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MVHC Racial Justice Project |
Racial Justice Reading GroupTroubled by recent events but not sure where to start? Join the MVHC’s racial justice reading group, Amech Ami (“Your People are my People”)! Our goal is to start a journey toward allyship with black communities by educating ourselves on systemic racism. The only prerequisites are curiosity and openness. The group will meet biweekly on Zoom over the summer months with the possibility to continue into the future. The first meeting will be on Monday, June 22nd at 5pm. Please email Giulia or Olivia at gmfleishman@gmail.com or ohully@gmail.com by Wednesday, June 17th to register.
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Resource list from Rabbi Broitman's letter of June 6th:As we find our voice and choose our actions, I invite you to look below for resources you may find helpful.
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Report on the First Meeting
Report on an MVHC Social Action meeting on Racism
– Wednesday, July 20, 2016
A dozen members of the congregation gathered in the H. B. Freedberg Learning Center (the Social Hall) on a beautiful day to talk about the resurgence of racial violence in our country. Convened by the Social Action Committee and facilitated by Joy Robinson-Lynch, we explored how the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center might contribute a Jewish perspective on the situation. Each of us talked about our own individual experiences with white privilege-- the advantages that we, as whites, gain just because of our skin color. This was emotionally wrenching for many of us. More difficult intellectually was understanding how white privilege and racism suffuse our schools, workplaces, courts, media, and other institutions by automatically giving greater advantages to whites over non-whites. Such inequalities are legitimated and taken for granted in institutional racism. When such racism is baked into our systems of power and our systems of thought, we have the most profound and destructive form called structural racism.
The group then engaged in a wide-ranging discussion of what we, as Jews, can bring to the discussions and actions taking place across the country. We were especially concerned about working with the island, starting first with our congregation and other island congregations and moving outward to the NAACP, our longtime collaborator, and to the Black Lives Matter movement. Other creative ideas came up. Now we need your ideas and look forward to seeing you at our second meeting on Wednesday, August 3 at 5:30 in the Learning Center.
– Wednesday, July 20, 2016
A dozen members of the congregation gathered in the H. B. Freedberg Learning Center (the Social Hall) on a beautiful day to talk about the resurgence of racial violence in our country. Convened by the Social Action Committee and facilitated by Joy Robinson-Lynch, we explored how the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center might contribute a Jewish perspective on the situation. Each of us talked about our own individual experiences with white privilege-- the advantages that we, as whites, gain just because of our skin color. This was emotionally wrenching for many of us. More difficult intellectually was understanding how white privilege and racism suffuse our schools, workplaces, courts, media, and other institutions by automatically giving greater advantages to whites over non-whites. Such inequalities are legitimated and taken for granted in institutional racism. When such racism is baked into our systems of power and our systems of thought, we have the most profound and destructive form called structural racism.
The group then engaged in a wide-ranging discussion of what we, as Jews, can bring to the discussions and actions taking place across the country. We were especially concerned about working with the island, starting first with our congregation and other island congregations and moving outward to the NAACP, our longtime collaborator, and to the Black Lives Matter movement. Other creative ideas came up. Now we need your ideas and look forward to seeing you at our second meeting on Wednesday, August 3 at 5:30 in the Learning Center.
BANNER TO BE DISPLAYED AT FRONT OF THE BULDING
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