Anti-Racism - What's Our Role?

ADDRESSING RACISM:  WHAT'S OUR ROLE?

Over the last year our country has experienced a new awakening about deeply entrenched issues of racism in our country. The horrific murder of George Floyd sent a shock wave across the country that spurred many of us to seek more serious and long-term action to address racial inequities in our society.

We at CSAIR began to tackle this issue this summer. We started by listening to Pastor Stanley and two members of the Creston Avenue Baptist Church speak to us. We read White Fragility together as a community. We engaged in a four-part series on anti-racism focusing on housing discrimination, health care disparities, talking to kids about race, and exploring the personal work that still needs to be done. 

It is time now to continue our internal exploration of racism in our society and in our community.  We hope to achieve greater sensitivity to and language for talking about racism but we also want to take concrete actions. We recognize that many Jews have parallel identities – one that benefits from white privilege (for those Jews who are white) and one that has a history of oppression, antisemitism. The internal work will focus on gaining a deeper understanding of this duality, both its benefits and its complications, and exploring how we can use our unique Jewish sensitivity to oppression to work against racism.

Our next step on this journey is made possible by a grant from UJA Federation and we are thrilled to have Dr. Robyn Brown-Manning join us as our guide.

We are on this journey together as a congregation. We hope to move forward thoughtfully, constructively, and with care. Whatever your knowledge base, background, or political affiliation, we are all learning together and we welcome you to join us for any of the opportunities listed below.