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• A great moment in the history of race relations

  Our company is celebrating "Diversity Week" this week with a host of activities and educational encounters. Today, one of our youn guys, Dan Baum, wrote the following note to all our staff. It's terrific and I wanted to share it with you: "Hi everybody, Today, while Angela, Alexi, Denise, Chris and John go visit the new Greensboro Museum, I want to remind you all to sign up for the pot luck on Friday and share with you the story of the South’s first integrated college basketball game, known now as the “Secret Game.” North Carolina is college basketball country, so it’s fitting that the South’s first integrated game would take place here. In 1944, the NCCU basketball team made... Posted Feb 03 2010, 01:18 PM by KTrapani with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: corporate social responsibility, human rights, values, racism, civil rights, social justice, race relations

• On reflection: a week after the inauguration

  I could barely see the podium or the big screen last week in Washington, DC. It's not because we weren't close enough to either... in fact, we were pretty darn close to the action. It's because I couldn't stop crying the whole time. From Aretha (what a hat...!) to Reverend Lowery ("Let all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen...") the experience was transformational. I was honored and excited to be able to attend, of course, but I was not prepared for the emotion of the event. I have met Mr. Obama and I've been inspired by his words on many occasions. Jennifer and I were there in Denver on that beautiful August evening when he accepted his party's nomination... Posted Jan 28 2009, 10:18 AM by KTrapani with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: human rights, New Year's Resolutions, values, Bush Doctrine, racism, civil rights, Dr. King

• Rosa sat...

  ...so Martin could walk. Martin walked so Barack could run. Barack ran so our children can fly. I have no crystal ball, but I feel strongly that we are about to witness an historic evening -- an evening that, even here in the United States of Amnesia, will remain an indelible memory for all of us for the rest of our lives. Many Democrats I know will be satisfied with nothing less than a sweeping rebuke of the 28 years of conservative ascendancy. They want, and expect, not only a 10-point Obama win, but also 60 seats in the new Senate. Neither is likley to happen. At the same time, most Republicans would be ecstatic with even the narrowest margin in a McCain win. Either way, tomorrow, we will... Posted Nov 04 2008, 02:38 PM by KTrapani with | with 6 comment(s) Filed under: civil rights, education, public policy, economy, Dr. King, Obama, McCain

• The Most Courageous Speech Ever Given...

  It's April 4, 1968. Dr. King has been shot and killed in Memphis, Tennessee. A few hundred miles away, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, campaigning for the Democratic Presidential nomination, is scheduled to appear before a large crowd in a dangerous black neighborhood in Indianapolis. He is advised by his security detail not to go, but he goes anyway. On the ride to the event, he is quiet, lost in thought. Finally, the unimaginable occurs to him and he asks, "Do they know?" "No", he is told. The crowd has been gathering and waiting for many hours, they've had no way to hear the news. Bobby Kennedy realizes then that he, a white man of great privilege, will be the one to... Posted Apr 07 2008, 05:57 PM by KTrapani with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: racism, civil rights, Bobby Kennedy, Dr. King, Obama

• A lesson for Presidents' Day

  The war is coming to a close. There are deep divisions in the US between hawks and doves, between blacks and whites, between those who want the firm hand of a central government and those who believe in the autonomy of the states, between those who support the President and those in opposition. It is 1865. In Washington, DC, March 4 of that year is gray and blustery... not exactly the kind of day Abraham Lincoln had in mind for his second inauguration. Still, with the Civil War drawing to an end, there is hope and joy among the enormous crowds -- made up of wealthy Northern businessmen, a huge contingent of the Union Army, the entire US Government... the victors. Soon, they will have triumphed... Posted Feb 18 2008, 08:41 AM by KTrapani with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: human rights, faith, values, the media, service, racism, civil rights, Presidents' Day

• Forty years later, Bobby Kennedy still speaks the truth

  This whole week, the folks in my office are working together to learn about freedom and history and, more specifically, civil rights and racism. Many served in the community with colleagues and family members yesterday on Martin Luther King Day -- "a day on, not a day off", as it has appropriately come to be interpreted. Today, the whole office, led by a 22 year old and prepared by a series of readings, participated in an overview of the civil rights movement and a discussion of race relations in today's world. Tomorrow, at the company's expense, a few of our folks will head to Memphis to the National Civil Rights Museum. On Thursday, those folks will lead another discussion... Posted Jan 22 2008, 04:35 PM by KTrapani with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: corporate social responsibility, racism, civil rights