On Sunday, July 22, 2012, The Vine Event Planning hosted its fourth discussion in its Real Talk-Taboo Series at the Southern City Community Development center in East Spencer, NC.

A group of people gathered to discuss the issue of self-segregation and how it affects their lives. The group was split into three subgroups which were facilitated by Nicole Sherrill-Corry, Ph.D.; Latesha Smith, MBA; and Minster Kay Boyd.

Dr. Sherrill-Corry discussed with her group the primary reasons why people choose to segregate themselves from other groups. Some of these reasons included being comfortable with one’s own race, level of education and tradition.

Smith led a group discussion that asked its participates to think about their social network outside of work and what they share in common with these people. Most of the group members found that they had interests, hobbies, and religions in common. However, this discussion spiraled into one that questioned self-segregation found within school systems. A college and high school student attending the event, shared their personal experiences with self-segregation at their schools.

Minister Boyd ‘s group talked about self-segregation within the faith community. Boyd provided two case studies that demonstrated how the absence of self-segregation can be detrimental to a congregation. For example, a black Presbyterian church that is under the authority of a predominately white Presbyterian church struggled to raise money and depended on the main church for funding. In contrast, a black Baptist church was able to grow and raise their own money because they had autonomy over how they ran their congregation.

“Self-segregation is still a prevalent issue, so what can we do to make it better,” Dr. Sherrill-Corry asked. Smith and Boyd asked the same question and all three facilitators stressed the importance of the community being able to come together and tackle the negative effects of this issue.

The Vine Event Planning’s next RealTalk-Taboo Series event will be on Tuesday, August 21st, 2012. It will be a LIVE online event discussing the impact of reality television on the image of women. The event moderator will be Nicole Daniels, who is a licensed clinical marriage and family therapist. Nicole owns and operates Family First Psychotherapy Services LLC (FFPS) in White Plains, Maryland. For more information about FFPS and their services, visit their website at http://www.familyfirstpsych.com/index.html.

Desere’ Cross
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Journalism and Communication Studies Major
Class of 2014