Educate to Engage
is partnering with the
Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Learning Circle Program
to offer a spring dialogue series entitled
The New Jim Crow
after the book with the same title:
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
by Michelle Alexander
The meetings will use the book as a guide to generate meaningful discussion in a social setting geared towards creating increased engagement and accountability. This is guaranteed to be an experience that will leave you feeling motivated and energized to make a difference.
Cornel West said that this book is “An instant classic. The New Jim Crow is a grand wakeup call in the midst of a slumber of indifference to the poor and vulnerable.”
Forbes magazine said “The New Jim Crow offers a devastating account of a legal system doing its job perfectly well. We have simply replaced one caste system (Jim Crow) for another one (imprisonment, parole, detention) that keeps the majority of minorities in a permanent state of disenfranchisement. Alexander looks in detail at what economists usually miss, namely the entire legal structure of the courts, parole, probation and laws that effectively turn a perpetrator of a crime into a moral outlaw who is unworthy of rehabilitation. . . Alexander does a fine job of truth-telling, pointing the finger where it rightly should be pointed: at all of us, liberal and conservative, white and black.”
Laura Meier, Committee Chairperson of the Social Justice Committee for the Charlotte Women’s March, attended the sessions with her 16-year-old son and they both were very pleased. She stated that “not only was the book, The New Jim Crow, spellbinding, the class instructor, Patrice Funderburg, spoke candidly and honestly. We are not taught, nor are we teaching our students, the correct history of this country and it’s high time we do. This series allows honest conversation in a time where people would rather not speak. I would recommend it to youths and adults. If you have the opportunity, please consider taking this series. And after you take it, go out and learn some more. Then, go share! Share this knowledge with anyone who will listen. We must keep the conversation alive.”
If you would like to be involved in this wonderful opportunity please use this link to register.
Participants need to:
• Have a clear understanding that this discussion is not a Race 101 or Implicit Bias training
•Commit to attending all six sessions
•Have a specific interest in engaging with justice advocacy after participating
Charlotte Mecklenburg Library
2157 West Boulevard
Charlotte, NC 28208
•Sessions occur weekly beginning Wed., May 9 through Wed., June 13, @ 6:00PM – 8:00PM.
•This series is limited to 25 participants.
•One-time registration for the entire series. Please ONLY register on May 9, which indicates your committment to attend all six weeks.
For more detailed information visit the Eventbrite Registration Page.
There isn’t a set fee to participate but Patrice Funderburg, the facilitator, asks that you give what you can since this is how she makes her living. We are looking forward to meeting all of those who plan on participating.
#CharlotteWomensMarch #NoMoreBystanding