There is no way to peace….peace is the way!
There is no way to peace….peace is the way!
“People know about the Klan and the overt racism, but the killing of one’s soul little by little, day after day, is a lot worse than someone coming in your house and lynching you.” – Samuel Jackson
Moving the Race Conversation Forward
If Barack Obama was president and Oprah is a billionaire, we’ve passed the age of racism in this country, right? Of course not, but our conversation and media coverage usually ignores systemic racism, the combination of racist policies, patterns and practices within institutions and society. Lots of good information on this website:
Video and Report:
https://www.raceforward.org/research/reports/moving-race-conversation-forward
The Future of Race In America
Michelle Alexander, the author of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, explains how an overly aggressive War on Drugs has disproportionately affected communities of color and encourages us to understand this as a human rights issue.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQ6H-Mz6hgw
The School to Prison Pipeline
Zero tolerance school discipline policies are forcing children of color into the criminal justice system at an early age. Arrests at school have skyrocketed, but not as a uniform percentage of the population: white adolescents act out as often as their African American and Latino counterparts, but suffer fewer consequences than their counterparts of color.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04pcSyzwoTg
Article: http://www.tolerance.org/magazine/number-43-spring-2013/school-to-prison
New Report is ‘Huge Warning Sign’ that Desegregation has Failed in US Schools
A report released in May 2016 from the General Accounting Office “found that more than 60% of schools with high levels of poor students were racially segregated, which the report defined as being at least 75% black or Latino.”
“I think what this report revealed … is that the legacies of slavery in this country, the legacies of Jim Crow, are alive and active,” said Jadine Johnson, an attorney at Advancement Project. “That did not go away with Brown v Board of Education.” In 1954, the Supreme Court struck down the idea of “separate but equal.” Many poor, inner city schools have crumbling infrastructure, fewer courses and less experienced teachers.
How the Mainstream Media’s Islamophobia Fuels Endless War
A study by the American Friends Service Committee shows how media outlets report news about violent extremism corresponds with an uptick in discrimination and violence against Muslims in this country. Reporters consistently paint the religion of Islam as a source of violent extremism, rather than explaining that extremist groups use religious rhetoric as a weapon and recruiting tool. Although U.S. military interventions have failed to stem the rise of extremist groups, little media attention is given to peace-building efforts that are working in places like Indonesia and Somalia. One might ask who benefits from American Islamaphobia?
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/36115-how-the-mainstream-media-s-islamophobia-fuels-endless-war
How to be an Interrupter
Some suggestions from Aaryn Belfer, a white person, on being an upstander, not a bystander, in the struggle for Racial Justice. Her ideas: inform yourself; watch the YouTubes of police interaction with people of color who were killed; read books, engage white friends in discussions about racism. Above all, we are
told, don’t do nothing.
http://www.sdcitybeat.com/article-14399-how-to-be-an-interrupter.html
Resources on Racism – print version pdf