

Again this year, the Institute will be a working session that will engage each participant in an open and frank dialogue about race as a global phenomenon. "There will be both agreement and disagreement with speakers and participants, but we will learn much about race in the world," said Winbush.

"Previous Institutes produced workable policies related to school, armed forces desegregation and health care for the nation's poor. Are the goals of the Institute ambitious? Yes, and they have always been. But, we encourage everyone to be a part of its historic role in providing leadership on the issue of race in America and around the world," he said.

The public forums, Evening Dialogues, are free and open to the public. They begin at 7 P.M. Along with the nightly entertainment and specialty vendors on the Campus Grove, evening speakers include: Dr. Frances Cress Welsing (Tuesday), Andrew Hacker (Wednesday), Jill Nelson (Thursday), Naomi Tutu (Friday), and Dick Gregory (Saturday). Lectures are scheduled for the Appleton Room in Jubilee Hall and the university's chapel.

Through a recent grant from The W. K. Kellogg Foundation, the historic Institute, founded in 1942 by the eminent sociologist Charles S. Johnson continues its mission of bringing persons together to talk about the unresolved problem of race on both a national and international level.

The Race Relations Institute is the only organization of its kind at a historically Black university devoted to the study and discussion of race in America, and one of the few institutions where persons of color determine the direction of the dialogue. "We feel strongly that it should recapture Johnson's vision of a nation unafraid to tackle the difficult subject of race," stated Winbush.

Since October 1996 when RRI received an infusion of funding from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, the Institute has conducted over 20 lectures, community forums, and workshops, held three conferences, and created a daily listserv that involves international participants. RRI has partnered with several organizations on its programs including: the U.S. Departments of Justice and Transportation, the Public Broadcasting System and several universities.

Programs during the past year included dialogues with: actors from the film Amistad; Gus and Odessa Smith, parents of Kemba Smith; pastors from churches that have been arsoned throughout the United States; Hip-Hop Activist Kevin Powell, and a dialogue on Black-Jewish Relationships.

Space is limited. An application can either be mailed, faxed or e-mailed.

Fees, which include meals and registration are $295.00 in advance and $325.00 on-site. Student rates are $75 in advance and $125 (on-site). For registration information call, 329-8575. Volunteers are also needed for the event. Call RRI Program Director Shirley Sims at 329-8811 for more information.

RRI is funded with grants from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, Pitney Bowes, Ford Motor Company, First Amendment Center and Xerox Corporation. The goal of the Institute is to heighten awareness among all people on the divisive and insidious nature of racism.

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 Copyright 1998 by Bro. Mosi Hoj and Information Man, Inc.