A Country in Crisis
June 9, 2020
We need to discuss the staggering events of the past few weeks. Other conversations can wait.
Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Christian Cooper - Nationwide Protests - Shocking Reactions
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“I actually don’t think that most white people care about racial injustice. I really don’t” ... Robin DiAngelo
Trevor Noah shares his thoughts on the dominos of racial injustice and police brutality, and how the contract between society and black Americans has been broken time and time again. (18:12)
Pelton Announcement.pdfLee Pelton, President of Emerson College, Boston, speaks to his college community and to all of us.
"What we need is a new normal, a new paradigm. I want us to focus on our humanity and dismantling racist systems that we don't need that perpetuate crimes of inequality and oppress communities of color all over our country. We have to dismantle all of those systems that this country was built on." ... Nick Cannon
He just released this spoken word video - I can't breathe...again! Strong language but powerful. Watching in full-screen mode is stunning. (3:33)
Lauryn Whitney, black mother to a black boy, shares this question:
"When did my baby become a threat to you?" (2:16)
How much has changed in the last 50 years and will things be different this time?
James Baldwin in 1968: "The reason that Black people are in the streets has to do with the lives they are forced to lead in this country. And they are forced to lead these lives by the indifference and the apathy and a certain kind of ignorance, a very willful ignorance, on the part of their co-citizens." (3:10)
Ezra Klein in conversation with Ta-Nehisi Coates, not someone normally given to optimism, suggests that the current situation might offer some reason to hope. (1:32:00)
Going forward ...
Police Reform Is Popular. Rioting Is Not. - The Atlantic.pdfIf you're interested in reading and viewing more:
Click on Whiteness to read an essay written by Ralph Freidin, "Driving While White".
Click on Black Voices for a video statement by Tim Duncan, Director of Athletics at the University of New Orleans, about his recent experience in Newton, and an AMA-sponsored discussion, "Priority Equity: Police Brutality and COVID-19".
Click on Hidden History for another compelling video of James Baldwin, this one in 1963, illustrating how little things have changed.
Relevant materials shared by group members after the June 9 meeting
Accelerationists, Boogaloo.pdfMadeleine Lourie mentioned in the 6/9 discussion Ijeoma Oluo's video (left, 17:09) as well as the listserve post (above): Accelerationists and Boogaloo, describing several far right groups operating under cover of the ongoing protests.
Similarities between the Jewish experience in Europe and that of African Americans were mentioned in our 6/9 conversation. Marina Cunningham shared a recent article from The Forward suggesting that "The Jewish experience in America and the Jewish experience of hate and persecution are two different chapters in our history; for Black Americans, they are the same." (Read the entire article here).
A video of Kimberly Jones, also referenced in the meeting, may be accessed by clicking Black Voices.
More relevant articles highlighted by group members after June 9
David Gottleib pointed out this New Yorker (June 22, 2020) article about what Jelani Cobb calls the "American Spring".
Ann Stern shared this recent article, written by a young woman in the UK, describing how it feels to see white people suddenly paying attention.
Marie Danziger was impressed by Jill Lepore's New Yorker (June 22, 2020) article explaning why we don't need another national commission on race relations.