BREAKTHROUGH BROOKLINE
LEARN | TAKE ACTION | BUILD COMMUNITY
A weekly update on ways to fight racism and build a more equitable town.
TAKE ACTION
CAMPAIGN
Support the Washpee Wampanoag
During the Obama administration, Mashpee Wampanoag peoples were finally given official tribal lands after many centuries of struggle. This is the last 321 acres that this great nation owns, the same community who interacted humanely with the European colonists 400 years ago. Residents of nearby Taunton, Massachusetts, sued the Department of the Interior to disestablish these lands, and the Trump administration has aggressively moved to act based on a semantic technicality in the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. Now Mashpee peoples are trying to challenge this decision to protect the last foothold they have.  On Thursday, May 7, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia will hold a hearing on the tribe’s motion to stop the erasure of the Mashpee Reservation ( read more ).
Here are several actions you can take:
  • Sign the Petition in Support of H.R. 312 Mashpee Reservation Reaffirmation Act.
  • Starting today (May 3), light a sacred fire or a candle and let it burn for one hour for the next four days. Take a picture and post it on social media with the blurb: As the Trump Admin tries to disestablish Native lands amid the COVID-19 Crisis, this fire represents our collective #PrayerProtests. On May 7th, the D.C. District Court will either protect or reject Indigenous rights. I stand in Solidarity with the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and all other tribes fighting to maintain their homelands.  I oppose the Department of the Interiors decision to disestablish Mashpee Tribal Reservations Lands. I #StandWithMashpee
  • Send a letter to our U.S. Senators Warren and Markey (here is a sample)
  • Fill out this Skills Form to share what you do and how you might be able to support future organizing.
  • Read the Solidarity Handbook for more information.
DONATE
One Chelsea Fund
Our neighbors in Chelsea need us. They've had the most losses, the most cases, and the most widespread unemployment as a result of the pandemic. As a community of low-wage, immigrant families, they have been more vulnerable economically and physically to the disease. Families are running out of food daily. Two ways you can help:
  • Donate to the Chelsea Collaborative via the One Chelsea Fund
  • Leave canned food and a note of encouragement at the porch of 173 Davis Ave, across from Cypress Park, near Brookline High School. It's an apartment building, so please mark your bag "CHELSEA." Kids can write or paint a friendly note to kids in Chelsea to include in your donation. 
More information here .
VOTE
Early Voting in Brookline
Brookline's town election is on June 9th, but you can fill out your application to receive a ballot today. The Massachusetts Legislature has clarified that the COVID19 pandemic is a valid reason to request a ballot. The sooner you submit a form to the Town, the more time you have to fill it out and return it. Brookline for Everyone has posted a  how-to guide  with all the instructions and links you need. Please share with family, friends, and neighbors!
VOLUNTEER AND DONATE
Mutual Aid Brookline
Mutual Aid Brookline is a community-generated initiative that has created a central infrastructure for resources to be accessed quickly. We are an immediate solution to the widespread need of people affected by COVID-19, and we are actively coordinating with the major foundations and institutions in Brookline. We are not a 501(c)3 non-profit; we are just trying to fill the need as fast as possible. We are in urgent need of donations! If you are able to contribute, please donate through our venmo account (@mutualaidbrookline). Questions: Call or text our hotline 617-651-1468 or email [email protected]
LEARN IN COMMUNITY
FREE CONVERSATIONS
Community Building and Racial Justice
Community Change, Inc.
Mondays at 12pm, May 4-June 29, and Thursdays at 7pm, May 7-July 2
The COVID-19 pandemic is exposing the deep inequities that are built into American society. We are faced with an opportunity to re-envision what a society centered on racial justice would look like and build that together. When we are isolated from each other physically, we must find new ways to connect, build community, and take action to create racial justice. CCI hopes you will join us in a series of conversations on Mondays and Thursdays around what we, as people committed to racial justice, can do together in these unique and challenging times. To RSVP, send an email to [email protected] and include the dates of the calls you want to join.
FREE TOWN HALL
Responding to Crisis with the BCF Safety Net
Brookline Community Foundation
Monday, May 4, 1-2pm
As the only foundation serving Brookline as a whole, The BCF remains committed to keeping our community informed, engaged, and connected as we move through this crisis and into better days ahead. The Town of Brookline and The Brookline Center present The Brookline Center’s Megan Smith, manager of the Safety Net, who will share what they are witnessing on the frontlines: the widespread and complex impacts she’s seeing on Brookline neighbors as a result of COVID-19, the forms of support that are proving most critical, the needs they anticipate in the weeks ahead, and how the community and partners are coming together to meet emerging needs. Submit your own questions to Megan and the Safety Net team during a Q&A section. Log in here or watch the simulcast.
FREE VIRTUAL GATHERING
Self-Improvement with Self-Acceptance
Organizing White Men for Collective Liberation
Monday, May 4, 8:30-10pm
In this intense time, white men need to support and challenge each other to relieve the burden of emotional labor from the women and people of color in our lives, and to grow our capacity to be useful in the growing multiracial movement for liberation by practicing embodied humanity together. Once a month, OWMCL offers a 90-minute session focused on "internal liberation" for white men: the work of learning to see and heal from the ways that white supremacy and patriarchy have been nested inside of us. This Monday, they will create space for participants to explore the polarities of self-acceptance and self-improvement. The world does not need white men who care about social justice to endlessly feel bad, OR endlessly accept mediocrity.  Can we learn to love ourselves as inherently worthy, AND commit to a lifelong process of learning and development? How can we learn to hold this tension with joy?  Please preregister here .
FREE AUTHOR TALK
#Hashtag Activism
MIT Press
Tuesday, May 5, 12:30-1:30pm
Join authors Sarah J. Jackson, Moya Bailey, and Brooke Foucault Welles to look at how marginalized groups use Twitter to advance counter-narratives, preempt political spin, and build diverse networks of dissent. Register here.
LECTURE
Reclaiming Cinco de Mayo with Dolores Huerta
SpeakOut, the Institute for Democratic Education and Culture
Tuesday, May 5, 1-2:30pm
Join us as feminist icon and legendary labor leader, Dolores Huerta, underscores the importance of reclaiming Cinco de Mayo. Dolores will delve into the true significance of the holiday, lifting up themes of anti-oppression and empowerment as well as how we can honor Mexican cultural values without appropriating them. A founder of the Dolores Huerta Foundation and co-founder of the United Farmworkers Union, Dolores will draw on her decades of experience as an organizer and her background as a dancer, pianist, and lover of jazz. Register here.
FREE ONLINE CLASS
Community Meditation Night
Mel King Institute
Wednesday, May 6, 5-6pm
Gena Bean of Mindful Boston will lead a 60-minute class that will include a discussion about meditation and mindfulness, instructions on how to meditate, and a shared meditation that will probably be about 15 to 25 minutes long. No previous experience is required; the meditation will be easy for beginners to understand. Register here.
WEBINAR SERIES
4 Big Questions About Racial Justice in Education
Thursdays, May 7, 14, 21, & 28, 7pm
Join us for a low-cost four-part, interactive, dialogue-based webinar series in which four racial justice educators discuss big questions about racial justice in education:​
  • What are the biggest barriers to racial justice in education? (Conversation led by Paul Gorski, 7pm, May 7.)
  • What can we, as individuals, do to disrupt racism within education? What does action look like? (Conversation led by Kike Ojo-Thompson, 7pm, May 14.)
  • What does accountability with respect to racial justice look like in education? (Conversation led by Debbie Donsky, 7pm, May 21.)
  • What is the role of relationship, community, and partnership in racial justice work? (Conversation led by Pamala Agawa, 7pm, May 28.)
WEBINAR
#RaceAnd Pandemics: Covid-19 and Global Diseases Through a Structural Lens
Race Forward
Friday, May 8, 11am-1pm
This webinar will allow participants to sharpen their racial analysis while applying a structural frame that addresses the long-term roots and impacts of the racialization of diseases. We hope that folks will bring this lens back to their institutions, organizations, and communities as a tool to shift the conversation on racism from individual to systemic, as we grapple with finding long-lasting solutions in the time of Covid-19 and beyond. Register here.
FREE SEMINAR
Women in the Black Panther Party
Zinn Education Project
Friday, May 8, 2-3:30pm
In support of middle and high school teachers while school buildings are closed, the Zinn Education Project is hosting "People's Historians Online" every Friday to learn through stories about people’s history, meet other educators, and find a road map forward in the midst of this pandemic. The spring theme is "Black Freedom Struggle: From Reconstruction to the Civil Rights Movement." Full schedule here . This week, historians Robyn C. Spencer and Mary Phillips will present on women in the Black Panther Party. Register here. 
FREE ACTIVITY
EJI Chronology: A Racial (In)Justice History Activity
Boston Knapsack Anti-Racism Group
Friday, May 8, 6:30-8:30pm
Ever want to learn more about the history of racial injustice that we weren't taught? In this activity, based on Equal Justice Initiative's "A History of Racial Injustice" calendar, teams build their own timeline of events, testing their knowledge and memory. RSVP here.
CONVERSATION
Covid19 & Racial Embodiment: A Conversation with Resmaa Menakem & Robin DiAngelo
Education for Racial Equity
Saturday, May 9, 2pm
Please join us for a series of candid conversations with authors and thought leaders Resmaa Menakem ( My Grandmother's Hands ) and Dr. Robin DiAngelo ( White Fragility ) as they identify how whiteness circulates in the pandemic, how racism intensifies the stress for people of culture, how that toxic stress is embodied, and what we can do individually and communally. This will be a two-part discussion: participants are welcome to join for one or both conversations. The first conversation will be focused on the current social crisis related to Covid19 in communities of color. The second conversation will be a continuation with an opportunity for the speakers to address questions from participants. Register here. 
FREE BOOK DISCUSSION
There There by Tommy Orange
Boston Knapsack Anti-Racism Group
Wednesday, May 13, 6:45-8:45pm
We have a lot to learn, and we do it better together. R ead the novel about Native Americans living in near Oakland, California, and join the Boston Knapsack Anti-Racism Group to share what stood out for you, what challenged you, what you learned, what questions you have, whatever comes up. Try to come with a favorite part to share. RSVP here . Next month's book is My Grandmother's Hands by Resmaa Menakem, which will be discussed on June 10.
LECTURE
A Brief History of Slavery in New England
Old North Church
Wednesday, May 13, 7-8:15pm
Shortly after the first Europeans arrived in 17th-century New England, they began to enslave the area’s indigenous peoples and import kidnapped Africans. By the eve of the American Revolution, enslaved people comprised only about 4% of the population, but slavery had become instrumental to the region’s economy and had shaped its cultural traditions. In this concise yet comprehensive virtual talk, historian Jared Ross Hardesty will discuss his newest book  Black Lives, Native Lands, White Worlds: A History of Slavery in New England  by focusing on the individual stories of enslaved people in New England, bringing their experiences to life. Afterward, stay online to be the first to hear new updates on Hardesty’s ongoing research into the smuggling ring centered at Old North Church, and ask your questions about this or his first book, Unfreedom. Register here .
FREE FAMILY-FRIENDLY GAME NIGHT
Social Justice Bingo
Network for Social Justice
Wednesday, May 13, 7:30-9pm
As we all try to prevent feelings of social isolation, j oin the Network for Social Justice for a fun evening of Bingo, featuring social justice ideas and terms! Prizes will be available for winners. All are welcome; appropriate for those of all ages. Register here in order to receive a bingo sheet and the zoom link to participate.
COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS
Sonya Renee Taylor
SpeakOut
Thursday, May 14, 6:45-8:45pm
Graduates, families, and anyone wanting to be inspired during these challenging times are welcome to come together to celebrate this milestone for so many young people around the country and around the world with a powerful, live 2020 SpeakOut Commencement Address from acclaimed author, poet, and performer  Sonya Renee Taylor, author of The Body Is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love . Sonya will leave you invigorated as she explores what gets transformed when we relate to each other as humans committed to living together in this complex and beautiful world. With opening performance from world-renowned drummer and activist,  Madame Gandhi . Register here.
SUPPORT GROUP
Act4Change
Boston Knapsack Anti-Racism Group
Saturday, May 16, 2:30-4:30pm
Join this monthly check-in to come together to focus on taking action now to make systemic changes for racial justice. S hare knowledge, get support, and learn skills for taking action. H elp each other develop plans of action, and access a Google Sheet with current petitions, initiatives to call legislators about, groups to join, podcasts that inform us about actions we can take, and groups doing great work already that we can engage with. Now is the time to act for change! All are welcome. RSVP here.

LEARN ON YOUR OWN
READINGS
The Coronavirus Will Explode Achievement Gaps in Education
Shelterforce
Richard Rothstein lays out the ways in which the pandemic exacerbates existing inequities, and the actions we need to take to mitigate that impact. Read it here.

Black Women Have Long Faced Racism in Healthcare. COVID-19 Is Only Amplifying It.
The Appeal
Erin Clare Brown tells the story of Rana Zoe Mungin, a Brooklyn teacher who tried three times to get treatment for the coronavirus but was ignored. Read it here.


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