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stories emerged a point in the dialogue where participants felt a degree of comfort with one another

and after being exposed to the realities of racism and oppression through the video or through an

experiential exercise. The intimate accounts reflected authentically laden with emotion and pain,

in a space that was open and accepting by patiently staying with the individual and dialogue group

members as they risked and revealed together.

The element of risk and conflict is central to the heart stories, hurt stories proposition and

inevitable. Without risking, the stories would not have emerged and without a space to hold the

conflict as it emerged, the dialogues may have been labeled artificial and lacking substance (Walsh,

2007). Some participants noted that their mere presence and attendance at the dialogue represented

a risk. One participant, during her interview about her race dialogue experiences wondered aloud

if attendance by White members of the community would have been greater without fears of

retribution from other members in the community. The same participant also indicated that an

elected official who attended one of the dialogue sessions seemed reluctant to make any comments.

This statement is unconfirmed because, the elected official declined participating in my research.

“Heart stories, hurt stories” represent the vehicle that supported new levels of

understanding about the realities of race and oppression and the actions of Whites taken against

African Americans in the host community. Stories relayed by dialogue participants and a facilitator

helped participants listen deeply, hear and feel the hurt and pain of the storyteller. When a

facilitator told of a painful experience with racism when she and her husband were first married,

the depth of her emotion and pain was felt as her eyes filled with tears. The attention of everyone

in the room was fixed on her and a sense of sadness entered the room for a period of time as the

impact of her alarming experience was exposed.

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