By Dwight Panozzo
The Accountability Circle met on Sunday evening, Dec. 11, and continued our exploration of “How to be an Antiracist,” by Ibram Kendi, and “Woke Racism,”by John McWhorter. Our discussion continues to be lively, thoughtful, and incisive. We find strengths and flaws in both books and extend our analogies onto sometimes difficult ground. I am impressed by the thoughtfulness, intellectual vigor, and compassion of my fellow travelers on this journey of exploration.
I had “read” both of these books twice by audiobook in the last couple of years but have found that a combination of where I have come to on issues related to racism, a careful reading of the chapters prior to each meeting, boldly sharing concerns about the books, and discussing these concerns with others at the Circle has been a deeply rewarding experience.
Next meeting on Jan. 8
Our journey continues on Sunday, Jan. 8, at 7 pm. Here is our Zoom Link for this and all future Accountability Circle meetings. We will cover chapters 5 and 6 in Kendi and chapter 4 in McWhorter. All are welcome to join us on our journey. All we ask is that you listen, talk when you are ready to, and have your camera on. You can catch up with our explorations in the shared Google Docs we created to cover our thoughts about each book. Here’s the link for Kendi comments, and here’s the link for McWhorter comments.
In January we will also be expanding our circle to explore issues related to transgenderism. We might eventually begin reading “Trans,” by Helen Joyce, as well as an additional book from a pro-transgender stance (Joyce’s book raises a number of scientific, cultural, and philosophical concerns about transgenderism). Our meeting to begin exploring issues related to transgenderism will take place on Saturday, Jan. 28 at 9 am on Zoom. Here is our Zoom link for that meeting and all future Accountability Circle meetings.
A call for articles and video links
For the Jan. 28 meeting, we are issuing a call for brief articles and video links that attendees can access to prepare themselves to discuss the topic of transgenderism. If this topic is of interest to you, please forward your suggestions to me at [email protected] by Jan. 1 so that I can curate a list of articles and videos from all sides of this issue. That list will then be made available to members of our society and on social media sites.
Dwight Panozzo is a member of the Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County and facilitator of the Accountability Circle.