Tuesday
It was a grey, dreary day.
Worked.
Came home.

And, for …
NPR and PRI

Tuesday on Talk of the Nation, guest host Melinda Penkava takes a closer look at the trial of Bobby Frank Cherry, a former Klansman accused in a 1963 Birmingham, Ala. church bombing that killed four black girls. How can revisiting past wrongs affect race relations today?

This was a very good segment; it was also interesting to listen to the opinions of the panelists and the callers/emailers.

  • One caller recommended establishing a “Truth and Reconciliation Commission,” like the one that was established in post-Apartheid South Africa, to help everyone come together to address socio-economic and political issues and to simply open avenues of dialogue between the races.
  • Melinda Penkava asked the question: “Do you think that whites and blacks see… looking at the past differently?” It was, in my opinion, a very astute question.

    Sonia Jarvis, one of the guests, answered: “I think it’s not so much that blacks and whites might view history differently; I think that the effect of different events, over time, have affected those communities differently.” She then cited the O.J. Simpson trial as an example.

    David Garrow, another guest, posed the idea that America possesses an “incomplete memory” with respect to civil rights era crimes. He then said that a more focused study of civil rights era and minority-American histories (he cited the World War II-era Japanese-American internment camps) might help to fill some of the gaps in our national awareness/knowledge.

You can hear the entire segment here, in RealAudio format.

And with that, it’s time for bed.

Peace.