"So You Want to Talk About Race" Week 9 Update
November 6, 2019: 15 attendees
Karen Buys leading discussion
Karen suggested some potential future paths for the group and elicited more from the group:
More reading
Outreach to other groups for further interaction, such as the Hunterdon County Anti-racism Council
Exploration of zoning in Hunterdon County and the availability of affordable housing
A discussion of the “scarecrow incident” on Main Street, Flemington
Diversification in holdings in local school library collections
Suspend further “actions” to become more aware of systemic racism, sexism, anti-Semitism; to “live in the space”
Chapter 12: What are microaggressions?
Microaggressions can result from making assumptions about a person based on their appearance.
Often microaggressions are seen by the person making them as “innocent” statements
This seemed to parse itself into a dichotomy; on the one hand “intentions” and on the other, “impact”
Other mentions included “political correctness” vs “You’re being ‘over-sensitive’.”
“We need to have a discussion about this,” vs “This is not the hill I want to die on.”
Examples included comments reflecting bigotry of all kinds: race, sex, anti-Semitism, sexual orientation; who calls it out? With regard to the latter, impact is greatest when the call-out comes from a member of the dominant group or culture: a white person calling out a racist microaggression, a Christian calling out anti-Semitism, a male calling out anti-feminine microaggressions, etc.
Chapter 13: Why are students so angry?
A key question here was “How do we police protesting?” Reference was made to the Colin Kapernick protest and its subversion by right-wing parties.
The effectiveness, or lack thereof, of Facebook posting
“Tolerance” vs “appreciation”
“America was founded as a White, Christian Nation.”
Following our discussion, Karen sent out some homework for the discussants:
"*Sit with what you have learned and lean into it a bit. Think about how racism exists in your life and in what you see and hear around you.
“*As an ally, it is most effective if you can point things out in your own group, which means:
Men - be an ally for women, when you hear sexist language, confront other men
White people - be an ally for people of color, when you hear or see racism, confront it
Christians - be an ally for Jewish people, when you hear anti-Semitism, confront it
“This is hard to do, especially when it means confronting friends and family, and you may not always be able to do so. “Be aware, though, that those racist, sexist, antisemitic things are out there hurting people.”
The following article was submitted for review by the group:
Peace,
— Duncan Taylor
Laity Service Volunteers Needed
Dear Grace Family -
2020 is right around the corner! Can you believe it??? The new year brings with it new possibilities and opportunities. Grace's laity service program is a treasured part of our ministry and it is only possible through volunteerism.
Please e-mail me at Christine.Syltevik@gmail.com to let me know if you might be interested in volunteering as a Service Leader or Message Provider. I'm very happy to help you and will support you every step of the way. You needn't be a scholar or theologian -- you simply need to be willing to share some love. You'll get that love back x10000 from the congregation afterward, I promise!
Thank you all for helping to keep this important mission going!
Hugs -
— Chris Syltevik
"So You Want to Talk About Race" Week 8 Update
Week 8 - 13 attendees - Leader: Rev. Amy Lincoln (Karen Buys being absent)
Chapter 10: What is cultural appropriation?
As with some earlier chapters, there wasn’t much to discuss about the material as it was presented. We agreed that the definition given was pretty good: “Cultural appropriation is what is occurring when a dominant culture (think White, Male, Eurocentric) receives material and financial benefit from a piece of culture being siphoned away from the culture that is being appropriated.” In addition to rap music as presented in the chapter (madonna took this “mainstream” with her song “Vogue”), examples given were Elvis Presley’s appropriation of black/African-American songwriters’ and singers’ works; e.g., Big Mama Thornton’s recording in 1953 sold a half million copies, but Elvis’s recording in 1956 sold 10 million. Perhaps more benign examples were the adoption of St Patrick’s Day (generally not celebrated in Ireland), the founding of Taco Bell (based on Glen Bell’s hot dog drive-in first in San Bernardino, CA), and all manor of Halloween costumes. Regarding whether if one’s “borrowing” of a custom or cultural aspect is inappropriate, the chapter’s message was that “if it is offensive to any member of the culture whose aspect is being appropriated, then it is cultural appropriation.”
Chapter 11: Why can’t I touch your hair?
Again, this was pretty straightforward, and touched lightly on “microaggressions” that will be discussed in detail next week.
The class had an opportunity to engage in an action as it closed. It was pointed out that there were a number of scarecrows placed on Main Street in celebration of the season and that at least one of them had a black face mask on it. Many of the attendees left at the end of the meeting to observe these. There were mixed feelings about the mask per se, but the way the scarecrow was hanging on a pole was definitely offensive. A call was a made to the Flemington Community Partnership (FCP), and an investigation by them found that masks had been added by unknown persons to the rather nondescript scarecrows. FCP had at the masks removed and appreciated the concerns voiced and were grateful for our group’s intervention.
The group also engages in a number of lively discussions via emails on topics of interest. Among these have been posts on various websites. The websites are as follows:
Video, 5:35 in length
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QokU6ayk6g&feature=youtu.be
A longer interview (in multiple parts) is here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhLY0JqXP-s
An article in Sojourners:
https://sojo.net/articles/study-shows-racism-shortens-lifespan-black-people
This is quite long, but it addresses some of the reasons for the discrepancies between black wealth and white wealth
It is notable in that New Jersey has introduced legislation to correct this matter.
And finally, there is also a wealth gap in contributions to Democratic presidential candidates in terms of color:
Peace,
— Duncan Taylor