Urban Sanctuary

San Jose, CA

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Book Club: Pictures of a Gone City, by Dr. Richard Walker

 

Join us for our book club starting March 24, in the Recovery Cafe, at 11:30a, for a community discussion of this work led by our very own Kevin Haley! You don’t need to be caught up to join in the discussion, and copies of the book are available for $15 in the front office. See you there!

From Amazon.com:

Pictures of a Gone City: Tech and the Dark Side of Prosperity in the San Francisco Bay Area begins by tracing the concentration of IT in Greater Silicon Valley and the resulting growth in start-ups, jobs, and wealth. This is followed by a look at the new working class of color and the millions earning poverty wages. The middle chapters survey the urban scene, including the housing bubble and the newly exploded metropolis, and the final chapters take on the political questions raised by the environmental impact of the boom, the fantastical ideology of TechWorld, and the tech-led transformation of the region.

 

March for Fossil Fuel Freedom – March 16-18

 

Wells Fargo Bank has a dirty-energy secret: it’s a leading lender to the fossil-fuel industry. That’s why 350.org and 40 other organizations are ramping up a new campaign against “Oily Wells” by marching 34 miles, from Palo Alto to San Francisco.  The march will be led by Indigenous and Faith groups, and we’d love to have an Urban Sanctuary contingent!  

The march will make 12 “Stagecoach Stops” along the way – one for every year that remains to take urgent action on climate change – and arrive at the bank’s world headquarters just in time for their annual Founding Day celebration, Monday, March 18th. Marchers are welcome to walk a half day, full day, or all three days! (“Day-trippers” are welcome!)  Register to march, sponsor a marcher, or volunteer at http://oilywells.com  Email Brian Haberly (brianhaberly@gmail.com) for more information.  


BONUS!  Are you interested in participating in a Nonviolent Direct Action at the Monday, March 18th Rally in front of Wells’ Headquarters?  You must attend one of two mandatory training sessions (Sat. March 2nd in Palo Alto from 10am – 1pm, Palo Alto Friends Meeting, 957 Colorado Ave. (near Louis Rd, just south of Oregon Expy). NOTE: One extra hour of training (till 2pm) is planned for technical practice (if interested, reply to final question) or March 10th in Oakland).  Information and online signups for NVDA training at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSexjCjWP46xrrXUuDqKj5Dn3OaQRhHDprcp8UbvMmF3WJxAuQ/viewform

Book Club: White Fragility, by Robin DiAngelo

Robin DiAngelo has spent years leading diversity workshops and anti-racism training, and she’s come to find one thing to be nearly universal: white people have a lot of difficulty talking about race. A lot.

This is not surprising or shameful, considering that one of the central attributes of whiteness is the belief that white people do not have a race. We are the “norm” against which all others are supposedly judged, and we are taught never to address it. But this is a myth meant to uphold white supremacy, and if white folks are serious about addressing modern racism, we have to start doing our own internal work instead of expecting the people of color around us to do it for us.

This is the work we’ll be about starting Sunday, January 20, at 11:30-1 in the cafe, where we’ll be discussing DiAngelo’s White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism. We will discuss approximately one chapter per session, and all are welcome. You don’t need to be caught up to join us, but do remember that each class focuses on a new chapter–so we will not be discussing racism in general, but the topics covered in each chapter. This helps keep the discussions productive, and keeps us honoring each others’ time.

We will meet every Sunday except the first Sunday of each month, when we have Board meetings, through the end of February. We hope you’ll join us!

 

Jesus was an Illegal Immigrant

What if one of the families crossing the border happened to be named Joseph, Mary and Jesus?  It has happened.  It came to be for the same reason many families are coming to our borders now – to flee from violence.  The story goes that King Herod heard that there were rumors that the Messiah had been born among the Hebrew people.  Herod did not like any threats to his power, apparently, even from a baby.  So he ordered Hebrew children under age 2 to be killed.  It’s one of those horrible stories in the Bible, warning us of the human capacity to commit genocide.

Fearing for their son’s life, Joseph and Mary decided to flee Herod’s territory for a safer place.  The story is called “The Flight into Egypt.”  There are many great art paintings compassionately depicting the Holy Family running for their lives.

Because his family was able to find a safe place, Jesus was able to return to his home country at a better time.  Maybe that’s why later, he said, how you treat other people is how you treat me.

“Whatever you do to the least of these, you do it to me.”

Likewise, Mother Teresa warned us to be careful how we treat each other.  Some are Jesus in his most clever disguise.