Our September conversation will build upon our April dialogue, which provided a brief history of the Doctrine of Discovery; described the impact on Indigenous and African people- past and present, and explored ways we can come together for our collective healing.

This September Racism is Real conversation will offer two sacred spaces/breakout groups for BIPOC and White people to reflect on the topic and their experiences. The BIPOC caucus will feature ROJ trainer Thulani Conrad Moore with Dr. Kyle Mays and Dr. Edward Valandra. The White caucus will feature ROJ trainers Rev. Lorie Hershey, Dr. Drick Boyd, and Rick Derksen.

This event will take place on Sunday, September 17 4-5:30pm PT / 7-8:30pm ET on Zoom (not on Facebook Live). By registering you'll receive the Zoom link to participate. We invite you to join your group's caucus and share your own reflections after (re)watching the April conversation.

While registration is free, we ask you to Pay What You Can, so that we are able to financially compensate our trainers and panelists. 

REGISTER HERE

Our participants: 
Edward C Valandra, Ph.D., is Sicangu Titunwan, born and raised on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation. His research focuses on the national revitalization of the Oceti Sakowin Oyate (People of the Seven Fires, commonly called the D/L/Nakota people) and the development of Native Studies. Dr. Valandra is the founder and Research Fellow for the Community for the Advancement of Native Studies (CANS), a Native-government-chartered, research-based, reservation-rooted organization.

Kyle T. Mays (he/his) is an Assistant Professor of African American Studies, American Indian Studies, and History at UCLA.  He is the author of Hip Hop Beats, Indigenous Rhymes: Modernity and Hip Hop in Indigenous North America (SUNY Press, 2018). His most recent book is An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States (Beacon Press) which argues that African enslavement and Indigenous dispossession have been central to the founding of the United States, and explores how Black and Indigenous peoples have resisted U.S. democracy from the founding of the U.S. to the present.

ROJ Trainer bios are available here. 

Check out these books by our panelists! 
Colorizing Restorative Justice: Voicing Our Realities (2020, Living Justice Press) - edited by Dr. Valandra, with essays featured by Rev. Michelle, Erica, and other women of color: https://livingjusticepress.org/product/colorizing-restorative-justice-2/

An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States (2021, Beacon Press) by Dr. Kyle Mays (affiliate link)
https://bookshop.org/p/books/an-afro-indigenous-history-of-the-united-states-kyle-t-mays/16258852?aid=83165&ean=9780807011683&listref=roots-of-justice-collective-recommends

By Rev. Dr. Calenthia S. Dowdy, ROJ Trainer

I hadn’t intended to write this. It’s Sunday morning, July 2nd, and I’m sitting in my easy chair watching CBS News Face the Nation. Former Vice President, Mike Pence, one of the many hopefuls in the Republican party to be their nominee for President is being interviewed. Naturally he was questioned about the recent Supreme Court decision to end Affirmative Action in colleges and universities.

​When asked if fundamentally he believed there was racial inequity in the education system in the U.S., Pence responded by saying... “I really don’t believe there is, I believe there was, there may have been a time when Affirmative Action was necessary simply to open the doors to all our schools and universities, but I think that time has passed, and we’ll continue to move forward as a color-blind society which is really the aspiration I believe of every American.” Pence went on to try to quote Justice Sandra Day O’Connor in 2003, saying, 

Facebook Live conversation with members of the ROJ Collective and friends 
Wednesday, April 12 4-5:30pm PT (7-8:30pm ET)

The conversation provided a brief history of the Doctrine of Discovery; described the impact on Indigenous and African people- past and present, and explored ways we can come together for our collective healing.

This Racism is Real conversation was led by ROJ Trainer & Accountability Council member Rev. Michelle Armster and featured panelists: Dr. Edward Valandra, Dr. Kyle Mays, and Erica Littlewolf.

​While this was a free event, we ask you to support our work with a $10-20 donation to continue to make important conversations like this one possible. 
Please give here.
Join us on Facebook live: facebook.com/RootsOfJusticeInc
Click on "read more" to watch the recording.

By: Thulani Conrad Moore, Roots of Justice Trainer

​Understanding racism and White supremacy starts with a question that White people need to ask themselves. People of Color need to ask themselves this question also but that subject will be discussed in another chapter. The question is how do you know what you know about who you are. We are all told who we are by the external forces around us. This question should create an existential crisis point. It is a fact that our identities are shaped by the people around us who tell us who we are. It starts with parents and grandparents. It moves on to other caregivers and school teachers, pastors or religious leaders who tell us who we are.