20 Sep the Global Action Research Center (Global ARC)

You are invited to participate in The Path Forward Project, based at The Global Action Research Center (Global ARC). https://www.theglobalarc.org/ (Links to an external site.)    President / CEO Mr Waston will be visiting our class on Monday, July 27.

The Path Forward Project collects thoughts, impressions, and critiques of the current uprising from a diverse group of people of all ages, racial identities, gender identities, sexual identities, socioeconomic status, whoever you may be.

You are invited you to share your understanding of what you see going on, or personal experiences that support your understanding, or what you think we can do to transform our society into one that is more just, caring, and equitable.

Your submission can be in the form of:

The written word (four pages in length)

Contributions will be archived, and participants will have full control over where and how their contribution is shared.

You are asked to orient your comments to one or all of the following content areas

Racism (including thoughts on the value of a Truth and Reconciliation processes, based on the South African model for Racial Healing. The Global ARC advocates for a national healing campaign that is enacted at neighbourhood / regional scale a well-designed and tightly facilitated process that allows all residents to give an account of their experiences, express their feelings, and work toward healing and reconciliation. The Global ARC also advocates for reparations, distributed not to individuals, but rather dedicated to economic strategies that address inequities in employment, business development, housing, education, health care, etc. For the Global ARC, reparations are understood as investments in systemic solutions that atone for centuries of this societys misconduct.

Police Misconduct (including thoughts on accountability, ensuring equal application of justice for all, including protection of and service to the Black community and all communities of colour; and policy constraints on the use of force.)

System Change If democracy is about majorities, how do we build coalitions and collaborations necessary to people together across racial, class, gender, and age lines to create a new America? The Global ARC identifies four basic steps necessary for community change:

Shared Vision establishing community processes that facilitate people coming together at neighbourhood-scale to create a shared vision of the future. It is our dreams that call us forth.
Contradictions identifying the obstacles to achieving that shared vision right now, and their root causes. It is only by identifying the root causes that we can design effective and sustainable strategies to overcome the obstacles.
Strategic Directionscrafting strategies focused on overcoming the obstacles. Since systems change is difficult and sometimes messy, we must develop short- and long-term strategies. Short-term collective victories deepen motivation and commitment to longer-term ones.
Implementation Plandeveloping an implementation plan where everyone has skin in the game – not handed off to politicians. All must be vested in the success of the plan and be willing to push and protect it.