“We can’t be friends with them because they don’t speak our language,” an Afghan soldier told a reporter in discussing tense relations with US troops. I was struck by this remark because it could be applied to the breakdown of public conversation in America today.  Whatever the outcome of the presidential election, one thing is certain: the victor will be […]

The Richmond Folk Festival gets better every year. On a crystal clear weekend, with the sun sparkling on the James River, about 200,000 people enjoyed an amazingly eclectic range of culture ranging from Ethiopian Azmari music and dance to Argentine tango and traditional New Orleans jazz, and from demonstrations of the Chinese jaw harp and the Iraqi oud, to Irish […]

One hundred and fifty years ago this month, Abraham Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation. On September 22, 1862, he released a preliminary document promising to free slaves in any southern state still in rebellion on January 1, 1863. A few days earlier at the battle of Antietam 23,000 men had been killed or wounded in the bloodiest day of battle […]

By any measure, a good education is the surest path to a successful career and financial security. Yes, it’s true that countless people with university degrees are struggling in today’s depressed economy. But the latest employment figures again highlight the fact that those with minimal education have far more difficulty finding a job.The unemployment rate for someone who did not […]

A dear friend died much too early last week. David Mills was one of the great songwriters of his generation. His innate sense of melody and his arresting lyrics combined to produce a range of music both rousing and haunting, but always purpose-driven. Unlike many musicians in today’s self-absorbed culture, Dave always had a larger aim in mind: to give […]

How does a diverse network encompassing forty countries, different spiritual traditions, cultures and generations find a common framework for action? For the past week I have been in Caux, Switzerland, the international conference center of Initiatives of Change, with 100 colleagues who are committed to building trust across the world’s divides. High above Lake Geneva we start our days with […]

Last month America lost a voice for rational and civil national discourse. William Raspberry, a veteran Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist with the Washington Post, produced some of the most cogent and balanced commentaries on race relations.   He came to Richmond nearly two decades ago to meet with a multi-city committee of the Initiatives of Change program, Hope in the Cities, […]

Reading about Hillary Clinton’s recent visit to Laos brought back vivid memories of a month I spent in that beautiful country four decades ago and where I celebrated my 25th birthday. It was 1974 when I flew into Vientiane with my colleague Suresh Khatri. We were the advance team for the Initiatives of Change stage production Song of Asia with […]

Last month Susan and I became grandparents for the first time and Susan’s uncle celebrated his 100th birthday. The wonder of new birth and celebration of a life lived over a century. The van Dykes arrived in New Amsterdam in 1652. They helped found five Dutch towns and were part of the birth of this nation. John Richardson van Dyke […]

I’ve just returned from the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation national symposium in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This has always been a tough place for race relations. The first item of business of the new state in 1907 was to pass segregationist legislation. In 1921, Tulsa was the scene of America’s worst race riot when a white mob destroyed the thriving […]