Resources for Antiracism

Coming August 4, 2009

A Day of Remembrance and Celebration.

A Day of Remembrance and Celebration has been planned for August 4, 2009 by ARTT, Anti-racism Transformational Team, to celebrate our congregation’s anti-racist work beginning with Ven. Fr. Samuel Mazzuchelli, OP.

Our celebration will be framed by the directives given in What We’ve Seen and Heard and Brothers and Sisters to Us (the U.S. Catholic Bishops' Pastoral Letters on racism, http://www.usccb.org/saac/bishopspastoral.shtml), and the 100 years of work done by the NAACP. . The celebration will include speaker, Sr. Anita Baird, DHM and the experience of Sinsinawa and other congregations doing anti-racism work shared through stories, displays and skits. The day is organized to allow time for conversations, quite reflection and fun.

All are invited to spend a day celebrating, sharing our story and honoring our history of working toward justice for all. Mark your calendar: The Celebration is August 4, the day before Community Days

To register for this event contact either:
Jana Minor,
jmminor1986@sbcglobal.net, or
Patricia Rogers, OP,
progersop@prodigy.net

If you are involved in anti-racism work or have a question or comment for us, please contact us

The Antiracism Transformational Team of the Sinsinawa Dominicans seeks to communicate with other groups who are involved in antiracism work.

Notes from a talk by The Reverend James Lawson at Edgewood College from Joan Duerst OP

I had the privilege of hearing The Reverend James Lawson when he spoke at Edgewood College, April 23, 2009.

Here are a few notes from that talk. The Reverend James Lawson is a preacher and a teacher. Vanderbuilt University is working on collecting his papers, which Reverend Lawson hopes to turn into an autobiography, but for now the way to learn from his thought is to attend his lectures. Besides the following notes some of Reverend Lawsons words can be found on line.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5zAS_C0yxs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gNkk1yZkOc here his words the last half of this video
audio of his faith story http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?mid=232

Our country needs a way for our souls to be healed�for the soul of our country to be healed so that we can take seriously the words “We hold these truths to be self evident that all are created equal”.

He had already learned nonviolence from his mother when he was eight years old. He recounted to her that in response to a white child calling him the n word he slapped the child in the face. His mother told him, “Jimmy there must be a better way.” He said that he heard a voice within, his own voice, saying “Never again because of some insult will you use your fist against some one. You will find a better way.”

The heart of religion is Love God and Love ones neighbor as ones self. One can fight back, but using non violence. Use wit, intelligence, your own being to fight back.

The civil rights movement was an intergenerational movement. It was a community effort that required consensus. It needed the energy and involvement of youth. It was a holistic struggle, a people’s movement for equality. This was the US at its best, an experiment in democracy and self government and it should be celebrated. It was twenty years of activities, an awakening across the country on behalf of the well being of people.
Non violence made visible to congress that the people needed a new agenda.
Voting rights and civil rights acts should be celebrated but the most important accomplishment was Head Start and money so that more people could attend universities.

Now there are 800 military installations throughout the country. Military power is a narrow form of democracy. An empire? It is to protect “plantation capitalism”.
In plantation capitalism the wealth of the country is for the few. Workers, working people and children are expendable. They do not matter. Preferential Option for the Poor is the measure of a society. Stability comes from doing justice. We need governance that sees the issues and resolves them with the people.

There are four main forces today that are putting poison into the fabric of our institutions:
racism, sexism, violence and greed or materialism. The Southern Poverty Law Center’s recent study identified 900 hate groups in the US today. These groups as well as the isms do not regard the gift of being human. They claim that some do not deserve to be alive. They contradict Genesis 1 and the preamble to the Constitution.

What is needed is a spiritual nonviolent revolution. Nonviolence is a 20th century word first used by Gandhi. Nonviolence is power. It is agitating and engineering so that old power can no longer function. It demands strategizing and training of participants. The US is beginning to change as people learn to say “no” to violence and war. In the US five women a day are killed by a spouse or an intimate male. Violence is a poison.
Non violence is efficacious. War can become obsolete. More than lobbying is needed. It takes people in the streets. All people need to be able to live free and have access. There is an opportunity now to let our light shine.

Betty Kugi OP suggests some books

I would like to suggest some books that folks in ARTT are reading or have read.

Witnessing Whiteness by Shelly Tochluk is subtitled “First Steps toward and Antiracist Practice and Culture.” Chapter 3 “Uncovering a Hidden History” is a short history of the invention of the white race.

Eric Law has a number of books dealing with multicultural communities. Law is an Episcopalian who is of Chinese descent. His first book (that I know of) is The Wolf Shall Dwell with the Lamb: A Spirituality for Leadership in a Multicultural Community. Chapter 2, “What makes the Wolf Different from the Wolf?” deals with cultural differences in the perception of power.

Several of us at the Dominican Center took advantage of a three hour workshop at Gonzaga University last March. The presenter was Jane Elliot. Some of you may remember her as the teacher from Riceville, IA who initiated a process for her third grade students titled “Brown eyes, Blue eyes.”
Ms. Elliot recommended It's the Little Things: Everyday Interactions that Annoy, Anger and Divide the races by Lean Williams. Several of us have found this little book very readable and helpful.

Finally, some Oklahoma folks found Paul Kivel's Uprooting Racism very helpful.

The antiracism team facilitates the Sinsinawa Dominican commitment to examine and redefine all aspects of our life and mission so that we may embody our identity as an anti-racist, multicultural institution. And so each year it promotes the 2 1/2 day workshop “Understanding and Analyzing Systemic Racism,” offered by Crossroads Ministries.

Crossroads Ministries

Caucusing is used by Crossroads to strengthen the team. Caucus groups consist of people of color caucus and white people caucus. Each group explores questions about how racism impacts their work on the team. Then the two caucus groups come back together as a team and share their insights. They are then better able to understand, confront and dismantle racism within the team itself and within the institutional setting of which it is a part. Caucusing creates a foundation upon which to build concrete organizing strategies for People of Color and Whites to work together as antiracist allies.

We have extended the caucus by having monthly caucus groups meet by phone and report into each other by using email. Every member who takes the Crossroads training is encouraged to join a monthly caucus group.

We encourage your questions about caucus. We will respond to your questions by way of this web page.