January Events in Washington

With thanks to Sharon Jarrett...

The meeting began with announcements. Carol McGrath who was the scheduled speaker postponed due to the events of January 6th at the US Capitol. She will reschedule to discuss the history of the "sundown laws" in Glendale with the group.

Also, at a future meeting, a physician who has recently written a book about the experiences of an African American in medicine will address the group.

There was agreement that the events January 6th were actions of white supremacists. That these actions have been seen before and are persistent. The book "The Violence Inside Us" by Chris Murphy was recommended as good for helping understand the present time.

The presence of white supremacists in law enforcement and the military was discussed with many expressing an awareness of how wide spread this is. It was noted that former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson has written a book about these groups.

Many noted the use of "this is not us" in the media. Several felt "this is us" was more appropriate and the events an example of what actually does exist and tied that thinking to the 1619 Project findings.

The "Teaching Tolerance" website was discussed and recommended. The need to have psychological First Aid was discussed stressing three factors...Listening, Protecting and Modeling tolerant behavior.

There were questions about the gathering of information prior to January 6th and what might have been done to prevent the events.

An attendee noted the similarity between fugitive slave trackers and the practices they used being foundational to policing. Also noting African Americans were not surprised by what happened because of the information on social media. They noted a sense of powerlessness in having the information but no mechanism to act on it.

Concerns were expressed about the inauguration and foreign actors using the opportunities to strike at the country.

The program Social Dilemma was discussed.

What individuals might do was discussed with talking to others, adhering to truth, stating the value of democracy and paying attention noted.

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