by Cherie Duvall

Who knew that a paper route could open a little boy?s eyes to the world? NLC President James Hunt, councilmember from Clarksburg, W.Va., found this out firsthand growing up in a picturesque yet culturally divided town.

?When I grew up, there seemed to be lines in the streets that you knew where this section was or that section was,? he said. ?There was a view in the city that limited people from being a part of other communities. I didn?t realize this, though, until I got a paper route. With it I could see there was really a bigger world even in our small community.?

Hunt?s lack of exposure wasn?t due to living in a sheltered household, however. Inviting to the outsider due to its small-town appeal, Clarksburg, a city of nearly 17,000 people with a minority percentage of a little more than 3 percent, was a community divided into racial groups. So much so that some neighborhoods had deed restrictions stating that a specific race couldn?t live in a certain part of the town.

?Everyone felt a part of segregation and isolation,? he admitted. ?But there really was never an opportunity for people to come together and unite.?

That is until a significant event occurred in his town ? a situation that led to Hunt?s goal to promote building inclusive communities.

In September of 1999, a chapter of the Knights of the White Kamellia Ku Klux Klan wrote to Clarksburg officials requesting  permission to hold a rally on the steps of the Harrison County Courthouse on November 6. Some believe this rally request was in response to the election of Clarksburg?s first black council member and mayor, Rev. David Kates.

Keeping in mind that it was the KKK?s constitutional right to assemble, Kates responded in a way that no one expected; he granted the white supremacy group a permit allowing them to convene in the city.

?Pastor Kates? attitude, which I found heartening, was ?I?m not going to do what everyone else does and throw up the roadblocks,?? Hunt explained. ?He said if the Klan wants to come to our town, he?s going to welcome them and ask the people in the community to stand up and join him in a unity rally held on the same day. He called it the ?Let?s Get Real Rally?.?

Co-chaired by Kates and Hunt, the event?s preparation gained momentum when citizens started volunteering their services to the cause. Seeing the partnership between the two council members ? one black and one of Slovakian descent ? made citizens realize that since the KKK?s rally was offensive to racial minorities in the city, it was offensive to the town as a whole. Both the rallies and the partnership between Kates and Hunt received a great amount of media attention throughout West Virginia.

On the day of both events, only a handful of KKK members showed up for their rally. On the other hand, the Let?s Get Real Rally attracted hundreds of people, including speakers and musicians from different ages, races, genders, religions and sexual orientations, gathering to promote the importance of racial harmony and to show the world that Clarksburg is not a town that promotes hate.

After the rally, though some citizens? attitudes toward race relations remained the same, many people noticed a difference in the community.

?This really brought the community together,? Hunt said. ?People all of a sudden recognized that they could make a difference and could have a visible way of showing inclusiveness.?

Hunt explained that this pivotal point in Clarksburg?s history led to the kickoff of the Unity Project, an effort that addresses diversity issues in the city through school programs and community meetings. But he was quick to point out that building an inclusive community is more than addressing race relations. It?s about addressing all counts of exclusivity in a community.

?The reason the topic is so broad is because it addresses weakness in the community as it relates to people feeling excluded,? he pointed out.

One such person is Hunt?s brother, who is a paraplegic.

?Until you go through your community with a person in a wheelchair, you kind of think ? what a fortunate thing it is that you?re living in America ? a place with wheelchair accessible curbs and close parking spaces,? he said. ?But 10 minutes after you live that experience, you find it?s one of the most exclusive communities.?

Hunt has truly had personal experiences with exclusion. And through his years of working on NLC?s Board of Directors, he has seen that the exclusivity that has gone on in his own town is ?somewhat universal.? What he also believes is universal is the ability of city officials to strive for inclusive communities. He believes all that?s needed are the right tools.

?One of the biggest things that I learned is that there is a role for everyone in the process and in order to make progress, people have to be a part of the process,? he emphasized. ?They can?t stand on the sidelines and just watch instances of hate and things of that sort occur and just say it?s bad. You do have the ability, but it is something that I think there are tools that people have to use and a process you have to go through. I think that?s where NLC plays a big role.?

During his presidency of NLC, Hunt is encouraging city officials to join the Partnership for Working Toward Inclusive Communities, a program encouraging and celebrating local efforts to promote equal opportunity and fairness as well as citizen participation and engagement.

The program?s tool kit provides participants with information on how to join the partnership, a sample resolution, a sample press release, a list of steps that cities can take to promote inclusive communities, and examples of successful programs, policies and activities that cities have used to build inclusive communities.

With ammunition such as the tool kit, Hunt believes city officials can begin to fight problems of exclusiveness right in their own cities.

?In America, though the issues in the federal and state level are very important, where inclusive issues touch people the most is in communities,? he said.

Details: For more information on the Partnership for Working Toward Inclusive Communities or to download the tool kit, go to the Inclusive Communities link on NLC?s home page at www.nlc.org. The two documents, Inclusive Communities for All and The Resource Guide for Working Toward Inclusive Communities, can also be found at this website.