Yesterday, May 8, the article “Coming to the Table on Race Relations” appeared on page 13 of the “Hampton Roads” section in The Virginia-Pilot, a daily newspaper based in Norfolk, Virginia that serves southeastern Virginia, Virginia’s Eastern shore, and northeastern North Carolina, all part of the Hampton Roads community. It is the largest daily metro paper in the state of Virginia.
The authors of the article, Phoebe Kilby and Will Hairston, are part of Coming to the Table, a group comprising descendants of slave owners, slave traders, and the enslaved. We first gathered as a group in January 2006 at Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) in Harrisonburg, Virginia for a weekend retreat to consider our unique connection to the institution of slavery and the ways in which we can overcome its legacy that continues to impact all of us today and work toward healing and reconciliation
The next major incarnation of “Coming to the Table” is through a course being offered this summer at EMU’s Summer Peacebuilding Institute, June 9-13.
I wasn’t able to link to the article directly at the Virginian-Pilot site. I’m grateful to fellow Coming to the Table participant, Art Carter, for providing this link to the article at Black Enterprise.