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USSJ is partnering with Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) at Sacred Heart, to bring you a very special event! “Encouraging, Empowering, and Equipping Allies: Using the White Ally Toolkit to Help Dismantle Racism, One Conversation at a Time,” with Dr. David Campt, will be held on April 7, from 2-5 PM, at 160 N. 3rd Street, San Jose, CA 95112.

This is USSJ’s next step after our book club around White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo, which asked us to think critically about white privilege and, closer to home, why our church itself is mostly white, and how to change the culture so that it’s more welcoming to people of color. Check out the video below to see what to expect.

Street parking is free on Sundays. Register here, and please note that payment is on a sliding scale. We are covering Dr. Campt’s costs; this is not a fundraiser for either SURJ or USSJ.

See you there!

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

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!