Racial Justice Education Program
Upcoming Media for Discussion
Hearing Other Voices- A short video Series- Discussed September/October 2021
September 9, 2021:
Focus: Should differing opinions be heard especially if the language used is incendiary, is it appropriate to use anecdotes that cannot be verified, and what should we be teaching our children in schools about race and racism.
(535) Black Professor Says Critical Race Theory Murders The Souls of White Children - YouTube
September 23rd/26th:
October 7th/10th:
October 21st/24th:
September 9, 2021:
Focus: Should differing opinions be heard especially if the language used is incendiary, is it appropriate to use anecdotes that cannot be verified, and what should we be teaching our children in schools about race and racism.
(535) Black Professor Says Critical Race Theory Murders The Souls of White Children - YouTube
September 23rd/26th:
October 7th/10th:
October 21st/24th:
Discussed in August 2021
Critical Race Theory has become a dynamic, eclectic, and growing movement in the study of law. With this third edition of Critical Race Theory, editors Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic have created a reader for the twenty-first century—one that shakes up the legal academy, questions comfortable liberal premises, and leads the search for new ways of thinking about our nation's most intractable, and insoluble, problem—race.
Critical Race Theory has become a dynamic, eclectic, and growing movement in the study of law. With this third edition of Critical Race Theory, editors Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic have created a reader for the twenty-first century—one that shakes up the legal academy, questions comfortable liberal premises, and leads the search for new ways of thinking about our nation's most intractable, and insoluble, problem—race.
Discussed in May 2021
What does Jesus offer to a people who live with their backs against the wall? This is the question with which Howard Thurman began his landmark work, Jesus and the Disinherited, in 1949. The work became an intellectual pillar for the burgeoning civil rights movement in the 1950s. Howard Thurman, an unorthodox mystic and prophet, served as a spiritual mentor to civil rights leaders in the mid-century black freedom struggle. Until recently, Thurman’s work was not as widely known or studied among white Christian communities as it deserved to be. But our current historical moment offers new impetus to return to this spiritual giant and particularly to his seminal work on Jesus.
Backs Against the Wall: The Howard Thurman Story (8 minutes)
What does Jesus offer to a people who live with their backs against the wall? This is the question with which Howard Thurman began his landmark work, Jesus and the Disinherited, in 1949. The work became an intellectual pillar for the burgeoning civil rights movement in the 1950s. Howard Thurman, an unorthodox mystic and prophet, served as a spiritual mentor to civil rights leaders in the mid-century black freedom struggle. Until recently, Thurman’s work was not as widely known or studied among white Christian communities as it deserved to be. But our current historical moment offers new impetus to return to this spiritual giant and particularly to his seminal work on Jesus.
Backs Against the Wall: The Howard Thurman Story (8 minutes)
Discussed in April 2021
Drawing on history, public opinion surveys, and personal experience, Robert P. Jones delivers a provocative examination of the unholy relationship between American Christianity and white supremacy.
As the nation grapples with demographic changes and the legacy of racism in America, Christianity’s role as a cornerstone of white supremacy has been largely overlooked. But white Christians—from evangelicals in the South to mainline Protestants in the Midwest and Catholics in the Northeast—have not just been complacent or complicit; rather, as the dominant cultural power, they have constructed and sustained a project of protecting white supremacy and opposing black equality that has framed the entire American story.
Interview (6:43 minutes)
Author Robert P. Jones On New Book "White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christ
Drawing on history, public opinion surveys, and personal experience, Robert P. Jones delivers a provocative examination of the unholy relationship between American Christianity and white supremacy.
As the nation grapples with demographic changes and the legacy of racism in America, Christianity’s role as a cornerstone of white supremacy has been largely overlooked. But white Christians—from evangelicals in the South to mainline Protestants in the Midwest and Catholics in the Northeast—have not just been complacent or complicit; rather, as the dominant cultural power, they have constructed and sustained a project of protecting white supremacy and opposing black equality that has framed the entire American story.
Interview (6:43 minutes)
Author Robert P. Jones On New Book "White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christ
Discussed in Feb 2021
POLICING THE BLACK MAN
Arrest, Prosecution, and Imprisonment
edited by Angela J Davis
A comprehensive, readable analysis of the key issues of the Black Lives Matter movement, this thought-provoking and compelling anthology features essays by some of the nation’s most influential and respected criminal justice experts and legal scholars.
Policing the Black Man explores and critiques the many ways the criminal justice system impacts the lives of African American boys and men at every stage of the criminal process, from arrest through sentencing. Essays range from an explication of the historical roots of racism in the criminal justice system to an examination of modern-day police killings of unarmed black men. The contributors discuss and explain racial profiling, the power and discretion of police and prosecutors, the role of implicit bias, the racial impact of police and prosecutorial decisions, the disproportionate imprisonment of black men, the collateral consequences of mass incarceration, and the Supreme Court’s failure to provide meaningful remedies for the injustices in the criminal justice system.
POLICING THE BLACK MAN
Arrest, Prosecution, and Imprisonment
edited by Angela J Davis
A comprehensive, readable analysis of the key issues of the Black Lives Matter movement, this thought-provoking and compelling anthology features essays by some of the nation’s most influential and respected criminal justice experts and legal scholars.
Policing the Black Man explores and critiques the many ways the criminal justice system impacts the lives of African American boys and men at every stage of the criminal process, from arrest through sentencing. Essays range from an explication of the historical roots of racism in the criminal justice system to an examination of modern-day police killings of unarmed black men. The contributors discuss and explain racial profiling, the power and discretion of police and prosecutors, the role of implicit bias, the racial impact of police and prosecutorial decisions, the disproportionate imprisonment of black men, the collateral consequences of mass incarceration, and the Supreme Court’s failure to provide meaningful remedies for the injustices in the criminal justice system.
Discussed in January 2021
In The Color of Law (published by Liveright in May 2017), Richard Rothstein argues with exacting precision and fascinating insight how segregation in America—the incessant kind that continues to dog our major cities and has contributed to so much recent social strife—is the byproduct of explicit government policies at the local, state, and federal levels.
The Color of Law was designated one of ten finalists on the National Book Awards’ long list for the best nonfiction book of 2017.
Rothstein was a panelist on an Economic Policy Institute webinar, July 9, 2020, discussing his book and Reconstruction 2020: Valuing Black Lives and Economic Opportunities for All. Click here to watch the webinar.
In The Color of Law (published by Liveright in May 2017), Richard Rothstein argues with exacting precision and fascinating insight how segregation in America—the incessant kind that continues to dog our major cities and has contributed to so much recent social strife—is the byproduct of explicit government policies at the local, state, and federal levels.
The Color of Law was designated one of ten finalists on the National Book Awards’ long list for the best nonfiction book of 2017.
Rothstein was a panelist on an Economic Policy Institute webinar, July 9, 2020, discussing his book and Reconstruction 2020: Valuing Black Lives and Economic Opportunities for All. Click here to watch the webinar.
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Discussed in December 2020.
The Book Selection Committee has chosen two fiction books by black author Colson Whitehead. 1.The Underground Railroad (2017) 2.Nickel Boys (2020) Both books were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in their respective years making Colin Whitehead one of only four authors to win the award twice (the others were William Faulkner, Booth Tarkington and John Updike). “Nickel Boys” is of particular significance for us as it is based on historical events that occurred in Florida. Both are available in paperback, on Kindle and as an audiobook. |
Discussed in August/September 2020.
Waking Up White by Debby Irving
For twenty-five years, Debby Irving sensed inexplicable racial tensions in her personal and professional relationships. As a colleague and neighbor, she worried about offending people she dearly wanted to befriend. As an arts administrator, she didn't understand why her diversity efforts lacked traction. As a teacher, she found her best efforts to reach out to students and families of color left her wondering what she was missing. Then, in 2009, one "aha!" moment launched an adventure of discovery and insight that drastically shifted her worldview and upended her life plan. In Waking Up White, Irving tells her often cringe-worthy story with such openness that readers will turn every page rooting for her-and ultimately for all of us.
Here is a short clip by Debby Irving on Our Whitewashed History. (11 minutes)
Waking Up White by Debby Irving
For twenty-five years, Debby Irving sensed inexplicable racial tensions in her personal and professional relationships. As a colleague and neighbor, she worried about offending people she dearly wanted to befriend. As an arts administrator, she didn't understand why her diversity efforts lacked traction. As a teacher, she found her best efforts to reach out to students and families of color left her wondering what she was missing. Then, in 2009, one "aha!" moment launched an adventure of discovery and insight that drastically shifted her worldview and upended her life plan. In Waking Up White, Irving tells her often cringe-worthy story with such openness that readers will turn every page rooting for her-and ultimately for all of us.
Here is a short clip by Debby Irving on Our Whitewashed History. (11 minutes)
This Book was discussed in July 2020
Crystal M. Fleming, PhD, is a writer and sociologist who researches racism in the United States and abroad. She earned degrees from Wellesley College and Harvard University and is associate professor of sociology and Africana studies at Stony Brook University. Fleming writes about race, sexuality, and politics for publications including The Root, Black Agenda Report, Vox, and Everyday Feminism, and she has tens of thousands of followers on social media. She is the author of Resurrecting Slavery: Racial Legacies and White Supremacy in France.
“Dr. Fleming offers a straight-no-chaser critique of our collective complicit ignorance regarding the state of race in the United States . . . . This book will leave you thinking, offended, and transformed.”
—Nina Turner, former Ohio state senator
Dr. Crystal Fleming workshop on How to Be Less Stupid about Race, Racism, and Anti-Racism. (1 hour 5 minutes)
Crystal M. Fleming, PhD, is a writer and sociologist who researches racism in the United States and abroad. She earned degrees from Wellesley College and Harvard University and is associate professor of sociology and Africana studies at Stony Brook University. Fleming writes about race, sexuality, and politics for publications including The Root, Black Agenda Report, Vox, and Everyday Feminism, and she has tens of thousands of followers on social media. She is the author of Resurrecting Slavery: Racial Legacies and White Supremacy in France.
“Dr. Fleming offers a straight-no-chaser critique of our collective complicit ignorance regarding the state of race in the United States . . . . This book will leave you thinking, offended, and transformed.”
—Nina Turner, former Ohio state senator
Dr. Crystal Fleming workshop on How to Be Less Stupid about Race, Racism, and Anti-Racism. (1 hour 5 minutes)
“White Rage” Discussion Groups
The Racial Justice Reading Program has completed its first book discussion series. The first book of the program was “White Rage” by Carol Anderson and discussions took place on five occasions during the month of October. A total of forty-eight (48) UU members/ friends participated in the program with group sizes ranging from 8 – 20 people. Participants described the book as “heart-wrenching” in its frank survey of the history of our nation’s racial animus towards African-Americans. The most common comment from readers was their “shock” at the political, legal, and judicial barriers enacted over time to prevent full citizenship and opportunity for the former slaves and their descendants. Many commented, “how come I was never aware of this history” or “I felt shame” for our nation’s behavior revealed in this book.
On asking for feedback about the program, the consensus was a.) the program was valuable and should be continued, b.) the Social Justice Committee should explore ways to use other media (movies, workshops, etc.) to advance our understanding, and c.) the book reading timeline should be compressed to end before part-timers go north.
-Dale Anderson
The Racial Justice Reading Program has completed its first book discussion series. The first book of the program was “White Rage” by Carol Anderson and discussions took place on five occasions during the month of October. A total of forty-eight (48) UU members/ friends participated in the program with group sizes ranging from 8 – 20 people. Participants described the book as “heart-wrenching” in its frank survey of the history of our nation’s racial animus towards African-Americans. The most common comment from readers was their “shock” at the political, legal, and judicial barriers enacted over time to prevent full citizenship and opportunity for the former slaves and their descendants. Many commented, “how come I was never aware of this history” or “I felt shame” for our nation’s behavior revealed in this book.
On asking for feedback about the program, the consensus was a.) the program was valuable and should be continued, b.) the Social Justice Committee should explore ways to use other media (movies, workshops, etc.) to advance our understanding, and c.) the book reading timeline should be compressed to end before part-timers go north.
-Dale Anderson
