Embedded Files
Toward Becoming Coming to the Table Tucson
Coming to the Table (CTTT) Tucson met for eleven months before requesting affiliate status with the national group (https://comingtothetable.org). We wanted to make sure we would have a follow-thru commitment to do this important and challenging work. We started with three and carried on with a total of six.
NOVEMBER 27, 2020 (#1)
Get to know one another, review CTTT organization (https://comingtothetable.org/)
(Lynda, Pam, Shelly)
DECEMBER 13, 2020 (#2)
Discussion:
We discussed the importance of creating and maintaining a group that is more process oriented rather than with a product goal; emphasis on the emotional and spiritual connections in the moment whether we move toward action in the group or outside the group. To borrow from CTTT’s notes about the circle process: “Building relationships precedes and is treated as equally important as tackling difficult issues.”
We discussed possible Guest Speakers (and maybe members)
Interests (sub groups can be established for action; also joining on-going Tucson community groups and reporting back at CTTT Tucson meetings.)
· Documented/undocumented people in Tucson.
· AZ education practices vis a vis next generation of leaders.
· Voter suppression, particularly indigenous peoples.
· Group that April works with regarding Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
(Lynda, Pam, Shelly, Sydney, Catherine, Trayce – core group for first 11 meetings)
JANUARY 3, 2021 (#3)
Considerations:
Recognize the lens through which we meet, as we are on stolen land acquired by force and annihilation.
Review CTTT Pillars: uncover history, connection, healing, action.
Review CTTT Touchstones
Tucson has a unique population: (July 1, 2019 US Census estimate)
American Indian and Alaska Native alone, percent(a) 3.7%
Asian alone, percent(a) 3.2%
Black or African American alone, percent(a) 5.2%
Hispanic or Latino, percent(b) 43.6%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone, percent(a) 0.2%
White alone, not Hispanic or Latino, percent 43.9%
Tucson has a visible majority of non-white community who are invisibly challenged by current and historical structural elements.
3. Who is at the table? CTTT Tucson is committed to a multi-racial table to enable ‘deep dialogue’ toward change.
4. Action: if we participate in action, the choice would be:
· Start a project
· Partner with group effort in town
5. Trayce is on the Diversity Inclusion Committee of the League of Women Voters, Greater Tucson and is willing to approach the committee to share about CTTT Tucson.
6. We will continue to explore inviting new members to the table. This is one topic for the January 4 meeting with Tom and Jodi at CTTT ‘central’.
JANUARY 17, 2021 (#4)
Topic, Circle Question
What is your reaction to the January 6th insurrection at Congress following Trump’s speech that included "if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore."
RESOURCES Discussed at the meeting:
Article: Trayce sent this for discussion at next meeting:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/03/race-to-dinner-party-racism- women?CMP=share_btn_link
FEBRUARY 7, 2021 (#5)
1. First Circle Dialogue: feedback and review of Why Liberal White Women Pay a Lot of Money to Learn Over Dinner How They’re Racist, Poppy Noor, The Guardian, February 3, 2020.
2. Pause / Grounding /Break
3. Second Circle Dialogue: what aspect of white supremacist culture is most alienating to you and/or most seductive to you? Or what’s arising and most alive for you right now in terms of your inner or outer work around race?
4. Date (March 7, 2-4) and facilitator (Pam) for March meeting
5. Closing
Some terms and expressions heard at this meeting: this work is messy, re-education, integrate
individual and community, demand accountability.
MARCH 7, 2021 (#6)
Topic, Circle questions
· Discussion of the film, 40-Year-Old-Version
· Viewing of UA Art Museum video featuring Randiesia Fletcher, painter followed by discussion. Video at:
APRIL 11, 2021 (#7)
Topic, Circle questions
We watched a short interview (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2txzMkT5Pc) Toni Morrison had with Charlie Rose and then discussed using these questions:
· Do white people see and experience the deleterious effect of white supremacy on white folks?
· How does one show up to be a good ally with the tendency in this country to compartmentalize our identities? How can we ‘visibilize’ our oppressions and ‘invisibilize’ our privileges; meaning to see the full picture and make ourselves at home at the intersections; and hold both our privilege and oppression at the same time.
May 9, 2021 (#8)
Topic/Circle questions
Discussion of Brandon Leake Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaM-OrZi6IA
Break
Discussion of James Baldwin Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzH5IDnLaBA
Business
core group status: we talked about who is interested in planning meetings/facilitating
applying for chaptership: under discussion
building the list of potential interested attendees: ensuring intimacy, safety
June 13, 2021 (#9)
Topic/Circle questions
Housing, Community and You
Baseline question: Is Housing a Human Right?
·First query: Where did you grow up? Was the community diverse? If not, what did you hear about the neighboring communities of the "others?"
·Second query: Looking at the League of Women Voters’ video presentation by Betty Villegas, as neighborhoods become gentrified, how do we assure diversity of the people invited to the conversation table? How do we change people's hearts and minds (re: wanting to live among "others) to assure that Betty's vision can be realized? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeqaHvWiPgE),
Business
· Organizing Meetings
By those present, there was unanimous agreement for Lynda, Trayce and Pam to continue organizing meetings; this is always open to rearrangement.
· Possible Meeting Topics
1. Continue to look at Tucson housing, such as Barrio Anita gentrification.
2. 2nd Amendment: Carol Anderson’s book The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America.
3. Critical Race Theory controversy.
4. Land attribute statement, history, unceded land.
5. Voter suppression.
JULY 11, 2021 (#10)
Topic, Circle Questions
Reparations
At the center of discussion: The National African American Reparations Commission’s (NAARC) Preliminary 10 Point Reparations Program, https://reparationscomm.org/reparations-plan/
Questions, circle discussion:
· What do you think some resistance to or fears about reparations might be (yours or those of others)?
· What points of the NAARC proposal speak most to you and why?
Business
Affiliate Status
We will move ahead toward becoming an affiliate group of Coming to the Table.
Should you wish to become a member of the national group, please consult https://comingtothetable.org/become-a-member/ Becoming a member, you will:
Connect to a community of like-minded people who envision, and are working to transform our world.
Receive the monthly CTTT newsletter, and occasional updates on CTTT regional and national events and activities.
Connect with Working Groups focused on various issues or activities related to racial healing, or receive support to start a new Working Group. Be able to apply for scholarships to attend CTTT Training Workshops, STAR Training (Strategies for Trauma Awareness & Resilience), and Summer Peacebuilding Institute classes through the Center for Justice & Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University in Virginia. CTTT has awarded more than $15,000 in scholarship funds over the past few years. Have access to a wealth of useful Resources to support you in your work and journey toward racial justice and healing.
As stated above, there is no Membership Fee required to join Coming to the Table, but the funds needed for CTTT to operate – the ability “to provide leadership, resources, and a supportive environment for all who wish to acknowledge and heal wounds from racism that is rooted in the United States’ history of slavery” – depend on the generous financial support of our members.
AUGUST 15, 2021 (#11)
Topic, Circle questions
We will discuss Resmaa Menakem’s Video: Resmaa Menakem: Somatic Abolitionism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dAAWgpokvo
Circle Queries:
What are the "dodges" and "dirty pain" practices we use, particularly white culture uses, to avoid dealing with the "clean pain" around racism and white body supremacy?
Resmaa notes repeatedly that we have to develop 'communal ways' of "grinding and working with other bodies" to develop capacity around trauma and race. How do you see or envision this cultural or community component?
SEPTEMBER, 2021
No Notes Taken
OCTOBER 17, 2021 (First meeting as a CTTT Affiliate)
Topic: We are grateful to Gabriella Cazares-Kelly for sharing her time and wisdom with us. Her generosity enabled a further understanding about voter suppression and aspects of life on Native American tribal lands in Arizona.
Gabriella reminded us not to expect Native Americans to do the work for us. Rather, we must realize we need to explore history and current events to recognize how the past affects the present, to clearly view cultural aspects. We must show support for Native American efforts.
For more information, please see https://gabriellaforrecorder.org/.
NOVEMBER 21, 2021
Topic: Truth - Racial Healing – Transformation, presented by Donna Prescott including a 13.38-minute video by Dr. Gail C. Christopher:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRA13sf5Fbo
Circle:
1. How can you participate in National Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation Day?
2. How can you make every day a part of truth, healing and transformation?
DECEMBER 19, 2021
Topic and Circles: Valerie Kaur Ted Talk
https://www.ted.com/talks/valarie_kaur_3_lessons_of_revolutionary_love_in_a_time_of_rage?language=en
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