Here is Global Connections Television interview about Building Community: Answering Kennedy’s Call, a memoir of my years of public service.
Global Connections Television (GCTV), the only talk show of its type in the world, has featured a myriad of guests ranging from leaders at the UN to the private sector to academics to non-governmental organizations.
Harlan Russell Green, a former Peace Corps Volunteer in Turkey, is the 2023 Winner of the Peace Corps Writers’ Publisher’s Award for his latest book on “Building Community: Answering Kennedy’s Call.” Mr. Green is a Rotarian, retired Mortgage Banker, and Editor/Publisher of Popular Economics Weekly, a financial wire service he began in 2000.
The US Peace Corps put him on an international trajectory that provided unique opportunities to work with the US Environmental Protection Agency, Caesar Chavez’s United Farm Workers of America, and several community development projects to create sustainable, livable areas.
One of his award-winning films was the “The Great Clean Air Debate.” With the UFWA, he produced “Fighting for Our Lives” and “Why We Boycott.” He also worked on projects with Rotary International and Partnering for Peace, an organization of Returned Peace Corps Volunteers who are now Rotarians that strive to connect Rotary Clubs with Peace Corps Projects.
I began writing this memoir in 2017, after wondering how it was possible that Americans had elected a president suffering a severe mental disorder. Did it mean our democracy was dying or already dead, and Americans now wanted a demagogue as president who believed that he was above all laws and the constitution?
It reminded me in many ways of the 1960s when there was just as much social unrest and different ideas of democracy. This was the era of McCarthyism and communist witch-hunting, right wing against left wing political views, the civil rights movement, and an unpopular war in Vietnam that was fracturing American communities.
We coped with the dysfunction and cynicism then by searching for communities that could mirror our values and ideals, and when we found them, to contribute to their growth.
Former President Obama challenged Americans to inspire the youth to a life of service in 2017 after he left the presidency; and the youth he talked about are my target audience. He said then:
“We have some of the lowest voting rates of any democracy and low participation rates that translate into a further gap between who’s governing us and what we believe. The only folks who are going to be able to solve that problem are going to be young people, the next generation. And I have been encouraged everywhere I go in the United States, but also everywhere around the world to see how sharp and astute and tolerant and thoughtful and entrepreneurial our young people are. A lot more sophisticated than I was at their age. And so the question then becomes what are the ways in which we can create pathways for them to take Working to develop successful communities is as important today because of the deep divisions and the possibility of future wars.leadership, for them to get involved?”
Working to develop successful communities is as important today because of the deep divisions and cynicism today and possibility of future wars.
Harlan Green © 2024
Harlan Green on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarlanGreen
No comments:
Post a Comment