Jews Talk Racial Justice - Ep 61: Does April Hate America?
QUICK EPISODE OVERVIEW
In this week’s episode, April and Tracie unpack the false assumption that some folks have expressed--that April “hates America” since she has chosen to relocate out of the States, and to West Africa, no less. This question leads April and Tracie to think about the hierarchies and racism built into conventional assessments of different cultures both within and outside of America.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
April makes it clear right off the bat that in her life, she isn’t propelled by hate. What is your relationship with “hate” and what would it mean or look like to be propelled by hate? What might the repercussions be?
Tracie brings up the fact that Americans who move abroad are generally called expats or expatriates and not immigrants. What are the implications of this? What narrative does this paint about America/”the West” versus other regions of the world? Further, what images come to mind when you think of the words expat and immigrant?
How does this idea of “April hating America” flatten or dramatically oversimplify why she moved to Senegal? Have you ever had folks statements or ask questions about you that similarly flatten the full breadth of your experience, reality, and identity? If yes, what were the consequences?
Are you or do you know someone whose primary home is in the West and who has moved abroad (or even traveled abroad)? What were people’s reactions, and how might those responses have been affected by the identity of the person in question in addition to the place and it’s broader image in the West?
What comes to mind when Tracie describes the example of D. Watkins who chooses to live in financially under-resourced Black communities (caused by white supremacy) in the States when he has access to more financially “upper-class” white spaces?
More specifically, Tracie recounts how she realized her racism, classism, and elitism was baked into her initial reaction to D. Watkins’ choice to stay in communities that are “traditionally” lower on the social hierarchy. Is there a moment when you had a similar thought that you quickly or later realized needed to be questioned, unpacked, and dismantled?
Why is it important to paint a picture of folks’ full humanity, especially when talking about marginalized and oppressed communities, regions, or countries? How can we do this in an antiracist way?
Tracie shares an example of her Black woman friend who was asked why she doesn’t just leave America in response to recounting her experiences with anti-Black racism. Aside from April and Tracie’s analyses, how else was this harmful? What other harmful assumptions does this comment carry?
Whether or not you have traveled abroad, what is your perception or experience about the dynamics of race, nationality, class, color, ethnicity, or other as compared to your local context? How might this inform how you interpret your local context, and what does this say about race, nationality, and other social categories?
INSIGHTS FROM THIS EPISODE
“I think it’s very toxic to have a primary orientation around hate with anything significant in my life. And I’m certainly not propelled by hate in any area of my life. That literally is antithetical to the essence of my entire orientation, spiritually and practically, to this world.”
“When I think of why I moved to Senegal, I think about being completely driven by love and a dream, and my desires for collective liberation and all the things that I have to learn here.”
“For folks who say things like this, there the lack of ability to understand or perceive the profound breadth and depth of my dreams, of my love of all of the dimension, that my vision, that my choice and purposefulness and intention that my dreams possess, which I think in part might be because that person is not functioning from a place of radical imagination.”