In response to the death of George Floyd and the resulting nationwide protests and grief, the Social Action Committee is initiating a series of educational events on the theme: "Overcoming Racism in America: Jewish Responses.“

For this program, Rabbi Tom and Rabbi Rachel will moderate a discussion of a chapter from Bryan Stevenson's book Just Mercy, in which the author describes his own experience as a Harvard-educated attorney being stopped by police as a burglary suspect in downtown Atlanta. Stevenson is the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama. We will make the chapter available on Wednesday evening, listen to it read by Stevenson, and share our reactions to it. If you would like to study the chapter in advance, please find it HERE.

A film adaptation of Stevenson’s book came out last year (it screened at the Virginia Film Festival) and is currently free to rent on Amazon Prime, Apple TV and Google Play for the entire month of June. It is highly recommended). We also highly recommend this interview of Bryan Stevenson with the New Yorker, where he shares his perspective on the current protests.

Future events in this series are now being planned. Please contact the social Action Committee with any ideas and suggestions you may have about other conversations, speakers, and/or trainings we might schedule as part of the series.