James Martin, SJ

According to his Facebook biography, Fr. James Martin, S.J., is a "Jesuit priest, author and editor at large at America, the national Catholic magazine. His most recent books are "Building a Bridge" "Seven Last Words," and "Jesus: A Pilgrimage." (HarperOne) and "In All Seasons, For All Reasons" (Liturgical Press). In 2017, he was appointed by Pope Francis as a consultor to the Vatican's Secretariat for Communication."

He can be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/FrJamesMartin/ , on Twitter @FrJamesMartin, and has a page on his publisher's website (HarperCollins) at https://www.harperone.com/jamesmartin/ . 

Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense

Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense
Website
Contact: momsdemandactionbatonrouge@gmail.com

Advocacy Day is Wednesday, March 28 at the State Capitol in Baton Rouge to meet with legislators to discuss upcoming bills. The group will meet at the Capitol Park Event Center at 9:30 am for a training session and run-through of the days schedule, then head over to the Capitol to get to work!

April Monthly Meeting: Tuesday April 3 at 6:30 at the Eden Park Library

Louisianians for Prison Alternatives

This group is sponsored by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Lobby Day: March 27, 2018, from 8 am to 2 pm. To show our legislators that this is a reform era, not a single year.
Lobby Day begins at Capitol Park Welcome Center, 702 River Road, Baton Rouge. Breakfast and lunch will be served.
Website

Sermon by Deacon Michael Morrison

Sermon by Deacon Michael Morrison of Lafayette at St. Paul's Church, Baton Rouge, on March 18, 2018

St. Paul's Church, Baton Rouge, LA - Sermon 3/18/18 Audio only

Video (The sound on the video is not as clear as the audio only.) The video contains the entire Mass. If you want to skip to the sermon, you can use this bar at the bottom of the video. When you put your cursor in the dark gray space on the bottom bar, you can move the location of the video until you find the part you want.

Toxic Inequality

Toxic Inequality: How America's Wealth Gap Destroys Mobility, Deepens the Racial Divide, and Threatens Our Future by Thomas M. Shapiro

Study Shows Little Change Since Kerner Commission Reported on Racism 50 Years Ago

Articles on the 50th anniversary of the Kerner Commission Report show little change since the report was published:

• Smithsonian
• The Washington Post
• U.S. News
• NPR
• The Root
• National Association of Black Journalists

Black Voters Need More Convincing From Democrats In 2018

Black Voters Need More Convincing From Democrats in 2019

Interesting quote regarding the Trump election:

"I think for our people, for my people, this is probably the best thing that could have happened," she said at a coffee shop in Cleveland. "The veil has been lifted."
Graham said the country's underbelly of racism is being exposed. "We've always had our blinders on...and even though int's unfortunate where we are now, I'm glad that it has happened because America is being seen for the country that it is."

Archbishop Lori's pastoral on MLK and nonviolence is timely, engaging

Archbishop Lori's pastoral on MLK and nonviolence is timely, engaging

The pastoral letter

Catholic Church Must Be “Consistent Voice” to Eradicate Racism

Shared by Barbara Haynes

Bishop George Murry, SJ: Catholic Church Must Be "Consistent Voice" to Eradicate Racism

The article describes Bishop Murry's lecture given at St. Peter's Catholic Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Kennedy Lecture is a yearly event at St. Peter's that, "...aims to challenge and stimulate thinking by engaging prominent speakers in the field of religion and ethics."

There is a also a link on this page to a video of the lecture.

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson

Also, a TED Talk by Bryan Stevenson: We need to talk about an injustice

According to TED Talks:

Bryan Stevenson is the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, fighting poverty and challenging racial discrimination in the criminal justice system.

Talks to help you understand racism in America

From: TED Talks

Talks to help you understand racism in America

Born a Crime

Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah

So, what can WE do? PLACE in action at Whitney Plantation

So, what can WE do? PLACE in action at Whitney Plantation
Shared by Sissy Stephens

Charity Moran Parsons, Ed.S., teacher, school development coach, and educational consultant wrote this reflection after a visit to Whitney Plantation. While there, she had a discussion with a former student.

The young man, my former student, was on to something.  His next question let me know that he meant business, "So what can WE do? How do I change my people's minds?"

Eureka!  This is the purpose of Place Based Learning!  This is the reason why students must be immersed in the PLACE to truly encourage the ways of knowing and to arrive at this purpose-driven inquiry in a culturally relevant way. Our conversation turned into comparisons of slavery to more contemporary issues and the many forms of activism that we all can take on as we traverse day to day.

All of the inquiry we see here could quite possibly have evolved in a traditional textbook learning experience of slavery...perhaps.  Yet to actually experience the place where slavery occurred and to read and hear the narratives, the true stories from the point of view of the enslaved Africans themselves; this is the power of PLACE, the value of authentic community partnerships!  We don't have to imagine the depth of inquiry. The young man's questions speak it loudly.

Her website can be found at: https://www.idoschool.com/blank

Bryan Stevenson on What Well-Meaning White People Need to Know About Race

Bryan Stevenson on What Well-Meaning White People Need to Know About Race

https://psmag.com/magazine/bryan-stevenson-ps-interview

An interview with Harvard University-trained public defense Bryan Stevenson, on racial trauma, segregation, and listening to marginalized voices. He directs the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama. He founded the initiative in Alabama because it is the only death-penalty state that does not provide state-funded legal help to death-row prisoners.

He also wrote the book, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption about his life and his experiences with the criminal justice system.

U.S.C.C.B. anti-racism committee will seek to improve the church’s role in racial relations

From America The Jesuit Review, February 5, 2018.

U.S.C.C.B. anti-racism committee will seek to improve the church’s role in racial relations

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to study the effects of their 1979 letter on racism, "Brothers and Sisters to Us." Sadly, the effect has been minimal.

Link to: Brothers and Sisters to Us

The U.S.C.C.B. has established, the Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism. "Through listening, prayer, meaningful collaboration and action, we will seek a common ground where racism can no longer find a place in our hearts or in our society." 

On Being Black and Catholic in the United States

From: https://cruxnow.com/church/2016/02/27/on-being-black-and-catholic-in-the-united-states/

From Crux - Taking the Catholic Pulse

On Being Black and Catholic in the United States
Shared by Gail Vavasseur-Jones

"The Rev. Bryan N. Massingale, a priest and scholar of black Catholicism, believes that as long as the Church continues to operate as 'a white institution,' full integration of black culture will remain elusive."

The Color of Law Book Club

Professor Christopher Tyson, recipient of LSU's Brij Mohan Distinguished Professor Award will  host a book club for The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein. The book club will be held over three sessions - Friday, February 16 and 23, and March 2 from 6-8 p.m. in the Judge Ralph E. Tyson Room at the LSU Law Center. Dinner will be provided.

Please RSVP here: https://www.law.lsu.edu/forms/brij-mohan/

From Professor Tyson:

While I appreciate everyone's interest, I hope those who sign up will commit to all 3 sessions. Taking time to read the book in advance of each session is key to having an informed and productive dialogue.

In this book, Rothstein explodes the myth that America's cities came to be racially divided through de facto segregation--that is, through individual prejudices, income differences, or the actions of private institutions like banks and real estate agencies. Rather, The Color of Law incontrovertibly makes clear that it was de jure segregation--the laws and policy decisions passed by local, state, and federal governments--that actually promoted the discriminatory patterns that continue to this day.

Beyond the Slave Trade, the Cadaver Trade

Beyond the Slave Trade, the Cadaver Trade

I saw this in a discussion on a science teachers' listserve. Even after death, Black poeple were used to the benefit of those with more power and lighter skins.
V. LaPlace

Bodies in the Basement: The Forgotten Stolen Bones of America's Medical Schools

Dr. Greer G. Gordon - In Charlottesville, Virginia, on "Race, Privilege, and the Catholic Church"

Videos are from a presentation made in Charlottesville, Virginia on "Race, Privilege, and the Catholic Church"

Afternoon talk

Morning talk

Question and Answer session

Why Schools Fail to Teach Slavery's 'Hard History'

The article discusses a new report put out by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which provides a resource for teachers who want to teach about American slavery at a deeper level.

Link to the article: Why Schools Fail to Teach Slavery's 'Hard History'

Link to the SPLC resource: Teaching Hard History: American Slavery

Turner, Cory. "Why Schools Fail to Teach Slavery's 'Hard History'." NPREd, 4 February 2018, https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2018/02/04/582468315/why-schools-fail-to-teach-slaverys-hard-history. Accessed 4 February 2018.

The Half Has Never Been Told

Recommended by Anne Dunn at our visit to Whitney Plantation.

According to Amazon, this book by Edward E. Baptist is, "A sweeping authoritative history of the expansion of slavery in America, showing how forced migrations radically altered the nation's economic, political, and cultural landscape.

Whitney Plantation

See their website at: Whitney Plantation .

Whitney Plantation is a museum dedicated to telling the story of plantation life from the perspective of those who lived there as slaves. 

Scroll down that page for information on special events for Black History Month. Flyer shown here.

Bouki Fait Gombo

Bouki Fait Gombo: A History of the Slave Community of Habitation Haydel (Whitney Plantation) Louisiana, 1750-1860 by Ibrahima Seck

Bouki Fait Gombo discusses the history of slavery through the story of Whitney Plantation in the German Coast area of Louisiana. Dr. Ibrahima Seck, a Sengalese historian, is is the Research Director at Whitney Plantation, the only plantation in Louisiana which tells its story from the point of view of the slaves who once lived there.