Page 28 - BigConversationsDismantlingRacism

Two high school students also leant their perspective on the panel. Having the students
participate was powerful. Their input was honest and extremely valuable to taking the
discussion forward into the small group conversations.

As in the past, CMCC provided facilitators for the small group discussions, developed a
facilitator’s guide and organized the break-out groups and debriefing at the event.

Facilitators (CMC
Calvert and St. Mary’s),
as well as many who we
trained to facilitate
community
conversations, modeled
good listening and
conflict resolution skills.
They established an
environment where
people felt comfortable talking with one another about difficult topics.

The following is a letter from one of the participants written to Diane Davies, the Chair of
the steering and planning committee.

Diane,

I am reaching out to all the individuals and organizations who were united
this past weekend at Patuxent High School for the Big
Conversation community wide forum. Though I have not met you personally
perhaps our paths will cross in the future. I was invited to this event by Mr.
Guffrie Smith and found the gathering an eye-opening experience. I am
pleased to say that being a lifelong Maryland resident and living in Calvert
County for the past 15 years, Southern Maryland has stepped forward in
bringing these sensitive and for some, uncomfortable topics to the forefront,
“Dismantling Racism and Privilege in Southern Maryland”.

I hope to continue to be a part of this forum in the future and very pleased
that Calvert County has stepped forward in addressing these social &
cultural issues that can surely wear a person and family down. Those issues
are real within our community and in every community throughout America.

Not only was I impressed with the selected panel and feeling their sincere
interest in this matter, but I was equally impressed in the amount of
participation from our community members that took their time to understand
and become active participants in changing the environment of our personal

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