Category: Anti-racism Team

Reckoning and Reconciliation with our Indigenous Neighbors

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A reading list

Recommended reading and resources for parish study groups and book clubs from the Peace & Justice Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago

Art by Rose Teyuthahukwa Malanik

The Red Nation: Indigenous Action to Save Our Earth (2021)

Notable Native People: 50 Indigenous leaders, Dreamers and Changemakers from the Past and Present by Adrienne Keene (2021)

Decolonizing Wealth: Indigenous Wisdom to Heal Divides and Restore Balance (2nd edition) by Edgar Villanueva (2021)

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teaching of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer 2013 (Study Guide available)

An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz (2014)

The Four Vision Quests of Jesus by Steven Charleston (2015)

Neither Wolf Nor Dog: On Forgotten Roads with an Indian Elder by Kent Nerburn

The Night Watchman a novel by Louise Erdrich (2020)

Seeing Red: Indigenous Land, American Expansion, and the Political Economy of Plunder North America by Micahel Johnson Witgen

Videos available from “Indigenous Ministries” on The Episcopal Church website: 1. “Native Voices: Speaking to the Church and the World” (37 min.) 2.“Doctrine of Discovery” (14 min.) 3. “Native Voices: A Response to the Episcopal Church’s History with Indian Boarding Schools” (1 hr. 33 min.)

National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition  

Article from Sojourners: “Will Christians atone for church boarding schools?”

Bexley-Seabury Course by Mary Crist:

Report calls church to address harms of white supremacy, colonial and imperial legacies; create $2 million healing coalition by David Paulsen

Fair Trade Day at St. John’s!

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Saturday, May 14 between 11 am and 4 pm

Join us in the garden (rain location: Parish Hall)

Visit St. John’s during the 2022 Open House Celebration of World Fair Trade Day with Chicago Fair Trade on Sat. May 14 from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Jerome McDonnel, former host of Worldview on National Public Radio and fair trade supporter, will be doing a bike ride to 3 of these fair trade stops on the north side of Chicago – one of them being St. John’s! 
St. John’s open house stop will feature 

– Indigenous Columbian art from Tulia’s Artisan Gallery
– Land Acknowledgment (2:15 pm)
– Conversation between Jerome McDonnel and Karen Torres, CEO of Tulia’s Gallery (2:30 pm)
– Clothing Swap – bring an item – take an item
– Fair Trade Trivia Prize Wheel
– Eco Tours of our campus
– Fair trade coffee and tea

More about Open House Chicago around Chicago and suburbs…

Each May, World Fair Trade Day is celebrated by tens of thousands of people in dozens of countries. For fifteen years, Chicago Fair Trade has organized the largest World Fair Trade Day in the U.S.

On Saturday, May 14, Chicago Fair Trade’s member businesses, organizations and allies are hosting multiple events throughout the city to showcase how they support economic and environmental justice.  As an attendee you will receive a virtual passport to use when checking in at different sites and if you check in at three or more, you’ll be entered to win a fair trade raffle (over $200 in value!).  Proposed itineraries will be neighborhood-based for easy access and an interactive map listing all participating locales will be available on our website.

Here is a sneak peak of some of the day’s activities: 

Join our growing network of conscious consumers and show your commitment to building a better, more just and equitable world.  We hope you are able to join us on this celebratory day!

Critical Race Theory Conversation Follow up

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Dear Friends:

Dr. Cooke (on-line), Dr. Westbrook, Ms. Yutzy, Mr. Moore

Thank you for attending our event held on Tuesday November 9th, titled “Critical Race Theory: How it Affects Me and Why it Matters. A conversation with three educators”.  

We are tremendously grateful to our panelists for sharing their expertise, passion, and experiences. They exceeded our expectations and provided us all a truly educational and enlightening 90 minutes. We have compiled a list of resources provided from the panelists and moderator to deepen our understanding of the topic Critical Race Theory.  Those resources are listed below and can also easily be accessed on our webpage: St. John’s Anti-racism Resource .

Thank you to our co-sponsors for their collaboration and commitment to learning.

All Saints: http://allsaintschicago.org, Church of the Ascension: http://ascensionchicago.org, and Church of the Atonement: http://atonementchicago.org

Blessings,

–The St. John’s Antiracism Team

Co-Chairs: Anna Ware AnnawareSLP@gmail.com and Laura Singer laura.t.singer@gmail.com 

The Rev. Kara Wagner Sherer, Rector rector@stjohnschicago.com

Resources for further reading and discovery

Recommendations from Blanche B. Cook:

CAUGHT: Calculating the Moves of Power in our Midst, A TEDx talk at Wayne State University

Critical Race Theory: An Introduction, Second Edition by: Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic (2012)

Forward: The Jurisprudence of Reconstruction (California Law Review, Vol 82, No. 4 July 1994), by Angela Harris

Looking to the Bottom: Critical Legal Studies and Reparations, by Mari J. Matsuda

Handbook of Critical Race Theory in Education, by Marvin Lynn and Adrienne D. Dixson (2021)Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color, by Kimberle Crenshaw

Recommendations from Kyle Westbrook:

Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own, by Eddie S. Glaude Jr. (2020)

No Name in the Street, by James Baldwin

The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America, by Richard Rothstein

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, by Michelle Alexander

A Nation by Design: Immigration Policy in the Fashioning of America, by Aristide Zolberg

Ghosts in the Schoolyard: Racism and School Closings on Chicago’s South Side, by Eve L. Ewing

Stony the Road: Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow, by Henry Louis Gates Jr.

Black Reconstruction in America 1860-1880, by W.E.B. Du Bois

Making the Second Ghetto: Race and Housing in Chicago 1940-1960, by Arnold R. Hirsch

A Political Education: Black Politics and Education Reform in Chicago Since the 1960s, by Elizabeth Todd-Breland

Recommendations from Heather Yutzy:

White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, by Robin DiAngelo (2018)

Caste, by Isabel Wilkerson  (2020)

You Are Your Best Thing: Vulnerability, Shame Resilience, and the Black Experience, by Tarana Burke and Brene Brown (2021)

The Cross and the Lynching Tree, by James H. Cone (2011)

Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, by Kristin Kobes Du Mez  (2020) 

Code Switch Podcast From NPR

Recommendations from Duncan Moore:

The Warmth of Other Suns, by Isabel Wilkerson (2010)

Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates (2015)

How to Be an Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi (2019)

Recommendations from St. John’s members

An article from the New Republic about the November 2021 Virginia governor race

From the New Yorker The Void that Critical Race Theory was Created to Fill

From the New Yorker podcast The New Culture Wars over American History

An article about the slave auction controversy in Traverse City, Michigan

An article about the founder of Critical Race Theory, Derrick Bell

An article about how CRT became weaponized as a public issue

From The Episcopal Church Office of Racial Reconciliation

Let’s Talk CRT: Christian Race Theory By Stephanie Spellers

From the Chicago Public Library:

A reading list from Ibram X. Kendi from the Chicago Public Library

From the St. John’s Antiracism Team:

A video on why we do antiracism work: Can I get a Witness?

Our Antiracism Team Page:   https://www.stjohnschicago.com/?page_id=5268

A reading list of books by African-American writers: Reading to End Racism

A reading list of books on white supremacy:  Wrestling with White Supremacy

A reading list of books by Hispanic and Latinx authors:  Latinx Book Group

Critical Race Theory: How it Affects Me and Why it Matters.

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A Conversation with three educators

Tuesday, November 9, 2021 from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m.

St. John’s Episcopal Church at 3857 N. Kostner Ave. Chicago, IL  60641 and on-line

Chicago Episcopal churches sponsor an event to educate members and the community to gain a general understanding of Critical Race Theory, explore why is it important to know about CRT, and how CRT affects our daily lives, especially in Chicago. Three educators will speak from their expertise and experience, with moderated questions from the audience. The featured speakers are Dr. Blanche Cook, JD, Associate Professor at the University of Kentucky Rosenberg College of Law; Dr. Kyle P. Westbrook, Executive Director of Partnership for College Completion; and Ms. Heather Yutzy, Principal of Haugen Elementary in Chicago.

About Dr. Blanche B. Cook
Dr. Cook is an Associate Professor at the University of Kentucky Rosenberg College of Law. She teaches Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Evidence, Race and the Law, Critical Race Theory, Critical Race Feminism, and a seminar on Sex Trafficking. She earned her bachelor of arts degree from Vassar College and her law degree at the University of Michigan. Before joining the Rosenberg College of Law, she served as an Assistant United States Attorney with the United States Department of Justice, where she specialized in large-scale drug and sex-trafficking prosecutions. Professor Cook has established herself as a leading expert on sex trafficking by problematizing the entire spectrum of sex-trafficking prosecutions and the commercialization and exploitation of vulnerable flesh. She is actively involved in shaping the emerging nationwide discourse on sex trafficking.

About Dr. Kyle P. Westbrook  
Dr. Westbrook is the founding executive director of Partnership for College Completion, a nonprofit that champions policies and practices focused on equity in higher education. Previously he was the Executive Director of Educational Policy under Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the Executive Director of Magnet, Gifted, and IB Programs for Chicago Public Schools, Director of Secondary School Support for the University of Chicago, and a high school teacher for twelve years in Chicago. Dr. Westbrook received his Bachelor of Science and masters of science in Education from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, and his Ph. D in Educational Policy Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

About Ms. Heather Yutzy
Heather Yutzy is the principal of Haugan Elementary School in Albany Park. Although new at Haugan, she has 20 years of experience as a school principal and assistant principal. She is passionate about helping students and teachers to thrive, both academically and socially. Ms. Yutzy believes that the school and parents are most powerful when we work together as partners. Ms. Yutzy holds a B.A. degree in Elementary Education, and M.A. in Educational Administration and she worked as a teacher in CPS for nine years before becoming an administrator. She has now been an educational leader for 23 years.  She has worked as an instructional coach and consultant, and as an assistant principal and principal at several schools. Heather considers one of her key accomplishments as principal to be when her school twice achieved exemplary honors for social emotional learning.

This program is sponsored by four Chicago Episcopal Churches

All Saints: allsaintschicago.org
Church of the Ascension: ascensionchicago.org
Church of the Atonement: atonementchicago.org
St. John’s Episcopal Church: stjohnschicago.com

Electric Vehicle Charger at St. John’s!

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News For Immediate Release
Contact: Brian Urbaszewski BUrbaszewski@resphealth.org 312.405.1175 or The Rev. Kara Wagner Sherer, rector@stjohnschicago.com 773.960.1889

Electric Vehicle Charging Sharing Platform uses Keeling Curve Prize Funding from Global Warming Mitigation Project to Expand Charging Locations in Chicago’s Urban Residential Neighborhoods: St. John’s Episcopal Church Installs First Charger

St. John’s Episcopal Church at 3857 N. Kostner Ave. Chicago, IL  60641
 
Chicago, IL – July 2, 2021 – EVmatch, the first electric vehicle (EV) charging platform for connecting EV drivers with nearby private chargers through a reservation-based system, has a new publicly-available [level 2] charging station located at St. John’s Episcopal Church, 3857 N Kostner Ave in Chicago’s Old Irving Park neighborhood. As the charging station host, St. John’s listed its charger on EVmatch to make driving EVs easier for community members – whether it’s neighbors of Old Irving Park, many of whom rent or live in multi-family housing without a reliable place to charge, or other Chicagoans visiting the neighborhood in electric cars and needing a spot to charge up.

The installation was made possible with the experience and technical expertise of Chicago-based BIG CLEAN POWER, LLC, a worker collective incubated by Blacks in Green (BIG, NFP) and its affiliate Green Power Alliance to connect trade professionals to clean energy business deals. EV Match, St. John’s Episcopal Church, and the Community Charging Initiative are pleased to have partnered with BIG, Blacks in Green in identifying energy conscious contractors Arthur Burton of AMB Renewables and Wendell Terry of W. Terry Electric to perform the installation at St. John’s.
 
The full press release is available at this link.

Reserve your spot here!

About St. John’s Episcopal Church
An inclusive congregation committed to Christian worship and service to the community, St. John’s is a vibrant and diverse group of people of all ages, races, abilities, and identities, engaged in anti-racism and other transformative work. We offer three Sunday services, religious instruction for children, and adult and youth choirs. In addition to our annual Darwin Day celebration of science and religion, St. John’s offers a free series of concerts, sponsors a refugee family, hosts an Electric Vehicle Charger for parish and community use, and is actively working to identify, disrupt, and dismantle racism in our church and community. Established in 1883 in Old Irving Park, the church is located on Chicago’s northwest side, on the corner of Byron and Kostner. For more information visit our website at www.stjohnschicago.com.

Antiracism Book Group

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First Meeting is Thursday, January 7, 2021

Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad

Kick off 2021 with the #MeAndWhiteSupremacy 28 day challenge. Join St. John’s antiracism reading group this January for a month of journaling and weekly discussions. We will use Layla F. Saad’s book Me and White Supremacy to go through a step-by-step process to develop a better understanding of our white privilege and participation in white supremacy, so we can stop (often unconsciously) inflicting damage on Black, Indigenous and People of Color, and in turn, help other white people do better, too. It’s not to late to start reading and journaling. Join in weekly Zoom discussions: Link to cut and paste: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83419218446?pwd=WGdiWHBiYUxWc0wvUXNuUWpjL3NTdz09 (Meeting ID: 834 1921 8446 Passcode: 3857) each Thursday in January at 7:30 p.m. For more information or to RSVP email to Laura.t.singer@gmail.com. You can also  RSVP on Facebook.

Latinx Book Group

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This group met from September 2019 – June 2020 and again in the fall of 2020. Please email the Parish Office if you are interested in joining when the group reconvenes.

So far we have read these books:

An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomajor
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez
Native Country of the Heart by Cherríe Moraga
Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
Wise Latinas: Writers on Higher Education edited by Jennifer De Leon
When I was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago