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What IF …? Public Safety, Race, & Society–A Community Conversation Series

George Floyd protest in Grand Army Plaza, June 7, 2020. By Rhododendrites. CC BY-SA 4.0

Join Us for an Exploratory Conversation Series

The recent police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, alongside other instances of police violence against Black Americans, has galvanized our national conscience and spurred uprisings and protests across the country and the world. To further explore diverse perspectives, uncover deeper issues, and imagine alternative futures, we invite you to join us for a new online community conversation series: What IF …? Online Community Conversations:  Public Safety, Race, and Society. This program will have three facilitated discussion sessions, each running from 1:00-2:15 pm EDT via Zoom (free registration here) :

  1. Thursday, June 25: Uprising in the Streets: What’s Rising Up? What do these events, the killing of yet another Black person by the police and the protests against these killings, say to you? What do they reveal about our society, race, public safety, and law enforcement?
  2. Thursday, July 16: Digging Deeper and Wider. Let’s help each other expand and deepen our sense of the different concerns that our society might have to address about public safety and race. What does “public safety” mean to you? How might we expand our notions of “public safety”? What other broad concerns might we need to address as a society?
  3. Thursday, August 6: Imagining Better Futures for Public Safety–and How We Might Get There. What’s your ideal vision for public safety and community well-being in the future? What steps might lead there? How can we better address the concerns we are facing about race, racism, and public safety?

Generous and Collaborative Conversations

The Interactivity Foundation (IF) is dedicated to fostering generous conversations where we help each other to consider diverse perspectives, to think broadly and deeply about the issues, and to imagine alternative possibilities for the future. In this series we’ll break into facilitated small-group discussions to explore different perspectives, values, and concerns surrounding public safety, race, racism, and society. We’ll help each other develop our ideas of what a better future might be for public safety for all. What does public safety and community well-being mean to you? What do you think the recent protests are bringing to light about our society? Come join us to talk about it.

The Chief & Protester by akahawkeyefan on Flickr. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

We are pleased to partner again with the DC Department of Aging & Community Living and Iona Senior Services, which is handling the registration. You’ll find more information and the free registration form at Iona’s AroundTownDC website or by clicking the blue button below. Once registered, you’ll be included on the list for all three sessions (you’re welcome to participate in as many of the sessions as you can). This program is part of the #WeavingCommunity initiative.

 Go to AroundTownDC website to find out more and register