Greenville Magazine - June 2008 - (Page 27)

Treisy cuevos vanessa Drummond differences by ly d i A di s h m A n • photogrAphy by pAt r i c k co l l A r d st u d i o s P aul Guy is talking. One hand grips a cell phone that won’t stop buzzing, the other waves to emphasize a point he’s trying to make. The small table at the Starbucks on East North Street can’t contain his big ideas. Paul Guy is talking about, well, talking. Specifically, conversations about diversity. Conversations that he believes can change Greenville from the ground up. Guy, a 20-year veteran of the police force and past president of the Greenville Chapter of the NAACP, says he wanted to make a real difference in race, culture and gender relations in the aftermath of the city’s battle to create a Martin Luther King Jr. holiday and the racial slur made by a Greenville Tech administrator that rocked the campus and the community. “I was looking at the conflict side all the time,” says Guy, who then added, “I realized that we need to find commonalities.” Rather than just talk about change, Guy, Angela Sherman and Stephanie Brown, formed Beyond Differences Inc. to implement it. The highly charged debates about race and culture that arose because of these incidents were not productive except to further prove what Guy suspected, “People in Greenville had few cross-cultural relationships outside of the workforce,” Guy explains. Bringing people together is the first step for Beyond Differences’ goal to promote dialogue and meaningful interaction. To do this, they had to look at what was going on in the minds of community members. race Matters Beyond Differences spearheaded a survey with Greenville Forward called “Race Matters.” It was mailed to a random sampling of 1,200 Greenville households and was supplemented by Internet and hand-distribution to more segments of the community. The results were revealing. Greenville Forward’s executive director, Russell Stall, said that a similar survey had been done by Greenville in 1948. Sixty years later, though some things have improved, “One in five respondents says race relations are ‘poor’ or not very good.” The study also showed that about 95 percent of blacks believe minorities are discriminated against, a number which is twice the rate of whites.” Given the low rate of response, Stall cautioned the survey should only be used as a general barometer. Guy believes the community has some talking to do. “I know that I personally have grown,” Guy says, “I am not so interested in debate. I can debate you and change your opinion, but I can dialogue with you and I can change myself.” Far lett: Anshelia owens, 16, practices for the teens’ radio talk show which began a few weeks ago. The other teens, from left to right, are Amber Guy, 15, Treisy cuevos, 16, and vanessa Drummond, 16. Tonight’s subject – public displays of affection. may/june 2008 | Greenville maGazine 27

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Greenville Magazine - June 2008

Greenville Magazine - June 2008 Contents From the Publisher My Greenville Everyday Heroes Tackling Diversity Greenville’s Gone Global In The Lead From the Pros Anderson Suburban Sprawl Wellness The REAL State of Real Estate Something to Bark About Minority-owned Business A Look Back 1-Tank Trips Private School Resource Guide After Hours The Bulletin Around Town Viewpoints

Greenville Magazine - June 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.