Implications of Richard Rothstein’s book “The Color of Law”

Richard Rothstein’s book The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America explores the ways in which federal, state, and local government policies led to urban segregation in the U.S. It also looks at the need for dramatic change to remediate the effects of these policies. We will discuss Rothstein’s book as well as its implications for our community. Rothstein is a distinguished fellow of the Economic Policy Institute and a senior fellow emeritus at the Thurgood Marshall Institute of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

We have 30 copies of Rothstein’s book at the church office. If you’d like a free copy, please request a book when you register, and you can pick up the book at church on any Sunday after services starting June 6.

Please note that the Racial Justice Initiative offered a Zoom presentation “Richard Rothstein Speaks on The Color of Law” (April 21). While not required, participants in the class may find the video very helpful for the book discussion. This is available Here.

Participants can also listen to Chanda Smith Baker’s (from the Minneapolis Foundation) podcast interview with Richard Rothstein. Again, while not required, participants will find this helpful to the discussion, here.

Participants may also want to watch “Jim Crow of the North” which has a local focus available on the PBS App.

When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir

Patrisse Kahn-Cullors and asha bandele’s memoir When They Call You a Terrorist is a coming-of-age story that reveals the depth of racial targeting and its impact on Black families and neighborhoods during Kahn-Cullors’ time growing up in Los Angeles.  The book also explores the ways in which these experiences led Kahn-Cullors to co-found Black Lives Matter with two other women.

Join Peter Eichten and Ann Manning for a rich discussion of this book with its focus on racial injustice perpetuated by America’s War on Drugs during multiple presidents’ terms and the effects this policy had in criminalizing a generation of Black people.  The class will also look at the work white people, especially, have to do to uncover and change the messages in this country about Black people and criminality.

Join us for this two-part session, via Zoom.

Reimagining Public Safety: Confronting the Problem of Policing

This I Believe | Racial Justice Is Personal

is being launched by Plymouth’s Racial Justice Initiative. Our goal with these personal stories is to inspire reflection and action, and we offer them with humility and vulnerability. We hope these stories will inspire deeper thought about your own relationship to systemic racism.
We have recently begun publishing these video stories in weekly emails.
To receive the emails including these videos please contact dougf (at) plymouth.org.
For questions or to include your story in
This I Believe | Racial Justice is Personal
please email Jean Kennedy jekennedy21 (at) comcast.net.