Racism in St. Louis: the Challenge to People of Faith

Saturday, November 14th, 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM
In the Xavier Ballroom of St. Francis Xavier College Church
Grand Ave at Lindell Blvd, 63108

$12.00 per person includes program and lunch by pre-registration. Fill out the form you will find here and then pay at the door on the day of the event. The deadline for reserving a lunch is November 6.

A goodwill offering of $5.00 at the door will be appreciated if you do not register for lunch.

As committed faith and civic community members, we hope to become more aware of racism and how it impacts our lives in St. Louis today. In the morning sessions, our keynote speaker and panel of experts will help us understand the history of racism in St. Louis and its current realities as witnessed in education, housing, employment, and criminal justice systems. After lunch, and with your participation, we will begin developing some collective and individual actions for addressing racism in our City.

9:00 AM – Noon: Building Awareness

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Terry Jones, Professor of Political Science, UMSL

Panelists

Moderator: Tony Neal, President/CEO of Educational Equity Consultants

Education: John Wright, Ph.D., Educator, Administrator and Author

Housing: Will Jordan, Executive Director, Metropolitan St. Louis EHOC

Employment: Val Patton, Director, St. Louis Business Diversity Initiative

Criminal Justice Systems: Mary Fox, Attorney at Law

Breakout Small Groups – Facilitator will propose questions that engage table members; each person will have time to respond to morning presentations and offer own opinion.

12:00 Noon – 12:45 PM: Dominique Catered Box Lunch

12:45 – 3:00 PM: Building Actions

Small Action Groups – small group table discussions led by facilitators on racism in four areas: education, housing, employment and criminal justice systems; focus on what participants know is being done to break down or eliminate racism in these areas sharing models or "state of the art" programs; focus on possible solutions: what next steps might work in these areas? The afternoon will conclude with a plenary session to share 1–2 actions suggested from each small action group.

Sponsored by: St. Francis Xavier College Church, St. Alphonsus "Rock" - Peace & Justice Committee, Third Baptist Church, Charles Lwanga Center, St. Margaret of Scotland-Social Justice Committee, and the Institute for Peace and Justice.