By Amanda Raymond

amanda.raymond@salisburypost.com

The Truth, Healing, Hope and Equity project is looking for commissioners to put some action behind the recent discussions of race.

Reverend Robin Tanner, lead pastor at Piedmont Unitarian Universalist Church in Salisbury, and Reverend Anthony Smith, teaching pastor at Mission House in Salisbury created the THHE project after the “Beginning a Healing Conversation” community forum hosted by Hood Theological Seminary last year.

During the forum, community members discussed the racial issues affecting local communities.

According to an editorial published in the Post a couple of days after the forum, some participants felt like the conversation would not continue after the forum.

That’s where Smith and Tanner stepped in. After the forum, they wrote an editorial for the Post with a plan to continue the race conversation — the Truth, Healing, Hope and Equity Project.

Smith said it was their faith that led he and Tanner take the lead on the project.

“This is an expression, not only of our own conscious, but this also emanates from our faith traditions,” he said. “The way we understand faith calls us to this kind of work in the world.”

Tanner said in order for racial reconciliation to occur, a community needs to examine established systems and organizations and determine where there is inequity and why it is there.

“Our premise is that reconciliation can only happen in the context of a process that involves actions to create equity,” Tanner said.

Tanner said she and Smith contacted 38 community stakeholders who ranged from governmental officials to citizen group members.

Each of the groups was asked to choose a member to serve on a selection committee for the project.

Tanner said the selection committee would then work “to identify who in the community would best be equipped to lead this commission, who has not only the history of Salisbury but understands economic development, who understands education equity, who understands the complexity of race within the context of Salisbury and North Carolina.”

The selection committee convened for the first time in December, and Tanner and Smith charged them to recommend people from the community who would serve on the THHE project’s commission.

The commission would conduct a full, comprehensive and actionable analysis of public systems and institutions of Salisbury.

“One thing would be concrete recommendations to the major systems in our city, the major governmental systems in the city, local organizations … backed by research on the reality of racial disparity,” Smith said.

Smith also said some actions could be related to reducing the poverty rate, increasing economic development and fostering equitable loan practices.

Tanner said if Salisbury wants to become a city leader, it has to start taking steps to ensure equality.

“Right now, the truth is not all of the residents of Salisbury have equal access, economic opportunity, educational opportunity,” she said. “We are hoping to create at least a beginning of some systems that create more equity for everyone.”

Smith said in different cities around the country, innovative cultures are diverse and equitable.

“I know that just by listening to city leaders and people in the community, there is a desire to become an innovative city. Part of this conversation will help assist and help facilitate that process,” he said.

Tanner and Smith hopes the commissioners can be chosen by February.

“I would love to see the next generation of children have a more equitable opportunity and ability to stay in Salisbury,” Tanner said.

If you have a recommendation for the Truth, Healing, Hope and Equity project commission, send the name and short description of the person to thheproject@gmail.com by Jan. 22.

Contact reporter Amanda Raymond at 704-797-4222.