Day 22: Learning and Unlearning

Happy Monday Family! 


As we become more and more aware of the injustices that have been dealt to our black and brown brothers and sisters over the last two centuries it becomes easier and easier to understand the depth of pain, frustration, mistrust that is held for white brothers and sisters and institutions.   This video right here is a glimpse into how pervasive the disrespect goes… https://www.facebook.com/char.thebarb/videos/3089274754443573/


In addition here is another challenging video, about “the Lost Cause” campaign of the United Daughters of the Confederate,  concerning systematic retelling of the war of northern aggression:  https://youtu.be/dOkFXPblLpU


And while the words of the song have been changed to Turkey in the Straw, we wonder how much has changed in our text books.  We have heard a lot from you and experienced it ourselves how limited our education in true American History has been.  The fact that Juneteenth is not taught broadly in schools is just one example of how white washed our history education was.  


For Day 22 we have two action items: 


This is borrowed from Corinne Shutack’s article 75 Things White People Can Do For Racial Justice. 

43. Find out how slavery, the Civil War, and the Jim Crow era are being taught in your local school. Advocate that history is taught correctly and certain parts are not skipped over or barely mentioned. Advocate that many voices be used in the study of history. Is the school teaching about post-Civil War convict leasing, the parent to our current mass incarceration system? Talking about slavery alone, is your high school showing images such as Gordon’s scourged back, a slave ship hold, and an enslaved nurse holding her young master? Are explorers, scientists, politicians, etc who are POC discussed? Are male and female authors who are POC on reading lists? Are Japanese internment camps being discussed? Is history explained correctly in history books? As an example of a severe failure to teach the reality of slavery and its ramifications, check out image 1 and image 2 . There are a lot of great resources out there with a little googling, like PBS’s resources for teaching slavery, this POC Online Classroom blog, Teaching for Change, and The National Association for Multicultural Education.


Here’s some reading on the subject: A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn (get it from your local library or a black owned bookstore see Day 1 and 2 for some black owned bookstores or do a quick internet search). 


Tomorrow we hope you will join us for our Radical Welcoming Brainstorming and Practice Session on ZOOM.  In prep we are thinking about the times in our lives when we have witnessed racism in our lives.  We are wondering today what incidents we have encountered personally in which we were baffled about how to respond or so taken off guard our response was minimal.  Tomorrow on our call we would like to look at these situations and see what options for response we can brainstorm and integrate into our toolbox of responses.  


Today we gather the situations that have troubled us regarding how to respond in meaningful and genuine ways to racist behaviors and challenges.  We hope you’ll join us tomorrow night (Tuesday) to discuss these situations on our ZOOM call and figure out some responses to have ready to go when these incidents present themselves.   It will be a lively and meaningful conversation.   


Tuesday 6/23 6:30-8pm: Radical Welcoming Brainstorming and Practice Event. Tuesday June 23 from 6:30-8pm on ZOOM. Mark your calendars and join us!

Peace,
Beth and Camerin


Two creative black father’s share their stories: 

Bluz, poet: https://www.instagram.com/p/CBs059Jh-BU/

SWATS, musician: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__OgkwxEecs 


Quote of the Day: In Order to Empathize with someone’s experience you must be willing to believe them as they see it and not how you imagine their experience to be.  -Brene Brown


Upcoming Virtual Events: 


Reading/ Watch/Listen List: 

Resources: 

Weekend Actions and Reflections from the group: 

  • I watched an interview of Beverly Daniel Tatum, president emerita of Spelman College and author of “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?”  The interview was very thought-provoking, and Dr. Tatum suggested that ensuring a living wage for all would be an excellent first step in working to eliminate systemic racism. I also had a lengthy conversation with a Davidson couple (childhood friend and her professor husband) about white privilege and action steps to consider. In particular, I offered the process suggested by my church’s interim rector: “learn-pray-act” (do all you can to educate yourself about systemic racism in the U.S., then pray about what you’ve learned, and finally respond to what the spirit guides you to do).

  • I volunteered at a Juneteenth celebration. Like past protests / marches I attended, there were photos of people who have been murdered by police. I stood there with a new friend and we both remarked that we hadn’t heard of a couple of young men who were killed. I returned home and researched the heartbreaking stories of Antwon Rose II, a 17-year-old child, and Dion Johnson , a 28-year-old man, both killed by police. This has got to stop. 

  • Had some Jamaican take out for Father’s day.  It was incredible. 

  • Yesterday I took the my kids uptown to the art installation. We talked about the skills of the artist and how it made us feel. We shared with dad over dinner (we got take out from an immigrant owned place). I had a good and hard conversation with a conservative friend who is beginning to be willing to learn and listen. She is disabled and I was able to draw some parallels that she was able to connect with as someone who has experienced ableist bias. It was hard and good. I remembered that sometimes change is slow, but happening.

  • I practiced radical welcoming telling a young black father who was taking his little one on a walk- Happy Father’s Day.  He was surprised and clearly appreciative.  

  • For Juneteenth I left a card with a gift card inside for my mail carrier who is a black woman. 

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