Racial Justice
Partnerships and Advocacy:
Pelican Bay Family Visit project (ongoing)
Welcoming Dolores Canales and the Family UnIty Network. Rodef Sholom hosts a meal, exchanges stories and provides a safe space for families on their way to and returning from Pelican Bay State Prison to visit their loved ones. Contact Jamie Weinstein.
Religious Action Center Throughout the summer and fall (2024), we are involved in the Religious Action Center's Every Voice, Every Vote campaign, which will include postcarding gatherings, and other related events.
Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) Marin
SURJ is a national network of groups and individuals working to bring more white people into the movement for racial justice. SURJ has been in Marin since the summer of 2017 when a small but mighty group of white community members saw the need to join with local communities and leaders of color in working against the racial disparities in the county. Shortly after that, we began to offer a variety of learning and action opportunities.
Small Groups:
Racial Justice Study Group
We are launching a new racial justice study group for those who have not yet had an opportunity to participate. The 6-week group will be co-led by Rodef Sholom members Jamie Weinstein and Ruth Ann Binder. Schedules TBD depending on participants.
People of Color/Jews of Color @ CRS
A new group is starting by and for people who identify as Jews of Color and/or People of Color at Rodef Sholom.
And then member Adela Pedroza will be in touch.
Multi-Racial Families @ CRS
A group for multi-racial families building community at Rodef Sholom.
Anti-Racist Parenting Group
An ongoing group for parents who are interested in practicing antiracist parenting. We’ll study and try out strategies from Jennifer Harvey’s book Raising White Kids starting in April, and we'd love to have you join us!
Indicate if you’re interested in the interactive workshop and/or the parenting group and Marika Paez and Jessica Marker will be in touch!
CASTE Study Groups
We invited you to join with us in a congregation-wide read of Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson. Among many reasons, we chose this book because it offered a deep analysis of racism and anti-Semitism through the lens of caste and adds complexity to our understanding of these systems of oppression that persist to this day. Many of you have already read this critically-acclaimed book, as we have, and we know we will continue to benefit from exploring its wisdom in the context of our Jewish community.
Past Speakers and Workshop Highlights:
Marcella White Campbell (Be’chol Lashon) – Spring 2021
Executive Director of Be’chol Lashon, an organization that advocates for Jews of color and who pioneered programming by and for Jews of color.
Marra E. Gad – The Color of Love: A Story of a Mixed Race Jewish Girl (2/3/21)
Award-winning author, speaker and independent writer/producer. A grateful child of adoption, Marra speaks internationally about her own transracial adoption in 1970, and her experiences being Black/White biracial and Jewish.
Dr. Marc Dollinger – Jews Race and American Jewish History (7/1/20)
Interactive Workshop- Discussing Race with our Children (past)
Join with a Rodef Sholom group to attend Raising Race Conscious Children for a virtual interactive workshop/webinar on ways we can talk to our children about race. We’ll learn and practice a variety of strategies for proactively discussing race, as well as ways to strengthen children’s advocacy skills.
Becoming an Anti-Racist Synagogue: Two-Part Series (past)
A conversation about undoing racism in ourselves, white fragility, the Jewish tradition of activism, and responding to the moral call of this moment. We invite you to read this 2011 article White Fragility, by Robin DiAngelo, which we will discuss during our session.
Part 2: This evening will be an opportunity to build some common language and understanding before we begin our small groups together.
Bryan Stevenson (January 26, 2016)
Lawyer, social justice activist, founder/executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, and a law professor at New York University School of Law. Bryan Stevenson has dedicated his career to helping the poor, the incarcerated, and the condemned.
Books, Podcasts, and Resources:
Books:
Caste by Isabel Wilkerson
The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
How To Be An Antiracist by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad
My Grandmother’s Hands by Resmaa Menakem
Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram Kendi
The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein
The Color of Love by Marra Gad
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
The Racial Healing Handbook: Practical Activities to Help You Challenge Privilege, Confront Systemic Racism, & Engage in Collective Healing by Anneliese A. Singh
The Purpose of Power by Alicia Garza
This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color by Cherríe Moraga
When They Call You A Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and Asha Bandele
White Tears/Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color by Ruby Hamad
Podcasts:
1619 (New York Times)
About Race with Reni Eddo-Lodge
Code Switch (NPR)
Intersectionality Matters! hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw
Momentum: A Race Forward Podcast
Pod For The Cause (from The Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights)
Pod Save the People (Crooked Media)
Seeing White (Scene on Radio)
Resources:
21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge
Justice-in-June
