Reflections

On Racism

On Fragility and Accountability

On July 26, 2020, Carmen Barsody and Sam Dennison spoke at the Universalist Unitarian Society of San Francisco about experiences of whiteness and racism. Carmen spoke to the growing realization of whiteness and racism through her experiences in Mississippi and Nicaragua. As a white person raised in a segregated society with advantages that never needed naming, Sam considers how to move from regretting racism to meaningful action.

Watch the Video of Carmen & Sam>>>

32 minutes in length

Read Sam's Reflection>>>

10-15 minute read approximately

Suggested Reading

Until We Reckon

by Danielle Sered

Read a selection>>

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This book is practical description of restorative justice provides both background and examples. Through her work at Common Justice, a restorative justice program in Boston, Sered is able to address the questions, needs, and worries of those who seek alternatives to aggressive police enforcement. She makes it clear that we cannot move forward in this quest until we address our history of racism and how it impacts our most basic ideas of justice.

Suggested Reading

The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-term Effects of Childhood Adversity

By Nadine Burke Harris, MD

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This book entirely changed how we think about trauma. It frames the impact of childhood adversity in terms of lifetime impact. Not only does childhood adversity have psychological implications, it also increases health outcomes in general including propensity for heart disease, obesity, and other inflammatory conditions. 

Dr. Nadine Burke Harris's book is essential for understanding the long term effects of community trauma as well as individual trauma.

From the Zendo to the Streets

by Jackie Hider

Read Jackie's paper>>

Suggested Reading

Jackie Hider is a long-time Faithful Fool. She came to know the Fools through her study of Street Chaplaincy at Upaya Zen Center in Arizona. In this paper, her final thesis for the program, she explores the life and role of chaplains among people on the streets. She explores questions like How does a person become a street chaplain? What does a street chaplain do, and what lessons can we, as chaplains, learn from working in the homeless community?

Suggested Reading

The Warmth of Other Suns

By Isabel Wilkerson

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The history of the Great Migration is singularly important in understanding the legacy of slavery and the reality of Jim Crow violence and segregation. Rather than focus the contours of White racism, this book shows us how racial domination shaped the lives of African-Americans and how the rich legacy of endurance within African-American families, passed down from generation to generation, gave them life and the landscape of the US.

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