On the Occasion of the 25 th Anniversary of the Cleveland Mediation Center

I have been around the block (so to speak) during my past 25 years, and privileged to have worked in that time with about 100 community-based justice programs in the US and abroad. Most of these have devoted their energies to community mediation. The journey has left some scars though, such as witnessing the numbing and catastrophic fatality rate of alternative justice programs and non-profits generally. The very best of intentions, the unselfish commitments of staff and volunteers, the urgency of local needs, program innovations and good ideas – sometimes, these count for very little. Programs simply cannot make a go of it.

I have also grown very sensitive over this time to the contradiction between what many community mediation programs have aspired to become – namely, activist organizations in the social justice arena – and the all too-familiar reality of serving as adjuncts to someone else's values, goals and agenda. I am only too aware that this is one strategy for making a go of it. But it is a sad choice.

Now comes the Cleveland Mediation Center, celebrating its 25 th anniversary. That is very long tenure in this field . . . and what have you become?

I have tried to listen carefully to what those about you have said. They make many claims. You seek change in your community, by addressing the quality of life for the most disenfranchised of its members. You reduce interpersonal and intergroup conflict by developing the skills of individuals and the capacities of community organizations to value and find peace. You are called upon both to lead, and to develop indigenous leadership with the aptitude and heart to intervene in community trouble. Mediation is for you a requisite for community development, a reflex of democratic participation, and a civic responsibility. You are embedded, and defined as an essential service. You collaborate, and you are defined locally as a “player” by even those whose value systems stand in stark contrast to your own. You are an advocate for meager voices, and their interests and needs affect your work and shape your priorities. Surely, taken together, these are all the bellwethers of social justice activism still, after all these years.

What do the rest of us, on the outside looking in, have to learn from the Cleveland Mediation Center? You have laid down the gauntlet. To be taken seriously, do serious work. Build local peace. Take risks. Speak truth to power, and demand accountability. When the political winds blow, stay the course. Be culturally competent. Suppress the need to be a rock star: social justice is never the flavor of the month. Relinquish power, empower others. Earn legitimacy, credibility and impact the ‘old school' way, by hard work, over a long time. And for all this, scratch and claw your way to make each year's budget. Remain a stranger in your own land.

Now, while all that is very impressive, it is not much to be jealous about. It's just too damn scary.

Congratulations to the Cleveland Mediation Center! But party hearty, because the next 25 years promise to be even more difficult. You are of course obligated to make it so.

Harry Mika

Big Rapids, Michigan

November 2006