Four activists from Hope in the City (HiC), a coalition aiming to improve community relations, presented the concept of ‘honest conversation’ dialogues, developed by HiC, at a Greencoat Forum held in London in May 2003. It was on the theme ‘Building sustainable communities’.
Rupert Hill, chair of HiC in London, said the government has developed a national strategy for developing communities, following Sir William Macpherson’s report into the murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence. The report had powerfully highlighted institutional racism in Britain, which, said Hill, was reflected in a range of social problems, including family breakdown, youth disaffection, neighbourhood decay, mass unemployment, and drugs and gun crime. ‘There is little or no consultation between communities and the authorities,’ Hill said. ‘Community leaders have spoken about holding dialogues and forming partnerships with various bodies and organisations, to try to alleviate the problems, but these are slow in developing.’ He said HiC dialogues were ‘a very useful tool we can use to build bridges within our communities throughout the UK’.
Lawrence Fearon, HiC national director, said that honest conversation dialogues were open to people of all ethnic and religious backgrounds, with the aim of ‘working towards change locally and globally through change in our own lives. Change starts with ourselves.’ HiC aimed to develop ‘inclusive communities and trust-based relationships where all are needed and all are empowered to fulfil their potential’. He traced the growth of HiC (UK) back to the early 1990s and, three years ago, he had decided to devote his full time to HiC. ‘The baton has been passed on and I feel great gratitude to all those who have gone before,’ he said, referring especially to the late West Indian cricketer Conrad Hunte, who had devoted himself to community building in Britain after his retirement from cricket.
Nottingham businessman Richard Hawthorne said that some years ago he had decided to be responsible for the community where his family’s printing business is located. HiC in Nottingham worked closely with the city’s Cross Cultural Networks group, which had drawn on the ideas of HiC, he said. They were funded by the government’s ‘connecting communities’ grants. He reported a recent HiC dialogue in Nottingham, held over one evening and the following day, at a Muslim community centre. It looked at a ‘hinge’ issue facing the community—the relationship between young people and public authority, especially the police. Both groups took part. A woman, whose twin son had been killed in a drive-by shooting, was reluctant to enter the meeting room and was angry and bitter that the police had failed to arrest the perpetrators. But she stayed for over three hours and had deep conversations with the police taking part.
Hawthorne said that there were plans for two more HiC dialogues with Cross Cultural Networks in Nottingham. ‘One of the biggest challenges we face now is how to be change agents,’ he said. ‘For me it means stepping out of where I feel secure into unknown territory.’ He said that the editor of the Muslim family magazine, The Invitation, had been so enthused by a draft ‘Call to Community’ being developed by HiC (UK) that he had already published it in full as a double page spread.
Phoebe Gill, a training and development facilitator, told what she had learnt when she had been the manager of a Single Regeneration Budget scheme. ‘Even though I thought of myself as a fair-minded individual, with good intentions, that did not mean I was instantly accepted. I had to understand what it meant to be privileged, that the majority spoke my language, and when I opened the newspapers everyone looked like me. I had somewhere good to live.’ Her role as an HiC facilitator, she continued, ‘is to create a place of safety and to allow the conversation to move from one of the head to one of the heart, because at that level we meet on a different basis.’
The HiC panel then divided the audience into three discussion groups to experience ‘honest conversation’ dialogue for themselves. Two questions were put to them: ‘Does my community look like the one I want to see? If not, what can I personally do to make a difference?’
Among the conclusions to emerge were the need to reach out to people of other ethnic backgrounds beyond personal comfort zones; that listening respectfully to others’ concerns is an essential part of dialogue; and not to patronise people by imposing solutions.
Gerald Henderson, HiC national co-ordinator based in Liverpool, emphasised that the attitude of ‘they are the problem’ only exacerbated the problem. ‘I decided that if I felt the other person was difficult then I would open my heart wider and walk towards them.'
Describing himself as a ‘white, middle-aged professional’, Chris Evans spoke about a lesson he had learnt taking part in a recent HiC dialogue with business professionals. A black colleague there had commented that it was really difficult for him to trust white middle-aged professionals. ‘I could feel his shoes on my feet,’ Evans said. ‘That has given me a whole new feeling about what this is all about. I feel more spontaneously natural with this man in particular. I can feel the fundamental offence which has been given over a couple of centuries. It has given me greater motivation to deal with this historic offence.’
A French woman taking part in the Forum commented, ‘I find a spirit of values here and I thought I was the only person thinking like that. But I have found others here who are thinking in the same way.’
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