University of Dayton, Fr. William J. Ferree Chair of Social Justice

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University of Dayton

University of Dayton eCommons Father William J. Ferree Chair of Social Justice College of Arts and Sciences 4-2022 The Common Good in a Divided City: Racism, the Church and the Challenge of Regional Solidarity University of Dayton, Fr. William J. Ferree Chair of Social Justice Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.udayton.edu/ferree_docs April 1-3, 2022University of DaytonSponsored by The Fr. William J. Ferree Chair of Social Justice, The Fitz Center forLeadership in Community, and the Gudorf Chair in Catholic Theology and CultureConference ScheduleFriday April 1 - Sunday April 3Friday, April 17-8:30 p.m., Beginning the ConversationKeynote: Brother Raymond Fitz, S.M., Ph.D. University of Dayton, Heck CourtroomBro. Ray will talk about his journey, with members of the University and GreaterDayton Community, to address systemic injustices of racism and poverty. Bro. Rayseeks to challenge the University and our Community partners to continue toenrich and institutionalize this dialogue on Catholic social tradition and to help ourCommunity advance regional solidarity.8:30-9:30 p.m., Reception, Keller Hall AtriumSaturday, April 27:30-8:30 a.m., Warming Up, Continental Breakfast in the Keller Hall Atrium9-10:15 a.m., Maureen O’Connell, Ph.D., LaSalle University, Heck CourtroomExcavating her Catholic family’s entanglements with race and racism from the timethey immigrated to America to the present, Maureen O’Connell traces, byimplication, how the larger Catholic population became white and why. Despitethe tenets of their faith, many white Catholics have lukewarm commitments toracial justice.Darryl Fairchild, Methodist Minister, Manager of Chaplain Services at Dayton Children's Hospital, andCity of Dayton Commissioner, will provide a local response to Dr. O’Connell.10:30-11:30 a.m., Participant Dialogue Groups11:45 a.m.-12:45 p.m., Lunch, Kennedy Union Torch Lounge1-2:15 p.m., Korie Little Edwards, Ph.D., Ohio State University, Heck CourtroomKorie Edwards will consider the tension between the racial justice goals ofFaith-based Community Organizations and the subtle ways that white concernsand culture dominate these movements, even against their best intentions.Kateri Dillon, Program Coordinator at Brunner Literacy Center, Assistant Head ofSpirituality for the Marianist Lay Communities of North America, and a member ofthe Dayton Marianist Family Council will provide a local response to Dr. Edwards.2:30-3:30 p.m., Participant Dialogue Groups3:45-5 p.m., Rich Wood, Ph.D., University of New Mexico, Heck CourtroomRich Wood will discuss the successful practices of churches that engage in racialjustice work and a consideration of the skills and practices religious communitiesneed to further develop in order to more effectively bring about a just, multiracialsociety.Chuck Mingo, Teaching Pastor at Crossroads Church in Cincinnati, founder and CEOof LivingUNDIVIDED and WorkingUNDIVIDED, a program that takes participants through moments ofracial healing and catalyzes them to pursue solidarity and systemic equity, will provide a local responseto Dr. Wood.5:15-6:15 p.m., Participant Dialogue Groups6:15-7:15 p.m., Reception, Keller Hall AtriumSunday, April 3Morning, Services in local houses of worship10 a.m., Catholic mass, University of Dayton Chapel11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Brunch, Kennedy Union Torch Lounge12:30-2:30 p.m., Organizing for Action: A Facilitated ConversationThe Divided City: An IntroductionHome to Native AmericansAs we gather to reflect on and respond to the history of division and exclusion in the Miami RiverValley, we must recall the colonial history of expulsion and exclusion and its contemporary legaciesfor Indigenous peoples.The land we call Ohio today has been the territory of many different American Indian cultures sincetime immemorial. Many tribes have been stewards of these lands throughout their long history,including the Myaamia, Shawnee, and Potawatomi.The land in which Dayton currently lies was ceded after the Battle of Fallen Timbers in the Treaty ofGreenville in 1795. Tribes were forcibly removed from this area and many others through the IndianRemoval Act of 1830. Nevertheless, many Indigenous peoples remain and continue to assert thevitality of their communities and to fight for their sovereignty.At the University of Dayton, there are ongoing efforts to build and sustain meaningful andreciprocal relationships with the First Peoples of this region and beyond, and to develop ways forthe university to support their self-defined aims.The Great Serpent Mound, Peebles, Ohio.Annexation and Incorporation: a few highlightsDrawn from Nathalie Wright, “Historic Context,” on Dayton, in Ohio History Connection’s “Ohio Modern: PreservingOur Recent Past.” https://www.ohiohistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/rp-23.pdf1803: Montgomery County was formed.1805: Dayton was incorporated.By the mid-19th century, Centerville, Oakwood, Trotwood, Vandalia, Fairborn, and Osborn weresettled and connected to Dayton by turnpikes.1907: The village of Oakwood was first incorporated.1913: Great Dayton Flood. Many hundreds of Daytonians died and tens of thousands weredisplaced, ushering in a new era of city planning.1924: Dayton developed a plan to annex 22 square miles of surrounding territory.1930: Dayton has managed to annex only 6.5 square miles. Attempts to annex Oakwood metwith resistance and were defeated.1940s: Both African-American and white populations grew, as local businesses and the region’srole in aviation brought in workers from the South. Federally funded housing for those workersas well as the redlining of any areas in which Blacks resided cemented a pattern of racialsegregation, divided by the river.1946: A new plan to expand Dayton by annexing 31 square miles was developed. But by 1950,only 4.2 square miles to the north had been gained. Southern Hills organized the Southern HillsCivic Organization to resist annexation.1950s: Some townships, including Kettering and Moraine, resist annexation to Dayton byincorporating. By 1958 Dayton was the richest of Ohio’s eight major metropolitan areas, butgrowth was concentrated in residential subdivisions located in surrounding areas.1962: Montgomery County has more students in schools outside of the city than inside. Theschools in the area were almost entirely segregated, and racial tensions played a significant rolein movement from the city into the surrounding areas.RedliningBeginning in the 1930s, the government-sponsored Home Owners’ Loan Corporation and theFederal Home Loan Bank Board used maps to rank the financial risk of investment in particularareas. Areas considered too risky to receive federally insured mortgages were marked in red.Any neighborhood in which African Americans resided was automatically classed as “hazardous”for investment. This has had long-lasting and disastrous impacts on these neighborhoods andon rates of African American homeownership.Learn more about redlining and engage in community work to overcomeits legacy at the Imagining Community Symposium, coming up at the HubPowered by PNC at the Dayton Arcade on April 7th-8th.Registration for the Symposium is free and open to the public.Scan the QR code to register or visit: udayton.co/ S2U/For more information, email Leslie.Picca@udayton.eduHighway constructionInformation provided by Dr. Janet Bednarek and kirwaninstitute.osu.eduDayton began planning what would become I-75 in the 1940s. At stake in its placement waswhich areas would be demolished and which areas would grow. For example, Roberts Blvd.downtown had once been a fashionable middle-class area, but by the 1950s was home tolower-income residents including African Americans. I-75 was routed to demolish thatneighborhood and divide downtown from the mostly African American west side, cutting off thevibrant African American district on W. 5th St. from the city center. At the same time, itpreserved scenic views of the river from places like the Dayton Art Institute. I-75 also cutthrough Carillon and Edgemont neighborhoods, which were functioning as what Todd Michneyhas called “surrogate suburbs” for many African American families.During the 1970s and early 1980s, the construction of I-675 became a major political issue. Originally,the state highway department planned an I-70 / I-75 bypass on the west side of the city. That plan waschanged to instead call for an east-side bypass, due mainly to pressure from Wright Patterson Air ForceBase. The city then tried to annex the base, but in 1983 lost that effort in the US Circuit Court. MayorJames McGee, Dayton’s first African American mayor, feared that I-675 would draw development awayfrom Dayton and into the surrounding suburbs, and he fought to find ways to funnel some of thedevelopment into Dayton and/or West Dayton. A federally supported 1979 report by the Miami ValleyRegional Planning Commission assessing the impact of the project on the region also acknowledgedthat completing I-675 East could separate the community in numerous ways over time.Median Family IncomeThese images show that “urban sprawl has resulted in increased segregation by family income.There is a growth of low median family income neighborhoods in the urban center and themovement of more affluent neighborhoods to the periphery of the region.”Excerpted from “A Social Analysis of the Dayton Metropolitan Region:“A Fractured City” and “The Silent Violence of Poverty,”” Bro. Raymond Fitz, SMOverall Childhood Opportunity2022 diversitydatakids.org Report Data, Institute for Child, Youth and Family Policy, Heller School forSocial Policy and Management, Brandeis University. Waltham, MA.Montgomery County Opportunity Map, Dayton and Montgomery County Public Health, May 2015Montgomery County Opportunity Map, Dayton and Montgomery County Public Health, May 2015School District InequalityEdbuild, an organization promoting reform of school funding, collected information onboundaries of school systems in the US that demonstrate high rates of inequality.In their 2015 data, the boundary between the Dayton City School District and the BeavercreekCity School District was the 29th most unequal in the United States.See https://edbuild.org/content/fault-lines/data.NOTESNOTESDialogue GroupsAfter each keynote and response, we will break into groups for dialogue. You canfind the number of your assigned group on the back of your nametag. Groups willmeet in the following locations:Group 1: Room 101 (directly across the lobby from the courtroom)Group 2: Room 201 (take the stairs or elevator and walk across the lobby)Group 3: Room 114 (at the east side of the first floor)Group 4: Room 222 (take the stairs or elevator; go to the east side of the building)Group 5: Room 223 (take the stairs or elevator; go to the east side of the building)Group 6: Human Rights Center A main meeting space (take the elevator to thethird floor; turn right and then left)Group 7: Human Rights Center B conference room (take the elevator to the thirdfloor; turn right and then left)“Dialogue” isn’t just any conversation. It is a particular kind of communication in which peoplewith different perspectives seek mutual understanding. Participants in a dialogue need notagree with each other, nor do they need to convince each other which views are right. They donot need to resolve differences or decide on action. If at the end, participants understand theirown views, each other's views, and the topics they are exploring with greater depth and clarity,they have had a successful dialogue.We will move toward collaborative action in our lunchtime session on Sunday. On Saturday, weconcentrate on dialogue to build the basis from which any successful collaboration grows:deeper understanding of each other.For Brother Raymond Fitz, S.M., in appreciation of his tireless efforts to build thecommon good.Our thanks to our many partners whose assistance has made this conference possible:Sandy McGuire, Jessica Poprocki, Mary Beth Miller, Lee Ann Ross, Steve Streck,John Badders, Rich Taste Catering, Garrett Conti, Carroll Schleppi, Margaret Lisjak,Annette Mitchell, Marva Gray, Tommy Kettlehake, UD Catering Services,Andrew Musgrave, Sara Seligman, Matt Dunn, Jim Vogt,Jason Combs, Julio Quintero, Yana Crossland, Megan Woolf, Sandra Yocum,Ramón Stern, Paul Morrow, Tracey Jaffe, Maureen Anderson,Una Cadegan, Janet Bednarek, Tereza Szeghi, Leslie Picca,Heidi Gauder, Amy Lee, Rebecca Henry, Holly O’Hara,Tyler Campbell, Caitlin Cipolla-McCulloch, Dom Sanfilippo,The Office of Karl L. Keith, Montgomery County Auditor, and the incomparable Laurie Eloe.The Common Good in a Divided City Conference is part of a week-long series of eventspromoting work to address historic injustices in this region. Participants are encouraged tocontinue the conversation April 7-8 at the Imagining Community: Shaping a More EquitableDayton Symposium at the Hub Powered by PNC at the Dayton Arcade.

The Common Good in a Divided City: Racism, the Church and the Challenge of Regional Solidarity

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The Common Good in a Divided City: Racism, the Church and the Challenge of Regional Solidarity

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