Join us to Break Bread | Break Barriers | Break the Silence
Conversation
The world we live in is being turned upside-down and we have a chance to take the energy that has accumulated over decades, if not centuries, and come together to make change. Systemic racism, bigotry and ignorance cannot be tolerated. It is not enough for any of us to say that we are not racist - we must proactively educate ourselves on how to be anti-racist.
The Shalon Community is gathering around the virtual table to learn from people that have dedicated themselves to changing the systems that hold people of color down. Whether the judicial system, the prison system, the education system, our financial institutions or so many more, the time has come to shake things up. It can be overwhelming to know where to start, what to say and how to stay focused.
We will learn how we can use our voices, our dollars, our energy and our votes to support communities and individuals whose voices are being drowned out.
This is an opportunity to connect, commit, and hold each other accountable. We cannot let the violence, hatred and ignorance pass once the news cycle is refreshed.
Join us at the table. It’s the first step towards a lifetime of impact.
Resources:
The Great Unlearn (course) by Rachel Cargyl
Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-create Race in the Twenty-first Century by Roberts, Dorothy
Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Kendi, Ibram X.
White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by DiAngelo, Robin J.
The Color of Law A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Rothstein, Richard
Campaign Zero — has a comprehensive guide to policies that aim to correct broken windows policing, excessive force, racial profiling, for-profit policing, cash bail, and much more
More coming soon
We can all help in our own way:
Pilar Weiss — director of the Community Justice Exchange — says that donating to local, grassroots formations is potentially the most impactful way to prioritize funds. Larger, national organizations tend to attract more resources, so it’s worth doing research into who’s operating in your community. The Cut: How to Support the Struggle Against Police Brutality
The NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which supports racial justice through advocacy, litigation, and education
The Okra Project combats food insecurity in black trans and gender-nonconforming communities.
Fair Fight, an organization founded by Stacey Abrams that aims to end voter suppression and equalize voting rights and access for fairer elections.
ActBlue has a page that will let you split your donation between 38 community bail funds, or if you’d like to focus your donation directly, here are some options.
• The Bail Project, a nonprofit that aims to mitigate incarceration rates through bail reform.
• The National Bail Fund Network also has a directory of community bail funds to which you can donate, along with a COVID-19 rapid response fund.
The virtual dinner table
Feel free to eat or drink during Shalon, there’s no need for hanger
Planning to support a local establishment? Share on IG and Facebook so others can do the same!
Our generous conversation guides
Judge Gary Jackson
Gary Jackson became “Judge Jackson” in January of 2013, after a long career as a lawyer in Denver, CO.
In 2018 he tried 34 jury trials in the criminal division. The same year he had a call to action because of the lack of Black judges in Colorado and become a Co-Chair of the CBA/CJI coalition for diversity on the bench.
Judge Jackson helped found Colorado’s oldest minority bar association, the Sam Cary Bar Association, in 1971. Jackson is also a board member for History Colorado, an organization that is a Smithsonian Affiliate and oversees museums, cultural centers, and educational programs across the state. Finally, Jackson and his family are very involved in the preservation and renovation of a historic area known as Lincoln Hills near Nederland, Colorado. Lincoln Hills was developed in 1922 as a recreation area for African-American families who were often not welcome in more popular vacation spots, and was only one of four such areas in the United States.
Michael Pearson
As Chief of Staff for Google Health, Mike is responsible for strategy and key company initiatives focused on implementing Google's AI research into the healthcare marketplace and is a founding member of the team.
During his tenure at Google he has led business development at Google [X]/Google Life Sciences, was part of the early founding group to create Google Capital - Google’s private equity investment vehicle, led the creation of the Google Play Hardware Store for Android products, and led acquisitions and investments within the Corporate Development Group. He is a member of Google's BLAG (Black Leadership Advisory Group) and BGN (Black Googler Network).
Prior to working at Google, Mike held positions at Goldman Sachs and McCown DeLeeuw. Mike received his MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelors at Emory University.
Malik Simba
Malik Simba received his Ph.D. in history from the University of Minnesota. He has held professorships in the departments of history at State University of New York at Binghamton and Clarion University in Pennsylvania. Presently, he is Professor Emeritus and past chair of the History Department (2000-2003) at California State University-Fresno in California. Dr. Simba was awarded fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities in 1979, 1987, and 1990. He serves on the Board of the Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program at California State University-Fresno.
Dr. Simba is the author of Black Marxism and American Constitutionalism: From the Colonial Background through the Ascendancy of Barack Obama and the Dilemma of Black Lives Matter. He has contributed numerous entries in the Encyclopedia of African History, Historical Encyclopedia of World Slavery, W. E. B. Du Bois Encyclopedia, Malcolm X Encyclopedia, African American Encyclopedia, and the Historical Dictionary of Civil Rights. Additionally, Dr. Simba has published the definitive analysis of race and law using critical legal theory in his “Gong Lum v. Rice: The Convergence of Law, Race, and Ethnicity” in American Mosaic. His essay, “Joel Augustus Rogers: Negro Historians in History, Time, and Space,” appeared in Afro-American in New York Life and History 30:2 (July 2006) as part of a Special Issue: “Street Scholars and Stepladder Radicals-A Harlem Tradition,” Guest Editor, Ralph L. Crowder. The essays on Rogers contributes to our knowledge of street scholars or historians without portfolios. Dr. Simba’s other published works include book reviews in the Chicago Tribune, Focus on Law Studies, and the Journal of Southwest Georgia History.