Social Justice & Racial Reconciliation Working Group Bill Coleman, Chair
The purpose of the Social Justice and Racial Reconciliation Working Group (SJRR) is to create opportunities that provide information, advocacy, and initiatives that address the many social injustices, particularly related to race, in our society today. The SJRR agenda is expected to cover a wide range of social justice issues related but not limited to: poverty, healthcare, quality education, affordable housing, criminal justice, voter suppression, and current events that impact local, regional, and national topics. On this basis we work in partnership our neighbors. In the spring of 2020 the COVID 19 pandemic had a direct impact on SJRR programs. In lieu of in-person programs, virtual programming became the method of presenting topics. While the presentation of information was thorough, the loss of meaningful in-person face-to-face interaction with attendees and presenters was apparent. After the presentations of the Infant and Maternal Mortality Series sited below (January 2020), all presentations were virtual. Activities for 2020 were as follows:
Film series: • Session 1. Individual viewing of “Just Mercy” the film adaptation of the bestselling book by Brian Stephenson founder of the Equal Justice Initiative which works to end mass incarceration, excessive punishment and racial inequality.
Guiding Principles. For managing our activities, the SJRR adopted the following set of guiding principles: • Recognize that all have biases and continue to do our best to identify our own. • Strive to be open and honest about our biases and misconceptions while taking care to not hurt others.
• Session 2. Zoom discussion about the effect of the movie led by AnySue and David Bacon.
• Strive to be open to experiences and beliefs different from our own.
Book Study: • A three session discussion of “The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the Americas white Church’s Complicity in Racism” led by Dr. Brian Steensland, Professor and Chair of Sociology, UPUI. The book provides the history of how white churches, pastors and parishioners have participated and condoned racial oppression and a call for today’s churches to right the past.
• Remember to work with the people around us, seeing their strengths rather than only limitations, and recognizing people are not problems to be solved. Infant and Maternal Mortality Series: • Session 1. Our Neighbors: A conversation with local health care leaders about the disparity in frequency of deaths affecting Black infants and mothers compared to the general population. Expert presenters were: Sherry Gray, CEO of Raphael Health Center: and Dr. Mary Abernathy, Associate Professor of Clinical Obstetrics & Gynecology at the IU School of Medicine. • Session 2. “Same Blood” A staged reading of stories of inequity in the healthcare system from Black women growing up and living in Central Indiana. The script developed at IUPUI was presented by Summit Performance Indianapolis. COVID 19 Race-and Inequity • Session 1. Viewing the webinar underwritten by the Consortium of Endowed Episcopal Parishes that examined the disproportionate impact of COVID 19 on Black and Minority communities featuring a panel that included NY Times columnist Charles M. Blow. • Session 2. A Zoom Conversation discussing the information received in the webinar and “What We Can Do?”
Same Blood staged reading in the Fortune Room
27
