In light of the attention police brutality and in particular the vicious policing of African-Americans has recently received in the media and the public response, racism was percolating in the field this year at the summit and needed to be talked about.
This need revealed itself as early as the morning circle on the second day- a time when the whole camp gathers. The entire camp walks in silence to the outdoor pavilion for the morning circle. After a few moments of silent meditation, the youth are invited to step into the middle of the circle if they feel called. The invitation is to share a song, a prayer, or release a “stone in your heart”- anything that is present in the youth that they want the camp to hear and witness. During that first morning circle there were words spoken by the youth of heavy hearts, anger and depression after what happened to Michael Brown, Sean Garner, and the many other incidents of police brutality in the country this year. It quickly became clear to the Facilitation Team that the theme of racism needed attention. The Facilitation team, true to their commitment to value attuning to the needs of the camp rather than pre-set agendas, decided to offer several talking circles on the subject of racism. Remarkably, practically the entire camp attended the talks. These talking circles, called “Break-out Sessions” are optional for the youth and volunteers. If the youth don’t want to attend, they can swim, do art, play music or engage in other activities, normally the break out sessions are attended by 15-40% of the youth, so to have about 80% of the camp show up for these circles showed us just how needed this dialogue is.
Listening and participating in these circles gave me the opportunity to deepen my understanding of the visceral experience of people of color in this country. Many of the youth and volunteers who are African-American or Latino expressed the deep pain and rage they feel everyday. Some shared stories of their own abuse at the hands of the police and legal system. It was heartbreaking to hear the Africans who have come to the U.S. as immigrants or refugees share their experiences of feeling less and less welcome and increasingly afraid for their safety as they have learned what they could expect from the police and legal system here in their new country.
Creating a Global Village To Explore Issues of Race and Displacement 