Community Conversations on Race – monthly gatherings in 2023
June 14: Panel discussion – Youth and Health Disparities in Placer County
Black and Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) youth in Placer County continue to experience disparate rates of mental health challenges, substance use, and other stress-related health conditions perpetuated by environmental factors. How are these unfair differences in treatment perpetuated? What are some lived experiences of youth in Placer County regarding health? How can Placer County residents become more aware of health disparities and advocate for change?
Please join us for this panel discussion, as the Resilient Placer Coalition and the Placer Youth Equity Resilience Project (YERP) share their recent research and report on health disparities. Their report is based on a series of community-centered listening sessions with diverse youth to identify key social determinants and traumatic conditions contributing to mental health and substance use among marginalized youth in Placer County. How are nonprofits like the Sierra Native Alliance and the Latino Leadership Council working with youth to uncover health disparities? What have youth revealed about the social determinants of health in their communities? Let’s share our perspectives and questions about Placer County youth and the challenges that they face!
See the event flyer here. Register at EventBrite here.
April 12: Panel discussion – Homelessness and Affordable Housing Options in Placer County
Placer County is making progress in a coordinated effort to reduce homelessness in the county and to provide services that assist people in reestablishing themselves within our communities.
At the 2022 point-in-time (PIT) count of people who are experiencing homelessness, 750 individuals were counted in Placer County, 54% (408) were unsheltered. What barriers exist to building emergency shelters and more low-income, affordable housing here? How do the county/city mobile crisis teams assist people who are experiencing homelessness? How will projects like the Campus of Hope lower the costs of emergency services?
Please join us for this panel discussion, as we create an open space where we can:
- Explore the work of the Placer County Regional Homelessness planning team
- Hear about Roseville’s efforts to reduce the affordable housing shortage
- Learn what social services are needed for people who are experiencing homelessness
- Learn how the Campus of Hope proposal offers housing and social services
- Share our perspectives and questions about homelessness and affordable housing
See the event flyer here. Register at EventBrite here.
March 8: Panel discussion – The evolution of policing in America and in Placer County
After the death of George Floyd in 2020, calls to “defund the Police” and the recent death of Tyre Nichols, many cities and Police Departments are reevaluating their police practices.
How has policing changed over time? What kind of policing do we want to occur moving forward? Are current police officers adequately trained for current and future incidents like domestic disputes, mental health crises and cybercrime? What qualities do police officers need today to resolve these calls? How do we want them to handle mental health situations?
Please join us for this panel discussion, as we create an open space where we can:
- Share the experience of a Roseville resident who participated in a Police Department ride-along
- Explore the history and policies of policing in America
- Hear from members of the Rocklin and Roseville Police Departments
- Share our perspectives and questions about police practices and policies
See the event flyer here. Register at EventBrite here.
February 8: History Presentation by the Placer County Tuskegee Airmen chapter
As part of commemorating Black History Month, the Tuskegee Airmen Heritage Chapter of Greater Sacramento Living History team will share information about the Tuskegee Airmen by providing facts, statistics, and personal historical perspectives on their true history and legacy. Please join us for this presentation given by Heritage members (the direct descendants of Documented Original Tuskegee Airmen – DOTA) and other qualified members to speak about the difficulties and contributions of the first black military aviators and their fight, vision, and hopes for the future. See the event flyer here. Register at EventBrite here.
Share Dinner and Discussion on Racial Healing – Dessert and Discussion gatherings in Summer, 2022
Please join us for an informal dessert potluck, followed by a discussion/dialogue on race prejudice and race unity. The goals of these monthly meetings are to build relationships with people who don’t look like us and to build support for race unity. We will explore several topics more deeply through speaker panels, videos and discussions in a safe, respectful environment where people can share their experiences.
We welcome people who sincerely want to learn more about the current status of race in our country and who want to delve into the root causes of race prejudice and focus on the spiritual requirements necessary to eradicate racism and racial bias. Through these discussions, perhaps we can gain a better understanding of how to work with people to establish race unity in our world.
Date/Time: Wednesday, June 8, 7-9 pm Pacific time
Location: Granite Bay Library – Community Room, 6475 Douglas Boulevard, Granite Bay, CA 95746
Topic: Resetting the tone of our conversations – Jasmine Partida
Suggested Format:
7-7:30 – dessert potluck, meet & greet
7:30-8 – presentation
8-9 – Q&A, information conversations, next steps and future discussion topics
Future meetings: Tuesdays, 7-9 pm Pacific time: July 19, August 9 and Sept 13.
We suspended in-person Share Dinner gatherings for 2020/2021, due to COVID-19 restrictions. We then started meetings on Zoom called “Movie and Conversation Nights.” See the list of videos that we discussed below. If you would like to join our email list for announcements of local events and videos, please fill out our Contact form.
We hosted “Movie and Conversation Nights” on Zoom and met on the 1st and 3rd Mondays at 7 pm Pacific time. These evenings sparked a lot of lively discussion. Here are videos that we watched:
Black Before Columbus Came – In this entertaining and eye opening lecture, historian Dan Von Hoyel reveals evidence that Africans visited and settled in the Americas well before Columbus’ arrival and, in at least some cases, appear to have integrated into Native American communities. He also discusses the likely reasons this evidence has been absent from our history books.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-FG2oWl-2k
The Life and Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. – 10 minutes
Historians reflect on the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his role in the Civil Rights Movement.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGmQjui16Wk
Martin Luther King Jr. Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech – 12 minutes
Martin Luther King Jr. held his acceptance speech in the auditorium of the University of Oslo on 10 December 1964.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5r98tT0j1a0
The Invention of Racism – John Biewen
In this talk John Biewen gets to the heart of who first put forth the idea that Africans represented a distinct and separate race and why they did it. He also discusses the reasons we have yet to move beyond this concept and the need for “white people” to recognize that it is really our problem to solve.
https://www.ted.com/talks/john_biewen_the_lie_that_invented_racism?language=en
How to deconstruct racism, one headline at a time – Baratunde Thurston
How news headlines reveal systemic racism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZgkjEdMbSw
The Roots of American Democracy – Chief Oren Lyons (start at minute 4:00)
Hundreds of years before the arrival of Europeans to North America the Haudenosaunee or “Iroquois Confederacy” formed a democratic government that brought lasting peace to the Northeast and was later used by the Continental Congress as a model for the US Constitution. In this talk, Chief Oren Lyons sheds light on how this democracy functioned and its relevance to our strained democracy today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gs0EK1z9xhc&t=195s
Uncovering Humanity Beneath Hate – Christian Picciolini
In this interview with Duncan CJ, Christian Picciolini discusses his recruitment into the American Neo Nazi movement at the age of 14, the events that eventually brought him out of the movement years later and the human factors that drive people into extremism as well as what can help people caught up in extremism to recover their humanity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fM8aAR2L6ng
Age of Revolution: Founding Fathers and Slavery – Gary Nash
The inclusion of slavery in the American Constitution has led our country down a path that continues to haunt us to this day. In this talk historian Gary Nash challenges the often cited argument that allowing slavery was the only way to keep the colonies together and form our nation. Instead, he presents evidence that it would likely have been very possible to abolish slavery and still keep the colonies together and why that ultimately did not occur.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRHGjZ38qLY
The Great Migration and the power of a single decision
Author Isabel Wilkerson (Caste, The Warmth of Other Suns) eloquently discusses the flight of African Americans from the Jim Crow South in the early part of the 20th century. In this talk, the author touches poignantly on the harsh realities of Jim Crow, the hardships faced by those leaving, the challenges they faced on settling in their new homes in the North and the remarkable impact on American culture and history that resulted.
https://www.ted.com/talks/isabel_wilkerson_the_great_migration_and_the_power_of_a_single_decision
You And Your Racist Brain: The Neuroscience of Prejudice
Dr. Larry Sherman, a Professor of Neuroscience at the Oregon Health & Science University (minutes 32:30 to 54:55). In this video neuroscientist Laurence Sherman reveals how and why our brains generate prejudice and how we can overcome it. He also describes the negative impacts to health that racism produces, not only to those who are its targets, but to those who hold racist attitudes as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3N88xIWujE
Loretta J. Ross: Don’t call people out — call them in
In this talk social justice activist Loretta Ross discusses the problems with “cancel culture” and offers an approach to addressing people who make racist statements in a way that turns “enemies” into “allies”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xw_720iQDss
Critical Race Theory: A Deeper Dive
Critical Race Theory (CRT) continues to be a highly charged and confusing topic in the media and has probably created more backlash than any other aspect of our current national conversation about race. Several weeks ago we showed three short videos about CRT that generated lively discussion but left many of us feeling that we still didn’t understand CRT all that well. This new video simply walks us through the primary assertions of CRT in an understandable way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eF7bhaaO2Kw
Amanda Kemp – How To Have Transformative Conversations About Race
In this talk Amanda Kemp discusses her process for seeking to understand others and dialogue on discussions about race and other sensitive issues.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF–2vGj7Tg
One night, we watched the following three short videos on Critical Race Theory. The first two give opposing views about what CRT is — you’ll see they are pretty one-sided. They show how polarizing and conflicting the media is on this. Then we watched the third video that explained things in a more neutral way:
Critical Race Theory, Explained (Heritage Foundation – 2 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhRPlsa-Y-0
Mom Advocates for Critical Race Theory to Board of Education (2 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0X748mFO-84
What is Critical Race Theory? (10 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2e403gePik
Lee Brown – Native American Indian Prophecies
Native Americans have been one of the most actively oppressed and often ignored groups in our history. We all have much to gain from beginning to understand their cultures and collective story. In this talk, Lee Brown (Cherokee) discusses traditional Native American prophecies that reveal an indigenous perspective on the unfoldment of history, the consequences of segregation of the “races” and the need for humanity to come together in order to survive and prosper.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKQ9mkyTSqk
Partial transcript of Lee Brown’s talk (4.4 MB pdf file).
1491: Rewriting the History Before Columbus – Charles C. Mann (start at 2:30 end at 27:32 min.)
Many of our commonly held ideas about how indigenous peoples lived in the Americas before the arrival of Europeans are simply wrong. This eye opening and lively presentation sheds light on the complex and interconnected civilizations that actually existed in the Americas prior to Columbus and how they were profoundly changed by his arrival.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhncJH4UFQI
Eli Saslow & Derek Black – From Racism to Redemption
We continued to explore the theme: what factors can bring people out of white supremacist ideologies? Derek Black was born into a prominent white nationalist family and was considered the “heir apparent” to the movement. Counter to expectations he renounced white nationalism and now works to expose it’s false beliefs. In this video Derek and Elis Saslow, who wrote a book about his journey, are interviewed by Trevor Noah.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7xFtzT88dw
An Unlikely Friendship
A documentary about Ann Atwater, an African American civil rights activist, and C. P. Ellis, a local leader of the Ku Klux Klan who began on opposite sides the debate on school integration in Durham, NC, in the early 1970’s and ultimately became good friends. In working together and understanding one another, they formed a deep and loving friendship that continues to this day. Their story was made into the movie “The Best of Enemies”.
https://www.pbs.org/video/an-unlikely-friendship-tbnri0/ – no longer available
Documentary trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtSe5JcJsEc
How The First US City To Fund Reparations Pulled It Off
This video tells story of the groundbreaking passage of the first law in any US jurisdiction authorizing the payment of reparations for the effects of its historic redlining policies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dltleeutto
Why is anti-Asian racism on the rise In the US?
Violence towards Asian Americans has risen dramatically over the course of the COVID pandemic but has been under-reported in the media. In this video three Asian American activists discuss what has been happening and what we can do about it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlX0DM9TkoQ
The Origins of Policing In America
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBvo2OE5kqM
Heather C. McGhee – Racism has a cost for everyone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaCrsBtiYA4
Jacqueline Battelora – How White Supremacy Harms White People
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyFih0seSXo
13 African American Inventors Who Changed the World
This video explores a number of contributions by African Americans that, unbeknownst to most of us, have been central in creating the world that we take for granted today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-SmBEL2f4Y
Accidental Courtesy: Daryl Davis, Race & America.
Daryl Davis has spent his life trying to answer the question “How can you hate me if you don’t even know me?”. In the process he has befriended a number of KKK members, and many have left the Klan as a result of their friendship with him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OunVHCbHFhI – no longer available
Why I, as a black man, attend KKK rallies | Daryl Davis
https://www.ted.com/talks/daryl_davis_why_i_as_a_black_man_attend_kkk_rallies?language=en
Nichelle Nichols – Meeting Martin Luther King Jr.
Nichelle Nichols discusses how Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who was a fan of Star Trek and convinced her to remain on the series.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSq_UIuxba8
Martin Luther King Jr. Nobel Prize Acceptance speech (1964)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5r98tT0j1a0
Read the acceptance speech at nobelprize.org:
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1964/king/26142-martin-luther-king-jr-acceptance-speech-1964/
We The People – the three most misunderstood words in US history
A powerful and insightful talk by Mark Charles about the racism embedded in the foundational laws of our country and its impact on the course of American history.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOktqY5wY4A
TED Talk – We Shall Remain
A moving talk by LoVina Louie about the historical destruction of Native American culture and the power for native people of reclaiming that culture in the present.
https://www.ted.com/talks/lovina_louie_native_americans_we_shall_remain
Robin DiAngelo on “White Fragility”
Interview with Robin DiAngelo discussing concepts from her best selling book “White Fragility”. DiAngelo’s work attempts to shed light on unconscious racism in even the most well intentioned white people and has both garnered a lot of praise and ruffled a lot of feathers.
https://www.californiansforthearts.org/antiracism-edit/2020/6/11/robin-diangelo-on-white-fragility-amanpour-and-company
TED Talk – My descent into America’s neo-Nazi movement — and how I got out
At 14, Christian Picciolini went from naïve teenager to white supremacist — and soon, the leader of the first neo-Nazi skinhead gang in the United States. How was he radicalized, and how did he ultimately get out of the movement? In this courageous talk, Picciolini shares the surprising and counterintuitive solution to hate in all forms.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VM6HZqQKhok
Segregated by Design
‘Segregated By Design’ examines the forgotten history of how our federal, state and local governments unconstitutionally segregated every major metropolitan area in America through law and policy. The video is based on the book The Color of Law. In The Color of Law (published by Liveright in May 2017), Richard Rothstein argues with exacting precision and fascinating insight how segregation in America—the incessant kind that continues to dog our major cities and has contributed to so much recent social strife—is the byproduct of explicit government policies at the local, state, and federal levels.
https://www.segregatedbydesign.com/
Birth of a White Nation
Dr. Jacqueline Battalora is the author of the book Birth of a White Nation: The Invention of White People and Its Relevance Today. In this video, she examines when the term “white” was first used in America and also the colonial anti-miscegenation laws that go as far back as 1664, regarding who could marry whom and what the penalties were.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riVAuC0dnP4
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Wednesday, November 6, 2019 – Youth Panel on Race and Prejudice
What are young people thinking about race and prejudice? What have they experienced? Join us this month for a panel of high-schoolers and young adults from different cities and ethnic backgrounds who will share how they see race and prejudice in our communities.
Bring your questions and a dish to share and let’s open up for a great discussion as we share our thoughts with one another in a very comfortable, safe environment.
Location:
Parks & Recreation Office Building
Senior Activity Room
5460 5th Street
Rocklin, CA 95677
6:30-7:00 – Share Dinner (potluck)
7:00-9:00 pm – Discussion
Click here to register.
If you can’t make the potluck part, please feel free to join in the discussion part. Hope to see you soon!
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