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Richmond Racial Equity Conversation

“What about you do you bring to this work?”

In 2021, a small group in Virginia launched the Richmond Racial Equity Essays, inviting diverse area leaders to engage in a multimedia conversation. Michael Smith, an urban planner and philanthropy leader, contributed an essay that described an unexpected encounter he had with a seasoned organizer who asked him powerful questions about his personal formation in the midst of an affordable housing conference: What about you do you bring to this work? Where do these values you carry come from? In the recorded conversation below, Michael brings together a small, intergenerational group of fellow activists where he lives (Richmond, VA) to offer them the gift of these questions. In doing so, an intimate and powerful conversation unfolds, offering these leaders a different kind of introduction to one another.

Exploring the Roots of Our Values: A Richmond Conversation

Created by Ebony Walden, Dr. Meghan Gough, Michael Smith

Extras

March 10, 2023

Exploring the Roots of Our Values

A Richmond Conversation
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In 2021, a small group in Virginia launched the Richmond Racial Equity Essays, inviting diverse area leaders to engage in a multimedia conversation. Michael Smith, an urban planner and philanthropy leader, contributed an essay that described an unexpected encounter he had with a seasoned organizer who asked him powerful questions about his personal formation in the midst of an affordable housing conference: What about you do you bring to this work? Where do these values you carry come from? In this recorded conversation, Michael brings together a small, intergenerational group of fellow activists where he lives (Richmond, VA) to offer them the gift of these questions. In doing so, an intimate and powerful conversation unfolds, offering these leaders a different kind of introduction to one another.

This conversation is part of the Cogenerational Social Healing collection. For more information, please visit the submission page.



Participants (left to right):

Michael Smith, 35 – Urban Planner/Philanthropy 

Elaine Williams, 29 – Housing/Homelessness Advocate

Ben Campbell, 81 – Episcopal Priest, Richmond Hill, RVA Rapid Transit

Zakia McKensey, 50 – LGBTQ Advocate

 

Reflect and Practice

The power of relationships, and the values (or virtues) that support our becoming a more human and generative presence in the world, have long been areas of inquiry at On Being.

In this conversation, we see Michael Smith and the group he gathered modeling deep personal reflection on how these subjects relate to lived experience and their work for social change. They engage each other in a way that welcomes truth telling and honors complexity. Hearing them connect in this way — rooting into core values across their differences of age, race, religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity and expression — we hear possibilities opening.

We invite you to pick up some of the questions this group explored together, bringing your own life and work into conversation with these subjects.

Offer your responses and see those of others’ below:

 

 

Return to the main page of the Cogenerational Social Healing Collection, a collaboration between On Being and CoGenerate.

You can also explore crowd-sourced submissions, or share your own, in our Community Garden (best experienced on desktop or in the Miro mobile app).

 

Illustration by Cha Pornea
Audio Production by Chris Heagle
Produced by On Being and CoGenerate

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