EGPS Work Group for Racial Equity
Mission Statement
The Work Group for Racial Equity of the Eastern Group Psychotherapy Society aims to initiate opportunities for members to examine how racism is embedded in individuals’ unconscious, in groups, and in our organization. Utilizing a collaborative process, the work group supports EGPS efforts to integrate awareness about race and racism in professional events and presentations.
The Work Group also seeks to enhance members’ understanding of the impact of institutional racism on their work, encourages members’ examination of internalized racial oppression and works with the Board of Directors to strengthen our racial equity lens.
Healing from racial injustice is a result of learning and struggling together. We hope all members will join EGPS in this work.
For more information contact:
Rudy Lucas or Christine Schmidt
For a list of resources suggested by the Work Group for Racial Equity and books reviewed by EGPS members, please click here
For a list of works that inspired monthly WG4RE discussions, please select the corresponding year:
The upcoming dates for WG4RE 2021 Discussions
Monday Feb. 15 8:30 Zoom meeting
Monday Mar 15 8:30 Zoom meeting
Monday Apr 19 8:30 Zoom meeting
Monday May 19 8:30 Zoom meeting
Monday June 21 8:30 Zoom meeting
Monday July 19 8:30 Zoom meeting
Current groups
Black-Owned Land and Farmers: Part 2
EGPS Work Group for Racial Equity Discussion Group
Black-Owned Land and Farmers: Part 2
Monday May 17, 2021 8:30 - 9:45 PM (Eastern Time - US and Canada)
Please join the Work Group for Racial Equity for Part 1 of a two-part series on Black-Owned Land and Farmers. In April and May, the Work Group for Racial Equity will be uncovering the history and legacy of Black land ownership and farming.
The unpaid, violently forced labor of enslaved Africans built the foundation of wealth of the United States, particularly from farms and plantations. Toward the end of the Civil War, Union leaders gathered with a group of black ministers in Savannah, Ga. where Gen. William T. Sherman's Special Field Order 15 set aside 400,000 acres land along the Southeast coast for formerly enslaved Africans so that "each family shall have a plot of not more than forty acres of tillable ground." This is what became known as "40 acres as a mule." However, after Lincoln's assassination, President Andrew Johnson, a forner slave owner reversed Sherman's order, giving the land back to its former Confederate owners.
In spite of this, by the 1920s, Black people owned 14% of farms in the US. However, as we have seen again and again, Black progress is often followed by white backlash, and presently, Black ownership of farmland is below 2%.
Our discussion of Black land ownership and farmers will continue centering on a podcast episode from Scene on Radio Series. Seeing White: Losing Ground.
Also, please read a brief summary of some of the history of collective Black wealth through Black land cooperatives Black Cooperatives in the United States
And some examples of how Black collectives are working today to protect Black owned land and ensure that it remains in families
The Federation of Southern Cooperatives / Land Assistance Fund
The CARES Act allocates about 5 billion dollars to disadvantaged farmers, within which Black farmers are disproportionately represented at about 25 percent. This will provide much needed debt relief, grants, and avenues to acquiring land. On the one hand, “This is the most significant piece of legislation with respect to the arc of Black land ownership in this country,” according to Tracy Lloyd McCurty, executive director of the Black Belt Justice Center, which provides legal representation to Black farmers; on the other hand, this is a fraction of the total economic loss to Black farmers over the generations as a result of racist USDA policies and land appropriation by whites which is estimated to be between $250 and $350 billion.
Do you consider the CARES Act a form of Reparations? Why or why not?
How do we continue to raise awareness of the systemic forces working against Black farmers?
What role can we play in continuing holding this administration accountable to the needs of Black farmers beyond these first steps, including recognizing and protecting farmers against potential backlash from these moves forward?
Please join us as we come together to share and develop our insights, take-aways, and new ideas for action steps. We invite you into this brave space of deep listening and sharing.
Building a community of solidarity in the exchange of emotional risk-taking and vulnerability.
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR ZOOM LINK TO JOIN THIS DISCUSSION
DO NOT CLICK THE SIGN-UP LINK BELOW. THAT WILL NOT GIVE YOU THE INFORMATION YOU NEED TO JOIN THE EVENT.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
The Work Group for Racial Equity is a "drop in' group for everyone, EGPS members and not-yet members. You are invited to participate whenever you can. We meet monthly on the third Monday evening of the month to discuss relevant books, films, podcasts and articles. Further information can be found on the EGPS website at https://egps.org/work-group-racial-equity.php
Sign Up
Eddie S. Glaude, Jr. Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and its Urgent Lessons for Our Own
EGPS Work Group for Racial Equity Discussion Group
Eddie S. Glaude, Jr. Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and its Urgent Lessons for Our Own
Monday, June 21, 2021 8:30 - 9:45 PM (Eastern Time US & Canada)
“America is always changing, but America never changes.” - James Baldwin
“Hope is invented every day.” - James Baldwin
Please join the Work Group for Racial Equity as we discuss Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and its Urgent Lessons for Our Own, the latest work of Eddie S. Glaude, distinguished professor and chair of the African American studies department at Princeton University. In this book, Professor Glaude delves into the later writings of Baldwin -reeling and enraged by the murders of Medgar, Malcolm and Martin - to make sense of his own feelings of betrayal by America with the election of 2016. Baldwin’s moral imperative that America must tell the truth in order to heal helps us understand why again and again America fails to live up to our stated values. Professor Glaude shows us how Baldwin’s work is a blueprint for persisting amid the trauma. The book is available in print and audio versions.
Please join us as we come together to share and develop our insights, take-aways, and new ideas for action steps. We invite you into this brave space of deep listening and sharing.
Building a community of solidarity in the exchange of emotional risk-taking and vulnerability.
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR ZOOM LINK TO JOIN THIS DISCUSSION
DO NOT CLICK THE SIGN-UP LINK BELOW. THAT WILL NOT GIVE YOU THE INFORMATION YOU NEED TO JOIN THE EVENT.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
The Work Group for Racial Equity is a "drop in' group for everyone, EGPS members and not-yet members. You are invited to participate whenever you can. We meet monthly on the third Monday evening of the month to discuss relevant books, films, podcasts and articles. Further information can be found on the EGPS website at https://egps.org/work-group-racial-equity.php
Sign Up“Until the Flood” written and performed by Dael Orlandersmith
EGPS Work Group for Racial Equity Discussion Group
“Until the Flood” written and performed by Dael Orlandersmith
Monday, July 19, 2021 8:30 - 9:45 PM (Eastern Time US & Canada)
“America is always changing, but America never changes.” - James Baldwin
“Hope is invented every day.” - James Baldwin
Please join the Work Group for Racial Equity to discuss Dael Orlandersmith’s dramatic performance, “Until the Flood”. Through the eyes and voices of eight characters, we are drawn into the historical moment that began in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014 when Michael Brown, a Black teen, was shot and killed by a white police officer. The event and the aftermath put America’s struggle with racism and justice into the national spotlight.
You may view the “Until the Flood” prior to the discussion group:
https://www.rattlestick.org/20202021-season/2020/10/21/until-the-flood-2018
Please join us as we come together to share and develop our insights, take-aways, and new ideas for action steps. We invite you into this brave space of deep listening and sharing.
Building a community of solidarity in the exchange of emotional risk-taking and vulnerability.
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR ZOOM LINK TO JOIN THIS DISCUSSION
DO NOT CLICK THE SIGN-UP LINK BELOW. THAT WILL NOT GIVE YOU THE INFORMATION YOU NEED TO JOIN THE EVENT.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
The Work Group for Racial Equity is a "drop in' group for everyone, EGPS members and not-yet members. You are invited to participate whenever you can. We meet monthly on the third Monday evening of the month to discuss relevant books, films, podcasts and articles. Further information can be found on the EGPS website at https://egps.org/work-group-racial-equity.php
Sign Up