An Important Note About Our Future and Structure
Dear Community,
Happy Labor Day to our community members in the States. I hope everyone has been able to get some rest and stayed safe over the long weekend.
As we go into our third month of the book club, we are excited to share some updates on the future and structure of the book club in lieu of our usual newsletter this week.
A little over three months after the murder of George Floyd, a key topic continues coming up for white accomplices in the work for racial justice: sustainability. Already, it seems, many, especially white people, are going back to only thinking about racial justice when it is making headlines. I am watching many leaders in the racial justice movement caution against increasing fatigue, or some sense that the moment is “over.” (I hope everyone in this group knows: this is not a moment, it’s the movement.)
We want to share that we have noticed the engagement from this group, too, has decreased. A core group of this community is very engaged, and to be clear, we are very grateful to anyone who reads this newsletter, is reading along with the books, or has joined our meetings. If this book club isn’t the right place for you to be doing antiracist learning and unlearning, we support that.
However, if you got enthusiastic about this book club or any other racial justice space in June and then disengaged as life got busier and the work felt less urgent, we’re here to call you in. This is lifetime work, not with-the-newscycle work. And lifetime work requires commitment and sustainability. We have had to have tough conversations with each other and with ourselves about avoiding the trap of white fragility that can make it feel okay to get complacent, as well as ensuring our work here can be sustained. We are making a few changes to our book club structure to make this community sustainable for you, and for us as facilitators.
In the spirit of commitment and sustainability, we are excited to announce that we will continue the book club beyond our initial three month commitment, at least until the end of 2020, and we will be adding fiction books to our club! If there is a fiction book that has shaped your understanding of race and anti-racism, please email us your suggestions for future picks.
Our October book is one of my absolute favorite books: Homegoing, by Yaa Gyasi. This breathtaking novel tracks the generational impact of slavery through two family lineages from the Gold Coast to America’s Great Migration, after two half sisters are split up — one is sold into the Gold Coast slave trade, and the other is married off to a white enslaver living in the very same castle where her sister is enslaved. As a reminder, here is our list of Black-owned bookstores where you can get this book for October.
Our second announcement is that we will be changing our meeting schedule: we will move our meeting format to one meeting a month at the end of each book. We will offer two meetings: a weekday meeting, and a weekend meeting.
We will still go ahead as planned with this upcoming week’s Wednesday and Sunday meetings, our final meetings for How to Be An Antiracist. You can register here to join us on Wednesday, September 9 at 7pm ET (6pm CT, 5pm MT, 4 pm MT), and register here to join us on Sunday, September 13 at 10am PT (11am MT, 12pm CT, 1pm ET). There is no Thursday meeting. However, if you are on Pacific Time and this presents a problem for you, please let us know and we can re-evaluate.
As we begin Women, Race & Class, you can sign up now for our meetings at the end of the month! Our meetings for our September book, Women, Race & Class, will be on Sunday, October 4 at 10am PT (11am MT, 12pm CT, 1pm ET), and on Wednesday, October 7th at 7pm ET (6pm CT, 5pm MY, 4pm MT).
Finally, as we seek to make this space continually engaging for you, and sustainable for us as facilitators, we are seeking guest editors for our weekly newsletter. If you are interested in writing an edition of the newsletter, please let us know — we would love to elevate your voice and have the entire community learn from you and the anti-racism learning and unlearning you have been doing these past few months.
As a reminder, we are starting a new book this upcoming week! I can’t wait for you to all read some Angela Davis. We hope you enjoyed finishing How to Be An Antiracist. Our reading schedule for the week of 9/7 is:
Women, Race & Class
Chapter One: The Legacy of Slavery: Standards for a New Womanhood
Chapter Two: The Anti-Slavery Movement and the Birth of Women’s Rights
Chapter Three: Class and Race in the Early Women’s Rights Campaign
Chapter Four: Racism in the Woman Suffrage Movement
Me and White Supremacy: Reading and Journaling Prompts
Week Four, Day 24: You and Your Friends
Week Four, Day 25: You and Your Family
If you have any questions, concerns, or feedback about what we’ve planned, we are here to open up a conversation with you. We remain committed to the work of learning and unlearning with you, and to making this space sustainable, accountable, and safe (but not necessarily comfortable). If you have any suggestions on how we can best do that, please let us know. We are always available at learnunlearnbookclub@gmail.com, and in our new group WhatsApp.
In community, and excited for what is to come,
Jess