Bridging the Racial Divide

In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. articulated his now-famous dream, imagining a world in which: "little Black boys and Black girls will be able to join hands with little White boys and little White girls as sisters and brothers.( )." In the highly segregated environment of Southwest Michigan, where we live, Dr. King's dream can seem a distant vision, a faraway goal, perhaps naive and unattainable. But on a snowy morning in March, 2005, a more hopeful picture was emerging.

The All God's Children Community Choir, a racially diverse group of 70 girls and boys, ages 3 to 15, had been invited to perform for 2500 educators at the big convention center in Grand Rapids. Children, parents, and choir directors would need to leave by 7:45 in order to arrive on time for the opening ceremony. At 7:30, the bus driver began to express serious doubts about the likelihood that families would come out through a blizzard on an early Saturday morning to make such a trip. But come they did - in cars, in vans, in pickup trucks; inching forward, headlights peeking through the snow.

By 7:45, the bus was filled with 60 exuberant riders. Six cars carrying additional children and parents lined up behind the bus, ready to follow in tandem. As the bus driver prepared to start the journey, one of the choir directors suggested a "word of prayer", and a Choir dad took the microphone at the front of the bus. "We're the All God's Children Choir, Lord, and we're asking your blessing for safe passage through this storm so we can take our message to the teachers in Grand Rapids.".

As Brother Brown spoke, row after row of Black and White children reached out to each other, side by side and across the aisle, joining hands as "sisters and brothers". In the tenderness of that moment, Dr. King's dream didn't seem so far away after all.

In a world increasingly torn apart by racial, ethnic, and religious strife, finding ways to bring people together is an urgent priority. Since children are our future, it is particularly important to help them find ways to reach across artificial barriers and create communities of mutual understanding and respect. If significant numbers of children can learn to live together in harmony, perhaps there is still hope of creating Dr. King's "beloved community".

There was little evidence of beloved community in author Alex Kotlowitz's 1998 depiction of Southwest Michigan. In The Other Side of the River, Kotlowitz described the racial tension, alienation, and segregation that persist in this area, and suggested that these patterns reflect the state of race relations in many communities throughout the United States. In response to this book, area residents came together to form a Race Relations Council.

The members of the Council were determined to find ways to bridge the racial divide, and created a series of projects focused on employment, education, housing, criminal justice, and social attitudes and behavior. In planning for a "community celebration and awards program", the group decided to organize a multiracial children's choir. Our belief was that by collaborating on a meaningful project, children and parents from different racial groups, usually separated by distance and mistrust, could come to know one another as individuals. Our hope was that over time, stereotypes and prejudice would diminish, mutual understanding and respect would increase, and friendships between the children and their families might develop. We believed that the choir could provide a positive model, presenting audiences with a vision of a diverse, harmonious community in which people live as neighbors, rather than strangers.

In an effort to expand everyone's vision of "where I belong", we scheduled choir rehearsals in varied locations-churches, schools, libraries, parks, and museums- throughout the region. Choir directors and parent volunteers all pitched in, helping the children learn new songs, applauding their efforts, and responding to urgent requests (e.g., "I lost my choir shirt"; "I really need to go to the bathroom"). From the beginning, all rehearsals have concluded with a shared meal, providing an opportunity for relaxed, informal conversation and play. Birthdays are celebrated once each month, and choir families enjoy periodic activities scheduled "just for fun" (picnics, holiday parties, trolley rides, etc).



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