DATE: Friday, September 12, 1997            TAG: 9709100196

SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS     PAGE: 02   EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: IDA KAY'S PORTSMOUTH 

SOURCE: Ida Kay Jordan 

                                            LENGTH:   70 lines

CIRCLE PROJECT WOULD PROMOTE RACIAL HARMONY

Joyce E. Kennedy responded eloquently and logically to my request for ideas to bring the races closer in Portsmouth.

Although she and her family live in Chesapeake, Kennedy is one of those Western Branch people who thinks Ports-mouth.

``While we are not officially residents of Portsmouth, my husband works here, and we enjoy its many benefits and fine people,'' she wrote.

Kennedy wanted to share her ideas. In the 1970s, she developed one of the city's first interracial Girl Scout troops at Centenary United Methodist Church. Now, she added, she wants to create CIRCLE groups.

``The acronym CIRCLE is key here because both the term and the concept of the circle would serve to promote the values and dynamics of these groups,'' Kennedy wrote. Her suggestions were ``Community Inter-Racial Council for Love and Equality'' or ``Citizens for Inter-Racial Cooperation of Love and Equality.''

The key elements are interracial, love and equality, she noted, ``three terms that are the central key to forming dynamic, stable relationships in our community.'' The word circle ``embodies this dynamic because a circle is both balanced and full of motion.''

``It does not find its strength in one point but in the harmonic balance of equality and mutual respect of all points,'' Kennedy said. ``A circle represents beauty, harmony and understanding. A circle speaks to the importance of community in all generations from our grandparents singing `Will the Circle Be Unbroken' to the sounds of our children singing along with the Lion King in `The Circle of Life.' ''

The one thing a circle does NOT represent, she said, is ``the importance of one faction or power over another.'' A circle, like King Arthur's Round Table for his knights, would bring mutual respect to its members.

``We're talking relationship here and quiet understanding, not law and legalism,'' Kennedy said. ``It takes respect and relationship to change our hearts.''

Kennedy suggested that a pilot CIRCLE project should be tried in the high schools, where racial polarization often begins as teens try to find their places in society.

``Kids are ready to act on their beliefs and are open to listening to others,'' she said. ``Interracial strife occurs at the high school level and an interracial council could serve as an advisory resource for both students and faculty to tackle both the easy questions and the underlying problems by giving a legitimate ear to racial concerns and grievances before they escalate to crises.''

A CIRCLE group could ``model the meaningful, controlled dialog of maturity that needs to replace the response of violence that echoes through our youth and our cities.''

Kennedy would like for as many people as possible to be involved in a CIRCLE because ``who among us is so wise that we do not need to dialog with our neighbor?'' Whether we know it or not, we all make decisions every day that impact on interracial relationships, she said.

``There are a lot of sane, wonderful people who already are quietly, generously weaving our interracial society together,'' Kennedy said. ``A great place for a CIRCLE to start is to develop a criteria to recognize and honor some of them.''

The end result, she believes, would be the evolution of terms such as relationships, brotherhood and sisterhood to a point at which they would include those who share common values instead of skin tone.

People working together on community projects in education, cultural events, economic development, crime, whatever, learn to see each other as individuals, not as stereotypes.

``I see CIRCLEs as being broad to bridge generations and economic strata as well as racial and cultural lines,'' Kennedy said.

Kennedy's idea sounds good. Can we start in the schools and work out in the community? I hope so.

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