ORUCC Java & Jesus – A Glimpse of What May Come

Java & Jesus

Indigenous Justice Series 

Fall 2023

Please note that the following is a proposed schedule of topics and readings. Facilitators may deviate from this schedule, as they may wish. However, this schedule gives a glimpse at some interesting topics and readings which

may be shared in the coming months.

September 24th – No Java & Jesus. Please consider attending the “Children & Youth Update” in Friendship Hall at 9 am.

October 1st – Mary Neuhaus facilitating

“Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” by Martin Luther King Jr.

MLK Jr. admonishes white moderate reluctance and provides a roadmap that white-bodied people can still follow in order to support justice movements today.

October 8th – No Java & Jesus. Please consider attending a session on “Indigenous Justice” led by Rev. Kerri Parker, executive director of the Wisconsin Council of Churches, in the Friendship Hall at 9 am.

October 15th – Peg Knueve facilitating

“Embodying Antiracism within a White Body: Readings from The Quaking of America” by Resmaa Menakem – Introduction

Wokeness, Allyship, and Complicity (Chapter 28)

When White Bodies Say “Tell Me What to Do” (Chapter 33)

Optional reading: Proximity as Path to Interdependence, by Sylvia Poareo

October 22nd – Facilitator to be determined

“Introduction to Ecofeminism and Climate Justice”

Possible resources:

  1. Introduction to Ecofeminism – Excerpted from a paper entitled “An Ecofeminist Reading of Louise Erdrich’s Novel Love Medicine
  2. Article from BUST magazine: Ecofeminism or Death (origins of Ecofeminism, a term coined by the French Writer Francoise d’Eaubonne in her 1975 book, Le Feminisme ou La Mort
  3. Look at The Greenbelt Movement, founded by Wangarĩ Maathai, the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize (2004) for her work on “sustainable development, democracy and peace”
  4. Article: Reading The Color Purple From the Perspective of Ecofeminism

October 29th – Jim McNamara facilitating

“The Case for Reparations,” by Ta-Nehisi Coates (The Atlantic, May 21, ’14)

How does the case for reparations for African-Americans relate to Indigenous Justice? 

November 5th – Peg Knueve facilitating

“Reclaiming Stolen Earth – An Africana Ecotheology” – Introduction

Optional reading: An Indigenous People’s History of the United States, Chapter 10: Indigenous Action, Indigenous Rights

Optional reading: Gullah-Geechee People Fight Against Erasure of Their Historical Land, September 2023.

November 12th – Dan Rossmiller facilitating

“Reclaiming Stolen Earth” Chapter 2: The Legacy of Stolen Earth

Optional reading: An Indigenous People’s History of the United States, Chapter 9, The Persistence of Sovereignty 

November 19th – Dan Rossmiller: facilitating

“Reclaiming Stolen Earth” Chapter 5: What is Liberation? A Reappraisal Optional reading: “An Indigenous People’s History of the United States, Conclusion: Water Is Life

November 26th – No Java & Jesus. Happy Thanksgiving!