ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, May 19, 1996 TAG: 9605200095
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARY BISHOP STAFF WRITER
HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY about racism in the Roanoke Valley? Come to Blue Ridge Public Television's studio Tuesday night and say it on TV.
Martin Jeffrey has noticed that Roanokers tend to talk more about each other than to each other.
When it comes to black and white Roanokers, he says, that's especially true.
"Race seems to be the one thing we are reluctant to talk about in detail and in earnest," says Jeffrey, host of "Roanoke Roots," a local talk show on Blue Ridge Public Television.
Tuesday night, he opens the studio to area residents of all races, neighborhoods and philosophies for a live - and what he hopes will be a lively - discussion of racial issues in the Roanoke Valley. The audience is asked to be there at 7. The hour-long show airs at 8.
Guiding the discussion will be panelists Melinda Payne, co-chairwoman of Roanoke's Task Force on Community Relations and member of the Roanoke School Board; the Rev. Charles Green, president of the Roanoke Branch, NAACP; Kevin Everett, an assistant professor of sociology at Radford University; and Teresa Keller, associate professor of mass communications and sponsor of the African-American Society at Emory & Henry College.
Racial distrust is behind many local controversies - from the impasse over redevelopment of Henry Street to Roanoke County's long resistance to a merger with the city, says Jeffrey. He's director of community development and outreach for Total Action Against Poverty.
Over the next year, Jeffrey plans to organize conversations about race in neighborhoods across the city. "We don't do a lot of getting together," he says.
If you want to join the studio audience, call TAP at 345-6781, ext. 358.
LENGTH: Short : 40 linesby CNB