Updates & Info for the New Pathways Lab: Race Amity Day 2020

6/11/2020

Hi all:
I appreciate the outreach and support pouring out to BRIDGE’s effort and we wanted to offer a few invitations and resources that we have put together to guide action right now, many resources to dig deeper and listen and to offer a few places to plug in directly with BRIDGE.

"The problem is that white people see racism as a conscious hate, when racism is bigger than that. Racism is a complex system of social and political levers and pulleys set up generations ago to continue working on behalf of whites at other people's expense, whether whites know/like it or not. Racism is an insidious cultural disease. It is so insidious that it doesn’t care if you are a white person who likes Black people; it’s still going to find a way to infect how you deal with people who don’t look like you. Yes, racism looks like hate, but hate is just one manifestation. Privilege is another. Access is another. Ignorance is another. Apathy is another. And so on. So while I agree with people who say no one is born racist, it remains a powerful system that we’re immediately born into. It’s like being born into air: you take it in as soon as you breathe. It’s not a cold you can get over. There is no anti-racist certification class. It’s a set of socioeconomic traps and cultural values that are fired up everytime we interact with the world. It is a thing you have to keep scooping out of the boat of your life to keep from drowning in it. I know it’s hard to work, but it’s the price you pay for owning everything. ~Scott Woods

First, here's a few resources:

A few articles from Gwendolyn
- About moving as an anti-racist: https://www.gwendolynvansant.com/home/2020/6/4/moving-as-an-anti-racist-acknowledge-align-amplify-ask-activate?fbclid=IwAR18t0KoXnn724pnOyeK4RfENQsbFFZ0SxxljxydKN0Ut7ZWG7kphT7e1PU
- Law Enforcement and other racialized Issues: https://www.gwendolynvansant.com/home/2020/6/11/next-steps-with-law-enforcement-disrupting-police-violence-and-reckoning-with-racism-in-our-education-system
- Creating Uprising and Black Lives Matter Statements https://www.gwendolynvansant.com/home/2020/6/11/on-making-authentic-statements-in-response-to-black-lives-matter
- An interview with Gwendolyn from WAMC (from yesterday!) on implementing structural change: https://www.wamc.org/post/multicultural-bridge-ceo-implementing-structural-change
An interview with Stephanie Wright and Heather Bellows of Berkshire Eagle: https://www.berkshireeagle.com/stories/southern-berkshire-community-reckons-with-students-racist-post,606615
#BlackLivesMatter: How to Support Black-Owned Small Businesses, from Finimpact.
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New Pathways Series - This is a series of talks and action labs that BRIDGE curated with leaders from the Berkshires and across the country as an urgent response to COVID-19 intended to drive mobilization, provide a space for intentional reflection, and encourage folks to be vulnerable and courageous in working together to vision and fight for a new normal grounded in equity and justice. Many of you have joined and supported these "urgent and emergent" New Pathways Talks and Labs. We produced 22 videos, held 9 Labs and two Action Labs and completed our initial response! Recordings, notes and artifacts to follow! As New Pathways Lab curator, our CEO Gwendolyn VanSant, and New Pathways Lab moderator, Aseante Renee, discuss in this interview about the purpose of New Pathways, racial justice work requires urgent action grounded in accountability and reflection. Please do spend time with the talks, support the work (BRIDGE and other orgs!), pledge to make self-education and interrupting hate a daily commitment.
- You can read about the series and speakers here: https://www.multiculturalbridge.org/new-pathways.html
- And you can subscribe and find the videos here or on the BRIDGE website: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC8ga_eE0vOZpd5h2sT4jqg
- If you weren't able to join last Thursday's New Pathways Lab "How to Be Actively Anti-Racist: Decenter and Deconstruct the System of Whiteness" (over 100 attendees on Zoom, and so many more -2.5k - streaming live on Facebook!), you can watch the discussion, featuring Andre Henry, Dr. Christopher MacDonald Dennis, I'in Purwanti and more along with co-hosts Aseante Renee and Gwendolyn VanSant, as well as view the action plans developed to center blackness and decenter whiteness in building a just future.

Watch and share these Facebook live videos under the titles "Centering Blackness & Dismantling Whiteness":

In terms of places to plug in, I'd recommend the following:

Towards Racial Justice (TRJ) South/ Race Task Force: These are two monthly meetings for racial justice - TRJ is more community focused and Race Task Force is more organizationally focused. Both are powerful spaces for connection, reflection, and action! You can read more about them here: https://www.multiculturalbridge.org/trj-south-and-race-task-force.html

Coming up Soon!

New Pathways Lab 2.0: Race Amity Day: Gwendolyn mentions this in the interview I linked above - it's an annual celebration in MA that BRIDGE has consistently held as a space to discuss, acknowledge, and be real about what racial amity really requires and how we can organize to get there. It's this Sunday, June 14th, and BRIDGE has a full day planned of action, intentional reflection, and dialogue from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm (you can join for all or part of the day) It's a great chance to get involved and begin to meet folks in the BRIDGE community. If you're interested in joining, you can email rsvp@multiculturalbridge.org to get signed up sign in directly at Zoom Link Below and get more info on the schedule! Suggested contribution: $50/day via our Support us page.

BRIDGE Race Amity Day Agenda (via ZOOM)
9:00 AM Opening: Introduction to Race Amity Day and Juneteenth
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Anti-Racism Chat on Accountability led by Accountability Team at BRIDGE
11:15 AM - 12:15 PM Community Dialogue: Aligning Jewish Community with Black Lives Uprising: Rabbi Neil Hirsch, Dr. Christopher MacDonald Dennis (invited) and Gwendolyn VanSant
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Anti-Racism Chat: Dr. Leticia Haynes & Gwendolyn VanSant: What do we as a Black community need in this time?
2:30 - 4:00 PM BIO Processional March : Together We Breathe! In Pittsfield, MA - As a part of the day we will join our partners at BIO for a “Together We Breathe” processional with the local police. The schedule is as follows:
4:00- 7:00 PM Race Amity Day 2020 -
Tune in! 4-5 PM for opening and then thought leader presentations discussions after: https://raceamity.org/rad2020/; Donations go to the Navajo Nation. Reflection: how many indigenous lives can you name that have been taken by police brutality?
8:00 PM “Tapping In with BRIDGE” to close out Race Amity Day - CARE Action Lab: What are we looking for? What are we fighting for? What are the outcomes we seek to build a collective humanity where we ALL can thrive - not just survive.

~Your BRIDGE Accountability Team with Gwendolyn

“Act now, because people are dying now in this unjust system. How many lives have been ground up by racial prejudice and hate? How many opportunities have we already lost? Act and talk and learn and fuck up and learn some more and act again and do better. We have to do this all at once. We have to learn and fight at the same time. Because people have been waiting far too long for their chance to live as equals in this society.” ― Ijeoma Oluo, So You Want to Talk About Race