WAYS to LEARN ABOUT and WORK AGAINST RACISM

The Word is Resistance is the SURJ Faith podcast. What if COVID-19 is our King Cyrus, inviting us out on that
highway back home to right relationship with sacred land, our God, and each other? What is the cost of our
return, and how do we begin to pay it? Listen here https://soundcloud.com/thewordisresistance/twir-
120620-demolition-time and transcript here
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S_monOEE0NrUdy2ZJuy_dpe8u3NOy1FX/view

Learn about the Bedford County (TN) Listening Project (BCLP), a project of SURJ’s Southern Crossroads. In
January, BCLP shared the findings of hundreds of hours of door-knocking, community meetings, and potlucks
where working class folks heard from each other about what matters to them and what they’d most like to
see changed in their community in their study “Home Is Where the Heart Is: Housing Heartbreak in Bedford
County.”

Interested in sending a message of support to people being held at the Stewart Detention Center in
Lumpkin, GA? El Refugio Ministry coordinates supportive greetings to be distributed to those detained at
Stewart Detention Center. Cards and letters can provide support for detained immigrants who may have little
contact with the outside world. See details here
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Wm_swU8Gti5Xj01eKYgIuGFcgQnttOHc/view?usp=sharing

Saturday January 16 at 10am: THE BELOVED COMMUNITY "FACING HISTORY" FORUM. The Keynote
Speaker is Dr. Erika Henderson, Associate Program Director for New Communities for Facing History
(Memphis office). Facing History and Ourselves uses lessons of history to challenge teachers and students to
stand up to bigotry and hate. https://www.facinghistory.org/about-us AND Blount County United is
developing a virtual activity for young people marking MLK Day. Details forthcoming.

Read ”The World House” by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (based on his Nobel Peace Prize lecture at the
University of Oslo on December 11, 1964). Join Blount County SURJ for an informal discussion (via Zoom,
date and time TBD) about the meanings of this essay for us today. Contact blountcountysurj@gmail.com if
you are interested.

Monday January 18 at 12:30pm: Annual MLK Day march will gather at the Martin Luther King Jr.
Community Center on Franklin Street in Alcoa and step off at 12:45pm. The route is southeast on Hall Road
toward Washington Street, then right onto East Lamar Alexander Parkway, ending at the Greenbelt Pavilion
near the Blount County Courthouse. At 2pm a brief program will be held at the West Theatre in the Park
next to the pavilion. Please observe physical distancing and wear face masks.

Training for white social justice activists and organizers starts February 2021. Hosted by Catalyst Project,
Anne Braden Anti-Racist Organizer Training Program develops white anti-racist leaders as part of an
overall multiracial movement-building strategy. Applications due December 31, sliding scale fee. This 4-
month program has weekly 3-hour live webinars, one-on-one mentorship, grassroots fundraising training,
engaging and challenging homework and readings, exciting guest speakers, transformational facilitation, and inspiring
kick ass organizers from all over the country.

Read about Mary Othella Burnette’s efforts to preserve the history of her Black community in western
North Carolina (from the New York Times’ Race Related newsletter)
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/12/us/mary-othella-burnette-southern-appalachia.html

Cleveland’s Baseball Team will drop its Indians Team Name

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/13/sports/baseball/cleveland-indians-baseball-name-change.html

Curious about immigration? Read (and download) this student-oriented explanation from Facing History
to differentiate between terms like refugee, migrant, and asylum: https://www.facinghistory.org/educator-
resources/current-events/explainer/migration, this Issue Fact Sheet on Refugees and Displaced Persons
from Girl Rising and EarthTime’s animated map Global Refugee Crisis: The Big Picture, which shows the
movement of refugees from 2000–2016.

You can sign up for our email list on our website https://blountcountysurj.weebly.com and find a digital version of this
publication under the “Take Action” tab (and older issues under the ‘Archive’ tab). To share comments after
reading/watching any of the suggested resources contact us at blountcountySURJ@gmail.com
Visit and share our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/blountcountysurj/

A publication of Blount County Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) December 2020-January 2021