Dear Members,

We are excited to celebrate this year’s Black History Month with you!

Black History Month, established initially as Negro History Week in 1926 by historian Carter G. Woodson to raise awareness about Black history and culture, evolved officially into a month of Black History in February of 1976. Black History Month highlights significant figures, events, and cultural aspects of Black history, from slavery and the Civil Rights Movement to contemporary achievements in various fields and areas. Black History Month is a time to educate people about African Americans' often-overlooked contributions and promote understanding, equity, and equality. It is a time to reflect, acknowledge, and honor the fight, perseverance, contributions, achievements, and history of African Americans and those who identify as Black in the Diaspora. It is an opportunity to immerse ourselves in the expansive culture and heritage of the Black community. 

Please tune in weekly as we celebrate several of these contributions and achievements; communication will be sent out every Sunday (via email) in February, each with a focus area from the Black community.

Join Us!

Additionally, we will meet in-person for a Black History Month wrap-up gathering on Sunday, March 2nd, at the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) in San Francisco from 1:30 PM to 3:30 PM. We will be experiencing the Liberatory Living: Protective Interiors & Radical Black Joy exhibit curated by Key Jo Lee.

https://www.moadsf.org/exhibitions/liberatory-living

Museum Address:

685 Mission St (at 3rd)

San Francisco, CA 94105

*Ground floor of the St. Regis

We will then walk to Elliot’s apartment complex to eat and discuss the Liberatory Living: Protective Interiors & Radical Black Joy exhibit, reflect on this year’s Black History Month, and a project called “Gold Chains-The Hidden History of Slavery in California” in his apartment’s community room until about 6 PM.

*The walk is roughly 1.5 miles (about a 35-minute walk). It’s basically the route we walked for the MLK march, but cutting out the bridge crossings makes it more direct. Driving is possible, and parking is much more optimal on Sundays.

Community Room Address:

626 Mission Bay Blvd North 

San Francisco, CA 94158

*You will have to bring ID to check in at the front desk. Please call/text Elliot (415) 845-0367 or Alexandria (510) 697-1886 if there is no one at the desk.

We are hoping to place orders in advance from The Vegan Hood Chefs. They accept preorders and conduct deliveries every Sunday from 3–6 PM. If we are unable to place orders with them, there is an Ethiopian restaurant and a food truck park on Mission Bay Blvd.

The Unity Coalition would like to invite you to the 8th annual Black Joy Parade (BJP) in Oakland, on Sunday, February 23rd, from 12:30 PM to 7:00 PM. Feel free to come anytime during that window to experience the event!

*The main entrance into the festival is 20th and Franklin Street.

Black Joy Parade is a hyper-positive non-profit based in Oakland. It celebrates the Black experience and community's contribution to history and culture with its signature parade, celebration, partnerships, and events.

Mission: "The BJP exists to provide the Black community and allies with a live experience that celebrates our influence on cultures past, present, and future. We will unite a diverse community by creating a space to express each of our unique contributions to the Black experience. We invite you to be creative, open, present, and free."

https://www.blackjoyparade.org/

Get your free tickets for the BJP here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/8th-annual-black-joy-parade-presented-by-black-infant-health-tickets-1109973062309?aff=oddtdtcreator

Public Transportation: We highly encourage utilizing public transportation. BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) has several stations within walking distance of the parade route and festival grounds, including 12th Street/Oakland City Center and 19th Street Oakland stations. AC Transit also offers numerous bus lines that serve the downtown Oakland area. Plan your trip in advance using the 511.org website or app.

Parking: Street parking in downtown Oakland can be limited, especially during large events. Several parking garages are available in the area but be prepared for potential wait times and increased rates. 

Ride-Sharing: Ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft are a convenient option. Designate a specific pick-up and drop-off location away from the most congested areas to avoid delays.

Biking & Walking: If you live nearby, biking or walking are fantastic ways to get to the parade and festival.  Oakland has bike lanes and racks available, and walking allows you to experience the vibrant city atmosphere.

Accessibility: Please be mindful of street closures and pedestrian traffic when making your travel plans.  Designated accessible parking and viewing areas may be available; check the Black Joy Parade website or social media for specific details closer to the event date.

We recommend arriving early to secure parking or utilize public transportation efficiently. 

We hope to see you there!

Author talk located in Calvary Chapel within Calvary Presbyterian, SF. Please contact books@bookpassage.com with questions regarding events.

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From Calvary Presbyterian SF:

We are privileged to welcome activist, professor, and public intellectual Loretta J. Ross to Calvary Presbyterian, for an evening celebrating the release of Calling In: How to Start Making Change with Those You'd Rather Cancel. 

From Book Passage presented in partnership with Calvary Presbyterian San Francisco

*Copies of Calling In will be available for purchase at the event.

From a pioneering Black feminist and MacArthur “Genius” Fellow, an urgent and exhilarating memoir-manifesto-handbook about how to rein in the excesses of cancel culture so we can truly communicate and solve problems together.

In 1979, Loretta Ross was a single mother who’d had to drop out of Howard University. She was working at Washington, DC’s Rape Crisis Center when she got a letter from a man in prison saying he wanted to learn how to not be a rapist anymore. At first, she was furious. As a survivor of sexual violence, she wanted to write back pouring out her rage. But instead, she made a different choice, a choice to reject the response her trauma was pushing her towards, a choice that set her on the path towards developing a philosophy that would come to guide her whole career: rather than calling people out, try to call even your unlikeliest allies in. Hold them accountable—but do so with love.

Calling In is at once a handbook, a manifesto, and a memoir—because the power of Loretta Ross’s message comes from who she is and what she’s lived through. She’s a Black woman who’s deprogrammed white supremacists, a survivor who’s taught convicted rapists the principles of feminism. With stories from her five remarkable decades in activism, she vividly illustrates why calling people in—inviting them into conversation instead of conflict by focusing on your shared values over a desire for punishment—is the more strategic choice if you want to make real change. And she shows you how to do so, whether in the workplace, on a college campus, or in your living room.

Courageous, awe-inspiring, and blisteringly authentic, Calling In is a practical new solution from one of our country’s most extraordinary change-makers—one anyone can learn to use to transform frustrating and divisive conflicts that stand in the way of real connection with the people in your life.

Loretta J. Ross is an activist, professor, and public intellectual. In her five decades in the human rights movement, she’s deprogramed white supremacists, taught convicted rapists the principles of feminism, and organized the second-largest march on Washington (surpassed only by the 2017 Women’s March). A cofounder of the National Center for Human Rights Education and the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective, her many accolades and honors include a 2022 MacArthur Fellowship and a 2024 induction into the National Women’s Hall of Fame. Today, Ross is an associate professor at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, and a partner with 14th Strategies Consultants, with which she runs “Calling In” training sessions at organizations around the country.

“Calling in is far more crucial to human survival than calling out, and Loretta Ross has written a personal and political book that proves it! There is no one whose experience I would trust more.”
—Gloria Steinem

“This book is the ultimate antidote to cancel culture. It’s a master class in constructive confrontation, and Loretta Ross is the ideal teacher. Drawing on her extensive experience talking people out of hate, she offers profound insights about how to get through to others—and maintain your own dignity along the way. Calling In should be required reading for every student, activist, and social media user.”
—Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Think Again and host of the podcast Re:Thinking

 Location: 

Calvary Presbyterian

2515 Fillmore St

San Francisco, CA 94115

To purchase Calling In: How to Start Making Change with Those You'd Rather Cancel (Hardcover) visit:

https://www.bookpassage.com/book/9781982190798

Our grassroots organization, comprising social activists from the Black and Jewish communities and a community of allies, meets monthly (the second Thursday of each month) to provide a forum for community leaders within and outside the Coalition to announce new initiatives and provide updates on continued initiatives. Additionally, we identify activism efforts connected to our four strategic focus areas. We work as a large group on issues concerning Criminal Justice and Prison Reform, Community and Economic Development, Health and Environmental Affairs, and Civic Engagement.

Please join us! Email sfunitygroup@gmail.com to request login information for our general monthly meeting.

Reparations Shabbat

Saturday, February 1, 10:00 am – 3:00 pm

331 Cortland Ave*

Join Or Shalom Jewish Community and Reconstructionist Communities from across the country for a “Reparations Shabbat”.

In January of 2023, Reconstructing Judaism, the official organization of the Reconstructionist movement, passed a Reconstructionist Resolution on Reparations, committing us as a movement to the work of grappling with racial harm in this country and to engagement in material acts of accountability.

According to the Reconstructionist Movement, “The goal of the Reparations Shabbat weekend is to facilitate both ongoing congregational study and action by identifying ways to join local reparations efforts.”

As a part of this movement-wide effort, Or Shalom is pleased to invite you to:

10:00 am – 12:30 pm

Shabbat Morning Services, during which we will read Parshat Bo as a model for Reparations

12:30 pm – 1:30 pm

Catered Lunch by and conversation with The Vegan Hood Chefs

1:30 pm – 3:00 pm

Panel discussion with:

• Eric McDonnell, Chair for the San Francisco African American Reparations Advisory Committee &

• Chris Lodgson, lead organizer with the Coalition for a Just and Equitable California (CJEC)

Join us for the whole day, or the part of the day that calls most to you! Space will be limited, so please register in advance to reserve your spot.

We will be collecting donations for this event, which will be split evenly between SF Black Wall Street, The Coalition for a Just and Equitable California (CJEC), and The Vegan Hood Chefs. More details coming.

*There are no stairs to enter this space. Masks are highly recommended when not eating or drinking. For our full covid policy, click here.

RSVP Here for Reparations Shabbat!

Bios

Chris Lodgson is a lead organizer and advocate with the Coalition for a Just and Equitable California (CJEC) and the Sacramento Reparations Collective. Both are grassroots, California-based organizations working for Reparations and Reparative Justice for descendants of persons emancipated in the United States (American Freedmen). CJEC is one of the seven community organizations selected by the California Reparations Task Force to conduct community outreach and education for Reparations. CJEC also helped write the final version of AB-3121, the law that created California's first-in-the-nation Reparations Task Force. 

Chris is also the Community Organizing and Policy Manager in the Sacramento office of the Anti-recidivism Coalition (ARC), which empowers formerly and currently incarcerated people to thrive by providing a support network, comprehensive reentry services, and opportunities to advocate for policy change. Originally from New York City, now living in California, Chris has organized and advocated both independently, and with local community-based organizations, as well as with national nonprofit organizations, for over 13 years on both the East Coast and West Coast. In addition, Chris is also a strong advocate for Black-Owned businesses

Eric McDonnell is a People First Advocate, Strategist, Diversity Trainer, Executive Coach, and Keynote Speaker, in pursuit of positive impact in the world. With over 25 years of executive management and leadership experience, Eric provides strategic management consulting support to leaders and organizations in the non-profit, government, philanthropic, and private sectors. Services include – executive coaching, strategic planning, management and leadership development, DEI training, facilitation, and keynote speaking.

In his civic life, Eric served as the Chair of the SF Redistricting Task Force in 2011 and served as Commissioner for the SF Recreation and Parks Department 2013-2021. More recently, Eric served as the Chair for the San Francisco African American Reparations Advisory Committee 2021 - 2024. A native San Franciscan, Eric and his family live in the Bayview neighborhood, and he enjoys live music and cycling.

The Vegan Hood Chefs: Ronnishia Johnson and Rheema Calloway are The Vegan Hood Chefs. They specialize in turning many of our soul food and American style favorites into delicious vegan meals. Their passion for community organizing, creativity, and food has allowed them to launch a food initiative to help fight against food justice and social inequity within the San Francisco community. These chefs have recognized how nutrition education and access to healthy foods has contributed to the health conditions of many communities of color. Read more about them here.

Resources to help you prepare for our weekend together, recommended by our speakers:

• San Francisco Reparations Plan 2023

• CA State Reparations Task Force – Executive Report

• Meet the CA State Reparations Task Force

• History of Reparations

• The Atlantic – Ta Nehisi Coates Article - Case for Reparations

• Article – Palm Springs: Section 14 - Reparations in Palm Springs

• Bruce’s Beach - Return of Bruce's Beach - Video that traces the history of the land (Southern California) taken from and returned to the Bruce Family. 

Additionally, please join Reconstructing Judaism over Zoom on Sunday, February 2nd at 10:00 am. for a panel discussion entitled “Reparations in Action: How to Move from Resolving to Repairing.” In this panel discussion, we will hear from different leaders in the movement about how Reconstructionist communities are committing to reparative action. Learn more and register here.