Jews Talk Racial Justice - Ep 42: Juneteenth and the Importance of Rest
QUICK EPISODE OVERVIEW
In this week’s episode April and Tracie reflect on Juneteenth and continue to think about how liberation from enslavement looked different for Jews and Black people. April also shares the ways in which the importance of rest from labour is an important lesson that resonated with her this Juneteenth.
In lieu of discussion questions for this episode, we encourage you to read more about April’s reflections at the Joyous Justice blog: Dancing toward Collective Liberation: Making space for healing and organizational growth.
For our white allies and co-conspirators, on this Juneteenth, we ask you to reflect on the history behind this day’s existence, that freedom was delayed because Enslavers in Texas purposely denied enslaved Black people their freedom in order to maintain their socio-economic power a bit longer. What are the ways in which you can commit to not being a force delaying our collective liberation? Check out Grassroots Reparations and take the Reparations Accountability pledge as a first step.
INSIGHTS FROM THIS EPISODE
“I’m simultaneously incredibly proud of my belief in the beauty of my dreams and clear that this is worth my own investment, and that I am no longer waiting for validation that is way past due, to be honest.”
“I was raised by my parents as an interracial couple to be twice as good, that in order to get to even, or in order to have a chance at succeeding, or in order to have a chance of being smart, I need to work twice as hard.”
“Doing justice work should never be at the expense of our wellbeing. That is a false choice and capitalism and racism and patriarchy set us up to repeat it. But the more we can contradict that and honor our ongoing effort to become increasingly free, the more we can start to notice that it truly is a false choice and we can make a different one. We can choose our wellness and collective liberation at the same time and move forward together.”
COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS?
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