Join VIUF for this 4-week exploration of reparations – the bridge between truth and reconciliation.
Together we will learn and process the facts, diverse perspectives, and paths forward as we seek to heal the trauma of stolen land and enslavement and its ongoing repercussions.
Many White people in the United States are pushing beyond denial of our country’s inhumane treatment of Indigenous and Black peoples. We are beginning to recognize that systematic racism is at the root of the grossly disproportionate rates of poverty, unemployment, incarceration, low home ownership, and health disparities among Black and Indigenous peoples.
VIUF believes that compassion, clear understanding, and informed actions are essential parts of a path to justice. Together we will cover such topics as the role of the white savior, the psychological ramifications of our history, and the spiritual foundations of restorative justice.
Starting Tuesday April 19, we will meet by zoom for 4 weekly sessions, from 6-7:30 PM (Pacific). All are welcome. Materials are available online plus a $5 book (ORDER ASAP from your bookshop or Amazon). Do the reading/video/homework before each meeting, then Bring your curiosity and come ready to engage!
For questions, more details, or to sign up, contact Tanya Roberts: 240-505-6110 or
–Vashon Island Unitarian Fellowship’s Social Justice Committee
ASAP ORDER for $5 – The Little Book of Restorative Justice and Race, by Fania Davis, from your local bookstore or from Amazon
Week 1, April 19, Tuesday – WHITE SAVIOR: RACISM IN THE AMERICAN CHURCH
Watch – “White Savior: Racism in the American Church” on Amazon (1 hour)
Journal – Write your family history, then imagine what your family history might have been if you were of African American descent? (or European American descent)
Read – Beachcomber, COMMENTARY: The Mystery of Systemic Racism, Tanya Roberts https://www.vashonbeachcomber.
Read – Beachcomber – COMMENTARY: Reparations — Doing What is Right, Robbie Rohr https://www.vashonbeachcomber.
Read – ACLU Magazine, Spring 2022, Divided Highways, Jay Fernandez, pages 10-15
https://www.aclu.org/sites/
Group discussion
Week 2, April 26, Tuesday – TA-NEISI COATES REVISITS THE CASE FOR REPARATIONS
Listen or Read – Ta-Nehisi Coates Revisits the Case for Reparations (15 minutes)
Ta-Nehisi Coates Revisits the Case for Reparations | The New Yorker
Read – “Until We Are First Recognized as Humans”: The Killing of George Floyd and the Case for Black Life at the United Nations – Balthazar I. Beckett and Salimah K. Hankins https://repository.usfca.edu/
Read/Watch – “An Open Letter to Governor Murphy on the need for Reparations in the Slave State of the North” https://www.youtube.com/
Read – chap 1,2,3 in The Little Book of Restorative Justice and Race, Fania Davis
Group discussion
Week 3, May 3, Tuesday – TRAUMA AND REPAIR
Transforming Ghosts into Ancestors, Unsilencing the psychological case for reparations to descendants of American slavery, B. Nichols and M. L. Connolly https://static1.squarespace.
Read (elow) – 1 sheet from My Grandmother’s Hands
Read – chap 4-7 in The Little Book of Restorative Justice and Race, Fania Davis
Read report – THE HARM IS TO OUR GENES: TRANSGENERATIONAL EPIGENETIC INHERITANCE AND SYSTEMIC RACISM IN AMERICA, N’COBRA
https://www.ncobraonline.org/
Group discussion
Week 4, May 10, Tuesday – COMPARING IDEAS FOR REPAIR
Watch – Reparations for African Chattel Enslavement in America, Woullard Lett – https://youtu.be/BjFNl32hcbE
Read – What is NAARC’s 10-Point Reparations Plan? – https://reparationscomm.org/
Homework: Compare and contrast these approaches. What parts do you like best in each? Conversation with Carl McCargo, UUJEC, about writing an Action of Immediate Witness Proposal on reparations for the UU national convention in Portland, OR
Final group discussion
May 17,18,19 – NW Justice Forum – Future of Restorative Frameworks: Building the Next Generation, South Puget Sound Community College, Lacey Campus, WA https://www.nwjusticeforum.
May 24, Tuesday – Healing from Hate – movie and panel discussion – Vashon Theater, 6pm.
