The Equity Committee has officially revamped the format of its Book Club: it is now the Equity Discussion Group! Our hope is that this new format will be more accessible to members of the community who haven’t attended in the past because they weren’t able or didn’t want to read the books. There is “suggested prep work” listed for many of the groups below, but it is just that: suggested. You can review the resources ahead of the discussion or following it, or never. Each discussion is intended be valuable on its own.
April 7 @ 7:30 pm – Critical Race Theory and Interest Convergence. Mark Williams will lead this meeting. His presentation will discuss Interest Convergence in a historical context of American Society. Critical Race Theory is a body of scholarship steeped in radical activism that seeks to explore and challenge the prevalence of racial inequality in society (Rollick and Gillborn, 2011). Interest Convergence – Bell (1980) contends that “the interest of blacks in achieving racial equality will be accommodated only when it converges with the interests of whites”
Suggested Prep Work:
Faces at the Bottom of the well: The permanence of racism. Bell, D. 1992
Critical Race Theory: An Introduction Delgado, R. & Stefancic, J. 2001
Critical Race Theory: The Key Writings that Formed the Movement
Critical Race Theory: An Introduction
Just What Is Critical Race Theory and What’s It Doing in a Nice Field Like Edication?
Critical Race Theory: An Annotated Bibliography Essay
April 28 @ 7:30 pm – Affinity Groups. An affinity group is a group formed around a shared interest or common goal, to which individuals formally or informally belong. On this night, the Hillcrest PTA will host a racial affinity group. Check our facebook event in mid-April for more details and some questions to get you thinking ahead of the conversation.
May 26 @ 7:30 pm – Appropriation or Appreciation? Cultural appropriation is the adoption of an element or elements of one culture or identity by members of another culture or identity. This can be controversial when members of a dominant culture appropriate from minority cultures.
Suggested Prep Work:
SNL skit: Wakanda Forever
How Braids Tell America’s Black Hair History
Cornrows Don’t Belong to Bo
Dig into the Jeremy Lin / Kenyon Martin controversy from 2017
Question: My white son loves rap and wants to wear a do-rag to school. Is this ok?
June 30 @ 7:30 pm – LGBTQIA+ at Hillcrest. Hillcrest Elementary served as ground zero not just for students’ BLM activism in the spring of 2020, but also for a Love Is Love counter-protest held in response to hateful anti-gay messages being shared in front of the school. The discriminatory group was not affiliated with or endorsed by Hillcrest in any way. In fact, many members of the Hillcrest staff were part of the counter-protest. But what is life at Hillcrest like for the children of gay or lesbian parents? What about for the very youngest children in our schools already struggling with identity? What do we, or should we, expect from our administration and educators?
Suggested Prep Work:
Being Jazz
Raising My Rainbow
I’m Just Me
Red: A Crayon’s Story
Heather Has Two Mommies
Watch Both My Moms’ Names Are Judy