Amid protests sparked by a grand jury decision to not indict former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown Jr. – and after the killing of VonDerrit Myers Jr. in the St. Louis Shaw neighborhood, where she lived – Tiffany Robertson needed to do something.
She realized that because of St. Louis’ history of segregation, many people had not had conversations about race and politics with those of differing viewpoints or experiences. During several meetups she organized to talk through such issues, it became clear those conversations were revealing important insights to some of her neighbors for the first time. Robertson founded Touchy Topics Tuesday soon thereafter.
“One of the aspects of Touchy Topics Tuesday is that the rules are created or yielded out of relationships,” Robertson told St. Louis on the Air. “Rules born out of the context of a relationship usually yield mutual respect. And it's not something that people have to be reminded of. It's just organically cultivated.”
Now in its 10th year, Touchy Topics Tuesday has expanded its mission to facilitate cross-cultural conversation among employees at businesses and organizations.
Margaret Weck, who is white, was introduced to Robertson and Touchy Topics Tuesday while undergoing DEI training in 2019 through what’s now known as the Gateway Equity Institute. Weck decided to keep attending the community meetups because of her existing interest in diversity and belonging. But she also wanted to keep having meaningful conversations with folks different from her.
“Continuing to have conversations is a major part of advancing society to be more equitable for everyone,” Weck said.
“I have a greater ability to actively and deliberately engage with people who I disagree with, [to] stay in that zone of uncomfortable disagreement longer,” she said. “I think the purpose is not just changing surface behavior but changing the curiosity about what has shaped other people to hold positions that are different than mine. And where is our common humanity? That's where our solutions are going to come from.”
For more about Touchy Topics Tuesday, including questions asked that reveal everyday racial biases, and insights into the power of commitment to honest and respectful conversation, listen to St. Louis on the Air on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or click the play button below.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Jada Jones is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
