<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=2>Dear Sherrie Claiborne:
<BR> I hope I speak for many people in the adult education and literacy field when I thank you for your gracious response to our concerns about the scheduled plantation tour during the COABE meeting.
<BR> I suggest that you write an "open letter" to the Charleston tourism commission about COABE's decision to cancel the tour -- and why -- and publish it in the local newspaper as well as on the literacy lists. (Take advantage of this "teachable moment!")
<BR> Best wishes in your upcoming conference - and especially in the roundtable discussion you will be having about institutionalized racism!
<BR>Margery Freeman
<BR>P.S. I work with a national organization, the People's Institute for Survival and Beyond, that sponsors "undoing racism/community organizing" workshops across the country. We have done a great deal of training with the literacy community and would be happy to work with COABE members. Feel free to call/email me or visit the Institute's website: www.thepeoplesinstitute.org.
<BR>
<BR></FONT><FONT COLOR="#ff0000" SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Margery Freeman
<BR>4635 Banks Street
<BR>New Orleans, LA 70119
<BR>(504) 482-0334</FONT></HTML>