Jews Talk Racial Justice - S2E3: Flip the Script on Urgent Action
QUICK EPISODE OVERVIEW
April and Tracie address the impulse to act NOW when (white) people begin their racial justice journey.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
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Towards the beginning of the episode, April notes that we are in such a rush to consume things and to work that we don’t slow down and notice our emotions. Reflect on this. How does this relate to your experience of the world?
Tracie reflects a Torah portion and the need for us to sometimes curb down our enthusiasm so “we can do the actual work.” Think about your own experiences of how you’ve approached social justice. Has it been with urgency? With slowness and care? What can you make of the comparison between urgency in social justice and what Tracie recounted to us about the Israelites in Exodus?
Folks often have a lot of energy but not a lot of skill when it comes to racial justice. Can you think of past or current examples in your life when this has been true for you, specifically in racial and/or social justice?
April speaks to the power and importance of community and collectivity in advancing racial justice: “this is not work that we do by ourselves.” How can embracing community and collectivity contradict urgent action that might be harmful? Why is it important to act in community rather than solely on an individual level?
In April’s words, “Part of this urgency and need to take action now is, what are you avoiding? What are you afraid of feeling? What truth through action are you trying to run away from?” Reflect on these questions when it comes to your own life or a time in the past when you’ve taken urgent action. Why is it so important to move through and experience difficult feelings of shame and guilt, specifically when you are in positions of privilege?
Tracie briefly mentions that “racial justice is an intentional habit.” What does this mean? How do you already incorporate this idea into your life and how can you do so even more?
Reflecting on this episode, when do you think urgency is necessary and fruitful? When is it hindering and unhelpful, even harmful?
INSIGHTS FROM THIS EPISODE
“I can’t do this alone - and I’m not supposed to.”
“You likely, in your awakening, did not go entirely from unconscious and unaware or in denial about racism and living your whole life from that premise, to all the sudden shifting into complete and effective accountability. In order for you to be effective in this work, you need to do some personal reconciliation and thinking, because racism doesn’t just live in our institutions or in our law enforcement agencies. It lives in each of us in this country.”
“There’s a lot of unlearning and relearning that needs to happen. Most people in this country have been denied the truth. And honestly, in a number of ways, we have been denied the truth of the oppression throughout this country’s history. We’ve also been denied the truth of many Americans’ brilliance and brilliant contributions to the development of our not-yet-fully-functional multiracial democracy.”
“What are the remedies that help each of us across lines of racial difference begin to heal from the long-term multi-century impact of the poison of white supremacy and racism? It’s not gonna happen overnight.”
COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS?
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