Sunday, April 11, 1999
Jones to urge facing disparities
Federal judge to address volunteers
BY MARK CURNUTTE
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Federal judge Nathaniel Jones will challenge United Way volunteers and professionals to look beyond the daily issues they face and deal with deeper fundamental problems that are at the core of U.S. racial and class disparity.
IF YOU GO
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• What: “America's Issues,” a social thinkers forum.
• When: 9 a.m. Thursday.
• Where: Dr. Albert B. Sabin Cincinnati Convention Center, Sixth and Elm streets, downtown.
• Admission: Free and open to the public.
• Information: Call Jessica Hogg at 762-7278.
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Judge Jones, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit in Cincinnati, will be one of four speakers for “America's Issues” Thursday morning at the Albert B. Sabin Cincinnati Convention Center.
The event begins at 9 a.m., as a warm-up to the three-day United Way of America's Community Leaders' Conference. The conference is expected to draw an international audience of 2,500 people.
Judge Jones said he fears that some of the progress of the Civil Rights movement is being dismantled under what he calls the illusion that the United States has reached a point where race isn't a factor.
“There is the notion that, in terms of affirmative action, we have a level playing field,” he said in an interview. “The idea that any form of race injects color-consciousness into a color-blind society is absurd.”
His topic is “The Continuing Challenge: Racial Justice and Strong Communities.” The judge was general counsel for President Johnson's National Advisory Council on Civil Dis orders (the Kerner Commission).
He is also troubled by public education's dependence on property tax revenue in tightly defined districts.
“Under the Constitution, states have the primary responsibility to support public education, which they have delegated to local school districts,” Judge Jones said.
“You can't compromise on some of these things. If there is to be a clarion call, it should come from the people on the front lines.”
Speakers will make simultaneous presentations and will participate in a panel session at 11:30 a.m.
Other speakers:
• Robert N. Bellah, professor of sociology at the University of California at Berkeley and author of several books about restoring moral coherence to contemporary American life, will speak on “Building the Good Community: The Imperative of Social Involvement.”
• Neal Peirce, a syndicated columnist and expert on metropolitan regions, will address “Regional Communities: The Shared Destinies of Inner Cities and Their Suburbs.”
• Lisbeth B. Schorr, lecturer in social medicine at Harvard University and renowned social analyst, will discuss “Common Purpose: Moving from Wishful Thinking to Results in Strengthening Families and Neighborhoods.”
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