Join us on the first Monday evening of each scheduled month at 7:30 pm for Watch. Read. Listen. Engage. How to Become an Antiracist Discussion Series.  Discussion group activities will include watching movies, listening to podcasts, and reading books (both fiction and nonfiction)  in advance of our meetings that will help educate about systemic racism, prejudice, white privilege and what it means to be a black person in our society. Engage in what may be uncomfortable and possibly challenging discussions with fellow community members. If you haven't already, please click here to read and sign the Antiracism Discussion Group Ground Rules prior to your first meeting.

Meeting dates:

October 4, 2021: Read x 2. (1) The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas  (copies will be available at the library beginning in August. If you want to read it before then, you can place a hold on a copy yourself, borrow from a friend, or purchase a copy) and (2) this Medium article: 103 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice (come prepared to discuss one thing from the list you plan to implement in your life).

November 1, 2021: Read. NY Times article "What is Critical Race Theory?" and American Bar Association article "A Lesson on Critical Race Theory." Please read these articles prior to our meeting so we can then discuss them when we meet in-person.

December 6, 2021: Listen. Please visit this link, Antiracism Resources from Harvard University. It contains links to various podcasts. Please choose ONE podcast to listen to and come prepared to discuss one or more points the podcast made to share with all. (Some of you may choose the same podcast, and that's okay.) 

February 7, 2022: Watch: When They See Us. This four-part series, cowritten and directed by Ava DuVernay, tells the story of the 1989 Central Park jogger case in which five young Black and Latinx men—aged 14 to 16—were found guilty for the rape of a white woman. The Central Park Five, now called the Exonerated Five, were eventually exonerated after years in prison, and their stories are a heartbreaking look at the devastating bias within the American judicial system. Watch time: Part 1: 1h 4m; Part 2: 1h 11m; Part 3: 1h 13m; Part 4: 1h 28m. Total Watch Time: 4h 56m. Available to stream on Netflix, Amazon Prime, and other streaming services (most offer free trials). (VIRTUAL MEETING)

March 7, 2022: Read: Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson (Norfolk Community Read Book Choice). Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system. One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian, a young man who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he didn’t commit. The case drew Bryan into a tangle of conspiracy, political machination, and legal brinksmanship—and transformed his understanding of mercy and justice forever. Just Mercy is at once an unforgettable account of an idealistic, gifted young lawyer’s coming of age, a moving window into the lives of those he has defended, and an inspiring argument for compassion in the pursuit of true justice. (VIRTUAL MEETING)

April 4, 2022: Engage: What Color Are Your Jellybeans? Jellybeans come in a variety of shapes, colors, textures, and sizes—just as we do. If used effectively, they can reveal how well we interact with the people around us—and indicate changes necessary to improve those interactions. What Color Are Your Jellybeans? explores how issues dealing with differences like race, culture, and generation are either examined in isolation, overlooked, or not discussed in public at all.

Registration is required.