July 2020 Newsletter
Issue #41
Race & Law Enforcement
In a recent survey by the Pew Research Center, 69% of Americans said that tensions between Black people and police contributed a great deal to the demonstrations protesting the death of George Floyd. Here are a few reasons why that might be.

  • Just 3% of “stop-and-frisk” encounters produce evidence of a crime.

  • Black drivers are about 30% more likely to be pulled over than White drivers. Black drivers are also more likely to be pulled over for alleged mechanical or equipment problems with their automobiles, or for record checks. Black drivers are also less likely to be told why they were pulled over.

  • Even though Whites are more likely to be found with illicit drugs, Black and Latino drivers are more likely to be searched once they have been pulled over. About 2% of White motorists are searched, compared to 6% of Black drivers and 7% of Latinos.

  • Based on footage captured by police-body cameras, officers speak with consistently less respect toward Black versus White community members, even after controlling for the race of the officer, the severity of the infraction, the location of the stop, and the outcome of the stop.

  • The Black arrest rate is 2 times as high as the White arrest rate for disorderly conduct, drug possession, simple assault, theft, vagrancy, and vandalism. The Black arrest rate for prostitution is almost 5 times higher than the White arrest rate, and the Black arrest rate for gambling is almost 10 times higher.

  • Even though both Whites and Blacks use marijuana at similar rates, Black people are more than 3 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana offenses than Whites.

  • A majority of the motorists who had property confiscated by the police were nonwhite.

  • Over 1,000 people have died after being shocked by police with a Taser. At least 32% of those were Black.

  • Black men are about 2.5 times more likely than White men to be killed by police, and Black men have a 1-in-1,000 chance of dying at the hands of police. Black women are 1.4 more times likely to be killed than White women. Latino men are 1.3 times more likely to be killed than White men.

  • 31% of people killed by police are Black and 52% are white. The U.S. population is 63% white and 13% Black.

  • People with more police contact report more trauma and anxiety symptoms. These associations are tied to how many stops they report, the intrusiveness of the encounters, and their perceptions of police fairness. Overall, the burden of police contact falls predominantly on young Black and Latino males.

For more on Racism , click here.
Resources
Faith and Racial Justice:
Changing Systems and Structures
A new eight-week program from JustFaith Ministries, guiding participants in telling the truth about the history of racism in the United States, that we might work toward true reconciliation with God and restoration with one another.
Two related programs are:
Faith & Racial Equity: Exploring Power & Privilege
&
Faith and Racial Healing:
Embracing Truth, Justice, and Restoration.
For more on Racism , click here.
The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross
A series from PBS, that chronicles the full sweep of African American history, from the origins of slavery on the African continent right up to today when America remains a nation deeply divided by race.
  • Episode 1:The Black Atlantic
  • Episode 2: The Age of Slavery
  • Episode 3: Into the Fire (1861-1896)
  • Episode 4: Making a Way of No Way (1897-1940)
  • Episode 5: Rise! (1940-1968)
  • Episode 6: Toward a More Perfect Union (1968-2013)
For more on Racism , click here.
1619
A podcast series from the New York Times that tells how slavery has transformed America, connecting the past and present through the oldest form of storytelling. It is possible to both listen to and read the transcripts of the episodes:
  • The Fight for a True Democracy
  • The Economy That Slavery Built
  • The Birth of American Music
  • How the Bad Blood Started
  • The Land of Our Fathers, Part 1
  • The Land of Our Fathers, Part 2
For more on Racism , click here.
Pandemic of Hate:
Anti-Asian Racism During COVID-19
A Brave New Films production that addresses the incendiary rhetoric and labeling of COVID-19 pandemic as the “Chinese virus." Actors Kelly Hu, Brian Tee, Randall Park, Ken Jeong, Ming-Na Wen, and Alec Mapa, call for a stop to the hate.
For more on Racism , click here.
Faces of DACA
A resource from the Ignatian Solidarity Network. Each page provides the brief story of an individual affected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Also includes background information about DACA itself, what's at stake and what can be done to help. Learn more.
For more on Immigration , click here.
The Borgen Project
Works to make poverty a focus of U.S. foreign policy. Concerned with how poverty affects U.S. jobs, national security and overpopulation and highlights inventions helping the poor. Learn more. 
For more on Poverty, click here.
HTI Labs
Works to provide reliable data and research on the prevalence and causes of trafficking, intimate partner violence, and sexual assault, and to identify and evaluate holistic strategies to countering these problems. By generating new data and integrating existing information, HTI seeks to create a shared set of facts making existing efforts smarter. Learn more.
For more on Human Trafficking , click here.
The Equality of Opportunity Project
Uses big data to measure differences in life expectancy by income across areas and identifies strategies to improve health outcomes for low-income Americans. Learn more.
For more on the Health Care System , click here.
Charity: Water
Invests in organizations with years of experience to build sustainable, community-owned water projects in 28 countries around the globe focusing on providing rural communities with their first access to clean water. Learn more.
For more on Water Access , click here.
Gun Violence Archive
Provides free online public access to accurate information about gun-related violence in the United States. Collects data from over 7,500 law enforcement, media, government and commercial sources daily in an effort to provide near-real time data about the results of gun violence. GVA is an independent data collection and research group with no affiliation with any advocacy organization.
For more on Gun Violence , click here.
Innocence Project
Works to free innocent people who remain incarcerated, and to bring reform to the system responsible for their unjust imprisonment.
For more on the Criminal Justice System ,
The Innocence Files
A 9-part documentary series from Netflix that looks at the work of the Innocence Project and the uphill battle their clients face in pursuit of the truth and justice. Delves into the questions, How does an innocent person even end up in prison in the first place? How is it possible to prove someone is innocent of a crime after they’ve been convicted? Learn more.
For more on the Criminal Justice System ,
U.S. Inflation Calculator
A handy tool that calculates how the buying power of the U.S. dollar has changed between any two years from 1913 until the present. Also provides current rates and inflation news. Particularly helpful to assess the value of workers wages at various points in American history. Learn more.
For more on the Minimum Wage , click here.
Fighting for a More Perfect Union:
Protest and Politics in America
A collection from PBS American Experience, featuring trailers, digital shorts, articles and additional content from their film archive that speak to the role of protest, agitation and struggle in U.S. history. Learn more.
For more Public Witness resources, click here.
No Innocent Bystanders:
Becoming an Ally in the Struggle for Justice
By Shannon Craigo-Snell and Christopher Doucot. Looks at the role of allies in social justice movements and asks what works, what doesn't, and why. It explains what allies legitimately can accomplish, what they can't, and what kind of humility and clarity is required to tell the difference.
This is a start-up guide for spiritual or religious people who are interested in working for social justice but don't know how or where to begin, drawing on the lessons of history, the framework of Christian ideas, and the insights of contemporary activists. It offers practical guidance on how to meaningfully and mindfully advocate alongside all who struggle for a more just society. Learn more.
For more Justice resources, click here.
Catholic Social Teaching
and Restorative Justice
By Susan Sharpe, Ph.D. A resource from the Catholic Mobilizing Network, suggests a different set of questions that aim to help those impacted by a crime determine how to repair the harm done and live in right relationship moving forward, rather than simply asking, What law was broken?, Who is guilty? and How should they be punished?
Shows how this process aligns with principles of Catholic Social Teaching, “where we are to live in right relationship with God, with one another, and the rest of creation.”
For printable version, click here.
For more on Catholic Social Teaching , click here.
Prayer
A Prayer for Racial Justice
When our eyes do not see the gravity of
racial injustice,
Shake us from our slumber and open our eyes,
O Lord.
When out of fear we are frozen into inaction,
Give us a spirit of bravery, O Lord.
When we try our best but say the wrong things,
Give us a spirit of humility, O Lord.
When the chaos of this dies down,
Give us a lasting spirit of solidarity, O Lord.
When it becomes easier to point fingers outward,
Help us to examine our own hearts, O Lord.
 
God of truth, in your wisdom, Enlighten Us.
God of love, in your mercy, Forgive Us.
God of hope in your kindness, Heal Us.
Creator of All People, in your generosity, Guide Us.
Racism breaks your heart,
break our hearts for what breaks yours, O Lord.
 
Important Dates This Month

Individuals Honored This Month
July 2nd
When you hate, the only person that suffers is you because most of the people you hate don't know it and the rest don't care.
July 2nd
I wish I could say that racism and prejudice were only distant memories. We must dissent from the indifference. We must dissent from the apathy. We must dissent from the fear, the hatred and the mistrust…. We must dissent because America can do better, because America has no choice
but to do better.
July 5th
The Gospel has to grow little feet.
July 6th
Love is the absence of judgment.
July 7th
Peasant people don't have a chance to share in the riches that the planet can offer because some people are taking off so much of the pleasures of this world, and there's only so much to go around.
July 12th
When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful.
July 18th
No one is born hating another person because of skin color, background, or religion.
July 25th
Two months ago I had a nice apartment in Chicago. I had a good job. I had a son. When something happened to the Negroes in the South I said, 'That's their business, not mine.' Now I know how wrong I was. I was. The murder of my son has shown me that what happens to any of us, anywhere in the world, had better be the business of us all.
Mamie Till, Emmett's mother
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