Addressing the System Means Looking Beyond Our Self-Interest

 Hi Friends,

School starts tomorrow in Arlington, virtually. Deep breaths.

Please register for our Allyship Workshop taking place on October 26! I know it seems far away, but we want to make sure we can “fill the room” so share widely. Thank you to all of you who have already signed up!

I just finished listening to Nice White Parents. It’s VERY worthwhile, only five hour-long episodes. If you’re a white parent, you will recognize yourself. Please be willing to hear it, sit with it, understand your role in perpetuating segregated schools and systemic racism. Remember that all of us are racist in some way because we’re all participating in a racist system. Until we are each able to take collective responsibility and act in ways that are not solely self-interested, the system will remain unequal. We each have a role to play.

LOCAL ACTIONS/RESOURCES:
- I am really sorry that I didn’t know about this event before it happened, but luckily, you can watch the recording! The Arlington County Human Rights Commission presented the 4th Annual Tiffany Joslyn Human Rights Forum on September 3, “The State of Black People in Arlington.” Please check it out (thanks to Symone Walker’s campaign email for sharing it!).
- APAH is running its “Ready to Learn” Fund (still open even though their goal was by August 31).
- The Arlington Committee of 100 is hosting a “County Board & School Board Candidate Forum” on September 9.
- You can watch the recording of the “Work Session on Arlington Public Schools and School Resource Officers” from September 3.
- VOICE has a strong campaign to prevent evictions in Virginia.
- A reminder that Census 2020 continues and that Arlington is still missing a quarter of its residents. There’s also some neat data being shared. You can get involved to help!
- The Lee Highway Alliance in Arlington has a page up about the renaming process.

EDUCATION:
- Aaricka Washington writes “How do you teach antiracism to the youngest students?” (The Hechinger Report, 8/27/20)

PROTEST/ACTIVISM:
- Erin B. Logan writes “White people have gentrified Black Lives Matter. It’s a problem.” (Los Angeles Times, 9/4/20)
- Linda Poon and Marie Patino write “CityLab University: A Timeline of U.S. Police Protests” (CityLab, 6/9/20)
- The Verge has a project called “Capturing the Police” about “how people use technology to bring awareness to police brutality and racism,” itself a form of protest.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE/POLICE:
- Christopher Mathias writes “White Vigilantes Have Always Had A Friend In Police” (HuffPost, 8/30/20)
- Eliza Griswold writes “A Community Organizer Takes On White Vigilantism” (New Yorker Magazine, 9/2/20)
- Amika Mota writes “I saved lives as an incarcerated firefighter. To California, I was just cheap labor.” (The Guardian, 9/1/20)
- Sarah Holder and Kara Harris write “Where Calling the Police Isn’t the Only Option” (CityLab, 9/3/20)

HOUSING:
- The National Low Income Housing Coalition is hosting “A Live Conversation with Ta-Nehisi Coates and NLIHC” on October 6.
- The National Low Income Housing Coalition has created an “Opportunity Starts at Home” campaign, with lots of resources about the evictions moratorium, racial equity and housing, etc. They also have a voter and candidate engagement campaign called “Our Homes, Our Votes: 2020” with voter information by state to empower voting across the country.
- Kriston Capps writes “What the New Federal Eviction Moratorium Means” (CityLab, 9/2/20)

HEALTH:
- Joseph Shapiro writes “Undocumented With COVID-19: Many Face A Long Recovery, Largely On Their Own” (NPR, 9/1/20)

SYSTEMIC CHANGE:
- Adam Harris writes “The New Southern Strategy” (The Atlantic, October 2020 issue)
- Jennifer Bradley and Josh Sorin write “Let’s Not Go Back to ‘Normal’” (CityLab, 9/4/20)
- You can watch videos from the 2020 Virtual March on Washington.
- The Lakota People’s Law Project has a petition to the NCAA and American Pro Sports Leagues regarding ending racist team branding.

Hang in there this week! You are not alone.

Emily
Listen. Amplify. Follow.