Anti-Racism Table Talks: Bringing the Racial Justice Conversation Home — For Good

A prayer for protesters
by April Baskin of @joyous.justice
for @modern_ritual

Beloved siblings striving for justice,
Sh’mah!
Listen. Closely. At all times.
My prayer for you
is that you remember protest
is a sacred act.
Just as the Mourner’s Kaddish
helps souls ascend to God,
May our cries soothe those
whose lives were prematurely extinguished.
And rattle the bones and stones
of leaders and institutions.
Leaving no question about the fact
that things are never going back,
only forward,
Because more of us are clear
that “We have nothing to lose but our chains.”
We affirm we are a multiracial people,
and we will stand strong, humbly, and proud
as we follow and work in partnership
with black leaders, as we take steady strides
in the direction of collective liberation.

Credit @onetableshabbat

After the glass is swept up and the social media posts move on, how will we continue to show up and seek justice?

In this weekly series, we’d like to challenge you to reflect on how your family or circle of friends can build new rituals around conversations on race, equity, and justice.

6/12/2020 “As a Jew of Color, I Need More People in My Community to Speak Up”.

6/19/2020 How Can We Win?

6/26/2020 Defund the Police

7/3/2020 Reproductive Justice

7/10/2020 Stop Comparing Anti-Semitism and Racism

7/17/2020 Education Equity

7/24/2020 The Child Care Crisis

7/31/20 Good Trouble

8/7/20 Voter Suppression

8/14/20 Political Representation

8/21/20 Maternal Mortality

8/28/20 A Sickening Deja Vu

9/4/20 30-Day Racial Equity Challenge

9/11/20 Islamophobia and 9/11

9/18/20 Forced Sterilizations

9/25/20 May Her Memory Be a Revolution

10/2/20 The Courts

10/9/20 Multiracial Jewish Association of Minnesota (MJA)

10/16/20 Aaron Silver

10/23/20 Caste: The Origins of our Discontents

10/30/20 Voter Suppression Part II

11/6/20 Stacey Abrams and Fair Fight

11/13/20 Staying in the Fight for Racial Justice

11/20/20 The Thanksgiving Myth

11/27/20 Covid Racial Disparities

12/4/20 Racism and Hunger

Please share at your Shabbat dinner table, your family barbecue, or your social distance walks with friends, and then talk about it. This is an exercise that is designed to be challenging – lean into the discomfort of learning long enough to grow.  Use this guide to get started. Some of the pieces we share will be provocative and controversial. They are presented as conversation starters, not endorsements.

We have a lot of work to do. Let’s get uncomfortable together.