[Vision2020] Slavery, General Lee, Church, and Our Fair City

[Melynda Huskey]

Recognizing fully that on an unmoderated list discussion will go where it 
wishes, I'd still like to suggest that we are straying into familiar, 
well-defined areas of previous disagreement, where everybody already knows 
what to say and how to say it, and it's not possible for us to make much 
progress.

For me, the central question that's emerging from all these discussions is 
this: how do we, as a community, see ourselves?  Do we want to be locked in 
immobile conflict, with endless provocations thrown down to affront 
adversaries, where the most extreme positions are affirmed as if there were 
no alternatives, where everyone must take a side (and always the same side)?

Or we could choose an equally sterile alternative and ignore the serious 
differences being expressed in this conflict, pretend there's nothing really 
going on, that we are all "nice" people who can get along without any need 
to acknowledge our troubles at all:  we're all human, aren't we?  Let's 
emphasize our similarities rather than our differences.  Let's not be 
divisive.

Neither approach is doing us much good right now.  We have very serious 
questions about the future of our town before us.  We've got to find a way 
productively to address the concerns people have expressed about the Chamber 
of Commerce, about the future of a vibrant and diverse religious community 
in Moscow, about race relations, about public and private education, about 
gay and lesbian citizens, about the freedom of religion, about the safety of 
individuals (whether county commissioners or high school students) to hold 
and express unpopular points of view, and about the accountability of 
elected officials.

I invite anyone who shares these concerns--from any position on the broad 
spectrum of views in Moscow--to contact me off-list.  Let's talk about ways 
to help our community address our differences more productively.

Melynda Huskey