"How to Be an Anti-Racist," by Ibram X. Kendi

Editor’s note: At this time we do not have a week three recap for you from the interfaith book group, as our usual correspondent is out of town. Instead, we have a recommendation for additional reading material.

This note is a follow up to our discussion this past Wednesday. During that discussion, I delivered a message from my wife Vassie. Her perspective was everyone in our group would agree that racism is not good. Her analogy was all of us would similarly agree that slavery is not good… none of us would ever have slaves. But in American history, while there were many people who believed slavery was not good, there were not very many people who were true abolitionist. She defined an abolitionist as someone who not only did not own slaves, but someone who was also willing to take actions to abolish slavery from the American system. So Vassie’s suggestion was that our discussion might be better served if we moved away from trying to decide whether we individually were racist and eventually moved toward a discussion of how might we abolish racism. None of us wants systematic racism. But are we willing to work to change that system… to be an Antiracist?

 Vassie said there is a good book about all of this, titled How to be an Antiracist. I’ve not read it. So I can’t recommend it. But I’ve purchased it on Audible and I am currently listening to it (It’s about 10 hours long). Under Audible, you are allowed to give any friend a free book if they’ve never accepted a free Audible book from some other friend. So each of you can download the book for free if you’ve not accepted a free book under Audible in the past.

 If you prefer to read a physical book, or like to do your reading on Kindle, you can purchase a copy through Amazon Smile.

— Bill Taylor

"So You Want to Talk About Race" - Week 2 Recap

Dear brothers and sisters,
(it just occurred to me how like the disciple Paul, that sounds; then you have to know that my middle name IS Paul!)
Here is the Week 2 installment of my notes on our discussion.
It’s worth noting for Kelly that there have been two supplements to the discussion:
(1) An article on slavery in the Quaker world sent out by Karen on Monday:
(2) An article the Joey Novick found regarding White Supremacy in Hunterdon County
Here is my very superficial synopsis of today’s discussion: as before, the addition of your views and any other highlights that were of significance to you are welcome.

So You Want to Talk About Race, Week Two: September 18

The group (18 people with two new attendees) gathered at the Flemington Jewish Community Center with Ms Karen Buys leading.

We started by reviewing population statistics.

[I am including here numbers not presented that I obtained from Wikipedia’s citation of the 2010 U.S. Census.

Karen asked us three key questions; as one might imagine there were many comments, views, opinions, and thoughts expressed.

1.     How often do you think about the color of your skin?

2.     How do you think race relations are now compared to in the past (like three years ago)? Better? Worse? The same?

3.     What are we (the white people in the class) doing with our privilege?

There was a discussion of when is a response a deflection of criticism and when can it be an opportunity to express empathy.

Some discussion centered on the Biblical story of Moses, the Hebrews, and the Egyptians. [Parenthetical note: there are no white people in the Bible.] Thinking of ourselves as Egyptians, how do we escape “the oppressor class?” The hard question was, “Can White people (in particular, White Men) change?” Saying “This isn’t us” is not enough. What actions can be taken to transform the system into one of abundance for all?

However, perhaps what is needed before action is contemplated is to immerse ourselves in what is truly “cringeworthy” in the system.

It appears that one ongoing result of our discussions will be the interaction between becoming aware and becoming uncomfortable; and that is a two-way street.

Awareness <—> Discomfort

Peace,

— Duncan Taylor

Week 2 addition: Karen distributed (and I only read it later), the following (long) article on “Slavery in the Quaker World”:

https://www.friendsjournal.org/slavery-in-the-quaker-world/?fbclid=IwAR2x5k71I6BCvsLx5Idhp9imoPBQAzFE0zITqD6aBtBfeynI7110V0u6ejg

She particularly highlighted the sections, "Rethinking the History of Slavery, Race, and Abolition,” "Protestant Supremacy,” and "From Protestant Supremacy to White Supremacy.”

"So You Want to Talk About Race" Book Group Reading Schedule

Reading Schedule

September 18

(Location: FJCC Library) Introduction, Chapter 1

September 25

(Location: FPC, Parish House) Ch. 2/3

October 2

(Location: FJCC) Ch 4/5

October 9

No meeting for Yom Kippur

October 16

(Location: FPC) Ch 6/7

October 23

(Location: FJCC) Ch 8/9

October 30

(Location: FPC) Ch 10/11

November 6

(Location: FJCC )Ch 12/13

November 13

(Location: FPC) Ch 14/15

November 20

(Location: FJCC) Ch 16/17

Supplementary resources

(All of these are available through the Hunterdon County Library)

The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot

Invisible Man, Ralph Baldwin

Between the World and Me, Te-Nehisi Coates

Slavery by Another Name, Douglas Blackmon

The Color of Law, Richard Rothstein

White Fragility, Robin DiAngelo

Born a Crime, Trevor Noah (parental warning: explicit lyrics!)

"So You Want to Talk about Race" - Week 1 Recap

A group of 18 people (most from either Flemington Presbyterian Church, Grace United Church of Christ, or the Flemington Jewish Community Center) attended the introductory meeting of a group to discuss racism. The discussion was led by Ms Karen Buys at the Parish House, FPC. She made a brief introduction then attended to some housekeeping items. A schedule of readings and meeting places was distributed. That schedule follows this synopsis.

In addition to the current text, a number of additional resources were presented and discussed for supplementary reading (listed further below; details of these are available upon request).

Individuals introduced themselves (names, affiliations, thoughts on this group at the outset).

A lengthy discussion was then initiated on the definitions and meanings (editorial comment: sometimes those are different) of the terms race, racism, and white privilege.

As might be imagined, there were many thoughts offered on these terms.

Although Color has been frequently raised as the distinctive feature of race, the discussion highlighted that our concepts of this stem from distinctions from Others, be it by skin color, religious observance, national origin (and cultural aspects derived from that, language, accents, cuisine, customs). All of these distract from the unity of the human race and that all distinctions are artificial. In the words of one participant, it’s as if Society decided that all people with Type “O” blood were inferior, and everyone had to wear a badge that named their blood type. We would all see that this kind of distinction is artificial, and, to put it bluntly, stupid.

One key distinction, that was made from my perspective, was that prejudice is not racism per se. When the power to impose upon an prejudiced class occurs, then racism is present (to be grammatical, I suppose that is classism). Anyway, it could be reduced to a simple equation:

(Prejudice) + (power to impose) = Oppression

Without power to impose, there is just prejudice/bias/bigotry (or other interchangeable terms). Racism causes harm.

Of course, it’s not possible for one observer to convey the full richness of the discussion here. Do come if your schedule permits.

— Duncan Taylor

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I gave an example today of the everyday bias I feel most of you don’t even notice. That example was the title of the lead article of last week’s Hunterdon Democrat, “It Feels Like America.” Attached is a picture of the article (Page 1 and Page 2). I want to reiterate that I don’t object to the comment made by the veteran. I am just disappointed that the Hunterdon Democrat chose that title because (in my mind) it blatantly appeals to a certain segment of the community… even though we can debate how significant that segment that is.

 One of you wondered (to me) if the title was chosen because “It Feels Like America” might be a title related to celebrating our diversity. I am shrugging at that… oh, if only that was true. Each of you can look at the title, look at the pictures, read the article and decide for yourselves. By choosing that title, I believe the Hunterdon Democrat is trying to appeal to a majority of their audience. And perhaps I’m wrong, but I think most of you at today’s meeting would not have even noticed the subtle message there.

When Jesus had a chance to simply say “All Lives Matter,” he didn’t. There are lots of examples in the Christian Bible of Jesus’ response when speaking to power about groups of people who were being oppressed. Examples that jump out are: Jesus would say “Children’s Lives Matter” or “Adulterer’s Lives Matter” or “Samaritan Lives Matter” or “Sick People’s Lives Matter.” When confronted with power, Jesus didn’t avoid the real issues by responding “All Lives Matter.”

— Bill Taylor

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Our at-home readers are welcome to add their thoughts to the conversation in the comments. Also, any at-home readers interested in a get-together with other at-home readers for in person discussion may email kelly.ospina@graceuccnj.org.