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Community Organizing
Affordable Housing
Community
Reinvestment
Congregational Organizing
Immigrant
Rights
Racial
Justice
Racial Justice
The Racial
Justice Leadership Team, formerly known as the Racial Justice Working
Group, has examined the cultural and religious significance of being
Jewish in Minnesota. Training’s by the Minnesota Churches Anti-Racism
Initiative and Jews For Racial and Economic Justice have helped working
group members develop strategies to engage in anti-racist work.
The Racial Justice Leadership Team conducts anti-racism workshops with
adults and youth, and is developing a curriculum on racial and economic
justice to use in partnership with Jewish educators.
To
find out more about the Racial Justice work at JCA, please
contact Melissa Rudnick.
Mission
Statement of the Racial Justice Leadership Team:
The Mission of
JCA’s Racial Justice Leadership Team is to ensure that Jewish Community
Action and the Jewish community combine education with action to address
and to undo the social and economic impacts of racism:
JEWISH
COMMITMENT:
We do this because a commitment to justice is at the core of Jewish
teachings and Jewish life.
RACISM
AND POWER:
Race is an artificial "social construct," with real
consequences.
Racism is the combination of racial prejudice with power.
Racism shapes not only individual behavior, but institutional policies and
practices.
In the United States, this generally harms people of color, while
benefiting white people.
WHITE
PRIVILEGE:
Our communities need to understand that most Jews in the U.S. now
benefit from white privilege, even though the Jewish community itself is
racially diverse.
Historically in
the U.S., Jews were not considered white, but Jews of European descent
"became white" in the mid-20th century.
RESPONSIBILITIES
AND ACTION:
We have a responsibility to learn about and to understand racism and
white privilege, as a basis for fighting for racial justice within the
Jewish community and in the greater community.
We also have a responsibility and a commitment to combat racism through
education combined with action.
We act as allies with communities of color when taking action in the
broader community.
Undoing racism will require both individual and institutional change.
Promoting racial justice will require conscious, ongoing practice and
application.
The
Racial Justice Leadership Team welcomes people of all faiths, colors, and
backgrounds.
Links:
JCA's Racial Justice Training Brochure
Jewish and Muslim Women's Dialogue
Peggy
McIntosh's "Unpacking the Knapsack of White Privilege"
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