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LWVSFC Discussion Forum

Restorative Justice?

7/12/2021

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New Mexican columnist Here's a very timely link for tonight's discussion:.
Milan Simonich on Restorative Justice.

https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/da-says-closed-door-meeting-of-a-few-is-justice-for-all/article_ff1fabf2-de62-11eb-8757-cf9932275494.html?utm_source=santafenewmexican.com&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletters%2Fyour-morning-headlines%2F%3F123%26-dc%3D1626087618&utm_medium=email&utm_content=read%20more
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CDP Conversation July 12 at 7 pm: "Restorative Justice": What Mends the Social Contract?

7/6/2021

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Restorative justice is an approach originating in the US in the late 1950’s as a new response to criminal behavior focused on lawbreaker restitution and the resolution of issues arising from a crime.  Crime victims, convicted offenders, and the community are brought together in efforts to restore harmony among the parties involved. Despite the obvious resonance of the concepts, restorative justice in the US is not “truth and reconciliation”. It is an official part of the legal system in hundreds of states and localities throughout the US, including Santa Fe County.

​Via Zoom
REGISTER HERE

For more information on this event, contact Irene Epp at irene.epp@gmail.com


Resources:

https://law.wisc.edu/fjr/rjp/justice.html
 
https://www.britannica.com/topic/restorative-justice
 
https://www.victimsweek.gc.ca/symp-colloque/past-passe/2009/presentation/arlg_1.html
offers specific criticism, non-partisan, but old 2003
 
http://restorativejustice.org/restorative-justice/about-restorative-justice/stories/#sthash.khpZLRGo.dpbs
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On Civics Education and Preserving Democracy in America

6/21/2021

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As part of the High School Civic Project, LWVSFC sponsored MASTERS Program high school history teacher Robert Sobel to attend a workshop at Harvard on David Moss' Case Study Method of teaching history, which Robert has been implementing in his junior American History classes. Robert gave a model class to members of the LWVSFC community on June 18 at the Academy for Technology and the Classics. The case study under discussion focused on the history of the ERA.
From The Atlantic​:
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/05/civics-education-1619-crt/618894/

From the Boston Globe:
http://apps.bostonglobe.com/opinion/graphics/2021/06/future-proofing-the-presidency/part-1-a-treasure-map-for-an-american-tyrant/
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Democracy: A Case Study, by David Moss
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4th CDP Conversation on June 7 at 7 pm: "What is my responsibility as an individual to reparations?"

5/22/2021

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Register HERE
and you will receive a Zoom link by email.
The concept of reparations as a means to address long-standing social and racial injustice is currently a “hot topic”. House Resolution 40, which proposes a national commission to study reparations, has its best chance of passage since it was first submitted to Congress in 1988. Reparations is the subject of the May cover story in The Atlantic. The ACLU has made reparations a major focus. Our June CDP Conversation will explore the question of reparations through a personal lens.  How is each of us involved?

Below are some resources you may find informative in advance of the conversation:

Reparations: A View from Both Sides: “Divided We Fall”
https://dividedwefall.com/2020/08/30/reparations/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw16K

Ta-Nehisi Coates: "The Case for Reparations,", The Atlantic June 2014
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/

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Nikole Hannah-Jones: “Reparations are necessary to bridge the racial wealth gap.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RmuXOYRWsc
 
ACLU Priority: https://www.aclu.org/issues/racial-justice
“The authors of the Declaration of Independence outlined a bold vision for America: a nation in which there would be equal justice for all. More than two hundred years later, it has yet to be achieved.  Though generations of civil rights activism have led to important gains in legal, political, social, educational, and other spheres, the forced removal of indigenous peoples and the institution of slavery marked the beginnings of a system of racial injustice from which our country has yet to break free.”

May Atlantic 2021 lead article:  "Return the National Parks to the Tribes", by David Treuer
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/toc/2021/05/
 
PBS News Hour
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/author-david-treuer-on-rewriting-the-native-american-narrative
 
"Reflections on Juneteenth", Estevan Galvez
estevanraelgalvez.medium.com/reflections-on-juneteenth-3a99ae1766ab

"Reparations for Black Residents in Chicago Is a Hard Reality"
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-05-28/reparations-for-black-residents-in-chicago-evanston-illinois-s-hard-reality?utm_source=pocket-newtab



2 Comments

Third CDP Conversation:  "What--if any--are corporations' responsibilities to society in a capitalist democracy?"

4/22/2021

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Thank you for joining us for this Third CDP Conversation.
For further thinking....
​
Irene Epp recommends this article from The Economist:

https://www.economist.com/leaders/2021/04/29/how-to-tax-capital-without-hurting-investment

Below is a link to the documentary, The Corporation, Dr. Rebecca Alvarez sent the group in Chat:
​
Please add your recommendations in the "Comments" section below.

More resources:

PBS News Hour: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDw64u9sY6s&ab_channel=PBSNewsHour
Foundation for Economic Education: https://fee.org/articles/do-corporations-have-social-responsibilities/

CNBC: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-QtPNi_HC8&ab_channel=CNBCTelevision
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From The Atlantic: "Reconsidering the American Wilderness"

4/17/2021

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"More than a century ago, the conservationist John Muir famously made the case for national parks in The Atlantic. Today we open a new chapter in that conversation, launching our project on who really owns America’s wilderness.
'For however majestic Muir’s account of nature, and whatever his conservation victories, his vision of the wilderness was limited,' our deputy editor Ross Andersen explains. 'His is not the last or best word on the subject.' Read Ross’s introduction, and explore the first stories in the collection, starting with our new cover story.


https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/05/return-the-national-parks-to-the-tribes/618395/
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Photo by Katy Grannan for The Atlantic
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Calling In the Calling Out Culture

3/31/2021

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Monday, April 5 at 3 p.m. via Zoom.
Free and open to the public (see link below)
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Two ways of looking at partisanship and polarization

3/28/2021

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Provocative thinking on our conversation topic. What are your thoughts? Share your comments.

Just how severe will America's minority rule become? | David Sirota | Opinion | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/mar/26/just-how-severe-will-americas-minority-rule-become

What If We Don't Need To 'Fix' Polarization? : The NPR Politics Podcast : NPR
https://www.npr.org/2021/03/19/979369761/is-todays-bitter-partisanship-a-step-toward-a-more-equal-democracy
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What Does Party Affiliation Mean?

3/24/2021

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First, thank you to the many participants in the March 23 Civil Discourse Conversation. Your thought-provoking comments definitely revealed more diversity of thinking than one might imagine. Our monthly Civil Discourse conversations emphasize hearing every voice in the room, and listening without cross-talk or direct comment on another person's words.
Every month right after the Civil Discourse Project's "Monday Conversation" we'll offer a chance to continue thinking together on the Forum. This time it's our chance to dialogue back and forth about political party affiliation in these times of tumult, polarization, and violence. What more do you have to say? Just click on the live "comment" link below and share your thoughts.

 If you were not able to make this second CDP conversation, on on Zoom, you are still welcome to join the conversation now.
"What does party affiliation mean to me?"

Want to learn more about these  monthly conversations? Email irene.epp@gmailcom.
2 Comments

LWV San Diego on "Are All Votes Equal?"

3/17/2021

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Live with the League:  Are All Votes Equal?  Sponsored by the LWV San Diego, featuring League members, Mary Thompson – explaining the history of the Electoral College and what our founding fathers were trying to achieve and avoid  - and Jeanne Brown – explaining the National Popular Vote Compact and League’s support for it; also exploring the myths and facts of the proposal – and Pam Wilmot, Common Cause VP of State Operations – speaking to the national efforts and the current status.  Is the red/blue map shown following each election part of our view of our divided country?  There’s a better way.  Video available here. 

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CDP Community Discussion 2: "What does political party affiliation mean to you?"

3/15/2021

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Tuesday, March 23
7 to 8 pm
via Zoom

Click HERE to register


This question grew from our experiences in these hyper-polarized times. If you have not yet viewed the film, “The Reunited States”, we recommend watching it on YouTube or Amazon Prime before the conversation. It’s a powerful experience. Click HERE for viewing options.
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Continuing to Counter Disinformation and Elections

3/3/2021

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Mis- and disinformation about the 2020 election continues across social media and fringe media outlets. These lies have spurred violence and continue to threaten our democracy. The only way to effectively win against the lies is to avoid spreading them and counter with facts. If you see a lie about elections on social media, do not engage with it. Do not comment or share, even to provide the truth. Any engagement will boost the algorithm and ensure the false post is seen by more users, which helps the disinformation spread more. Use your platforms to instill confidence in our elections and continue to celebrate the remarkable resilience of the American voters in 2020 who made their voices heard. You can use our mis- and disinformation graphic series on social media to help get out the right message.

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Women in Charge: "While the world has been distracted by the noise of all those resistant to change...change has been happening anyway."

2/23/2021

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NAACP: 112 Years of Commitment to Justice

2/14/2021

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My Country ’Tis of Thee
By W. E. B. Du Bois
 
Of course you have faced the dilemma: it is announced, they all smirk and rise. If they are ultra, they remove their hats and look ecstatic; then they look at you. What shall you do? Noblesse oblige; you cannot be boorish, or ungracious; and too, after all it is your country and you do love its ideals if not all of its realities. Now, then, I have thought of a way out: Arise, gracefully remove your hat, and tilt your head. Then sing as follows, powerfully and with deep unction. They’ll hardly note the little changes and their feelings and your conscience will thus be saved:

My country tis of thee,
Late land of slavery,
Of thee I sing.
Land where my father’s pride
Slept where my mother died,
From every mountain side 
Let freedom ring!

My native country thee
Land of the slave set free,
Thy fame I love.
I love thy rocks and rills
And o’er thy hate which chills,
My heart with purpose thrills,
To rise above.

Let laments swell the breeze
And wring from all the trees
Sweet freedom’s song.
Let laggard tongues awake,
Let all who hear partake,
Let Southern silence quake,
The sound prolong.

Our fathers’ God to thee
Author of Liberty,
To thee we sing
Soon may our land be bright,
With Freedom’s happy light
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God our King.
 
On February 14, 1909, the NAACP was founded. The writer, teacher, sociologist, and leader W.E.B. Du Bois was one of its founders, and in the following year he became director of the new organization. He also served as the editor of the organization’s monthly magazine, The Crisis.  
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DEMOCRACY IS A CIVIL RIGHTS ISSUE

2/11/2021

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DEMOCRACY IS A CIVIL RIGHTS ISSUE 
Webster’s definition of democracy:  
a: government by the people 
especially: rule of the majority 
b: a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections.  
Our mission to ‘empower voters and defend democracy’ has not changed in our 100 years. What has changed is the need to defend democracy, especially in of the face of voter suppression. There is a wealth of misinformation out there that is aimed to divide us as a nation and undermine our democracy. We have to stand up to this attack on our democratic ideals, regardless of what some may say. 
While it may be a challenge, especially at the state and local level, to avoid the appearance of partisanship when publicly addressing racial injustice in this heightened climate, we must. We may be accused of being partisan in those moments, but we must stand on the side of justice. It is our moral obligation to demand a more just and equitable world for people of color in our communities.  
We will continue to uphold our nonpartisan values for fairness, justice, and equity because they form the foundation of a representative democracy. If we don’t strive to dismantle and improve the systems and structures that exclude individuals from their democratic rights to vote and participate, we will never be able to achieve a “democracy where every person has the desire, the right, the knowledge and the confidence to participate.” 
Whether you identify politically as a Republican, Democrat, Independent, Libertarian, conservative, liberal, moderate, progressive or another political perspective, you have a place in this democracy and a place within the League, as long as you are committed to our belief in an inclusive democracy. While we may disagree on how we accomplish it, if you value democracy, then you must also value human rights, social justice, and equity.  
Virginia Kase, CEO
LWVUS
February 10, 2021
To read the full article, go to 
https://www.lwv.org/blog/remaining-nonpartisan-hyper-partisan-times?utm_source=PressRelease&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=02142021

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Facebook Is a Doomsday Machine

2/2/2021

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Adrienne LaFrance
“Facebook is a Doomsday Machine”
The Atlantic online
December 15, 2020


Anyone who is serious about mitigating the damage done to humankind by the social web should, of course, consider quitting Facebook and Instagram and Twitter and any other algorithmically distorted informational environments that manipulate people. But we need to adopt a broader view of what it will take to fix the brokenness of the social web. That will require challenging the logic of today’s platforms—and first and foremost challenging the very concept of megascale as a way that humans gather. If megascale is what gives Facebook its power, and what makes it dangerous, collective action against the web as it is today is necessary for change. The web’s existing logic tells us that social platforms are free in exchange for a feast of user data; that major networks are necessarily global and centralized; that moderators make the rules. None of that need be the case. We need people who dismantle these notions by building alternatives. And we need enough people to care about these other alternatives to break the spell of venture capital and mass attention that fuels megascale and creates fatalism about the web as it is now
.
I still believe the internet is good for humanity, but that’s despite the social web, not because of it. We must also find ways to repair the aspects of our society and culture that the social web has badly damaged. This will require intellectual independence, respectful debate, and the same rebellious streak that helped establish Enlightenment values centuries ago.

We may not be able to predict the future, but we do know how it is made: through flashes of rare and genuine invention, sustained by people’s time and attention. Right now, too many people are allowing algorithms and tech giants to manipulate them, and reality is slipping from our grasp as a result. This century’s Doomsday Machine is here, and humming along.

It does not have to be this way.

 
Full article available:
newsletters@theatlantic.com
 

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First Day of Black History Month

2/1/2021

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BLK History Month
 Nikki Giovanni

 
If Black History Month is not
viable then wind does not
carry the seeds and drop them
on fertile ground
rain does not
dampen the land
and encourage the seeds
to root
sun does not
warm the earth
and kiss the seedlings
and tell them plain:
You’re As Good As Anybody Else
You’ve Got A Place Here, Too
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The Voice of America

1/25/2021

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CALLING IN, CALLING OUT, AND WHERE TO DRAW THE LINE

1/19/2021

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Loretta Ross is an author, academic, and radical Black feminist who currently teaches courses on human rights and white supremacy at Smith College. She believes deeply in the value of empathetic conversation — “calling in” — versus shaming, humiliating, or publicly “calling out” those with whom we disagree (or indeed those whose views we may find appalling). But she also believes there’s a limit. Professor Ross joins Ciaran O’Connor for a wide-ranging discussion on racial politics, right wing media, and when to draw a line in the sand.
Twitter: @braverangels; @LorettaJRoss; @ciaranjoconnor
1 Comment

Reading and Discussion:  "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?" Part II

1/11/2021

3 Comments

 
In this second part of her groundbreaking study of Black youth growing up in a White world, Dr. Tatum turns the table on the question that forms the title of the book and examines it from the perspective of of Black identity development  with respect to Black culture.
It might be significant in this context to consider the diametrically opposed ways the DC police prepared for and responded to the Black Lives Matter protests over the summer vs the largely White armed attack on the Capitol building last week. as these photos show.
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National Guard Defending the Lincoln Memorial During BLM Protest 2020 .   Source:  frontpagelive.com
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Our Capitol Mobbed: Another View

1/10/2021

1 Comment

 
  The Lies We Tell Ourselves About Race
January 10, 2021   10:00 AM ET
Sam Sanders is a correspondent and host of the NPR podcast It's Been a Minute With Sam Sanders. The show's latest episode, "The Capitol, Mobbed," is available for streaming here
 
There is a lie some Americans tell themselves when America is on its worst behavior: "This isn't America!" or "This isn't who we are!" or "We're better than this!"
You heard versions of this lie again this past week after armed insurrectionists stormed the U.S. Capitol on urging from President Trump, attempting to undo the results of last November's election.
Even in the halls of Congress, after the broken glass was cleared and U.S. senators and representatives were allowed back into their chambers from undisclosed locations, Republican Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska came back to this refrain: "Our kids need to know that this isn't what America is."
We are a country built on fabrication, nostalgia and euphemism. And every time America shows the worst of itself, all the contradictions collapse into the lie I've heard nonstop for the last several years: "This isn't who we are."
In the final weeks of Donald Trump's presidency, we are still collectively struggling over whether to treat his term and the reaction to it as an aberration or as a continuation of an American way of life. So much of it feels unprecedented: the emergence of the Trump-led Twitter news cycle, the abandonment of political norms we thought were etched in stone, the seemingly never-ending protest movements sprouting up in reaction to it all.
It all feels new. But it is not.
The images from the Capitol this past week made that clear: a noose hanging outside the building. Inside, insurrectionists carrying a Confederate flag. Members of the mob wearing T-shirts that read "Civil War."
Our current troubles — and our current administration — are both just the latest chapters in America's ongoing battle over race.
Trump's presidency has always been about race and reacting to a nation more diverse than it has ever been. We've been reminded of that time and again since he announced his candidacy. So how can anyone still say, "This is not who we are"? Why do we continue to hear that same lie as the worst of America rears its head?
Once you see it as such, it all makes a lot more sense. Remember, Trump began his ascent to political power on a racist lie: birtherism. He launched his campaign for the presidency calling Mexican immigrants criminals and rapists. His first major policy initiative was travel restrictions on Muslim-majority nations that felt a lot like a travel ban on people with darker skin. His supporters cited "economic anxiety" as their motivation, but they were driven by racial animus. Former KKK leader David Duke endorsed Trump twice for president.
Trump's presidency has always been about race and reacting to a nation more diverse than it has ever been. We've been reminded of that time and again since he announced his candidacy. So how can anyone still say, "This is not who we are"? Why do we continue to hear that same lie as the worst of America rears its head?
I see glimpses of who we are every day and, at the same time, a deep discomfort with that reality. That lie permeates my industry, the media. There would have been a time, several years ago, where if I had attempted to write this essay using words like "racist" or "lie," I would have been told to rewrite it. Urged to soften the tone. To maybe not make it all about race. This is not an indictment of NPR; the entire industry did it. Much of the industry still do.
Even this past week, there was hand-wringing about what to call the rioters storming the U.S. Capitol and how to describe their insurrection.
But I'd be wrong to say it's only the media that nurtures the lie. Our audiences do as well.
As a Black NPR host, I am often talking to mostly white audiences about race. By and large, listeners are happy to go where those conversations lead, but regularly, a loud minority shows that it actually wants no part of such discussions. Listeners send emails wondering whether I ever talk about anything but race. Others suggest I may actually have it all wrong, invoking some version of "not all white people."
A recent example came after an interview with an Asian American author, tracing the long history of discrimination against Asians in this country. Several white listeners wondered why other groups just didn't "work hard" the way their own white ancestors did. And then another listener wrote they didn't consider themselves "the least bit racist," but called all Asians "manipulative and dishonest."
The lie is all around us. So when weeks like the one we just experienced happen, some yell the lie even louder, to our detriment. What would happen if we decided to be more honest about race the next time our nation found itself at a racial flashpoint? What might be lost? What might be gained?
It's hard to know, because I've never seen us, collectively, do it before. But I know that history only yells louder each time we refuse to listen. And no lie, no matter how often it's told, can keep the truth at bay.

1 Comment

Reading and Discussion:  "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?" Introduction and Part I

1/3/2021

3 Comments

 
Dr. Beverly Tatum kick -started the public conversation about race and racism in America with her groundbreaking 1996 study of  racial identity development in "Why Are All l the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?"  Now reissued, with Dr. Tatum's concise yet comprehensive summary of "the race issue" as it stands 20 years later, couldn't be more timely.  Bottom line:  Now more than ever we need to have this conversation.  What are your take-aways from your reading (or re-reading) of the Introduction and Part I of this book?

Below are a couple of videos of Dr. Tatum talking about the critical need for conversations about race in America, no matter how difficult ,  painful and uncomfortable. 

Next week we welcome comments about Part II.
3 Comments

Reparations:  What Is Owed?

12/22/2020

2 Comments

 
WHAT IS OWED (concluding section)
by Nikole Hannah-Jones
NY Times June 30, 2020
If black lives are to truly matter in America, this nation must move beyond slogans and symbolism. Citizens don’t inherit just the glory of their nation, but its wrongs too. A truly great country does not ignore or excuse its sins. It confronts them and then works to make them right. If we are to be redeemed, if we are to live up to the magnificent ideals upon which we were founded, we must do what is just.
 It is time for this country to pay its debt. It is time for reparations.

(Nikole Hannah-Jones is a staff writer for the magazine. In 2020, she won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary for her essay about black Americans and democracy. She is the creator of The 1619 Project, which won the National Magazine Award for public interest and a George Polk special award this year. She is also a 2017 MacArthur fellow.)
The push for reparations includes active efforts from Indigenous people, New Mexicans whose land grant rights from the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo have been ignored, and the descendants of the African slaves throughout the US.
Below are links to several information sources on reparations efforts by all three groups. What are your thoughts on these causes?


 

reparations.docx
File Size: 213 kb
File Type: docx
Download File

2 Comments

One Year of National Service

12/22/2020

3 Comments

 
Our Common Purpose Strategy 6 Recommendation
This final strategy focuses on commitment to Constitutional Democracy and to one another:

Establish a universal expectation of a year of national service and dramatically expand funding for service programs or fellowships that would offer young people paid service opportunities. Such opportunities should be made available not only in AmeriCorps or the military but also in local programs offered by municipal governments, local news outlets, and nonprofit organizations.
How effective would this initiative be in unifying our nation and instilling a sense of commitment to the common good among young US citizens.?


3 Comments

Making Amends

12/13/2020

3 Comments

 
As we come to the end of this fraught year, I’m thinking about how we as Americans can make 2021 a truly “new year.” Can we recognize past and present injustices and start repairing hurts? What does it mean to “make amends”? And finally, what is justice? This TED Radio Talk explores these questions in historical, social and personal contexts, and suggests some possible paths forward.  What can we do locally, individually or as a group? Let me know what you think.
Stephanie
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3 Comments
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