“American Whitelash” — Conversations Read & Reflect Discussion Group (Virtual)

Registration Required

Read and Reflect Discussion Group is part of the Conversations: Truth, Myth & Democracy Series

Our next Read and Reflect exercise will invite participants to read the recent book of a Pulitzer-Prize winning reporter and author, Wesley Lowery.  American Whitelash: A Changing Nation and the Cost of Progress documents a prolonged, disturbing pattern of racial violence dating back to the Jim Crow era.  The sub-text of Lowery’s book is an implicit call for an affirmation of human dignity.

As you read and reflect about American Whitelash consider:

• Iris Murdoch, author of The Sovereignty of Good, says the essential moral act is casting a “just and loving” attention on other people.
• Heather Cox Richardson (8/26/23): “According to the voting-rights-focused Brennan Center, since 2013, 29 states have added 94 restrictions on the right to vote…”
• In an interview at The Center for Public Integrity, Lowery said “I think that the more we teach and the more information we provide, the better off we will be in terms of having a populace that is required to grapple with hard histories and to tell more of the truth.”  Do you agree we need “to grapple with the hard histories and tell more of the truth?”
• Who do we wish to become as a people.

Our virtual discussion will be moderated by Tom Kilbourn, ordained Episcopal priest and retired JBHS English Teacher.

Copies of the American Whitelash are available at the Library.

Register below to receive a Zoom link on the morning of the program and include a cell number for a text reminder.

 

This discussion is part of the Conversations Series, created in partnership by the Redding League of Women Voters and the Mark Twain Library. This award-winning series offers opportunities to continue and expand conversations on race, justice and democracy. Community members can exchange ideas, hear differing perspectives and talk about our ever-evolving democracy.