Dear Friends, friends of Friends, and others, We are excited to share with you another core concept from our forthcoming Pendle Hill pamphlet, “Race, Systemic Violence, and Retrospective Justice: An African American Scholar-Activist Challenges Conventional Narratives,” by Dr. Harold D. Weaver, Jr. We hope to give our readers a better understanding of race and racism, with the hope that they might better understand how to use each term properly and how each affects our current USA reality. Please remember: The concept of race was born and developed to maintain white supremacy.
If we are to bring equality and equity with justice to our divided world, we need to define certain key words clearly to understand their extended meaning. Two of the most misinformed concepts among well-meaning people in the United States…are race and racism. (p. 8)
Race was created in the English language as a social construct in order to allow the domination of a perceived “inferior” caste by a self-perceived “superior” caste. It permitted and justified white supremacy and white superiority. (p. 9)
Racism is an inclusive term. There are basically two types of racism: individual racism and institutional racism. Racism equals power plus prejudice, power plus discrimination. A person cannot practice racism unless that person has power to implement his or her prejudice—the prejudice being white supremacy, an attitude of white superiority. (p. 9)
When racism is embedded in an institution or system, it takes on its ugliest, most subtle, and invisible form. (p. 10) Unlike individual discrimination, …institutional racism is not necessarily a conscious act. But, more important…is the EFFECT…which benefits one caste of people over other classes of people. (p. 11)
The pamphlet is now available for pre-order through the Pendle Hill Bookstore before its 6 October release date! You may pre-order the pamphlet through this link: https://pendlehill.org/product/race-systemic-violence-and-retrospective-justice/
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Comment below with any questions or comments about this week’s theme. We look forward to sharing this publication with everyone interested!
--The BlackQuaker Project