When
Lucille's Soul Food Kitchen Joined the Dialogue
On
May 21, 1998, the Minnesota Citizens' Forum conducted
the fourth in a series of videoconference dialogues linking
communities around the state to discuss key issues of
the upcoming race for governor. Topics, selected by citizen
polling, included education reform, poverty and taxes.
On May 21, the topic was crime. As in all Citizens' Forum
gatherings since their inception, participants were selected
to be demographically representative of all Minnesotans,
and they became 'informed citizens' by carefully studying
the issues.
In the course of the governor's
election forums, these informed citizens had been
gathering in St. Paul, in Duluth, and in smaller
towns, linked by videoconference to each other and
to experts who provide information and answer questions.
The issue and the discussions had been reported by
the project partners: the Star Tribune newspaper,
Minnesota Public Radio and PBS station KTCA-TV's
NewsNight Minnesota.
But the May 21 discussion differed,
in a significant way, from all earlier Citizens'
Forum meetings. Linked into the discussion was a
new group gathered at a public location -- Lucille's
Kitchen in North Minneapolis. Meeting for dinner
and dialogue were a self-selected group of neighbors
and colleagues, members of a tightly-knit community
within this rough minority neighborhood. This community,
nearly invisible in Minnesota, is overwhelmingly
represented as both victims and perpetrators of crimes.
The spirited discussion at Lucille's
that night provided two vital components missing
from previous Citizens' Forums. One was the carefully
considered view of a rarely consulted minority community.
A weakness of previous Citizens' gatherings was that
they usually reflected the demographic makeup of
the State, and could not adequately encompass or
reflect minority viewpoints which may be more accurate,
or at least more informative, than the generally
shared view of the larger community. These alternate
viewpoints are essential for the majority to reach
a well-informed opinion.
The setting itself provided the
other milestone. The inclusion of Lucille's Kitchen
in this dialogue was perhaps the first example of
incorporating a vibrant public gathering place, rather
than a sterile environment, into the process of using
videoconferencing to extend community dialogue. Visually,
the difference between Lucille's and the classrooms
or conference rooms that comprise the other venues,
was striking. The restaurant setting, and the cheerfulness
of a shared community meal, made for a much more
relaxed and group-oriented event than at the other
locations, where people sat at conference tables
or classroom desks. At Lucille's, the speaker approached
a podium and joined the dialogue, one speaker at
a time, which enhanced the sense of intimacy and
eliminated the need for distracting camerawork. At
the other venues, people spoke from where they sat
and were often lost in a sea of faces, or at the
mercy of less-than-professional camera operators.
The inclusion of the public sphere
in political and social dialogue fulfills the sense
among Americans that ordinary citizens have a right
as well as an interest in being heard. Efforts to
expand citizen involvement in community affairs through
electronic media have been underway since the first "Town
Meetings" in the late 1970's. The Internet's
tremendous potential to give computer users a voice
in public dialogue began to emerge in the late 80's.
In the 1990's, the "Civic Journalism" movement
gave citizen involvement a further boost, as journalists
began to include their audiences in the editorial
process. The event at Lucille's Kitchen marked the
next step in citizen dialogue.
