Talk Spurs Empathy

D’Andre Jones, community activist and chairman of the Fayetteville Civil Rights Commission, has organized a panel discussion on peaceful protest in response to racial injustice in Fayetteville at 3 p.m. Nov. 19 at the Fayetteville ALLPS School of Innovation.

Panelists for the conversation — titled “Standing for Justice While Kneeling” — include former Arkansas Razorback and NFL defensive lineman Jerry Franklin; University of Arkansas doctoral student Bobby Howard; adjunct professor of communication at John Brown University and CEO at Courage Communication 4 Change Angela Courage; and UA associate professor of law Danielle Weatherby. KDIV radio personality Angelisa Henry will moderate.

“We decided to organize this event because we wanted to promote awareness of what’s happening in our nation right now, with all of the different forms of racial injustice,” says Jones. “We want to create awareness, and hopefully a call to action for more people becoming aware of and involved in social justice.”

Jones says he hopes the discussion will help to promote understanding and empathy.

“Awareness creates empathy, and empathy brings a change of heart, and a change of heart brings action,” he says. “I hope we’ll be able to see people work towards change in this country, making this a country for all of us, and we’ll eventually all be able to live here peacefully regardless of age, race, gender — any of those things.”

The conversation will focus on the recent protests by NFL players.