Kenith Bergeron was a Conciliator and then Senior Conciliation Specialist in CRS Region 5 from 1999 to 2020.

All Videos - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNEO2g2TpLNwNBf3W-UqAqNi2vMvZaeIk

Part 1 - https://youtu.be/cAbZav4iR_E?si=_D3E4rZfe0TSvnbp

Part 2 - https://youtu.be/2T4tfGxwHLQ?si=3-UuzOXYzghr6nX4

Part 3 - https://youtu.be/eVd6jwnjYgU?si=3HRM5Tc8iLlHZ4Eu

 

SUMMARY—

 

Kenith Bergeron worked for CRS from December 1999 to December 2020. Before his employment with CRS, he worked in civil rights and diversity, in HR for FEMA and as the diversity manager for Sears and many other companies. While working as an Equal Rights Officer for FEMA, Bergeron was paired to work alongside a CRS conciliator. Because he was so impressed with the conciliator’s work, he decided to join the ranks of CRS. 

While at CRS, Bergeron was most intrigued by his work with Native Americans, a community with which he collaborated extensively throughout his career. He speaks at length about a case involving the Chippewa Nation and a local school district where Chippewa students and families faced discriminatory treatment. For six months, he helped the two parties come to an agreement with an impressive 25 points across nine categories. 

The pre-mediation process is fundamental to Bergeron’s approach to mediation. During a pre-mediation, Bergeron would establish protocols, deal with power imbalances, and encourage the parties to present their issues and concerns in writing, which would eventually help to shape the formal mediation’s agenda. He stresses the importance of “doing your homework” on communities and properly preparing each party for a successful mediation experience. Bergeron also used subcommittees during his mediation sessions; he found that these smaller groups could focus on concrete issues, elevate leaders, and engage more people in the session. 

Bergeron also details how rumors have complicated his work in the past, as well as rumor control strategies used by CRS to mitigate misinformation. 

While he is an experienced and skilled table-oriented mediator, Bergeron also has experience with street mediation and deterring violence on the street. He used to intervene to bring down tension levels while working on the ground, but since the events in Ferguson in 2014, CRS conciliators are encouraged not to do onsite street mediation for fear of being caught in the crossfire of violence. In Bergeron’s opinion, though, CRS needs to continue doing street mediation. 

Bergeron would harness social media as a tool to do research, especially when it came to on-the-ground events like protests and marches. He would also use social media to examine tensions in a community or learn more about how people feel about specific issues causing unrest. 

Recent political polarization impacted Bergeron’s experience with CRS. During the previous presidential administration, CRS conciliators could not take cases relating to critical race theory (CRT), which was often frustrating, putting conciliators in the difficult position of turning down certain cases perceived to be associated with CRT. 

During his time at CRS, Bergeron partnered with the FBI, the US Attorney, state and local governments, the NAACP, LULAC, LARASA, Asian, Muslim, Jewish, and Sikh civil rights organizations, national transgender organizations, and the Black Lives Matter movement. 

Bergeron sees his role as a conciliator as being like “the new Martin Luther King Jr. You are bringing peace where there has been disharmony and violence. You are a peacemaker more than anything else. The work is about what you bring to the community at the time of its greatest need.” In Bergeron’s eyes, CRS mediators “stand on the shoulders of giants.” 

Bergeron’s closest mentor was his regional director, Jesse Taylor. One of Taylor’s most important lessons was that if somebody tells you no, find another way to find a yes to make a necessary intervention happen.