November 6, 2019: 15 attendees
Karen Buys leading discussion
Karen suggested some potential future paths for the group and elicited more from the group:
More reading
Outreach to other groups for further interaction, such as the Hunterdon County Anti-racism Council
Exploration of zoning in Hunterdon County and the availability of affordable housing
A discussion of the “scarecrow incident” on Main Street, Flemington
Diversification in holdings in local school library collections
Suspend further “actions” to become more aware of systemic racism, sexism, anti-Semitism; to “live in the space”
Chapter 12: What are microaggressions?
Microaggressions can result from making assumptions about a person based on their appearance.
Often microaggressions are seen by the person making them as “innocent” statements
This seemed to parse itself into a dichotomy; on the one hand “intentions” and on the other, “impact”
Other mentions included “political correctness” vs “You’re being ‘over-sensitive’.”
“We need to have a discussion about this,” vs “This is not the hill I want to die on.”
Examples included comments reflecting bigotry of all kinds: race, sex, anti-Semitism, sexual orientation; who calls it out? With regard to the latter, impact is greatest when the call-out comes from a member of the dominant group or culture: a white person calling out a racist microaggression, a Christian calling out anti-Semitism, a male calling out anti-feminine microaggressions, etc.
Chapter 13: Why are students so angry?
A key question here was “How do we police protesting?” Reference was made to the Colin Kapernick protest and its subversion by right-wing parties.
The effectiveness, or lack thereof, of Facebook posting
“Tolerance” vs “appreciation”
“America was founded as a White, Christian Nation.”
Following our discussion, Karen sent out some homework for the discussants:
"*Sit with what you have learned and lean into it a bit. Think about how racism exists in your life and in what you see and hear around you.
“*As an ally, it is most effective if you can point things out in your own group, which means:
Men - be an ally for women, when you hear sexist language, confront other men
White people - be an ally for people of color, when you hear or see racism, confront it
Christians - be an ally for Jewish people, when you hear anti-Semitism, confront it
“This is hard to do, especially when it means confronting friends and family, and you may not always be able to do so. “Be aware, though, that those racist, sexist, antisemitic things are out there hurting people.”
The following article was submitted for review by the group:
Peace,
— Duncan Taylor