Ep 19: Jews Talk Black Lives Matter

April and Tracie investigate the ways arguing against the adopted slogans of justice movements, for instance #BlackLivesMatter or #DefundThePolice, distracts us from the work of advancing justice, and often contains implicit or explicit racism. 

Find April and Tracie's full bios and submit topic suggestions for the show at www.JewsTalkRacialJustice.com

Learn more about April’s work at Joyous Justice: https://joyousjustice.com/
Read more of Tracie's thoughts at bmoreincremental.com

Resources:

It was Toni Morrison (not Maya Angelou) who described distraction as a function of racism: "The very serious function of racism … is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you explaining, over and over again, your reason for being. Somebody says you have no language and so you spend 20 years proving that you do. Somebody says your head isn’t shaped properly so you have scientists working on the fact that it is. Somebody says that you have no art so you dredge that up. Somebody says that you have no kingdoms and so you dredge that up. None of that is necessary." Read the full transcript of the 1975 speech in which she said these words.

Read more about "Defund the Police" and the arguments about the phrase here as well as from the Brookings Institution.

Listen to Tracie's appearance on On the Record with Sheilah Kast from July, 2019.

Michael Che on Black Lives Matter

Robin DiAngelo's book White Fragility

According to a nationwide 2020 survey of Millennials and GenZ, conducted by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference), 11 percent of respondents believe that Jews caused the Holocaust.