The Peace and Justice Committee is focusing on anti-racism this year, promoting various activities and a periodic newsletter. Systemic racism is extremely complex because it is woven so deeply and pervasively into our culture and history. To try to understand it better, we are exploring different aspects of it.

In March we are sponsoring a “watch party” and discussion of the film The Hate U Give via Zoom. Because it is over two hours long, we will split the event into two sessions on Wednesday evenings March 3 and 10 starting at 7:00 p.m. In each session, we will watch approximately half of the movie, followed by a discussion. Depending on your internet connection, you may choose to watch the video with us or watch on your own and join the discussion portion starting just after 8:00 p.m. for about 45 minutes.

The Hate U Give Watch Party & Discussion
Wednesdays, March 3 & 10
7:00 – 8:45 p.m. on Zoom

This is a challenging film to watch from several perspectives. It is rated PG-13 (for “mature thematic elements, some violent content, drug material and language”). It was released in October 2018, long before the killing of George Floyd, and large, diverse protests about continued and disproportionate deaths of people of color by police officers. Based on the book by Angie Thomas, the film follows Starr Carter (Amandla Stenberg), a black student at a largely white prep school, who is galvanized into activism after she witnesses the police shooting of her childhood friend Khalil.

As mentioned in the December Peace and Justice newsletter on context switching, this film illustrates the challenge of daily switching between the culture of a prep school, where one is a minority, and the culture of home and neighborhood, where one is in the majority. It is a coming-of-age film set in the tension between two very different worlds. Short and extended trailers for the film are available online.

If you would like to participate or have any questions, please email [email protected] or call Bob Dilly at 724-941-5684.