Social Justice Events and Resources
Trinity Episcopal Parish in Wilmington Delaware seeks social justice and equality where it does not exist today. Our sensitivities to the problems in our modern society were highlighted when the George Floyd protests exploded through the US and the world during the height of the pandemic lockdown. The problems can be addressed by reform in a wide range of areas: Police, Justice, Housing, Education, Employment, Voting rights and the list goes on in the City of Wilmington, the State of Delaware our region and country. Our parish members volunteer their time and get involved in order to improve our community and make positive change to help others in need. Below is a list of resources you might find helpful in order to learn more, raise your awareness and get involved in a cause that is close to your heart. This is a living document and if you have additional information to add please let us know.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Delaware Interfaith Power & Light presents – Book Discussion & Climate Conversation
Wednesday, May 17, 5:30 – 7:30pm
Rt. 9 Library & Innovation Center
Love Your Mother – Mallory McDuff has woven together the passions and creative initiatives of 50 women on the common mission – climate justice. Lisa Locke, a former Executive Director of DeIPL and program manager, will lead discussions of the inspiring diversity of stories in this book and facilitate a climate conversation to explore the creative power of women in addressing climate justice issues in Delaware. Registration is requested – https://tinyurl.com/yt4y2xp8
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Housing Alliance Delaware
Day for Housing Advocacy in Dover, Thursday, May 18th: 10:30am – 4:00pm
There is a housing crisis in Delaware and we must act! Affordable housing is critical to well-being. Housing provides stability to maintain jobs, raise children, and feel safe and secure. Too many Delawareans struggle with housing insecurity. Join us in Dover to advocate for more affordable housing in Delaware, May 18th!
Meet at the First U back parking lot (behind the church on Halstead Road lot. Meet at the far end (second entrance coming from Whitby Street) of the parking lot to carpool to Dover to attend the Day for Housing. Plan to visit with your legislators about the affordable housing crisis in Delaware and demand action.
Housing Alliance Delaware needs to know who is coming to Dover, so please register: Day for Housing Registration Link
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Climate Change Solutions Act – Critical Delaware Legislation Explained
Thursday, May 18, 7 p.m. on Zoom
With Dustyn Thompson, Chapter Director, Sierra Club Delaware
House Bill 99, the Climate Change Solutions Act, is before Delaware legislators in mid-May, along with three other pieces of climate legislation (HB8, HB9, and HB10).
Dustyn will describe these bills and explain their importance. HB99 follows the issuance of Delaware’s Climate Action Plan in 2021 and establishes a statutory target
of greenhouse gas emissions reductions over the medium/long term to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change due to greenhouse gas emissions.
HB10 addresses the replacement of diesel school buses. If we in Delaware are serious about taking concrete actions to mitigate climate change and reduce our kids’
exposure to diesel exhaust, these bills must pass. Hosted by Westminster’s Peace & Justice Work Group.
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Building People Power – For decades, Delaware communities have been plagued by police brutality with no means of holding police accountable. Delaware’s Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights (LEOBOR) protects police from transparency and accountability.
Because of LEOBOR, the public has no insight on why an incident occurred, what could have been done to prevent it, or what disciplinary actions, if any, happened as a result of the investigations.
In 2021, state lawmakers proposed a bill that would have changed LEOBOR for the better. However, lawmakers decided to water down the reforms and place law enforcement’s desire for secrecy and inpunity over the needs of communities.
Join community members and police reform advocates in the call for real changes to LEOBOR that, at a minimum, will:
- Make serious police misconduct records and use of force reports available to the public, including to attorneys
- Allow for the release of both substantiated and unsubstantiated records
- Allow access to police records created before the law’s effective date
- Retention of records for 20 years from when officer leaves the department
- Allow for the creation of Community Oversight boards with subpoena power, investigatory power and access to both substantiated and unsubstantiated police misconduct records
- Ensure Community Oversight Board composition can not include current or former government employees, a current or former government elected official, a current candidate for public office, a current or former employee of a law enforcement agency, or an immediate family member of any of the preceding.
Without these changes to LEOBOR, communities cannot trust that the police will be held accountable for their misbehavior— or that the results of investigations into police will be available to the public.
Justice delayed is justice denied. After decades of reform efforts and broken promises from Delaware lawmakers, we cannot wait any longer for these reforms. We musn’t support legislation that does not meet these minimum requirements.
Click here to write a letter to your state legislators and urge them to support REAL police reform.
RESOURCES
YWCA Antiracist Resource page
Here you can find Antiracist resources such as books, movies and podcast to further your personal education. To register or find out more about our programs visit: www.ywcade.org/what-we-do/rsj/
Books
Non-fiction
Roll Jordan Roll by Eugene Genovese
Displaying keen insight into the minds of both enslaved persons and slaveholders, historian Eugene Genovese investigates the ways that enslaved persons forced their owners to acknowledge their humanity through culture, music, and religion. He covers a vast range of subjects, from slave weddings and funerals, to language, food, clothing, and labor, and places particular emphasis on religion as both a major battleground for psychological control and a paradoxical source of spiritual strength.
Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabelle Wilkerson
In this epic, beautifully written masterwork, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Isabel Wilkerson chronicles one of the great untold stories of American history: the decades-long migration of black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities, in search of a better life.
Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
At once a powerful evocation of James Baldwin’s early life in Harlem and a disturbing examination of the consequences of racial injustice, the book is an intensely personal and provocative document from the iconic author of If Beale Street Could Talk and Go Tell It on the Mountain. It consists of two “letters,” written on the occasion of the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation, that exhort Americans, both black and white, to attack the terrible legacy of racism.
Autobiography of Malcolm X As told to Alex Haley
In the searing pages of this classic autobiography, originally published in 1964, Malcolm X, the Muslim leader, firebrand, and anti-integrationist, tells the extraordinary story of his life and the growth of the Black Muslim movement. His fascinating perspective on the lies and limitations of the American Dream, and the inherent racism in a society that denies its nonwhite citizens the opportunity to dream, gives extraordinary insight into the most urgent issues of our own time.
Malcolm X by Manning Marable
Malcolm X unfolds a sweeping story of race and class in America. Reaching into Malcolm’s troubled youth, it traces a path from his parents’ activism as followers of Marcus Garvey through his own work with the Nation of Islam and rise in the world of black nationalism, and culminates in the never-before-told true story of his assassination.
Between The World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation’s history and current crisis. Americans have built an empire on the idea of “race,” a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of black women and men—bodies exploited through slavery and segregation, and, today, threatened, locked up, and murdered out of all proportion.
Why are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria and Other Conversations About Race by Beverly Daniel Tatum, PhD
Walk into any racially mixed high school and you will see Black, White, and Latino youth clustered in their own groups. Is this self-segregation a problem to address or a coping strategy? Beverly Daniel Tatum, a renowned authority on the psychology of racism, argues that straight talk about our racial identities is essential if we are serious about enabling communication across racial and ethnic divides. These topics have only become more urgent as the national conversation about race is increasingly acrimonious.
Fiction
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings– Maya Angelou
The Underground Railroad-Colson Whitehead
The Bluest Eye-Toni Morrison
The Color Purple– Alice Walker
Anti-Racism
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness– Michelle Alexander
How to Be an Antiracist-Ibram X.Kendi
White Fragility– Robin Diangelo
So You Want to Talk About Race– Ijeoma Oluo
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption – Bryan Stevenson
Movies
Glory – R – 1989 – 2hr. 2 min – Available on Netflix
Following the Battle of Antietam, Col. Robert Gould Shaw (Matthew Broderick) is offered command of the United States’ first all-African-American regiment, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. With junior officer Cabot Forbes (Cary Elwes), Shaw puts together a strong and proud unit, including the escaped slave Trip (Denzel Washington) and the wise gravedigger John Rawlins (Morgan Freeman). At first limited to menial manual tasks, the regiment fights to be placed in the heat of battle.
Do the Right Thing – R – 1989 ‧ Comedy-drama ‧ 2h 5m – Available on Hulu, Sling, Amazon Prime
Salvatore “Sal” Fragione (Danny Aiello) is the Italian owner of a pizzeria in Brooklyn. A neighborhood local, Buggin’ Out (Giancarlo Esposito), becomes upset when he sees that the pizzeria’s Wall of Fame exhibits only Italian actors. Buggin’ Out believes a pizzeria in a black neighborhood should showcase black actors, but Sal disagrees. The wall becomes a symbol of racism and hate to Buggin’ Out and to other people in the neighborhood, and tensions rise.
13th – 2016 ‧ Documentary/History ‧ 1h 40m – Available on Netflix
Filmmaker Ava DuVernay explores the history of racial inequality in the United States, focusing on the fact that the nation’s prisons are disproportionately filled with African-Americans.
Just Mercy – PG13 – 2019 – Drama – 2h 17m – Available on HBOMax, Hulu, Amazon Prime, YouTube
After graduating from Harvard, Bryan Stevenson heads to Alabama to defend those wrongly condemned or those not afforded proper representation. One of his first cases is that of Walter McMillian, who is sentenced to die in 1987 for the murder of an 18-year-old girl, despite evidence proving his innocence. In the years that follow, Stevenson encounters racism and legal and political maneuverings as he tirelessly fights for McMillian’s life.
Green Book – PG13 – 2018 – Comedy/Drama – 2h 10m – Available on Hulu, Sling, Amazon Prime
Dr Don Shirley is a world-class African-American pianist, who is about to embark on a concert tour in the Deep South in 1962. In need of a driver and protection, Shirley recruits Tony Lip, a tough-talking bouncer from an Italian-American neighbourhood in the Bronx. Despite their differences, the two men soon develop an unexpected bond while confronting racism and danger in an era of segregation.
If Beale Street Could Talk – R – 2018 – Romance/Drama – 1h 59m – Available on Hulu
In early 1970s Harlem, daughter and wife-to-be Tish vividly recalls the passion, respect and trust that have connected her and her artist fiancé Alonzo Hunt, who goes by the nickname Fonny. Friends since childhood, the devoted couple dream of a future together, but their plans are derailed when Fonny is arrested for a crime he did not commit.
12 Years A Slave – R – 2013 – Drama/History – 2h 14m – Available on Hulu, Amazon Prime
In the years before the Civil War, Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free black man from upstate New York, is kidnapped and sold into slavery in the South. Subjected to the cruelty of one malevolent owner (Michael Fassbender), he also finds unexpected kindness from another, as he struggles continually to survive and maintain some of his dignity. Then in the 12th year of the disheartening ordeal, a chance meeting with an abolitionist from Canada changes Solomon’s life forever.
Malcolm X – PG13 – 1992 – Drama – 3h 22m – Available on HBOMax, Amazon Prime, Vudu
A tribute to the controversial black activist and leader of the struggle for black liberation. He hit bottom during his imprisonment in the ’50s, he became a Black Muslim and then a leader in the Nation of Islam. His assassination in 1965 left a legacy of self-determination and racial pride.
Mississippi Burning – R – 1988 – Mystery/Drama – 2h 8m – Available on Hulu, Amazon Prime
When a group of civil rights workers goes missing in a small Mississippi town, FBI agents Alan Ward (Willem Dafoe) and Rupert Anderson (Gene Hackman) are sent in to investigate. Local authorities refuse to cooperate with them, and the African American community is afraid to, precipitating a clash between the two agents over strategy. As the situation becomes more volatile, the direct approach is abandoned in favor of more aggressive, hard-line tactics.
BlacKkKlansman – R – 2018 – Crime/Drama – 2h 16m – Available on YouTube, Amazon Prime
Ron Stallworth is the first African-American detective to serve in the Colorado Springs Police Department. Determined to make a name for himself, Stallworth bravely sets out on a dangerous mission: infiltrate and expose the Ku Klux Klan. The detective soon recruits a more seasoned colleague, Flip Zimmerman, into the undercover investigation of a lifetime. Together, they team up to take down the extremist hate group as the organization aims to sanitize its rhetoric to appeal to the mainstream.
Crash – R – 2004 – Crime/Drama – 1h 55m – Available on Hulu, HBOMax, Amazon Prime
Writer-director Paul Haggis interweaves several connected stories about race, class, family and gender in Los Angeles in the aftermath of 9/11. Characters include a district attorney (Brendan Fraser) and his casually prejudiced wife (Sandra Bullock), dating police detectives Graham (Don Cheadle) and Ria (Jennifer Esposito), a victimized Middle Eastern store owner and a wealthy African-American couple (Terrence Dashon Howard, Thandie Newton) humiliated by a racist traffic cop (Matt Dillon).
Selma – PG13 – 2014 – Historical Drama – 2h 8m – Available on Hulu, Sling, Amazon Prime
Although the Civil Rights Act of 1964 legally desegregated the South, discrimination was still rampant in certain areas, making it very difficult for blacks to register to vote. In 1965, an Alabama city became the battleground in the fight for suffrage. Despite violent opposition, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (David Oyelowo) and his followers pressed forward on an epic march from Selma to Montgomery, and their efforts culminated in President Lyndon Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
The Help – PG13 – 2011 – Drama/Romance – 2h 27m – Available on Netflix, Paramount Network
In 1960s Mississippi, Southern society girl Skeeter (Emma Stone) returns from college with dreams of being a writer. She turns her small town on its ear by choosing to interview the black women who have spent their lives taking care of prominent white families. Only Aibileen (Viola Davis), the housekeeper of Skeeter’s best friend, will talk at first. But as the pair continue the collaboration, more women decide to come forward, and as it turns out, they have quite a lot to say.