Behind the Scenes of The Dream Reborn
Written shortly after The Dream Reborn Conference in Memphis, TN in April 2008, this publication is a useful resource for those putting together a green event that engages people of color and members of communities of modest means, integrates culture and spirit, and transcends the model of talk-at-you keynotes and plenaries, moving instead toward a more participant-centered event.
A bullet killed the dreamer, but not the dream. On the weekend of April 4th-6th, 2008, Green For All brought together leaders from across the nation on the 40th anniversary of Dr. King's assassination at the Memphis Cook Convention Center. The Dream Reborn was intended as a racially just, green gathering to pay tribute to the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and to honor a new generation of visionaries for ecological solutions that can heal the Earth while bringing jobs, justice, wealth and health to ALL of our communities. Grounded in the history and tradition of the Civil Rights movement, this event was neither a typical environmental gathering nor a typical conference. The Dream Reborn was unique in that it placed communities of modest means and people of color at the forefront, grounded participants in spirituality and culture while providing concrete tools and resources. Finally, The Dream Reborn engaged participants as central and active components of the program rather than as passive receivers.
For years, conventional wisdom has held that most "green conferences" do not attract people of color and people from disadvantaged communities. It has been the case that many such summits are comprised of attendees who are overwhelmingly white and affluent. Not this time. More than 70 percent of the 1,100 Dream Reborn attendees were people of color. And more than half of all attendees were of modest means; as a result, they qualified for some level of "scholarship" support to attend the three-day event. (Thanks to the generosity of Green For All's supporters, we were able to raise enough money to financially support hundreds of people who would been unable to come otherwise.)
As a result, the conference didn't just LOOK totally different. It FELT totally different. From the main stage, we heard drums, prayers, choirs, poetry, and speeches that were reminiscent of "civil rights" mobilizations. From the audience, we heard cheers, chants, shouts and - sometimes - sobs.
Something powerful shifted on April Fourth. Dr. King was only 39 when an assassin gunned him down. He has been gone for 40 years now, longer than he was ever here. Since his murder, two generations of adults, plus a rising batch of teen-agers, have been born. And we each have a duty to re-imagine the Dream for a new century - and to make it into a reality. On April Fourth, a critical mass of us decided to do just that.
The purpose of this document is to share some of the strategies we used while planning The Dream Reborn as well as the lessons learned along the way. We intend this guide to be a useful resource for those putting together an event that engages people of color and members of communities of modest means, integrates culture and spirit, and transcends the model of talk-at-you keynotes and plenaries, moving instead toward a more participant-centered event.
