Intersectional Justice
Racial Justice
Our initial Racial Justice Core Group met from September 2017 – June 2018. Included below is a summary of their experience.
Key Learnings
At the end of their time together, the Racial Justice Core Group identified their key learnings from this intensive experience. These include:
- The U.S. has not confronted its history of racial oppression. The history we learned omits many key moments and ideas integral to that oppression. Controlling that message allows whites to maintain control and power.
- The concept of a white race was an invention intentionally established to consolidate power and create cheap labor.
- Our nation has faced multiple historic opportunities for transformation, but no true transformation has occurred. At each opportunity, powerful whites have resisted to maintain their supremacy and privilege. Institutions need to be upended rather than transformed. Tweaking and charity are not transformation.
- Racism is pervasive in all parts of society and persists today. Racism is systemic, intentional, and foundational in the support of white supremacy.
- Segregated housing and schools perpetuate segregation in all of life.
- Our criminal justice system’s practice of modern-day enslavement is enshrined in the Constitution.
- We must remain conscious of white privilege and work to decenter whiteness and dismantle racism. White supremacy is inherent in the way white people move in the world.
- The concept of “white privilege” is not to be taken as a personal attack; we must move past the idea of personal guilt to a commitment to fighting a system. People accustomed to white privilege may see equality as oppression or loss for themselves.
- Collective liberation means that I understand that my liberation is tied to yours. I further understand that societal transformation must be led by those most marginalized. To decenter whiteness, we must show up in solidarity to support the cause but not to lead it.
Resources
Book Reviews
Members of the 2017 – 2018 Racial Justice Core Group selected a book to read and review. Their reviews appear below.
The Dream Long Deferred: The Landmark Struggle for Desegregation in Charlotte, NC by Frye Gaillard
Reviewed by Sharon Walker~ Frye Gaillard, a former Charlotte Observer Editor relates the 50-year struggle for desegregation of the Charlotte Mecklenburg School System. Unlike other similar cities, Charlotte chose to voluntarily desegregate its schools [read more]
From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
Reviewed by Naomi Spencer De La Cruz~ Taylor is an African American Studies Professor at Princeton University and writes for several publications on black politics, racial inequality and social movements. This book explores the [read more]
Deep Denial: The Persistence of White Supremacy in the United States History and Life by David Billings
Reviewed by Bob Gorman~ David Billings, a white minister who grew up in the South during the 1950s and 1960s, has written a book that is one-part self-examination, one-part history of the struggle for [read more]
The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein
Reviewed by Ron Spake~ The Color of Law is a historical documentation concerning African Americans rights and privileges being denied in every aspect of their daily lives. The author, Richard Rothstein takes us into [read more]
Blind Spot: Hidden Biases of Good People by Mahzarin R. Banaji and Anthony G. Greenwald
Reviewed by Julie Smith~ Banaji and Greenwald are both psychologists who lead the reader through the various methods of measuring cultural attitudes. The idea that human rationality is severely limited “where the questions concern [read more]
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Reviewed by Caitlin Stroud~ This entire book is written as a letter to Coates’ 15-year-old son Samori and is raw but also heartfelt. Coates’ tells his son about his life, using his stories of [read more]