Panelists discuss racism and how to combat the issue

June 12, 2017 at 10:34p.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

When Rose Carter moved to the West Side in the 1980s, her house was burned down because she was black and unwanted in her neighborhood.

On Monday, Carter, now the executive director of the Alliance for Congregational Transformation Influencing Our Neighborhoods — or ACTION — assembled politicians, faith leaders, activists and educators to discuss the nature of racism and how to combat the issue through community engagement.

The discussion — “Bridging the Gap — Black Meets White and White Meets Black,” took place at the DeYor Performing Arts Center and featured 15 panelists from a variety of backgrounds and races.

Youngstown City Council members Julius Oliver of the 1st Ward and Basia Adamczak of the 7th Ward moderated the discussion.

“I think we need to make an effort to get to know each other better,” Carter said, speaking of both white people and people of color.

The bulk of the evening revolved around panelists answering three questions: What keeps racism alive?, why is racism denied by both races? and what is the solution to the problem?

Each of the panelists had three minutes to answer the questions.

Pastor Todd Johnson of Second Baptist Church in Warren said the historical white-washing of history, particularly in regard to the European representations of religious figures such as Jesus and many of the Old Testament figures, has worked to reinforce racist ideas that history is centered around white people to the exclusion of people of color.