Jews Talk Racial Justice - Ep 7: Everyone is Racist!
QUICK EPISODE OVERVIEW
April and Tracie unpack the notion that everyone is racist, naming the trauma and the cost of racism. Their conversation delves deep into the American investment in systemic racism and the human and environmental effects of systems of oppression.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
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Click here to access the audio version and transcript on Buzzsprout.
When April says, “Everyone is racist” and that she thinks of it as a neutral reality, how does that make you feel? Explore the feelings that come up, particularly any defensive reactions.
April and Traice discuss what the United States of America will need to do in order to confront the horrors of its past and present in order to create a sustainable and just future. What do acts of restorative justice look like, on the individual and societal level?
Part of confronting the past that April and Tracie reference is learning our collective history. How have I learned about the history of racial injustice in America? From my family? From lived experience? From school? What has been left out? How can I fill in the gaps that may exist?
April and Tracie dream about the world as it should be. What would a society look like that prioritized and treated all humans and their potential as necessary to the future of our planet?
Tracie references Langston Hughes’ poem, “America”, where he says, "America never was America for me." All of us have intersecting identities where some are privileged and some are not in our American society. Thinking about the complexity of your identity, when has America not been “for you”? What are the ways in which America HAS been “for you”?
INSIGHTS FROM THIS EPISODE
“I want us to ease into the reality that everyone is racist. Surprise! Spoiler Alert!”
“I just remember passing through the train station and seeing a number of beautiful, brilliant Black and Brown people, many of whom we’re clearly struggling, or we’re either working class or poor or struggling with issues around poverty, and thinking, ‘how many of these individuals could be someone who, if they had an opportunity, could actually cure cancer? Could be the phenomenal leader we need to help us figure out climate change?’ Could be any number of different things. And instead, they have to fight to barely make it, if they do make it through systemic oppression and all the different ways that that impacts and impairs and limits the lives of People of Color and specifically Black people.”
“I believe that my understanding of Judaism is that people are inherently good and our country needs to engage into teshuva, which means the process of return - return to our inherent goodness and beauty of our humanity and right the wrongs of racism.”
“White folks - it’s not a question of if, it’s when and how you express racism, not because you’re a bad person. It’s not a question of whether, it’s a question of what I’m going to do about it.”
COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS?
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