Many provided much to share this week. I placed only part of the items below. Additional sharing, including D&C articles can be found on our website; https://exploringracism.org/ on the “Resources” page under “Weekly Sharing”.
Please read and consider the following: We as an organization and the ERG community support: peace, mutual respect, freedom, and economic potential for all people regardless of race, religion, ethnic origin, or sexual orientation. We were therefore very disturbed to learn that an organization supporting division and hatred and which is supported by several openly racist organizations is planning to come to Rochester.
As the steering committee of ERG, we are very concerned by the prospect of the damage to our community by this group coming to Rochester. The event, being called “The Reawaken America Tour” , plans to meet August 12 and 13th at the Armory on Culver Rd.
There is an effort underway to prevent the Tour from making its stop in Rochester. We’re including a link here to a petition to prevent this event from taking place, as well as a link to more information about the event and the organizers. We leave it to you, of course, to determine your response.
A second item shared was the result of a recommendation made by an individual in a meeting last week that we “deal with the low hanging fruit first” (to address initial action items). Dr. Seanelle Hawkins, Urban League of Rochester immediately asked the person to refrain from that expression and provided the article found at the link below to explain her position. Please be aware of this and other microaggressions. https://www.thecollegefix.com/professor-term-low-hanging-fruit-is-a-microaggression-because-it-reminds-blacks-of-lynching/
A third item was shared by Jack Whittier, an article about the Buffalo Bills tribute to the Buffalo Tops Massacre.
https://www.theplayerstribune.com/posts/dion-dawkins-buffalo-bills-nfl-football-shooting
A fourth item was shared by Tamara McDuff. Juneteenth may be past for this year but this article can help our planning for the future.
https://www.businessinsider.com/heres-how-companies-can-commemorate-juneteenth-respectfully
A fifth item was shared by the Webster FIRE (Families Ignited for Racial Equity) group, an opportunity for a SURJ Roc in-person and virtual learning meeting for Monday, June 27. See the information at the end of this message.
I share 6 items from the D&C this week in order of appearance:
- Juneteenth Festival parade fills the streets
https://rochesterdemocrat-ny.newsmemory.com/?publink=3abfa3d16_13484f0
- Redrawn districts eliminate candidates of color
https://rochesterdemocrat-ny.newsmemory.com/?publink=5abfa3d16_13484f0
- This is a list of the Black High School Scholars for the 2021-2022 school year. It is an interesting exercise to consider the segregation of by race across the various school districts.
Black Scholars: https://rochesterdemocrat-ny.newsmemory.com/?publink=00d1eb5d1_13484f0
- Despite divisions, residents value diversity
https://rochesterdemocrat-ny.newsmemory.com/?publink=3173e2a0b_13484f3
- In NY, reparations find momentum in protestant churches
https://rochesterdemocrat-ny.newsmemory.com/?publink=1d373122c_13484f6
- Walmart expands health services to address racial inequality
https://rochesterdemocrat-ny.newsmemory.com/?publink=11b4ea118_13484f6
| June 2022 Monthly Newsletter View this email in your browser * Please note: There will be NO JULY Chapter meeting. Join us again on Monday, August 22 at 7pm when we will introduce our workshop lineup starting in September. * Mourn and Organize: a Call for White People in Response to Buffalo. Watch SURJ Buffalo’s moving virtual event from May 17th regarding the Tops shooting. Monday, June 27th, 7pm Both In-Person and Virtual Event Award-winning sociologists Angela Hattery and Earl Smith will speak about their 2021 book, Policing Black Bodies: How Black Lives are Surveilled and How to Work for Change, at a special event Monday, June 27, at 7 pm at Temple B’rith Kodesh, 2131 Elmwood Ave., and by Zoom. The talk is sponsored by Elders & Allies to Free the People Roc (E&A) as a fundraiser for FTP. “With bolder and more egregious instances of police brutality in recent years, the debate over funding for policing locally; gun violence resulting in 23 homicides already this year; memories of Daniel Prude’s police murder still fresh; the rise of white terrorism against Black bodies manifesting so close to us in Buffalo, and our nascent Police Accountability Board still struggling to come into its rightful place, we feel a perspective like Smith and Hattery’s is sorely needed just now,” said James Thompson of E & A. Smith and Hattery have written a number of books together and individually. Smith spent part of his early career at The College at Brockport. In Policing Black Bodies, the authors make a compelling case that the policing of Black bodies goes far beyond the news stories of police violence against individual Black people. Their book is a powerful call to recognize how Black lives are literally and figuratively surveilled in the broad systems of inequality in our society. They connect the regulation of African Americans in schools, healthcare, and athletics, to the rise of prison industries, the inequitable treatment of Black women and trans people, to wrongful convictions and the challenges of exoneration. The book concludes with specific recommendations for working to change our racist social structures. Originally published in 2018, the book was updated in 2021 to address the alarming exacerbation of policing Black people. It is available locally at Hipocampo Books and at libraries. ***** In-person attendance will be capped at 100, so sign up early. And since this is a fundraiser for FTP, where our adviser Ashley Gantt is a leader, please consider donating even if you cannot attend! The suggested ticket price is $10, put please consider being as generous as you can. Thank you. To register for the presentation, go to: In-Person: https://gandhiinstitute.org/events/event/in-person-policing-black-bodies/ For the Virtual zoom meeting please register here: https://gandhiinstitute.org/events/event/virtual-policing-black-bodies/ About the authors Hattery is professor of women and gender studies and co-director of the Center for the Study & Prevention of Gender-Based Violence at the University of Delaware. She is the author of 11 books. Smith is emeritus Rubin professor of American ethnic studies and sociology at Wake Forest University and professor of women and gender studies at the University of Delaware. His teaching and research focuses on urban sociology, sociology of sport, criminal justice, and race. He has written several books on the impact of social inequality on Black families, and his book Race, Sport and the American Dream, is the only book that examines structural racism in sports. Their forthcoming book, Way Down in the Hole: Race, Intimacy and the Reproduction of Racial Ideologies in Solitary Confinement, tells the stories of people who are incarcerated and work in solitary confinement units and the processes by which the unique structures of solitary confinement serve to produce and reproduce white racial resentment among the predominately white staff who oversee the care, custody and control of prisoners who are disproportionately Black and Latinx. It will be released in October 2022. About FTP Free The People Roc is a Black led, abolitionist, anti-capitalist organization committed to building communities free of police and military occupation. Their work is therefore grounded in the international struggle for liberation. FTP aims to change the material conditions of oppressed people through leadership development, political education, organizing, and direct service to ensure that community members have access to basic human rights like food, housing, healthcare and mental wellness. They believe that these conditions prevent harm, create safety, and are necessary actions in creating the abolitionist futures they dream of. About Elders & Allies Elders & Allies was founded in the late summer of 2020, when older Black citizens long engaged in the struggle for their rights made a call to action to mature people. Older White citizens and community leaders who were aware of the necessity of that struggle joined with them. Their intent was to add their experience and calm to the do-or-die efforts of the young activists protesting the police killing of Daniel Prude, as well as to be a highly visible element to police during protests. Led by James and Shirley Thompson, E & A’s mission is to support Free the People Roc as “elders”, i.e. mature and experienced people. In addition to supporting FTP, E & A works to uproot racism – systemic, institutional and personal. Members participate in protests, contact governmental officials, join community actions, pursue growth in their individual and collective knowledge about racism, and hold weekly vigils at locations around Monroe County. Co-sponsors for the talk include the M. K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence, Greater Rochester Community of Churches, Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) ROC, Rochester Education Justice Initiative, Turning Points Research Center, Rochester Decarceration Research Initiative, and Shades of Sisterhood. Mourn and Organize: a Call for White People in Response to Buffalo After the racist attack in Buffalo, NY that killed 10 people in a Black neighborhood, many of us are asking ourselves what to do in response. The white supremacist ideology embraced by the murderer was the result of decades-long strategy of the Right to organize white people to align themselves with white supremacy. As white people, our role is to out-organize the Right in white communities by bringing massive numbers of white people into multiracial movements for justice. Join SURJ and our partners on the ground in Buffalo to grieve the senseless deaths- and hear about how you can plug into the work of fighting white supremacy. Watch it here: Watch | Facebook |
Tom Mitchell