Jews Talk Racial Justice - Ep 64: Grateful Family Day

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QUICK EPISODE OVERVIEW

In this week’s episode April and Tracie continue to explore their thoughts around Thanksgiving and the tension between a holiday about gratitude and family and its racist, genocidal origins.

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DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

  1. April and Tracie continue to grapple with Thanksgiving and all that it entails. How have your thoughts evolved or changed since last Thanksgiving? 

  2. April reflects on the experience of holding both her racial justice analysis with the fact that people close to her have different opinions about Thanksgiving. How do you balance being true to your vision of liberation and racial justice with loving and being in relationship with people who may not have the same opinions as you?

  3. Tracie uses an example of what if Germans had a similar holiday on gratitude and family but it was grounded in Kristallnacht to highlight how we as Jews would not be OK with that or the history of idioms such as “the rule of thumb” or “brouhaha ”, which both have problematic origins, but have been divorced them from their original meanings, to explain some of the tensions around Thanksgiving and its history. How does this example inform your thinking? 

  4. April discusses the need for cleansing or repair before reclaiming something from its problematic origin, and that we have not yet done that with Thanksgiving. What would this cleansing or repair look like for Thanksgiving?

  5. Tracie reminds us that discernment is a skill Jewish tradition values. How do you develop your skills of discernment? 

COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS?

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