Civic participation essential to preserving democracy

by Mark Kaufman, opinion

October 12, 2007 | Florida Times-Union | Fernandina Beach, Florida

A small group of people gathered recently to form study circles on racism. The idea behind this endeavor is that a diverse group of people, after getting to know one another through dialogue and discussion, can develop common goals and work toward the betterment of the community.

Half the group was black, the other half white; about half the group were "locals," the other half transplants.

What was it that motivated these people to participate: the need to raise awareness of racism that exists in Nassau County? The desire to be a better person in the eyes of God? The sense that our community would be enriched if we could "all just get along?"

A few people reminisced about what it was like to grow up in Fernandina Beach in the 1950s and 1960s, which could best be summed up as "equal but separate." Kids might have played together or worked together, but attended separate schools and churches and patronized different restaurants. When Fernandina was still predominantly a working-class community, it was not uncommon for African-Americans to serve on the City Commission and hold other political offices.

Civil rights legislation may have put an end to institutional segregation, but our separateness - which is not necessarily racist - is still fairly prevalent, as is the case in many communities. Racism does exist and may well have to do with the influx of money into this community and the subsequent distribution of wealth. Clearly, the community has changed, and will continue to do so if the forecasts for Nassau County's growth are anywhere close to accurate.

I recently read a 1997 essay by Bill Moyers titled "Democracy in Peril." Moyers writes: "What is democracy? The tedious, hard, perplexing, messy, and seemingly endless task of working through what kind of people we are going to be and what kind of communities we will live in. Politics is the work of democracy, and it encompasses practically everything that we can and must do together: how we educate our children, design our communities and neighborhoods, feed ourselves and dispose of our wastes, care for the sick and elderly and poor, relate to the natural world, entertain and enlighten ourselves, and defend ourselves. It also affects what values we seek to defend, what roles are chosen for us by virtue of our identity, and what roles we create for ourselves."

He goes on to write about how the political process is endangered when public officials are privately financed and elections turned into auctions sold to the highest bidder. In my view, what's really in peril is not so much democracy, but the form of government dictated by our founding fathers - a democratic republic. The difference between the two is subtle but significant: In a democracy, there is simple "majority rule," with no protections offered to the individual or the minority; but in a republic, the role of government is to protect the interests of all.

The people of Nassau County depend on the representatives we elect to municipal and county commissions to address those sticky quality-of-life issues that affect us all, not just the issues that matter most to special interests or the single party in power. Like Moyers, I wonder what will happen if the American people, "disgusted by the hollowing out of representative democracy and alienated by the performance of both parties, turn away altogether from civic participation?"

The outcome of the study circles on racism is unknown, but this form of civic participation has to be a step in the right direction.

Mark Kaufman, along with his wife, Donna Paz Kaufman, provides training and consulting to independent bookstores and libraries around the world. He lives in Fernandina Beach, and can be reached at .

http://http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/101307/nen_207484823.shtml

Learn more: Racial Equity