KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Mayor Sly James is inviting you to have a conversation with him about race.
Wednesday, August 29, the Kauffman Foundation will host close to 400 people for an event titled, "KC Race & Equity Initiative: Starting the Conversation."
The program will start with a training, focusing on five key areas:
- community exposure to violence
- educational success
- healthcare access
- housing conditions
- income, inequality and health
"I started to actually see this face-to-face in the things we were doing, particularly in the areas of education, particularly in the areas of employment, particularly in the areas of enforcement and particularly in the areas of business and efficiency," James said.
PaKou Her, principal of Tseng Development Group, will lead a training designed to show participants how to build racial equity and create change.
"I often find that white people are afraid of making mistakes or afraid of being called racist or afraid that they're going to make a misstep and then be shamed for it. Then I think on the other side, people of color there's a fear that our realities and how we live race every day will be denied," Her said. "There's a pretty significant chasm between those two conversations."
James acknowledges the subject matter can be tough to address, but he wants to assure everyone that, "There's really nothing to be nervous about. First of all, nobody is being accused. This isn't a point the finger thing. This is a, 'Hey, we're in this together so let's learn together and normalize the conversation together thing."
To attend "Starting the Conversation," RSVP here.
