note April 6, at 6:00pm to 7:30pm details below

There is an offering in a new comment under the post about the Supreme Court below.
Sounds like a helpful event for this dialogue.  See that new comment for details.

Great opportunity for white anti racists

Book Workshop Series Facilitated by Laurel Finn and Laurie O’Donnell

10-week, sequential series designed for white people to forward anti-racism work. We connect the book with dialog and experiential activities, by exploring the white experience.

Goals of the Series - Build a community with a shared understanding of privilege, whiteness, and racism - Increase your ability to begin, support, and progress racial justice work - Develop leadership capacity around issues of diversity, inclusion, and race Testimonials from past group members: “I was impressed with both the course content and with the way that Laurel and Laurie facilitated. Laurel and Laurie brought honesty, knowledge, and humanity to our meetings. I'd taken other racial justice classes, but this one felt different. I appreciated the specific focus on whiteness and privilege, and that there were opportunities each week to practice ‘walking the talk.’ There was lots of learning, sure, but each piece also had an element of doing. That seems essential for those who want to not just understand racism but who also want to affect change.” “The Witnessing Whiteness class has truly been a life-changing and humbling experience! I have always thought of myself as a "good white person." And while I do try to do good in my community, I cannot discount or ignore the role my white privilege has played and continues to play in my interactions with friends, neighbors, and community members of color. Frankly, my privilege has allowed me not to even think about it. I honestly believe that every white person in Madison needs to take this class before attempting to step up and interrupt racism in our community. Laurel and Laurie facilitate the class with compassion, honesty, and thoughtful insight. I cannot recommend the class highly enough!” Dates Time Location Monday April 24th 6:00-8:15pm First Baptist Church Tuesdays in May (2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd, 30th) 518 N Franklin Ave Wednesdays in June (7th, 14th, 21st, 28th) Madison, WI  53705 The series is free and is limited to 30 participants. To register, please email Laurel at lafinn@wisc.edu by April 10th.

looking at Federal Budget through communities of color eyes

Helpful article to analyze national budget proposal.  What concerns you the most in the article?

http://www.colorlines.com/articles/how-trumps-proposed-budget-will-impact-people-color

How might we see the following from a racial justice lens?

How might we see the following from a racial justice lens?

from By Stephanie Innes Arizona Daily Star

NO WORD FOR WALL For the Tohono O’odham Nation, the U.S. border with Mexico is an unnatural line that divides their indigenous homelands. About 2,000 of the tribe’s members live in Mexico, and many of them use services such as the dialysis clinic, which is on the U.S. side in Sells. Sells, the tribe’s capital, is about 60 miles southwest of downtown Tucson. The expansive Arizona reservation is roughly the size of Connecticut. The tribe essentially has a wall already, many members say. Most of the tribe’s border is already lined with steel vehicle barriers that wind around saguaro cacti, across sacred archaeological sites, and allow for rushing waters to cross the border through washes that water their land during summer months. The added security has had effects. Places where members can legally cross the border with tribal identification cards have shrunk from seven to three in recent years, in some cases tripling travel time to visit families and attend ceremonies in Mexico.

To learn more about the Tohon O’dam nation and how a wall along the border would impact them go to 

http://www.tonation-nsn.gov/

Supreme Court Holds That Racial Bias in Justice System Must Be Addressed

Supreme Court Holds That Racial Bias in Justice System Must Be Addressed

What do you think?

The gist of the decision is here

 . . .racial bias is "a familiar and recurring evil" so harmful to the administration of justice that it cannot be ignored. "[B]latant racial prejudice is antithetical to the functioning of the jury system and must be confronted," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the Court. Accordingly, "where a juror makes a clear statement that indicates he or she relied on racial stereotypes or animus to convict a criminal defendant, the Sixth Amendment requires that the no-impeachment rule give way in order to permit the trial court to consider the evidence of the juror’s statement and any resulting denial of the jury trial guarantee."

"[R]acial bias implicates unique historical, constitutional, and institutional concerns," the Court reasoned. "It is the mark of a maturing legal system that it seeks to understand and to implement the lessons of history." Given our nation's history of racial injustice, it remains critical to address racial bias in order "to ensure that our legal system remains capable of coming ever closer to the promise of equal treatment under the law that is so central to a functioning democracy."

For a fuller report go to

http://eji.org/news/supreme-court-holds-courts-must-address-racial-bias

FREE workshop series (3 parts) on justice system disparities

Nehemiah Center for Justice and Reconciliation in Madison is giving a workshop series -FREE! - on racial disparities in the justice system, on Mondays, February 20 & 27, and March 6, from 7-9 PM.
Here's where you can find  out more:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2017-workshop-series-racial-disparities-in-the-criminal-justice-system-tickets-31521271973?aff=erellivmlt

Here is a podcast about public housing as a lottery.  It reinforces what we're learning in our study of the book Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City

More about "Milwaukee 53206"

Many have seen

"Milwaukee 53206" about mass incarceration in Wisconsin and heard the panel afterwards.  It makes us sadly aware that our mass incarceration is a racial justice matter.

I encourage us to learn more about our state’s mass incarceration and talk to our legislators about it at

Madison Action Day, March 30, 2017.  It is all day and well worth it.

See.

http://mosesmadison.org/event/wisdom-day-of-action/

Register at   http://wisdommadisonactio.wixsite.com/mysite

Our local affiliate is MOSES

You can write a check to MOSES please memo on check registration for action day

Mail it to 

MOSES
PO Box 7031
Madison, WI 53707