Skip to main content

Series on Anti-Racism

Dr. Marcia Chatelaine
What can I do to be "anti-racist"? How can I be an effective ally for Black Lives at this moment? What are the current protests rooted in?

Whether these are questions you've wrestled with before or are coming to for the first time amidst the explosive energy of the moment, these are discussions we all can be having with our families and communities with honesty and openness. This moment is pivotal in shifting our collective focus on how we learn from and grow in this moment individually and collectively.

In partnership with MoveOn, NARAL, PCCC, Indivisible, NextGen, UltraViolet, a collective of progressive organizations are launching a livestream event series to discuss the political and cultural significance of the Black lives protests. The series will focus on educating and organizing our memberships to be stronger allies and fully embrace a stance of anti-racism.

Charlene Carruthers
Sign up here to be notified of all trainings in this anti-racism series.

The first event will be held Thursday, June 11, 2020, 5 p.m.-6:15 p.m. ET and will be built around telling the story of the protests, why the current anger being expressed is justified, and the role of police violence in the current landscape.

Marcia Chatelain, Ph.D., will discuss this moment from a historical perspective; Charlene Carruthers to speak on the nature of the protests themselves; and Rashad Robinson from Color of Change to discuss systemic racism in our current state of over-policing. The event also features a roundtable conversation led by MoveOn's Reggie Hubbard on where we go from here.

Dr. Marcia Chatelain is the Provost's Distinguished Associate Professor of History and African American Studies at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. She is a scholar of African-American life and culture. Her first book South Side Girls: Growing up in the Great Migration (Duke University Press, 2015) reimagined the mass exodus of black Southerners to the urban North from the perspective of girls and teenage women. Her latest book, Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America examines the intersection of the post-1968 civil rights struggle and the rise of fast food industry.

Charlene A. Carruthers is a Black, queer feminist community organizer and writer with over 15 years of experience in racial justice, feminist and youth leadership development movement work. As the founding national director of BYP100 (Black Youth Project 100), she has worked alongside hundreds of young Black activists to build a national base of activist member-led organization of Black 18-35 year olds dedicated to creating justice and freedom for all Black people.

Rashad Robinson
Rashad Robinson is President of Color Of Change, a leading online racial justice organization. Driven by 1.7 million members working to build political and cultural power for Black communities, Color Of Change is creating a more human and less hostile world for all people in America. Color Of Change uses an innovative combination of technology, research, media savvy and local community engagement to build powerful movements and change the industries that affect Black people’s lives: in Silicon Valley, Hollywood, Wall Street, Washington, prosecutor offices, capitol hills and city halls around the country.Rashad has led the organization in developing cutting-edge strategies to accelerate reform in the criminal justice system and win justice for its victims, increase electoral participation, cut off corporate support for right-wing organizations, and change the representation of Black people and social issues in news and entertainment media.

The training series is co-sponsored by MoveOn, NARAL, PCCC, Indivisible, UltraViolet, NextGen, Bend the Arc, Supermajority, Daily Kos, the Congressional Progressive Caucus Center, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Demos, the Sierra Club, the Working Families Party, Care in Action, Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, Center for International Policy, For Our Future, Freedom Forward, Friends of the Earth, National Women's Law Center, re: power, State Voices, The Wilderness Society, and Win Without War.

Popular posts from this blog

Medicine Wheel for the Planet

Jennifer Grenz, PhD       Working toward ecological healing requires awareness of how Indigenous ancestral knowledge and living ways can complement Western scientific approaches to environmental restoration and protection practices. Dr. Jennifer Grenz (Nlaxa’pamux mixed ancestry) worked for more than two decades as a field researcher and practitioner for environmental nonprofit organizations, where she worked with different levels of government, including First Nations in Canada. "Medicine Wheel for the Planet" compiles Grenz’s most potent realizations about the lack of forward movement in addressing an impending ecological catastrophe.  A warming climate impacts not only human lives but also the natural balance that relies on reciprocal relationships rooted in deep connections to the land. She uses the metaphor of the four directions of the Indigenous “medicine wheel” to invite openness to Indigenous teachings, letting go of colonial narratives, merging lessons f...
Read more

Memento - Embracing the Darkness

Dennis "Dizzy" Doan Stories about overcoming and persevering through family dysfunction, poverty, and mental health challenges offer hope and the promise of better days. Dennis “Dizzy” Doan’s memoir Memento: Embracing the Darkness is one such story, with the added complexity of being raised in an immigrant Vietnamese family. Doan’s parents dealt with the mental and emotional aftermath of war, which forcibly uprooted them from their homeland. In the United States, they struggled to create a safe and stable life for their two sons. Doan shares his journey of finding himself, his craft, and eventually a successful tattoo business in Southern California despite personal strife and run-ins with the law. Doan is best known for developing the aesthetic language to combat anti-Asian hate that erupted during the COVID-19 pandemic. His art series titled “Model Minority” went viral, sparking conversation about Asian American identities and harmful stereotypes. In Memento, Doan showcase...
Read more

Enlighten Me

Editor's Note: This review was originally published in Los Angeles Book Review . Author Minh Lê Standing up for oneself seems like doing the right thing. Binh did just that in the face of a racist school bully who was poking fun at his Asian heritage. But physically assaulting another student goes against school policy, and it was Binh who got in trouble. Binh shares a silent retreat with his family and younger siblings. Along with other children, he learns about stories from the previous lives of the Buddha. The stories are interesting, but for Binh, it is difficult to sit still and clear his mind when he misses his Gameboy. While he struggles with silence, he learns important lessons about friendship, community, and being present. In the graphic novel "Enlighten Me," award-winning author Minh Lê and bestselling illustrator Chan Chau tell the story of a boy who gains a better understanding of himself as he works on quieting the mind and reflecting on dharma. Lê and Ch...
Read more