Welcome to the 6th week of The Challenge!
Our 18-Week Challenge gives us an opportunity to read articles, listen to podcasts, and view videos dealing with the roots of racial injustice, the systemic racist policies in our institutions, and our own misconceptions of racism. The Challenge creates a dedicated time and space for us to reflect on our own personal experiences, biases, and assumptions. Each week you will be sent a new prompt to explore.
Week 6: September 18, 2020
This week’s selection is the powerful documentary The First Rainbow Coalition produced and directed by Ray Santisteban and presented by PBS. It provides context on how Chicago became one of the most segregated cities in America and how in 1969, the Chicago Black Panther Party, led by Fred Hampton, began to form alliances across lines of race and ethnicity with other community based movements in the city, including the Latin group, the Young Lords Organization, and the working-class young southern whites of the Young Patriots to collectively confront issues such as police brutality, substandard housing, and inferior schools - social injustices that still ring true today. Even though some of us lived through this era, the picture that was most often portrayed in the newspapers and on the nightly news was of a volatile person leading a dangerous group of people who threatened our wonderful and peace-loving society. This documentary sets the historical record straight. (running time film is 56 minutes)
Post your reaction to this week’s prompt. Discuss it with other Challenge participants. Join our closed Facebook Group. Here’s how: Visit https://www.facebook.com/groups/602463427350589,
click join and answer the three membership questions.
