As part of our Awakening to Change series, the Blackstone Library is offering a social justice discussion group. Each month we choose a book or topic to help us develop a shared understanding of the complex issues surrounding racism. Over the course of several in-depth discussions, we aim to begin understanding the world in a new way.

In January, we will be discussing segregation with the aid of a short video based on Richard Rothstein’s book, The Color of Law.Prejudice can be birthed from a lack of understanding the historically accurate details of the past. Without being aware of the unconstitutional residential policies the United States government enacted during the middle of the twentieth century, one might have a negative view today of neighborhoods where African Americans live or even of African Americans themselves.

We can compensate for this unlawful segregation through a national political consensus that leads to legislation. And this will only happen if the majority of Americans understand how we got here. Like Jay-Z said in a recent New York Times interview, “you can’t have a solution until you start dealing with the problem: What you reveal, you heal.” This is the major challenge at hand: to educate fellow citizens of the unconstitutional inequality that we’ve woven and, on behalf of our government, accept responsibility to fix it.