Building Bridges, February 5, 2020

Ten participants

Karen Buys leading

No chapters were specifically reviewed today, at least at first; there was just general discussion around some leading statements or questions [Not all of these came from Karen.] Here is a sampling of those.

How does one respond to the statement, “White people gain nothing by diversity.” Or, “What is lost in Whiteness?” White society teaches, “Nothing is lost the whiter your community/company/social scene.”

  Responses:

•   Diversity expands a person’s humanity.

•   Diversity helps to break down stereotypes.

•   Exposure to diversity can raise contradictions to upbringing.

•   Exposure to diversity can address fears and misconceptions.

•   Diversity enables an escape from a “flat world” – it can change a world view.

How do you present the concept of flavor to someone who can’t taste?

However, it was noted that Diversity can be used as a “cover” from Integration: it is not enough to tolerate those who are “other,” they must be appreciated.

White people like feeling superior. It is taught by the culture, even if it is not ever explicitly stated.

Chapter 3: “White people don’t know the racial history of the US”

If White people don’t know it, we are complicit. White people can continue in their thoughts of “supremacy.”

It’s not just white history that is taught in our schools, it is a positive (slanted) white history. Are white people ignorant of the negative aspects of their history in this country? Or are they in denial of their negative role? Or is there actually malicious intent in suppressing education about that role? Again the difference in textbooks between Texas and California was brought up.

In this day and age, with all the resources available, ignorance of the racial history of the US is impossible – it is willful.

The idea of America is great; the reality is it is not.

Some additional resources were noted:

“Wilmington’s Lie:: A review

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/08/wilmingtons-lie-review-david-zucchino

“Lies My Teacher Told Me”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lies_My_Teacher_Told_Me

 Homework for next week (February 12): What one (or more) things/thoughts/concepts in the first six chapters really resonated with you?

— Duncan Taylor

Building Bridges - January 22, 2020

Karen Buys leading, 13 participants

“White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism” - Foreword, Introduction, Chapter “The Challenges of Talking to White People about Racism"

I liked this cover note on the book by Claudia Rankine (poet, author, playwright) - “A necessary book for all people invested in societal change”

The positives and negatives of “Identity Politics” were discussed. Karen provided a very long, and complicated, definition for this. [see the Author’s Note]

Karen asked, “How is institutional racism upheld by individual racism?”

Our homework was to assess our reactions and respond to the question, “What does discomfort do for you?"

On Thursday after our meeting, Karen sent out this note:

I saw this article today and it’s a helpful look at just how many “microaggressions” teenagers face on a daily basis. I put the term in quotation marks because while the incidents are generally small, the effect they have is anything but small. 

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/racism-african-americans-quiz.html?te=1&nl=well-family&emc=edit_ml_20200124?campaign_id=16&instance_id=15394&segment_id=20595&user_id=5015cef5abbc3a840131814ee0de4f58&regi_id=6779633120200124

Peace,

— Duncan Taylor

Building Bridges Discussion Group Schedule

Karen Buys leading; 11 participants at the Flemington Presbyterian Church

There was no reading required for this first meeting of the new year. A schedule was handed out.

All meetings are on Wednesdays from 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM, and readings are from “White Fragility” by Robin DiAngelo

January 15 FPC No readings

January 22 FJCC Foreword, Introduction, Chapter 1

January 29 FPC Chapters 2 - 4

February 5 FJCC Chapters 5 - 7

February 12 FPC Chapters 8 - 10

February 19 FJCC Chapters 11 - 12

February 26 FPC TBA

March 4 FJCC TBA

March 11 FPC TBA

March 18 FJCC TBA

FPC: Flemington Presbyterian Church Parish House, 10 E Main St.

FJCC: Flemington Jewish Community Center library, 5 Sergeantsville Rd.

This first meeting was to review and reflect on our previous discussions and what we had thought about over our hiatus. What had struck us a meaningful or challenging over the interim.

Karen mentioned an interesting thought; I can’t find a reference for it, but when I googled it, I was corrected.

“White men think people was to hear what they think; white women think people want to hear what they feel.”

I would recommend that anyone interested google the phrase; you will see many articles of interest; here’s the top one:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/17/magazine/white-men-privilege.html

After our meeting, Karen sent out a summary of what we did during the meeting, and I can’t think of a way to improve on it, so I’ll just include it here.

This is a quick rundown of what we discussed yesterday for those who missed the class and a link to the implicit bias test we talked about.

We spent some time talking over last fall’s class, and what stood out for us, and how the class helped us. A number of people talked about seeing what was around them with new eyes, being more aware of the inequalities and racism and paying more attention to that.

We watched the 6th of the Levar Burton short videos (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwW1nSlZVJA) which brought up a discussion of how minorities feel isolated in groups of white people. It also brought up the issues of not speaking up when witnessing a racist attack and how that affects the victim. We neglected to talk about the effect of not speaking up on the bystanders - how that impacts their humanity.

We watched a 15 minute video on the history of housing discrimination in the US (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_sCS2E8k5g), with particular emphasis on the FHA/VA loans, and how that has affected the racial wealth gap. If you did not get to see this, I would highly recommend it as it discussing what has been affirmative action for whites for decades by the government. 

Finally, here is the link to the implicit bias test - https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/. It can be surprising to see how you score on the various tests, and it can be very helpful in making you more aware of what your unconscious brain is doing to your decisions and actions.

Next Week: “White Fragility"

Peace,

— Duncan Taylor

"So You Want to Talk About Race" Morphs into “Building Bridges”

Over the holiday break from the end of November to January, a number of emails connected our study group. Mostly these came from our leader/moderator/facilitator, Karen. I’ll just list them here; I have not read or listened to all of them.

 The Quiet Danger of McConnell’s Racist Policies

https://www.breachrepairers.org/blogs/2019/11/27/the-quiet-danger-of-mcconnells-racist-policies

160 books written by black women authors between 2000 and 2019

http://www.culturalfront.org/2019/08/160-novels-by-black-women-2000-2019.html?fbclid=IwAR09IeRZ5C8syHjpBTDBURDu5MUiBjsDGafp8BK7yZZZfdYkg0IgaBOX2WQ

During Hannukah

https://ajws.org/blog/8-nights-8-jewish-values-reflections-for-chanukah-on-the-jewish-obligation-to-build-a-better-world/

Letters from an American; Heather Cox Richardson is a professor of history at Boston University

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/december-26-2019?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjo1Mjc0Nzk2LCJwb3N0X2lkIjoyMDY3NjMsIl8iOiI4SUNYbiIsImlhdCI6MTU3NzQ1NDAwMiwiZXhwIjoxNTc3NDU3NjAyLCJpc3MiOiJwdWItMjA1MzMiLCJzdWIiOiJwb3N0LXJlYWN0aW9uIn0.mfWKw6LO334UrQrLXiyctVxlCaLJ0ebYFe2Jpp4iZq0

Levar Burton videos, “This Is My Story”

https://thegrapevine.theroot.com/levar-burton-does-more-than-read-his-new-video-series-1840777410

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsGlBNDf64c

“Native Son” by Richard Wright was recommended (on sale at bookbub)

Here’s a review of Wright’s body of work (it is long)

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1992/07/20/the-hammer-and-the-nail

I also came across some quotes while reading for the Wednesday night Bible study at Grace; they may or may not be exactly relevant, but this is my blog entry, so I reserve the right to put in anything I want!

On Faith, Hope, Love:

We don't have to be "successful," only valuable. We don't have to make money, only a difference, and particularly in the lives society counts least and puts last.

From Credo by William Sloan Coffin

On Social Justice and Economic Rights:

Had I but one wish for the churches of America I think it would be that they come to see the difference between charity and justice. Charity is a matter of personal attributes; justice, a matter of public policy. Charity seeks to alleviate the effects of injustice; justice seeks to eliminate the causes of it. Charity in no way affects the status quo, while justice leads inevitably to political confrontation. Especially I would hope that Christians would see that the compassion that moved the Good Samaritan to act charitably—that same compassion prompted biblical prophets to confront injustice, to speak truth to power, as did Jesus, who, though more than a prophet, was certainly nothing less. 

Peace,

— Duncan Taylor