MISSION STATEMENT:
Grounded in Catholic Social Teaching, the Peace & Justice Committee serves to help parishioners link their faith to their lives as workers, consumers, and global citizens, striving to open up opportunities and issues which might otherwise be overlooked.  This committee helps to spotlight issues of worker rights, immigrant rights, non-violence, and racial justice including eradicating systemic, institutionalized, and individual acts of racism.  We partner with other faith-based coalitions for meetings with legislators and participation in lobbying and other events. In the parish, the group helps facilitate speakers, letter-writing campaigns, and the formation of committees as needed.

ALL ARE WELCOME!
The group meets one Sunday a month.  Let us know if you would like to join by email:  marg.feitclarke@gmail.com
Below you will find educational materials and resources about:

• Racial Equity &  Reparations
• Nuclear Weapons Prohibition Resolutions
• Advocating for & Protecting Immigrant Families
• Giving Tree 2020 - from the St. Nicholas Giving Tree Team

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Critical Issues & Resources

Why Black Lives Matter

Without justice, there is no peace.  The issue of systemic and personal racial injustice is being raised as never before.  We have been given an opportunity to make real, lasting change.  In the words of Cardinal Cupich:  "We need to take up the hard work of healing the deep wound that has afflicted our people since the first slave ships docked on this continent.  And we need to start today." (Statement of Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago, on the murder of George Floyd and its aftermath, Sunday, May 31, 2020)  Please find below resources and inspiration to assist us in finding ways to heal these wounds in our society, our parish, ourselves.  (Click here for an abridged list of BLM resources in a printable format).

Learning About Reparations

• City of Evanston's Reparations Fund. Contact the Peace & Justice Committee if you wish to join with other parishioners in making a collective contribution to this Reparations Fund.   Learn about this effort here.  Alternately, you can donate through the city's website.
• Reflection by Ald. Robin Rue Simmons on Martin Luther King Sunday, Jan. 17, 2021, at St. Nicholas

• Evanston's Road to Reparations | Chicago Magazine | June 2020
• In this Evanston Public Library podcast, The Check Out, listen to this interview (Episode 11) of 5th Ward Ald. Robbin Rue Simmons as she explains what "reparations" means (13:00), and how this groundbreaking Evanston-based effort will address the wealth and opportunity gaps that Evanston residents still experience today due to long-term impacts of racism and discrimination. 
  

Other Organizations Working for Equity

• Black Business Consortium of Evanston
• Black Lives Matter Chicago Chapter works to end state violence and criminalization of Black communities;  statement of belief.
• Black Lives Matter, Evanston has an extensive plan of action packet outlining what it means to "defund" the police.
• Chicago Community Bond Fund pays bond for people charged with crimes in Cook County - individuals whose communities cannot afford to pay the bonds themselves and who have been impacted by structural violence.
• Evanston NAACP
• Evanston YWCA’s Equity Institute  - opportunities for workshops, discussion groups, community building.
• Imagine Englewood works to strengthen and empower the Greater Englewood community through teaching local youth and their families healthy living, environmental awareness, and positive communication skills. They are also using funds for neighborhood clean-ups.
• United Power for Action & Justice - works to cultivate shared power in order to transform communities through person-to-person organizing and relationship building. "United Power’s mission is to train people to take responsibility for solving the problems in their own communities and to renew the interest of citizens in public life."
• NAACP Legal Defense Fund
• ACLU Racial Justice Program
  

Books

• The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein (2017); Interview with author Richard Rothstein on NPR’s Fresh Air; Richard Rothstein in conversation with Ta-Nehisi Coates
• How To Be An Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi (2019)
• Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad (2020)
• The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander (2010)
• Readings for Diversity and Social Justice by Warren J. Blumenfeld
• So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo (2018)
• The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabele Wilkerson (2010)
• White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo (2018)
• White Trash by Nancy Isenberg (2016)
• Witnessing Whiteness: The Need to Talk About Race and How to Do It  by Shelly Tuchluk
  

Resource Collections

• Evanston Public Library: Anti-Racist Resources and Reads
  
• Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns: Resources for Anti-Racism Work
• NPR’s CodeSwitch | WBEZ Chicago: Anti-Racism Book to Read
• Obama Foundation's Anguish and Anger
• Shorefront Legacy Center: Shorefront collects, preserves, and educates about Black History on Chicago’s suburban North Shore.
• Social Justice Resource Center: Racism - facts, films, quotes, prayers, church teaching
• The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture: Talking About Race - an educational portal to guide, empower and inspire
• YWCA's Equity Resources
• Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History - includes articles and lesson plans on Racism and Racial Identity
• Anti-Racism Resources for White People
  

Films & Documentaries

• 13th by Ava DuVernay; explores the "intersection of race, justice, and mass incarceration in the United States;"[3] it is titled after the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, adopted in 1865, which abolished slavery throughout the United States and ended involuntary servitude except as a punishment for conviction of a crime.  (Netflix)
• Immigrants for Sale: 30 minute documentary by Brave New Films shows the connection between the slavery of the past and our current practice of incarcerating human beings for corporate profit
• Immigration Nation (Netflix, released August 2020): this six part docu-series takes you behind the scenes in ICE operations.  A study guide and video excerpts is available through Never Again Action.  As the content of this series is troubling,  we recommend watching or discussing with a supportive group who can move you to constructive action. 
• Just Mercy: based on the book by civil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson
• 29 Movies to Watch to Educate Yourself on Racial Justice
  

Additional Reflections and Wisdom

• America, This Is Your Chance, Michelle Alexander | The New York Times  (June 2020)
  
• The Case for Reparations, Ta-Nehisi Coates | The Atlantic (June 2014)
• From Where I Sit “Riots are the Language of the Unheard” | reflection from Richard Townsell, Executive Director of the Lawndale Christian Development Corporation.
• How Church Teachings Can Explain Why "Black Lives Matter" | Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore | America Magazine, July 27, 2020.
•  Rev. Bryan Massingale: How the church can combat racism and white privilege | Behind the Story and The Assumptions of White Privilege and What We Can Do About It  |National Catholic Reporter (June 2020)
•  For Our White Friends (2017) and How White Liberals Perpetuate Relational Violence (2020) | Sojourners
• White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh (1988)
• Who Gets to Be Afraid in America? by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi | Atlantic (May 12, 2020)
• We Need to Talk on Injustice,  Bryan Stevenson's TED Talk
• The State of Black Immigrants - Report by Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI), a racial justice and migrants’ rights organization that engages in education, advocacy, and cross-cultural alliance-building in order to end racism, mass criminalization, and economic disenfranchisement of African American and Black Immigrant communities (January 2020)
• Wanda Sykes 
• Trevor Noah: How Dominos Connect
• How Reading Instruction Oppresses Black and Brown Children
• Systemic Racism Explained (act.tv)
  

75th Anniversary of the Atomic Bombing of Japan

Skokie and Evanston are two of a growing number of U.S. cities to have passed resolutions calling for a prohibition on nuclear weapons.

• Peace Message: Chicago Tribune Editorial by the Mayor of Nagasaki
• Catholic Commemorate: Joseph Mitsuaki Takami, Archbishop of Nagasaki and Bishop Malloy, of Rockford, IL and USCCB Committee on International Justice and Peace offer remarks and prayers. 
  

Protecting Immigrant Families

Learn about policies and glean info about healthcare, housing, and legal resources for non-citizens in Illinois.

• Resources for Immigrant Families During the Pandemic
• Ways You Can Protect Immigrant Families - from the National Immigrant Justice Coalition; and NIJC's Policy Corner Resource List
• Arise Chicago: provides an on-line resource room for workers in the field during this time. 
• Protecting Immigrant Families: including resources available to Illinois non-citizens.  Preguntas y Respuestas: Lo que los inmigrantes en Illinois deben saber durante la crisis COVID-19
• Centro Romero
• Up-to-date information on coronavirus: State of Illinois Coronavirus Response.
• COVID-19 Symptom guidelines can be found on the IL Dept. of Health website.
• How to Make a DIY Face Mask
• Resources for Individuals and Families: Shriver Center Illinois.
• Information on public benefit, employment, home-owner, and consumer legal issues as impacted by the pandemic: Legal Aid Chicago.
• COVID-19 Resources for Immigrant Families: Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
• Resources for people with disabilities can be found here: Access Living as well as from the IL Dept. of Human Services here - and here.
  

Responding to COVID-19—How shall we keep this unusual time in human history?

 Be inspired by others whose words and prayers and art call us to be better selves and to a better future:

• Catholic Women Preach - here you can find homilies for upcoming Sundays
• Loyola University - COVID Resources:  a wealth of practical and spiritual resources.

Be a voice for others: Many immigrant groups are especially vulnerable during this time.  Read up on several initiatives to protect those in detention, at our borders, in our communities.  Pick one. Stay focused. Practice one act of justice every day. Let’s use our new-found time to reach out to government officials or to make a donation to support those in detention.

• Illinois Coalition for Immigrant & Refugee Rights: resources for Immigrants During COVID-19
• Network, Lobby for Catholic Social Justice: legislative updates and opportunities for advocacy; calls for a just response to the COVID crisis.
• Justice for Immigrants:  learn about legislation that helps refugees and strengthen refugee resettlement; that assists refugees remotely during the COVID-19 epidemic.
• Interfaith Community for Detained Immigrants (ICDI):   though direct service volunteer activities have been suspended, ICDI continues to actively advocate on behalf of people in immigrant detention to pressure the Department of Homeland Security to release those in detention merely for their status; and to financially  support those currently detained and those post-detention affected by the COVID shutdown.
• Arise Chicago: provides an on-line resource room for workers in the field during this time. 
• Detention Watch Network: documents conditions for those detained by Immigrant & Customs Enforcement (ICE) and demands release of those in ICE custody during the COVID crisis.

​Partnerships with Faith-based Coalitions

Arise Chicago: partners with workers and faith communities to fight workplace injustice through education and organizing and advocating for public policy changes.
 
CRLN (The Chicago Religious Leadership Network):
mobilizes interfaith support for local deportation defense efforts, works towards a vision of sanctuary for all, and makes a prophetic call for an end to detention

People for a Safer Society: a gun violence prevention organization that facilitates education, awareness and advocacy; pushes for common sense gun laws, informs communities about non-legislative solutions, such as divestment from gun manufacturers. 
 
United Power for Action and Justice: is a non-partisan community organization composed of 40 religious congregations, not-for-profit groups, hospitals, health centers and civic organizations from across Cook County. St. Nicholas Parish is a member of this organization.