So Global Citizens held its 4th Annual Beer Summit to discuss Race Relations in the Obama Era. The beer idea was inspired by  the 2009  arrest of an African-American Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates who was arrested for breaking into his own home by the white Cambridge Police Sergeant James Crowley.   President Obama invited the two men to the White House for a meeting over beer to make sense of the matter. Columbia University Professor and TV commentator Marc Lamont Hill was the guest speaker and Kay Yu, chair of the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations was the moderator at the Reading Terminal.

When dicussing Race in this country it makes all races feel uncomfortable.  Just because we have a black president does not mean that WE ALL JUST GET ALONG.   Professor Hill didn’t tone down his thoughts about race relations in this country. He addressed stereotypes that plague all races and ethnicities, for example people expect all Asians to be good at math. In addition the Trayvon Martin case was discussed, because his case divided our country. What’s interesting is that a lot of whites were in the audience but did not speak, a point that Annette John-Hall of the Inquirer pointed out.  I think that some whites feel intimidated and don’t want to offend blacks or other races, but remaining quiet does not resolve the issues. Hopefully we can all keep the discussion going in a peaceful and respectful way.

All in All it was a great experience and I learned a lot. Oh yeah the Beer was great too!

For more info visit http://www.mlkdayofservice.org/