It would be tempting for Jay Rothman to
see himself as a failure.
Rothman has devoted his life to what may seem to be a futile
task: conflict resolution.
He goes where there's trouble - to Ireland,
Israel, Sri Lanka and the
Caucasus, to name a few -
and uses his skills to bring people together, to pound
out some way to make peace.
A look at the world, however, makes it clear that old issues
die hard, and conflict resolution is one tough sell.
But Cincinnati, for one, is buying.
Rothman and his Yellow Springs-based consulting firm, the ARIA
Group, has been given the prodigious task of guiding the racially
divided city through a sea of attitudinal change in police-community
relations, which reached a new low in early April when riots
erupted after a white police officer shot and killed an unarmed,
19-year-old black man.
It's not going to be easy. But Rothman, 43, is an optimist born
of pessimism, who knows that a better future is within humanity's
grasp.
He calls himself a planter of seeds, whose goal is to give individuals,
groups - whole communities, even - the tools to reach communal
accord.
And then he moves on, leaving it to those remaining to "carry
the water, to actually deliver the goods." Besides, he said,
"If we define conflict resolution as the end of conflict, I'd
have to close up shop." Instead, he sees conflict as a big,
ripe opportunity for growth, a chance to look hard and long
at the whats, whys and hows of the ways we relate.
There are reasons, he believes, for the world's struggles, reasons
that go to the very core of each individual being.
Nobody can change who they are. Rothman wants to help individuals
see others the way others see themselves.
His goal is to make each distinct voice heard, then weave the
cacophony into a blend of complimentary sounds - notes that
work together in compatible chords.
An incredible dream, perhaps, but Rothman goes to work every
day believing he will change the world, one voice at a time.
The alternative is untenable.
In other words, he says, voice trailing off, "If we can't do
better...." Rothman became involved in Cincinnati's effort at
racial healing by way of a lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court
by the Cincinnati Black United Front and the American Civil
Liberties Union.
The lawsuit charged the city of Cincinnati and the Fraternal
Order of Police with racial profiling, a practice in which blacks
are stopped or detained by police for no reason other than race.
Even before filing the lawsuit, the plaintiffs' lawyers were
looking for innovative ways to settle.
Al Gerhardstein, Scott Greenwood and Ken Lawson, lawyers with
long histories of civil-rights litigation, had been trying for
decades to kindle lasting reform, only to be frustrated time
and again as they watched court-ordered commitment spark and
die.
"I've been litigating in the police conduct area
in Cincinnati since 1976," said Gerhardstein.
"I've
used the usual lawyer tools - I've sued people, used mediation
- but it all seems so detached from the streets. And that's
really what we're trying to do differently here.
We can't solve this problem in a manner that keeps us detached
from the people.
We need to walk with them." And that's where Rothman came in.
His name was given to Gerhardstein by the Andrus Family Foundation,
a New York-based philanthropic organization interested in providing
assistance and funding to efforts for racial reconciliation
and improving police-community relations.
Rothman had been heavily involved with Andrus in another of
its projects: easing the transition for young adults moving
from foster care to independence.
"I was just chewing
on this thing and called Andrus," said Gerhardstein.
"I said I wanted to do this thing in Cincinnati - did they have
any ideas? They proposed Jay Rothman and his ARIA Group," based,
coincidentally and conveniently, up the road in Yellow Springs."I
was expecting somebody from Colombia or something," he said,
laughing.
Andrus also pledged $100,000 in a challenge grant to the city
of Cincinnati, which came through with $100,000 of its own after
some great City Council debate.
U.S. District Court Judge Susan Dlott approved Rothman's plan,
so he and his staff have hit the ground running, developing
and implementing a detailed plan that pulls in the voices of
the people - anyone with a vested interest is called a "stakeholder"
in ARIA parlance - through questionnaires and interviews.
That data will be the basis for a yearlong process of setting
goals through the use of feedback groups and the input of experts.
All parties to the lawsuit will be key players in the process;
all data except that which would identify individuals will be
public information."That's the whole key to this," agreed Gerhardstein.
"Communities' social problems have been resolved behind closed
doors.
In 1998, the Justice Department mediated an agreement - a bunch
of stuff that just never got done. It may be harder at the end
to settle the case because you can't hide the ball."
"The stakeholders are going to be looking for their thoughts,
their views, their words to be represented," Rothman said.
"It will really hold our feet to the fire."The findings
will be presented to the parties to the lawsuit, and Rothman
hopes the spirit of collaboration will carry over and see them
through to a settlement before any adversarial instinct recurs.
It will be up to Judge Dlott to approve any settlement, but
Rothman says that nobody's waiting: His plan is to develop projects,
for example, that neighborhoods can adopt immediately.
Rothman's staff has grown from seven to 33; he's expanded operations
from his large, airy Yellow Springs home/office base to a Cincinnati
satellite housed in donated space.
The initial $200,000 budget has doubled, and Rothman has vowed
to raise the additional funding himself. People have been unbelievably
willing to help, he said, donating time and expertise, supporting
the effort any way they can.
"There's a tremendous
effort in Cincinnati," he said. "People are stepping up to the
plate, asking how they can do better, wanting to find out what
brought us here.
I'm seeing the best. It's wonderful, he said. Rothman remains
adamant that conflict based on identity can be eased, even resolved,
with the right tools and, more important, the right frame of
mind.
"Whether racial profiling happens or not is
less important than the underlying, deeper tension, fear, mistrust,
the legacy of separation that we haven't solved with affirmative
action, with integration."
"Racial profiling is a
symptom of a cause," Rothman said. "We could collect statistics
on police stops - that would be OK - but it won't solve the
problem.
The police are put on the front line of addressing social ills,
problems that have to do with racial identity, economics and
history . We have to address that head-on. It's so much more
complex than statistics. "
Rothman's credentials include a degree from Antioch (1980);
a master of arts (1985) and doctorate in international relations
from the University of Maryland (1987).
He embarked on conflict resolution as a career at the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem, where he led workshops that included
Israelis and Palestinians.
A growing reputation and undying need for his expertise took
him around the world, where he was hired to mediate, teach and
train diplomats, students, activists and business executives
in what he calls the art and science of conflict resolution.
He's run conflict-resolution programs in areas where the problems
are overwhelming, sitting with loyalists and nationalists in
Northern Ireland, between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, and with
about 15 different ethnic groups in the Caucasus region of the
former Soviet Union, and he's mediated conflict resolution with
everyday workers in U.S. businesses.
Cincinnati, he said, should be proud of its courage in facing
an entrenched, often ignored problem.
"The best way
to predict the future is to create it," he said.
For his part, the "seed planter" plans to keep an eye on the
city to enjoy the fruits of his effort.
"We're often
brought in to be heroes," he said, "but when all is said and
done, they are on their own. Really, it's better when they forget
about us.
If we do our job right, Cincinnatians will say they did it themselves."
