Confronting Whiteness and Racism Working Group

Mission and Goals

The Confronting Whiteness and Racism Working Group (formerly the Dismantling Racism Working Group) is dedicated to raising awareness of the effects of racism in ourselves, our systems, and our society, and discerning how we are called to build the Beloved Community, based on love, justice, and equal opportunity for all.

Some Resources on Confronting Whiteness and Racism 

Events:

Attending events such as the following can be helpful to learn more about the effects of systemic racism.

• • Dare to Move Beyond White Fragility Discussion: The Confronting Whiteness and Racism Working Group invites all to a facilitated follow-up discussion to the White Fragility book groups. Consociates Mari Ann Graham and Donna Hauer will lead us as we engage to go deeper, journey farther, and respond boldly to the issue of racism. All are welcome, whether you’ve read the book or not. December 3, 6:00 p.m. at Carondelet Center.
  • Discussions That Encounter: Twice-monthly gatherings for open discussions about race, racism and white privilege. More information here, and email Bill Keatts at wkeatts@austin.rr.com to be added to the mailing list for meeting updates.
  • Penumbra Theatre – Plays, classes, film, discussions.
  • 2019 Overcoming Racism Conference: Dismantling White Supremacy—Its Power, Structures, & Culture. November 15-16 at Metropolitan State University, Saint Paul.
  • Coming to the Table Minneapolis: Twice-monthly gatherings in North and South Minneapolis.  “At Coming to the Table, descendants of those who were enslaved and descendants of slave owners and all those interested in engaging safe constructive dialogue, come together to envision the United States as a just and truthful society that acknowledges and seeks to heal the racial wounds from the historical trauma of slavery, and the racism it continues to spawn.”
  • Come Together Twin Cities: “Come Together is a monthly gathering of people who attend a variety of churches and faith-based organizations around the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. We pray for peace and an end to violence in our world, our communities, and our homes. We come together for music, prayer, contemplation and discussion at a different location in the Twin Cities each month. Everyone is welcome to attend.”
  • Book discussion at St. Peter Claver Church,369 Oxford St N, St. Paul, Sunday, November 3, 11:30-1:00, The Blood of Emmett Till, all are welcome, whether or not you’ve read the book.

Book suggestions:

• Enfleshing Freedom: Body, Race and Being, by M. Shawn Copeland.  A powerful book that asks us to consider the Body of Christ from the perspective of where Christ lived: among marginalized people.  Dr. Copeland records the voices of African American women after their enslavement, bringing to life their dehumanizing experiences.  Dr. Copeland’s book is a call for Christians to take Eucharistic Solidarity seriously, to turn toward each other and transformation.
• “Dear White America” by Professor George Yancy (https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/12/24/dear-white-america/) Even though Professor Yancy’s December 2015 article was written with compassion and care, in turn he has received death threats and agonizingly vile responses.  In 2018, Professor Yancy published a book,Backlash, which discusses those responses and the critical need for those of us who are silent and complicit in the ongoing racist systems to dismantle racism.
• White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide, by Carol Anderson:   Louise Erdrich’s blog on the Birchbark Books website discusses the book.  https://birchbarkbooks.com/blog/white-rage   
• My Grandmother’s Hands — Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies, by Resmaa Menakem
• White Fragility, by Robin DiAngelo

 

Website Resources:

• Dismantling Racism.org
• Equal Justice Initiative (https://eji.org/racial-justice) with noted author Bryan Stevenson (Just Mercy,) provides helpful information about racial injustices, along with information about The National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama
• Minnesota Historical Society: helpful information about three African-Americans who were lynched in Duluth, Minnesota: Duluth Lynchings
• Network Lobby for Catholic Social Justice: Resources on Acknowledging Systemic Racism and Unpacking Whiteness
• The New York Times Magazine’s 1619 Project (pdf here). Additional curriculum resources related to the project from the Pulitzer Center here.

 

Exhibits:

• Minnesota African American Heritage Museum & Gallery – Founded in 2018, the Museum’s purpose is to preserve, record and highlight the achievements, contributions and experiences of African Americans in Minnesota.  This mission is carried out through exhibits, workshops and events that educate and inform the public about the history, culture, and art of African Americans in Minnesota. Read MPR’s story about the new MAAHMG.
• “Race:  Are We Really So Different?”  Minnesota Science Museum’s Race Exhibit.

Video and Audio:

• “The Fierce Urgency of Now” M. Shawn Copeland’s address at Boston College on the 50^th Anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Z34KlYy8Bo
• “Redeeming the Soul of America” with Fr. Bryan Massingale, STD.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhFyaNYkK
• Eula Biss, Let’s Talk about Whiteness https://onbeing.org/programs/eula-biss-lets-talk-about-whiteness-jan2017/
• “Jim Crow of the North” on Minnesota Experience, Twin Cities Public Television

 

For more information contact Marty Roers at mroers@csjstpaul.org.