Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 11, 1993 TAG: 9304090060
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
YMCA SCHOOL-HOLIDAY TALK LACKED DIVERSITY
An open letter to Barbara Michelson, director of the Blacksburg YMCA:
You may recall that I participated last Saturday [April 3] in the YMCA-sponsored community session held to address issues arising from the school-holiday controversy. I am writing to tell you how disappointed I was in that event.
Before I explain the specific reasons for my disappointment, however, let me tell you something of my background. I belong to no religious denomination. I served for two years in Africa in the Peace Corps, where I worked as an agricultural extension agent with farmers.
I've been around the world 1 1/2 times, traveling mostly overland - riding, sleeping and eating among the peoples of numerous nations.
As a student, I was a founding member of my campus ACLU chapter and chairman of a committee formed to diversify the artistic opportunities for students on campus.
I state these facts because I do not want to fall victim to the unfortunate tendency among many in our community to demonize and dismiss critics as ignorant "county rednecks" unexposed to a broader world.
I had assumed the YMCA forum would expose a diversity of views on our county's school-holiday name-change issue. The March 31 issue of the New River Current stated, "The morning session of the workshop will include a panel discussion featuring representatives of various points of view on the debate."
While the forum was billed as an examination of diversity, I saw little of this. It is true that your panel included an African American, a Jew, a Christian feminist, a student supporting homosexual rights, an international student, one evangelical Christian and one "county person." Yet, you agreed when I commented that it appeared from these people's remarks that everyone except the evangelical Christian would support a school calendar name change. Does this strike you as diversity?
I hope the reason for my disappointment is that the newspaper wrongly described the purpose of the event. Then again, perhaps you and I misjudged the biases of the speakers, and their opinions were more diverse than they sounded.
I realize that the organizers of the event may also have suffered from an honest myopia and been so focused on the inclusiveness facet of the controversy that they may never have considered that there were other aspects as well. Indeed, perhaps this inability of each side to address the issues of concern to the other is where the real heart of the controversy lies.
I hope you will take these considerations into account in planning future programs. Credibility is precious to an organization such as the YMCA, which the community wants to see as an honest broker.\ David McKissack\ Blacksburg