“Getting To Know You” was a private event held on August 28, 2020 for leadership of law enforcement and local social justice agencies to engage each other in a fun, social way similar to speed dating over lunch with timed conversations. Eight distinct physical distancing tables with two chairs enabled participants to focus on a simple goal. Get to know something about the person you were talking to and not get into what the person did for a living. The photo montage (below) gives you a glimpse that personal group conversations between individuals who really need to start to know one another is possible even with the regulations related to keeping everyone safe during the pandemic.
Enjoy the Slide Show below of the “Getting to Know You” event held on August 28, 2020: (Photo credit: Lisa Brennan, HTCJP Secretary)
Hosted by the chair of the Harriet Tubman Center for Peace and Justice with members of that organization involved, the leadership of the Auburn/Cayuga branch of the NAACP, Auburns’ Human Rights Commission, Auburn Police Department and the Cayuga County Sheriff’s Office rounded out the participants.
The bottom line take-away or what I routinely refer to as “aftershock” is restively simple and not that complex.
If you are able, with minimal organization and time allotment, identify a small group of neighbors or co-workers who want to move past the artificiality of knowing who our public safety officers are and are ready to get to know them as people. I am confident there will be officers who would welcome (depending on assignment and schedule) to get to know residents as long as there is no discussion of what someone does career-wise so perceptions and long held beliefs are not part of the person to person engagement.
I stand ready to advise such grass root initiatives and share with you what was learned from the first “Getting to Know You” initiative. At its essence, the “Auburn Cayuga Approach” attempts to identify and build a viable and specific platform to be the action plan when community demonstrations, marches, speeches, signs and other efforts to sway public policy start to recede in the public’s mind and folks look to figure out what is next. In a small way, all collaborating partners involved in the social justice milieu will continue to chart a plausible path. The community’s ideas and concerns are welcome.
~ bill berry, jr.
bill berry, jr. is the CEO of aaduna, Inc. and publishes the Auburn-based global literary and visual arts journal called aaduna. He serves as chair of the HTCJP and from his perspective, this essay is a profoundly personal assessment of where he feels social justice in Auburn is headed, evolving and its need for further community engagement.
The Age of Hypocrisy: Understanding Our Truths in a Divisive National Atmosphere-
an opinion essay by bill berry, jr.